Hello. My name is Tyreik and I’m a Heart Failure patient. Some of you who read this will also know me as Pank Cup Boy. But that is just one side of me, today i want to talk about my personal life. A few years ago, i was diagnosed with Heart Disease, more specifically Congestive Heart Failure(CHF). CHF is when your heart loses the capacity to pump oxygen-rich blood efficiently to the organs in your body. A normal heart has a pumping capacity of 55-70 percent. My heart was pumping at a measly 15-20 percent. My doctor told me that a virus(Pneumonia) attack my heart muscle and weakened it, and that i would be on medication my entire life. He says unfortunately i was one of the unlucky ones. Fast forward a few years later, I was suffering from shortness of breath due to fluid in the lungs and leg swelling. My doctor put me on a cocktail of prescriptions:

Coreg(Heart): 12.5mg twice daily

Lasix(Diuretic): 40mg twice daily

Lisinopril(Blood Pressure): 20mg once a day

Pravastatin(Cholesterol): 40mg once a day

I took these medications for a few years thinking it would cure my condition. What the Doctors don’t tell you is that these medications are only meant to mask the symptoms, the underlying problem is still there. Find the underlying problem, and the symptoms go away. As soon as i realized this, i started to research for possible underlying problems. I came across an Article on Ubiquinol. Ubiquinol is the Reduced Form of Co-Q10. Co-Q10 is a vitamin-like fat soluble nutrient that works at the cellular level to enhance the Mitochondria. Mitochondria is like the engine in a car. It keeps the car running so you can do what you need to do. It is found in every cell in the human body and is mainly concentrated in the Heart and the Brain. It provides all the energy your body will never need. Fortunately, your body makes it’s own Co-Q10, but as you age or suffer from disease, you can become deficient in Co-Q10. So since i like to be well informed on a particular subject, i continue to research. I came across studies that has been done that claims that Ubiquinol helps to improve heart function and reduce symptoms. Since i’ve tried Science’s way of treatment and it has failed me, i decided to try Nature’s. So i ordered a bottle. It is a little expensive(unless you buy Co-Q10 instead of Ubiquinol) but my life is worth it. The reason i decided to buy the Reduced Form of Co-Q10 was because through research i’ve found that when people are older or suffer from disease, their body’s ability to convert Co-Q10 diminishes. I received my bottle in the mail and i start to take 200mg twice daily. A few days pass, no difference, but after a week i start to notice the swelling in my legs decreased by 1/4th. Not to mention that added energy and vivid dreams i have. A couple more weeks pass and the swelling in my legs continue to decrease. I start crying and thanking God because Nature is doing what Modern Medicine has failed to do. 

I started researching once again on other remedies that can aid in the treatment of my CHF. I came across Taurine. I discovered that Taurine helps the heart to contract and pump blood more efficiently. As a side benefit, it is also a natural diuretic. I ordered a bottle and started taking 1,000mg twice daily. Fast forward to now, and most of the swelling in my legs is gone. There is almost no signs of it. I think i have found the underlying problem with my heart. It was lacking Co-Q10 and needed a boost. I believe the virus which attacked my heart also damaged my body’s ability to properly utilize Co-Q10. When i threw Taurine in, then my heart really started dancing, and i feel amazing. I can breath much more deeply and comfortably, the swelling in my legs are almost gone, and i feel much more alert. Modern Medicine couldn’t do what Ubiquinol and Taurine has. I’m going to wait a few months then get another Echo cardiogram done and see if my heart function has improved. But by the looks of my diminishing side effects, i’m off to a great start.

If you or a family member or a friend suffers from Congestive Heart Failure, pass this blog post onto them. Talk to them about possibly trying natural remedies to improve their Heart Failure. It’s worth their quality of life and you would be foolish to not try anything and everything to save it. Thank you for reading! :)

I’ll post occasional updates on my progress as time permits.

(Source: Ubiquinol and Taurine Is Saving My Life From Heart Failure! )

Artificially sweetened drinks are often promoted as healthy alternatives for weight loss and diabetes because they are low in calories and don’t contain sugar. However, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that these diet sodas are harmful to human health. According to Sharon Fowler, MPH, an authority on this subject, “Diet soda is not a health food. In fact, it’s not a food at all, it’s simply a slurry of chemicals, a number of which may have deleterious effects on the body.” Most recently diet sodas have been tied to increased risk of stroke and heart attack, and while many people drink them as an aid to weight reduction, research suggests if you drink diet soda, weight gain may be the result instead.

