Is Your True Health The Most Important Activity In Your Life?

Your personal health should be the most important priority and activity in your life; even if you’re a parent, your health comes first; your well being must take precedence; otherwise, you will not be in any shape to take care of your kids; especially, if you’re seriously sick or dying. Each and every day of our lives, most of us, living anywhere on this planet, make poor food choices; buy foods that are adulterated with chemicals and other unsavory additives; some, contaminated with metals; others, denatured of their integral nutrients; and even others, genetically modified! 

These are INESCAPABLE happenings unless you eat organic and raw; and, you have a reliable source of uncontaminated and unadulterated foods!

For example, did you know that you can buy totally organic-verified and certified fruit or vegetables in the US; and they can be shown to be completely free of any harmful chemicals, pesticides, fertilizers, etc.; yet, they can still contain dangerous, even lethal amounts of metals; like lead, cesium, aluminum, mercury, and the list goes on…! 

Sure, there are ways to grow truly organic fruits and vegetables with negligible metal contaminants; but, it takes strict knowledge of organic farming; and knowing the land to be used and its history; including, most importantly, having a way to conclusively test the soil the produce is grown in for their harmful metallic levels; as well as, the produce itself and their by-products.

This technological marvel does exist; and, so do the alternative thinking pioneers that have produced them….

“This is a crucial development because heavy metals are now being found in USDA certified organic foods, superfoods, vitamins, herbs and dietary supplements at alarming levels. Neither the USDA nor the FDA has set any limits on heavy metals in foods and organic foods, meaning that products can contain extremely toxic levels of mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, copper, and even tungsten while still being legally sold across the USA”.

To be finally able to detect precisely what’s in our foods is in our best interest; especially, if it shows gaping flaws in our Food Industry-from the farm to our table. Rest assured; your family can finally eat healthy and safe, from any harmful contaminant. For example, “Every product sold by the Health Ranger Store has been extensively tested in the ConsumerWellness Center Labs using ICP-MS atomic spectroscopy instrumentation and is Verified Low Heavy Metals. Headed by Mike Adams ("The Health Ranger"), the Lab developed a rating system that represents a new standard in consumer food safety, and the Health Ranger Store carries only those products rated "A" and above.”

Honestly, truthfully, and factually, it is one of the highest rated labs for this type of investigation and analysis; helping you and your family be safe, proving once and for all, what’s exactly in your foods! I need to ask, is your true health the most important activity in your life?

An Essay on The Rights of Medical Marijuana Patients

We are sick, some of us are dying; we have been neglected by our community, our Government, and our laws; we have been betrayed, denied and disavowed. We are forgotten! Politicians posture, as our police sworn to ‘serve and protect’, can only feel like puppets, being pulled by their Masters’ strings; by those that want to control the conversation; far, far away from ‘care and compassion’; especially, for those that are currently physically suffering, because they no longer have free and easy access to their own, lifesaving, and medically prescribed marijuana.

It’s NOT all about recreational use; it’s also NOT about the legalities or the lack thereof; it’s truly only about one thing…the rights of medical marijuana patients to their health and longevity. We want to live our lives, free of pain and suffering; free of shame and guilt, from what others may think regarding our own health needs and initiatives, and our need for this so-called ‘marijuana drug’! What works for me, to ease my pain and suffering works for me. If it works for others, many others, it’s even better; as we can all get better together.

In any free country, free of tyranny and mass control; sick people are allowed to access health care for their needs as they need it and when they need it; freely, easily and effortlessly. They are sick; some are dying, and most are suffering, daily, continuously, despite their best intentions to heal themselves of their infirmities, diseases, and cancers. 

These are the people that we as politicians, community citizens, police and legal representatives, are affecting with our abject neglect, insane health policies, and contradictory laws. These are the poorest and the sickest in our society that we are punishing for the sake of what? Political sleight of hand posturing, and for what, the God Almighty Dollar? For the sake of Greed and Social Control, over our sick and dying? Is this really what’s going on behind the scenes?

No sick human being, especially one who is seriously ill and suffering in pain and discomfort, should ever be denied access to medical care when they need it the most. That should be a basic medical right; and a protected right by our laws, by our politicians, and our police. Yet, they’ve betrayed us! 

These recent raids on the medical marijuana dispensaries have had a devastating effect on the lives and wellbeing of thousands of medical marijuana patients across the GTA; as we no longer have access to what we need, to help ease our pain and constant suffering. Days have gone by, and without any consideration to our needs; as the newspapers, police, and politicians argue endlessly about everything, except what matters most in our own lives, our sickness and suffering; and most importantly, our need to access our medication NOW!

Will you please stand up for our medical rights as marijuana patients! Make your voice felt; help us access our medicine NOW!

As Human Beings How Long Can We Expect to Live?

What are the outer-limits for us as human beings, how long can we actually expect to live? Biblically and historically, there have been numerous spectacular claims of longevity; hundreds of years, up to 1000+ years; if we are to believe oral tradition. More recently though, in this century and last century, there have been too many documented cases of longer life for us to simply ignore; one 122 year old; a 131 year old; a 156 year old; a 160 year old; and even, a multiple-verified report of a 256 year old herbalist and martial artist from China! These reports are not just anecdotal or based on folklore; they have been verified by other people living, as well as, by now dead.

Japan has 60,000+ Centenarians at present; whereas, the U.S. has about 150,000; while the rest of the world, about another 100,000+ total! The trend, therefore, is obvious, we are living longer! Not surprisingly, Cambridge University geneticist Aubrey de Grey has already stated, “ The first person to live to be 1,000 years old is certainly live today…whether they realize it or not, barring accidents and suicide, most people now 40 years or younger can expect to live for centuries.”

Historically speaking, this field of study has already been stained by the boisterous claims and suspicious offerings of too many magical, anti-aging elixirs. People have become resistant to these fabricated claims. Recently though, with today’s technologies, scientists studying longevity have focused on molecular research, using powerful genomic markers; isolating, genetically distinct communities of people to gain further insight into the problems of old age, and how it can be avoided! Independent studies in Calabria, Ecuador, Hawaii, even the Bronx, are turning up molecules and chemical pathways that may help all of us reach a ‘new’ level of old age while remaining active, vibrant and healthy, at 100 and beyond!

The common denominator for these longer lives is not ‘geographical location’; as they exist in isolated pockets all over the globe. Their main similarities are with their diets and activity; rich in organic fruit and vegetables; they were hard working; free from drugs, alcohol and tobacco; lived on a restricted meat diet; ate mainly fish or seaweed diet; including, having a source of clean fresh water; and finally, physically free from major pollutants. Now, these people are surviving well into their 100’s; and, without any kind of medical, genetic, bio-medical, bi-engineered, or molecular assistants. NONE!

So, don’t be surprised if you are the one who may live to be 150 years old; after all, as health-conscious human beings, how long do we really expect to live?

Drug Dependence Is a Death Sentence

Drug dependence is a death sentence; death to those poor dependent souls, and to see it any other way, is to shun the problem! It is cancer that infects society from the inside out; and most of us, unsuspectingly, unknowingly, go about our daily lives, unaware of the deadly reality that innocently exists, just behind our city streets. Within the homes and apartments of everyday people; people, just like you and me.

Here is the fact that our Government, social agencies, and harm reduction facilitators don’t EVER want you to know…Through-out these hundreds of thousands of apartments and millions of homes in this city, there exists a population of vulnerable people; people addicted to drugs; pharmaceutical and recreational drugs; all deadly and dangerous. In our city, we have thousands of apartments and thousands of homes, where drug dealing and drug usage takes place on an hourly basis! The inescapable truth…sadly, we are a nation of drug users.

This epidemic of drug dependence is bigger than anyone could have ever imagined; as it has been secretly growing, unabated for decades! So far, globally speaking, there have not been any real solutions for this global epidemic; all countries are affected!

Let’s just run through the list of failures. The number one, the biggest reason, we still have runaway drug addiction, has to do with the laws and resultant penalties of incarceration for these drugs! Next on the list are drug rehabs; they've been around for over a 100 years, even in the form of sanatoriums in the 1880’s!

They have been a BIG failure; on average producing less than a 3-5% abstinence rate within a few year period! And, at the cost of tens of thousands of dollars per person; it is a repeating example of wasted insurance, business and Government funding, and resources. 95% or more, never get off the drugs; they relapse and continue to live and die because of them.

This is the reason behind the establishment of these Harm Reduction Programs, designed to help the drug user continue to use their drugs but in a safer way. They know, like our Government, that this problem isn't just going to go away; if anything, it is growing, and at epidemic proportions. Like an Ebola virus!