Weight gain

In one study linking diet beverages to weight gain, Hazuda, et. al. at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, recorded changes in waist circumferences in 474 elderly participants in a 10-year study. As part of the study they controlled for diabetes, physical activity, neighborhood, age, sex and ethnicity. Findings showed that increases in waist sizes were 70 percent greater among those who drank diet soft drinks compared with those who did not. In addition, waist size increases were as much as 500 percent greater amongst those that drank two or more diet sodas a day.

In other research, Sharon Fowler and colleagues studied eight years of data based on individuals between 25 and 64. Of the study participants who were of normal weight in the beginning, a third were overweight or obese eight years later. In evaluating the correlation between obesity and diet drinks researchers found that every bottle of diet soda participants drank in a day raised their obesity risk by 41 percent.

Diabetes

Aspartame, a common sweetener in diet beverages, has also been linked to diabetes. In an animal study conducted at UT San Antonio, researchers fed corn oil-enriched feed to one group of mice and the same feed plus aspartame to another group. Three months later the aspartame group had elevated glucose levels but insulin levels that were equal to or less than those of the control group, suggesting that aspartame may be part of the connection between diet soda consumption and diabetes.

Corrupted Signals

What is the reason for the diet soda weight gain connection? One theory is that our bodies rely on a signaling system based on the quality of the foods we eat. In the case of diet soda, the body experiences a sweet taste and expects calories; but when they aren’t forthcoming starts to crave food, which leads to overeating. Psychologists at Purdue University tested this idea by comparing two groups of rats, one which was fed yogurt with sugar and one which was fed yogurt with saccharine. The saccharine rats ate significantly more calories, gained more weight and put on more body fat than the control group.

Sweet Cravings

Still another possibility is that eating sweets dulls our taste buds causing us to eat more sugary foods in compensation. Some 2011 research in the UK seems to support this idea. The scientists found that consumption of two cans of soda a day for a month resulted in a noticeable dulling of taste buds and increased cravings for high calorie foods. Since artificial sweeteners (which were not part of this particular study) are 200 to 300 times sweeter than sugar, it is at least possible that they may have a similar impact on our taste buds.

Sources for this article include

http://www.myhealthnewsdaily.com/1033-is-diet-soda-bad-for-you.html

http://www.uthscsa.edu/hscnews/singleformat2.asp?newID=3861

http://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2008a/080211SwithersAPA.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk

http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/artificial-sweeteners.html

The Tree of Life

The scientific name for coconut is Cocos nucifera. Early Spanish explorers called it coco, which means “monkey face” because the three indentations (eyes) on the hairy nut resembles the head and face of a monkey. Nucifera means “nut-bearing.”

The coconut provides a nutritious source of meat, juice, milk, and oil that has fed and nourished populations around the world for generations. On many islands coconut is a staple in the diet and provides the majority of the food eaten. Nearly one third of the world’s population depends on coconut to some degree for their food and their economy. Among these cultures the coconut has a long and respected history.


Coconut is highly nutritious and rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals. It is classified as a “functional food” because it provides many health benefits beyond its nutritional content. Coconut oil is of special interest because it possesses healing properties far beyond that of any other dietary oil and is extensively used in traditional medicine among Asian and Pacific populations. Pacific Islanders consider coconut oil to be the cure for all illness. The coconut palm is so highly valued by them as both a source of food and medicine that it is called “The Tree of Life.” Only recently has modern medical science unlocked the secrets to coconut’s amazing healing powers.

Coconut In Traditional Medicine

People from many diverse cultures, languages, religions, and races scattered around the globe have revered the coconut as a valuable source of both food and medicine. Wherever the coconut palm grows the people have learned of its importance as a effective medicine. For thousands of years coconut products have held a respected and valuable place in local folk medicine.

In traditional medicine around the world coconut is used to treat a wide variety of health problems including the following: abscesses, asthma, baldness, bronchitis, bruises, burns, colds, constipation, cough, dropsy, dysentery, earache, fever, flu, gingivitis, gonorrhea, irregular or painful menstruation, jaundice, kidney stones, lice, malnutrition, nausea, rash, scabies, scurvy, skin infections, sore throat, swelling, syphilis, toothache, tuberculosis, tumors, typhoid, ulcers, upset stomach, weakness, and wounds.