So, they know, that the drug dependent individuals odds are stacked against them; they know, that too much money has already been wasted on these poor miserable beings; and, that true hope for complete drug recovery and long-term abstinence, is just a farfetched fantasy; one they can’t afford-financially; and most importantly, they don’t believe is EVER possible!

I on the other hand believe something else, entirely:

I believe in the goodness of people; their desire for a better life; their longing for a freer life; without sickness, disease, debility, or a lifetime of drug dependence. We all want the same things. We want to be, do, and get out of life the maximum enjoyment, pleasure, and rewards. It’s called survival!

Then why should we continue to cripple a drug user for life, through harm reduction programs and therapies; basically, to facilitate their continued use of the drug, but now, through harm reduction, to use it a bit safer, to themselves and with others? This is a bumbling bureaucratic solution, to ‘controlling’ the problem; but, not ‘solving’ the problem; most importantly, by stopping it dead in its tracks!

I do not wish to live in a world, a city or town, where drug users are controlled by the state, for the rest of their lives. Keeping them addicted as they rot away, closer to death each day. Their immune systems compromised, their choices for a real life limited, and their hope for a better life, free of drugs and their sinister effects; well, all gone, because of our uncaring Government policies and harm reduction programs. Basically, in my opinion, they are a death sentence to every drug user!

There are real solutions to drug dependence; recovery and abstinence are not only possible but achievable by anyone, wanting to be free. Sure, it will require both the will and resources; but, I firmly believe that we as a compassionate society are up for the challenge. We cannot turn our back on our most vulnerable friends, sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, uncles, and aunts; they need our help; and they need to believe once again, that abstinence is totally possible; and that a drug free world is just peeking out on the horizon; now that you know, drug dependence is a death sentence!

Unhealthy Eating Choices Are Killing People by The Millions!

Do I need to even ask, are unhealthy eating choices, killing people by the millions? You mean, just in North America alone? I don’t need to dredge up the latest stats to prove my point; we know, we have eyes and ears, and we have friends, family members and celebrities, as living examples of premature death, and mostly, from preventable diseases. Diseases based on poor food choices; poor food preparation and cooking methods; poor food sources; poor food production and growing methods; and of course, ‘manufactured’ foods with ‘questionable’ additives. I am sure there are many more; but, I believe you get my point! 

How we choose to eat and the foods we choose to eat is literally killing us!

Now, where can we go from here? It can’t all be that bad can it? It definitely can and will continue to kill people, until we individually decide to eat healthier, by making healthier lifestyle choices, and by creating healthier habits in our daily lives. ‘Habits’, being the key word; habits are easy to start, and once begun, they become difficult to break. So, start a healthy habit today, and keep it going! Healthy good habits allow you to live better and live longer. Now, who doesn’t want those two qualities in their lives, or want those for their friends and family? No One!

Then, why are we killing ourselves with ‘junk-foods’ and other dangerous food choices? Because, we’ve been brainwashed and conned into doing so; bamboozled and hoodwinked into thinking that whatever was printed was true; and that whatever came out of our TV sets was the Gospel truth. Nothing could be further from the truth!  We have been lied to about the quality of our foods! And the fact, that they were sourced or manufactured without consideration to their after-effects; you know, their disease causing tendencies! 

Knowing all this, we owe it to our health, to take immediate and decisive action in our lives. Just one good healthy food choice at every meal can help guide you to living a healthier and happier life; just one, that’s all you need to start; but, you must start somewhere!

Do you want to live longer? Do you want to live a healthy and happy life? Do you want to have boundless energy and stamina? Well, if you do, then start with just one small but important change. Find one healthy food, something natural, organic, perhaps even a superfood, and begin to incorporate it into your day-to-day eating routine. 

Make this one thing a good habit; make it something you enjoy and look forward to eating every day; make this new change the most important part of your life. For if you do, and keep it up; soon enough, you will find other healthy food choices that you can add to your daily eating habits. All it takes is just one step towards a known destination; it’s the first step that seems the hardest; but, once made, it becomes the greatest!

Are you ready to make that greatest step today?