Coconut In Modern Medicine

Modern medical science is now confirming the use of coconut in treating many of the above conditions. Published studies in medical journals show that coconut, in one form or another, may provide a wide range of health benefits. Some of these are summarized below:
 

    Kills viruses that cause influenza, herpes, measles, hepatitis C, SARS, AIDS, and other illnesses.

    Kills bacteria that cause ulcers, throat infections, urinary tract infections, gum disease and cavities, pneumonia, and gonorrhea, and other diseases.

    Kills fungi and yeasts that cause candidiasis, ringworm, athlete’s foot, thrush, diaper rash, and other infections.

    Expels or kills tapeworms, lice, giardia, and other parasites.

    Provides a nutritional source of quick energy.

    Boosts energy and endurance, enhancing physical and athletic performance.

    Improves digestion and absorption of other nutrients including vitamins, minerals, and amino acids.

    Improves insulin secretion and utilization of blood glucose.

    Relieves stress on pancreas and enzyme systems of the body.

    Reduces symptoms associated with pancreatitis.

    Helps relieve symptoms and reduce health risks associated with diabetes.

    Reduces problems associated with malabsorption syndrome and cystic fibrosis.

    Improves calcium and magnesium absorption and supports the development of strong bones and teeth.

    Helps protect against osteoporosis.

    Helps relieve symptoms associated with gallbladder disease.

    Relieves symptoms associated with Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, and stomach ulcers.

    Improves digestion and bowel function.

    Relieves pain and irritation caused by hemorrhoids.

    Reduces inflammation.

    Supports tissue healing and repair.

    Supports and aids immune system function.

    Helps protect the body from breast, colon, and other cancers.

    Is heart healthy; improves cholesterol ratio reducing risk of heart disease.

    Protects arteries from injury that causes atherosclerosis and thus protects against heart disease.

    Helps prevent periodontal disease and tooth decay.

    Functions as a protective antioxidant.

    Helps to protect the body from harmful free radicals that promote premature aging and degenerative disease.

    Does not deplete the body’s antioxidant reserves like other oils do.

    Improves utilization of essential fatty acids and protects them from oxidation.

    Helps relieve symptoms associated with chronic fatigue syndrome.

    Relieves symptoms associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia (prostate enlargement).

    Reduces epileptic seizures.

    Helps protect against kidney disease and bladder infections.

    Dissolves kidney stones.

    Helps prevent liver disease.

    Is lower in calories than all other fats.

    Supports thyroid function.

    Promotes loss of excess weight by increasing metabolic rate.

    Is utilized by the body to produce energy in preference to being stored as body fat like other dietary fats.

    Helps prevent obesity and overweight problems.

    Applied topically helps to form a chemical barrier on the skin to ward of infection.

    Reduces symptoms associated the psoriasis, eczema, and dermatitis.

    Supports the natural chemical balance of the skin.

    Softens skin and helps relieve dryness and flaking.

    Prevents wrinkles, sagging skin, and age spots.

    Promotes healthy looking hair and complexion.

    Provides protection from damaging effects of ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

    Helps control dandruff.

    Does not form harmful by-products when heated to normal cooking temperature like other vegetable oils do.

    Has no harmful or discomforting side effects.

    Is completely non-toxic to humans.

See Research to read some of the published studies regarding the above mentioned uses of coconut products.

Coconut Oil

While coconut possesses many health benefits due to its fiber and nutritional content, it’s the oil that makes it a truly remarkable food and medicine.

Once mistakenly believed to be unhealthy because of its high saturated fat content, it is now known that the fat in coconut oil is a unique and different from most all other fats and possesses many health giving properties. It is now gaining long overdue recognition as a nutritious health food.

Coconut oil has been described as “the healthiest oil on earth.” That’s quite a remarkable statement. What makes coconut oil so good? What makes it different from all other oils, especially other saturated fats?

The difference is in the fat molecule. All fats and oils are composed of molecules called fatty acids. There are two methods of classifying fatty acids. The first you are probably familiar with, is based on saturation. You have saturated fats, monounsaturated fats, and polyunsaturated fats. Another system of classification is based on molecular size or length of the carbon chain within each fatty acid. Fatty acids consist of long chains of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms attached. In this system you have short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA), and long-chain fatty acids (LCFA). Coconut oil is composed predominately of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA), also known as medium-chain triglycerides (MCT).

The vast majority of fats and oils in our diets, whether they are saturated or unsaturated or come from animals or plants, are composed of long-chain fatty acids (LCFA). Some 98 to 100% of all the fatty acids you consume are LCFA.

The size of the fatty acid is extremely important. Why? Because our bodies respond to and metabolize each fatty acid differently depending on its size. So the physiological effects of MCFA in coconut oil are distinctly different from those of LCFA more commonly found in our foods. The saturated fatty acids in coconut oil are predominately medium-chain fatty acids. Both the saturated and unsaturated fat found in meat, milk, eggs, and plants (including most all vegetable oils) are composed of LCFA.

MCFA are very different from LCFA. They do not have a negative effect on cholesterol and help to protect against heart disease. MCFA help to lower the risk of both atherosclerosis and heart disease. It is primarily due to the MCFA in coconut oil that makes it so special and so beneficial.

There are only a very few good dietary sources of MCFA. By far the best sources are from coconut and palm kernel oils.

Copyright © 2004 Coconut Research Center

This website is for educational purposes only. The information supplied here comes from a variety of sources and authors and not every statement made has been evaluated by the FDA. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Remember that old saying your Mom and Dad use to pound in your head, “Don’t Forget To Take Your Vitamin C”! The truth is, if you’ve never taken sound advice from your parents before, now would be a great time to do it, especially when it comes to Vitamin C. Also known as ”Ascorbic Acid”, this wonderfully extremely potent anti-oxidant is a powerful fighter against your common colds and flus. Sure, fruits and vegetables contain Vitamin C but when you’re sick, you need to increase your intake DRASTICALLY! And by drastically I mean around 9,000 to 10,000mg(s)! Now that may sound like a huge dose, but I personally took that amount everyday until I was cured of my aggressive cold. It took no more than 3 days for most of my symptoms to subside. I felt almost brand new when I drastically increased my Vitamin C intake. Ascorbic Acid works by getting rid of the Free Radicals(Oxidation) in your body! Free Radicals are the cause of most illnesses and diseases in our Modern world today.

The truth is, modern medicine does little to cure just about anything. It’s purpose is to treat the symptoms, not the cause. That’s why Pharmaceuticals make billions of dollars every year, because people keep going back for refills! If medicine truly did treat the cause, the disease would be cured, and there would be no need for refilled prescriptions! Now where’s the money in that? Even Cancer patients who get Chemotherapy die, because not only does Chemotherapy kill cancer cells, it also destroys healthy cells weakening the body making it vulnerable to deterioration! If you don’t believe me look it up, there are multiple facts that back up my allegations. Today’s medicine does little to help the body fight disease, the body does it on it’s own, the medicine just covers up the symptoms while the body does the work! You understand what I’m saying? Natural medicine not only treats the cause, it helps your body fight the illness making you feel better faster! Did you know that the body treats all modern medicines as a Toxin? It is because it is not naturally occurring, it is synthesized(Artificial)! That is why you experience a plethora of side-effects when you take these medicines, because your body thinks it’s an invader, and tries to fight it! But slowly and surely, the world is being re-acquainted with natural medicines, as a powerful alternative. I’m also going down this road, because I’ve learned from experience that modern medicine does little for me!

I’m aware that most people take the popular brand Emergen-C as a Vitamin C supplement when they get sick, but the truth is, unless you’re taking 10 pills a day of this, you’re not really getting the real benefit. The only way to accurately measure how much you should take is getting it in the powdered form! This form is very easy to take and doesn’t require constant swallowing of pills. Each teaspoon holds 2.5mg of Vitamin C! The good news is that it is virtually impossible to overdose on Ascorbic Acid because it is water soluble. Meaning that any excess is simple excreted through urine. When you’re sick, most experts agree that you should take Vitamin C until you reach saturation. Saturation is when experience the common side-effect with Vitamin C: Diarrhea! Once you’ve reached that, you know that your body has had enough! It usually takes about 30 minutes after consumption for you to experience this common side-effect! Experts say that if you do not reach saturation increase your dosage every 30 minutes until you do! It is advised to then record the dosage it took for you to reach saturation so you can take that same dosage the next day until you feel better!