The Health Benefits of Turmeric

Factually speaking, the health benefits of turmeric could fill an encyclopedia; they are simply staggering, there is no other way to put it; and, it is by far the most powerful spice/herb on the planet. Its usage and benefits stretch back 5,000 years. And regarding its research, there have been over 7,000 scientific studies to date, that can confirm and attest to its many life-enhancing and even life-saving properties. Its consumption can greatly improve your health, across all ages, genders and varying medical health issues. To me, turmeric acts like a cure-all; albeit, with just a few, limited contraindications.

Most testimonials regarding the benefits of turmeric appear almost too good to be true; that being said, there are so many benefits, that it is considered a broad spectrum solution to whatever ails yah! Yet, a certain amount of caution needs to be addressed when taking turmeric in supplement form; and NOT, as a spice added to your food. According to the research, pregnant women, and users of heart various medications- thinners, and also those, that are taking other prescribed medications or even other supplements, need to be aware. Check out the possible ‘contraindications’ of your usage, before you begin taking turmeric supplements, in whatever form.

Now, that that’s out of the way, we can dive right into this amazing herb, its numerous properties, and the surprising long-term health benefits to be gained; all written of course, without too much exaggeration or hyperbole! :)

Organic and ‘metal-free’ turmeric in herb form, added to your foods, and used as a spice, is the most preferable way to ingest this miraculously healthy herb; additionally, to make it totally bio-available, use it in combination with organic pepper, as they work in tandem to magnify its benefits, mainly through their synergistic and multiplying effects. A few words of warning. Don’t buy turmeric, or any other spice for that matter, from your local supermarket or major discount store! Sold in packaged powdered form, these products are of poor quality, and are probably from a ‘questionable’ source; while, they are also most likely devoid of any true health benefits that real organic turmeric can give you.

The health benefits of using turmeric with your food or as a supplement are the following:

1.       Helps to prevent liver disease, and can help to heal liver disease.

2.       It can and has been proven to increase your mental powers, as well as being able to prevent the onslaught of dementia or Alzheimer’s.

3.       It has also been shown to aid in depression, as a mood enhancer; even better than using pharmaceutical medications. And, with NO side-effects, other than mentioned above.

4.       Improves digestion; it has been used in foods as a digest aid for thousands of years. It can also work wonders for people with bowel diseases.

5.       Many studies have also shown dramatic results with weight-loss and weight-management.

6.       Research has also demonstrated that it also works to lower bad cholesterol.

7.       Diabetes patients and sufferers have also shown great improvement and an impressive reduction in symptoms.

8.       People suffering from various forms of arthritis have also been greatly affected; their swelling and inflammations, including the pains, have been greatly curtailed.

9.       Not surprisingly, turmeric has also had much success with many eye related problems and diseases; glaucoma for example.

10.    Using turmeric as a weapon against cancer has also proven to be highly effective. It has been shown to help prevent prostate cancer, stop the growth of existing prostate cancer and even destroys cancer cells; numerous studies confirm this. Many researchers and scientists have also found that the active components in turmeric make it one of the best protectors against radiation-induced tumors. It is a preventive effect against tumor cells such as T-cell leukemia, colon carcinomas, and breast carcinomas; just to name a few!

Hopefully, this has helped educate you on the basics of using turmeric in your life and diet. It is one of the most beautiful herbs on the planet. Used wisely, the health benefits of turmeric are astronomical to your health and longevity.

Want To Change Your Life: Waste Less!

Wanting to change your life and wasting less, doesn’t seem at first glance to go together. But, under closer examination, there is a direct correlation between a ‘happy life’ and a ‘wasted’ one! Between a ‘fulfilling’ one, and a life wasted on ‘triviality’ and ‘selfishness’; or, a life spent on ‘consumption’ and ‘avarice’; well, you know the story? It has loser written all over it! Those that waste soon enough lose what they have, or I should say, had. It’s that simple! No more explanations are necessary.

So, how does one go from zero to hero? Simply by wasting less of course! Knowing what you waste and plugging up the holes. Truthfully speaking it’s that straightforward and simple. Allow me to explain my meanings.

Growing, changing, moving forward, personal development, changing one’s life, etc., all involve focus, determination, utilization of resources, values, and most importantly, achievements; the accomplishment of targets and goals that were set, set to be completed, and along a set timeline.  Real change, beneficial change is monitor-able, observable and definitely measurable! You and others can notice and experience these changes first-hand!