If you would like to know where you can buy the powdered form of Ascorbic Acid(Vitamin C), please feel free to Twitter Me @Mr_Andogyny!

Love Ya!

I want this photo to serve as the FIRST official full body examination of my progress! Now this photo was taken after I’ve already lost 25 pounds! I say 25 pounds instead of 50 pounds like I’ve said before for a reason and I’ll get to that in a minute! I chose low-carb because to me, it seemed to make the most sense health-wise. Carbs raises the blood sugar which leads to insulin resistance which leads to type 2 diabetes! That, i do not want! My mom, and a lot of my family members are diabetic. And i refuse to suffer from the same diseases as my family. So i decided to modify my diet. I hate saying ”diet” but for the sake of my readers and this blog post, i will say ”diet”! If you look at the American Diet, you see that our way of eating is all about portion-size, sugars, and refined carbohydrates. McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Checkers, KFC, all of those foods are not only unhealthy, but cause disease! If you consider the anatomy of our bodies, and the evolutionary process of time, we’ve only been eating carbohydrates for the past 10,000 years. Now that may seem like a long time for our bodies to adapt to this lifestyle, but consider this. We’ve been eating meats and vegetables for over 2 million years! 10,000 years is not even one fourth close to what our bodies are adapted to properly handle! This is one of the reasons I disagree with vegetarians who say that only eating carbs and vegetables is the healthy way to go! I feel that some of their reasoning about not eating meat is because they’re against killing animals. But the fact of the matter is, they would not think twice about a lion killing a buffalo to survive! It’s the law of nature, it’s how we’ve survived for all of these years! We are omnivores, we eat meats and vegetables. That’s how it’s always been, and for vegetarians to try to change 2.5 million years of survival instincts is absurd and unrealistic in my opinion!

Now the reason why i said I’ve only lost 25 pounds instead of 50 pounds is because when you consider fat loss and weight loss, those are two totally different things. I’m against weight loss, because people should not aspire to lose WEIGHT! That would be foolish considering you can be easily physically manipulated and the biggest baddest people always survive! That’s just how it’s always been! Instead you should aspire to lose FAT and increase weight! And what i mean by that, is gain lean muscle mass and in turn it’ll burn the fat! I’ve been working out at the gym for about an hour, 2-3 times a week lifting weights and doing cardio! And when people ask me how much weight i lost, i say 25 pounds. They look at me, and they say ”oh you look like you lost more than that”! See they don’t understand that when you lose FAT you look like you lost more because FAT takes up so much room in your body! So when you decrease FAT and gain muscle, you look like you lost much more than what the scale says. So in reality, if i only count FAT loss, I’ve only lost 25 pounds! The rest of that is water weight! That doesn’t include the pounds of lean muscle i gained, which currently i do not have a measuring tool for, so that number is most likely inaccurate!

In closing I would like to say that if you’re planning on embarking on your own weight loss journey, make sure you research research research! Then decide what’s best for YOU! I found low-carb to be best for me because it’s a diet i can easily follow! It was hard giving up all the sugary foods, and carbohydrates, but in the end, the results speak for themselves, and i couldn’t be happier! :D

Most of us have heard the good advice that we need to eat less sugar - and rightly so. However, despite the numerous warnings by health authorities of the ill effects of sugar, the majority of the population is still consuming sugar on a daily basis in some form or other. “Sugar” is both a broad category and a misleading one. Let’s examine it for our health’s sake.

We do not have to consume white, refined sugar to be consuming sugar. Sugar includes glucose, fructose (as in fruit sugar), lactose (as in milk), sucrose (as in table sugar), maltose or malts (as in rice malt and honey), jam (contains concentrated juice, which is high in fruit sugar), maple syrup, corn syrup, palm sugar (traditionally used in macrobiotic cooking), and the very deceiving organic brown sugar, which is not all that different from white sugar. Even alcohol is a sugar. All of these sugars are problematic in many different ways.

The sugar industry is not in decline and obesity is on the increase. Sugar is a major culprit in the case against obesity. For obese individuals, consuming even a teaspoon of sugar a day would cause metabolic imbalances that contribute to obesity. Sugar is to be avoided, not only by the obese but by healthy individuals.

Is there rationale behind the statement, ‘Sugar is to be avoided’? Definitely!

Nancy Appleton, PhD, clinical nutritionist, has compiled a list of 146 reasons on ‘how sugar is ruining your health’ in her book Lick the Sugar Habit. Here are some of them:

* Sugar can decrease growth hormone (the key to staying youthful and lean)

* Sugar feeds cancer

* Sugar increases cholesterol

* Sugar can weaken eyesight

* Sugar can cause drowsiness and decreased activity in children

* Sugar can interfere with the absorption of protein

* Sugar causes food allergies

* Sugar contributes to diabetes

* Sugar can contribute to eczema in children

* Sugar can cause cardiovascular disease

* Sugar can impair the structure of DNA

* Sugar can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children

* Sugar contributes to the reduction in defense against bacterial infection (infectious diseases)

* Sugar greatly assists the uncontrolled growth of Candida Albicans (yeast infections)

* Sugar contributes to osteoporosis

The body changes sugar into 2 to 5 times more fat in the bloodstream than it does starch. With 146 proven reasons why sugar is bad for us, is there perhaps one single reason as to why we might need it? The only interesting thing about sugar is that it tastes good and makes us temporarily feel good. This is an area worth exploring.

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), a 5000 year-old wisdom of self-contained knowledge of healing, we all need sweetness in our life. We need six tastes: sweet, sour, salty, astringent, bitter and pungent to stimulate the taste buds on our tongue at main meals, in order to experience satiety.

Satiety and cravings are the result of imbalances in brain chemistry and have nothing to do with fullness of the stomach. When foods hit our tongue, our taste buds relay the bio-chemical information to the brain, stimulating various parts of the hypothalamus – the ‘satiety centre’. The tongue is also a mini representation of the body, just like in reflexology, and contains points that stimulate all the organs in the body. Avoiding sweetness would be unnatural and unnecessary, as this will inevitably lead to imbalances and sweet cravings. This is why people have such a hard time giving up sugar; it is almost impossible to get children to stay away from it.

Many people really try hard to avoid sugar, and do not sweeten their tea or coffee, yet they crave sugar in some other form, such as chocolates, cakes, ice cream or even fruit - dates and figs. Dates are 99% sugar, in the form of fructose. When a person is in metabolic balance they do not crave sugar. If they do, it is a sign of a metabolic imbalance and it can be corrected without having to consume sugar.

The wonderful thing is that we do not have to give up the sweetness of sugar in order to be healthy; we just need to replace it with better alternatives. While giving up sugar is very difficult, replacing it is now very easy. There are two natural, organic sugar alternatives that are sweet, easy to use and cook with – stevia and xylitol. They may sound like chemicals but they are completely natural and have been proven not only safe but beneficial for our well-being.

The best one to use is Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) from the Asteraceae family, which was rediscovered by Dr. M. S. Bertoni in 1888. Stevia is a herb that has been used as a sweetener in South America for hundreds of years. It is calorie-free, which means it has no effect on our bodies’ production of insulin. Stevia, in its powdered concentrate, is 300 times sweeter than sugar, so only tiny amounts are needed for sweetening. Stevia is widely used all over the world. In Japan, for example, it claims 41% of the sweetener market, including sugar, and was used in Japanese Diet Coke until the company replaced it with aspartame (to “standardize” worldwide).

There have not been any reports of toxicity with stevia, which is consumed by millions of people daily. However, in the US, the FDA, and in Australia, the FSANZ, do not allow stevia to be used as a food additive. But in China, Japan, Taiwan and Korea, stevia is fully approved and has proven to be safe, with no toxicity reported from its use to date. In Australia stevia is sold as a supplement and it is readily available from various distributors. A wonderful article that puts the whole sugar industry in perspective is published by the Herb Research Foundation: Stevia Leaf - Too Good To Be Legal? by Rob McCaleb (http://www.dorway.com/stevia2.html) .

The only thing that deters people using stevia is that it can taste a little bitter in drinks and in some recipes, but this can be overcome by using another wonderful sweetener, called xylitol, in combination with stevia for ideal sugar replacement.

Xylitol is a natural substance found in fibrous vegetables and fruit, as well as in corn cobs and various hardwood trees, like birch. It is a natural, intermediate product that regularly occurs in the glucose metabolism of humans and animals, as well as in the metabolism of several plants.