It’s opposite, as I see it, are contraction and procrastination; and those that exercise these beliefs in their lives, always seem to waste what they have, as they do not expend enough energy on future wealth accumulation,  or have any plan or strategy to achieve a sustainable condition of affluence or abundance. Thus they waste what they have and are left with nothing but the tears of what they could have, and should have had! Happy thoughts produce happy feelings. Feeling of loss and waste, only produce sadness and grief…of what could’ve been.

If you really want to change your life, and in any which way, focus on where what and how you are creating any waste in that area of your life; how you may be contributing to it in any way. Examine, what you have and currently take for granted; and do not value enough. Answer to yourself this fundamental question, are you growing or contracting, in this or any other area of your life? If you are actually shrinking and getting smaller, in this or any other area, then you immediately need to save what you have before you waste it; and, directly expend some energy to create some more of whatever it is you need to have more of. Survival is growth and optimum change; it’s opposite, decay and death, create waste as a by-product of their imminent demise.

Value and treasure what you have; especially the moment, the here and NOW. Truthfully, it is the only thing of real value that we possess. Treasure it; make it the most precious and valuable object in your life. Don’t waste a precious moment of your life, outside of the moment, elsewhere focused on the past; a past failure, a past mistake, a past non-accomplishment. Know this, life is in you today, and you can create your own tomorrow, whatever that may be. Want to change your life, then learn to be in the now, value what you have, and waste less.

Save Your Life: Begin Yoga Today

Yoga can save your Life; regardless of your present age, shape, physical, emotional or spiritual condition! Now, that’s a statement of fact and not just sleight of hand ‘medical chicanery! Yoga is Life; in its truest sense! The Sanskrit word "yoga" has the literal meaning to "yoke" from the root word "yuj" meaning to join, to unite, or to attach. Historically speaking, it dates back thousands of years in human history. Although back then, the word for combining two oxen together, with a wooden device was also called a yoke. This was done to harness the energy of the beasts of burden!

This then, is the true meaning of Yoga, to harness, to utilize, to empower; especially today, beyond your limitations-self-imposed or otherwise! Additionally, it also implies harmony and union with all things worldly, and perhaps, even beyond!

“Regarding literary sources, there is evidence as early as the oldest Vedic text, the Ṛg Veda (c. 1200 – c. 1500 B.C.E.), that there were yogī-like ascetics on the margins of the Vedic world. In terms of the archaeological record, seals found in Indus Valley sites (c. 3000 – c. 1500 B.C.E.) with representations of figures seated in a clear yogic posture (the most famous figure is seated in padmāsana, lotus pose, with arms extended and has been practiced on the Indian subcontinent for well over 4000 years”. http://www.iep.utm.edu/yoga/

Fast forward forty centuries and the Yoga of today as it is mostly taught and practiced in North America is mainly focused on the physical well being of the individual adherent, as they practice,  through a series of standardized poses. What’s become totally confusing though is that most people interested in pursuing Yoga as it has developed up to now, are initially overwhelmed by the countless, differing schools and divergent styles, philosophies, meditative practices and physical postures, that people with interest in Yoga must first wade through and evaluate for themselves, before they can decide on a discipline on their own! This is no easy task, and can instead drive new Yoga initiates away!

This is an ever more important reason why http://www.lexiyoga.com and other educational sites like it are growing in popularity. People need to be informed using simple language that communicates the truth in simple terms. They don’t want lessons in Bio-mechanics, or endless quotes from the Upanishads!

Yoga in the West, instead of being simplifying, unifying and sanctifying, has become confusing and complicated at best! One can spend hundreds of hours, ‘searching’, ‘looking’, and getting informed about the various schools and philosophical tenets, without actually starting to practice, Yoga! This can be a detour for some, and a detractor for many others! It is the practice of Yoga and not the learning of Yoga information that will elevate your existence. Yoga should be simple and easy to learn, apply and benefit from; if it isn’t, it’s not your style or fit! Change it!

Find yourself a school or a form of Yoga that is simple to learn and apply in your immediate life, to give your Life more meaning, flexibility, energy, immunity and, stamina; by applying  simple lessons and easy to perform practices; that in turn, will give you immediate and extended lasting results, both physically and spiritually.

As a health researcher and Yoga aficionado, with fifty plus years of observation and experience behind me, I can say this truly and emphatically: Save Your Life, Begin Yoga Today!