Xylitol is so natural that our bodies produce up to 15 grams of it daily during normal metabolism. Xylitol has been known to organic chemistry since the 1890’s. Studies on both humans and rodents have shown that xylitol, when administered orally, is well tolerated and safe to levels of at least 40g per day (which equates to some 10-12 teaspoons of sugar) with no subjective or objective adverse findings. Importantly, much less insulin is released into the blood during xylitol administration than during glucose administration. This is obviously a very good thing for insulin-sensitive individuals or for anyone concerned with weight loss, as insulin (apart from driving the glucose into the cells) also tells the body to store even slight excess carbohydrates as fat, rather than to use them as energy.

Relatively high quantities of xylitol are found in plums, raspberries and cauliflower (0.3 to 0.9 g per 100 g dry matter; the quantities vary depending on plant varieties). Even though xylitol is derived from fruits and vegetables, it is not the same as fructose. Xylitol is a five-carbon sugar, which means that it is anti-microbial (prevents the growth of bacteria), whereas all other forms of sugar are six-carbon sugars, which cause bacterial and fungi overgrowth.

Xylitol looks, feels and tastes exactly like sugar - though that is where the similarity ends! While sugar wreaks havoc on the body, xylitol heals and repairs. It also builds immunity.

There are many benefits of using xylitol as a sugar substitute:

* Glycemic index of 7 (sucrose is 60)

* Minimal effect on blood sugar and insulin levels

* Inhibits yeast, including Candida Albicans (It actually helps fight candida)

* Inhibits plaque and dental cavities by 80% (Dentists use it and recommend xylitol toothpaste)

* Retards demineralization, and promotes re-mineralization, of tooth enamel

Based on scientific and public health evaluations, xylitol has been approved in virtually all industrialized countries to be used in oral hygiene products and in other products to promote oral health.

In its crystalline form, it can replace sugar in cooking, baking, and as a sweetener for beverages. Xylitol is used in chewing gum, mints and hygiene products, such as nasal and mouth washes, because it inhibits bacteria. Unlike many artificial sweeteners, it leaves no unpleasant aftertaste.
Xylitol is formally approved in over 50 countries worldwide. Xylitol has no known toxic levels (Except that quantities over 90 gm/day may have a laxative effect).

The amount tolerated varies with individual susceptibility and body weight. Most adults can tolerate at least 40 gm/day. The only problem with xylitol is that it costs more than sugar, however, if we combine it with stevia in the ratio of 12:1 (12 parts of xylitol to 1 part of stevia), it becomes more cost effective and is a healthy way to sweeten our taste buds and satisfy our brain! Imagine eating cakes and chocolates that not only taste good but are also good for our teeth? You can literally have your cake and enjoy it without the guilt or empty detrimental sugar calories!

References:

Nancy Appleton Ph.D (http://www.nancyappleton.com/)

(http://www.ghchealth.com/refined-sugar-the-sweetest-poison-of-all.htm…)

Hallfrisch, Judith, Metabolic Effects of Dietary Fructose, FASEB Journal 4 (June 1990): 2652-2660.

J. J. Rumessen and E. Gudmand-Hoyer, Functional Bowel Disease: Malabsorption and Abdominal Distress After Ingestion of Fructose, Sorbitol, and Fructose-Sorbitol Mixtures, Gastroenterology 95, no. 3 (September 1988): 694-700.

(http://www.riverhouse.com.au/factsheets/stevia.html)

(http://www.riverhouse.com.au/factsheets/stevia.html)

(http://www.xylitol.org/)

Every single day, a silent horror kills more Americans than were killed on 9/11.  Every single year, this silent horror kills about as many Americans as have been killed on all the battlefields in all of the wars in U.S. history combined.  This silent horror is called abortion, and it is a national disgrace.  Overall, more than 50 million babies have been slaughtered since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973.  We have become a nation with so little regard for human life that nobody even really talks that much about this issue anymore.  But the truth is that it is at the very core of what is wrong with America.  As I have written about previously, we have become a nation that is obsessed with population control, and we have been exporting this sick philosophy all over the globe.  As you read this, there are workers from U.S. organizations and UN organizations (both funded by your tax dollars) that are on the other side of the world setting up “family planning services” for women in poor countries.  The goal of these organizations (just like we see in the United States) is to reduce the number of poor children being born.  The sick control freaks that run things have decided that overpopulation is a plague that must be eradicated and that mass murder is the answer.  Unfortunately, there are very few people that are still willing to speak out strongly against abortion in America.  So the carnage is just going to go on and on and on.

What will the history books say about a nation that murdered 50 million of its own babies?

The following are 19 facts about abortion in America that should make you very sick….

#1 There have been more than 53 million abortions performed in the United States since Roe v. Wade was decided back in 1973.

#2 When you total up all forms of abortion, including those caused by the abortion drug RU 486, the grand total comes to more than a million abortions performed in the United States every single year.

#3 The number of American babies killed by abortion each year is roughly equal to the number of U.S. military deaths that have occurred in all of the wars that the United States has ever been involved in combined.

#4 Approximately 3,000 Americans lost their lives as a result of the destruction of the World Trade Center towers on 9/11.  Every single day, more than 3,000 American babies are killed by abortion.

#5 It has been reported that a staggering 41 percent of all New York City pregnancies end in abortion.

#6 According to Pastor Clenard Childress, approximately 52 percent of all African-American pregnancies now end in abortion.

#7 One very shocking study found that 86 percent of all abortions are done for the sake of convenience.

#8 According to the Guttmacher Institute, the average cost of a first trimester abortion at the ten week mark is $451.

#9 The average cost of a vaginal birth with no complications in the United States is now over $9,000.

#10 A Department of Homeland Security report that was released in January 2012 says that if you are “anti-abortion”, you are a potential terrorist.  Unfortunately, there have also been other government reports that have also identified “anti-abortion” protesters as potential threats.

#11 A while back one Philadelphia abortionist was charged with killing seven babies that were born alive, but witnesses claim that he actually slaughtered hundreds “of living, breathing newborn children by severing their spinal cords or slitting their necks.”

#12 Some abortion clinics have been caught selling aborted baby parts to medical researchers.

#13 Planned Parenthood Founder Margaret Sanger once said the following….

“The most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.”

#14 In a 1922 book entitled “Woman, Morality, and Birth Control”, Planned Parenthood Founder Margaret Sanger wrote the following….

“Birth control must lead ultimately to a cleaner race.”

#15 Planned Parenthood performs more than 300,000 abortions every single year.

#16 Planned Parenthood specifically targets the poor.  A staggering 72 percent of Planned Parenthood’s “customers” have incomes that are either equal to or beneath 150 percent of the federal poverty level.

#17 There are 30 Planned Parenthood executives that make more than $200,000 a year.  A few of them make more than $300,000 a year.

#18 Planned Parenthood received more than 487 million dollars from the federal government during 2010.

#19 The following is one description of the five steps of a partial birth abortion….

1) Guided by ultrasound, the abortionist grabs the baby’s legs with forceps.

2) The baby’s leg is pulled out into the birth canal.

3) The abortionist delivers the baby’s entire body, except for the head.

4) The abortionist jams scissors into the baby’s skull. The scissors are then opened to enlarge the skull.

5) The scissors are removed and a suction catheter is inserted. The child’s brains are sucked out, causing the skull to collapse. The dead baby is then removed.

How can we murder our own children?

Unfortunately, there are organizations out there such as Planned Parenthood that spend millions upon millions of dollars trying to convince the American people that abortion is okay.  Just check out this jaw dropping propaganda video.

And every single year, politicians from both political parties continue to vote to give hundreds of millions of our tax dollars to Planned Parenthood.

Our politicians talk about how we need to spread our values to the rest of the world, but what kind of “values” do we really have when we have such little respect for human life?

There is no hope for America as long as this mass slaughter of innocent children continues to go on all across the United States.

Please share this list of facts about abortion in America with as many people as you can.  We need to wake the American people up.  Most Americans spend their days in an entertainment-induced haze and take very little time to think about the issues that really matter.

And if you think that the issue of abortion does not matter, then you are dead wrong.

The mass murder of more than 50 million American babies is something that cannot be ignored.

Their blood is crying out to us from the ground where it has been spilled.

Yes, this article is going to make a lot of people uncomfortable, but it is the truth.

Isn’t it time that someone started telling the truth in America?

Source: http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/19-facts-about-abortion-in-america-that-should-make-you-very-sick