Friday, May 30, 2008

Flax seed: Oil or Seed?

We've all seen the flax seed oil in health food shops. it's usually in the cooler and in a dark bottle, because it's sought after ingredient, the lignans, lose potency with oxidation, and oxidation happens very fast with flax oil (not to mention all the other oils like rapeseed.. er.. canola!

So here's an interesting article about how to buy and use flax seed to your best advantage.
Click to read

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Little Things Add Up, I Guess...

Like to give up stirring your coffee? No more hot wet sticky spoons? No more wondering if the person who used it last cleaned it? Go ahead, it'll make your day!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Who said Computer Games Were a Waste of Technology?

My son and his friends are hard core gamers. For that reason I'm able to keep up with latest trends, and one device he has talked about over the years is a pair of 'glasses' that you wear to play computer games instead of watching a computer monitor.

I never actually saw a good example of this, but now I find that the technology has been adapted for partially blind and people suffering from macular degeneration.

This is quite amazing to me because only last week I attended my brother-in-law's 80th birthday party. Phil has been extremely active all his life as a farmer and later as a builder. However now all those sun-bleached days on the tractor are now wreaking vengeance on his eyes in the form of increasing macular degeneration, even though he still has the energy to be out there working every day.

Take a look at this device and you'll be amazed. They describe it as taking a partially blind person into a cinema with a seventy foot screen. And if you have a paltry four G's it's yours. Check the video on the site as well.

Plants for Your Health

There is a wonderful way to rid your home or office air of all sorts of impurities. It's called plants, and this downloadable chart shows you the best of the best.

Get Rid of Pesticides on your Food FOR GOOD!

There's an amazing statistic I read a few days ago. The average Western family brings SIX kilos of pesticide residue into their home from the supermarket every year.

Well that may be bad news but my news is good news. We've been ridding our fruit an
d vegetables of pesticides, hormone sprays, bacteria and mould right here at home for the last six months! In fact Cassie and I feel kinda smug explaining what our lotus does to visitors!

It's sad but true that we don't all have access to organic food, and even when we do we can't be sure it hasn't got bacterial problem
s or mouldy bits. But when we shop at the supermarket we're bringing home our personal toxic waste dumps, coating our food and eating it in every bite. Latest statistics say we have at least 600 unidentified chemical compounds inside us.

There is an answer - and we have it. The amazing, awar
d-winning, super smart lotus sanitizer. And we love it. Once you've had lotus tell you just how poisonous that cauliflower or peach is, you begin to understand why we are all getting sick.

The wonderful thing about the lotus sanitizer, a simple 'dunk
and clean' device, is that unlike any other cleansing device, it TELLS you when it has eliminated the poison. If it hasn't, it tells you to do it again.

When we come home from the farmer's market, it'
s a simple matter to separate out the non-organic vegies and fruit and do a mass 'dunk' of them before storing them in the fridge. We'll do the organic stuff too because we've found the goodies last up to 4 times as long!But that's not all. Its patented OxyShield technology let's you use it to clean the house as well. It's faster and more powerful than bleach.. but what is it? Water!
Mums with babes in arms can even sanitize their bottles with it instead of boiling them!

As you know, I like to really check things out carefully before we sell them here at ION LIFE and lotus has won our hearts. We get our first shipment in about two weeks and expect them to sell out in days. Hey, it was even Time magazine invention of the year in 2006!

If you need to know more, click here.
And yes, you can pre-order now.

Want to beat Jet Lag? Don't Eat!

A study conducted by Harvard Med School researchers has concluded that a 16-hour fast prior to long-distance travel can cause the brain's circadian clock to reset, beating jetlag:

Normally, the body's natural circadian clock in the brain dictates when to wake, eat and sleep, all in response to light. But it seems a second clock takes over when food is scarce, and manipulating this clock might help travelers adjust to new time zones, they said.

"A period of fasting with no food at all for about 16 hours is enough to engage this new clock," said Dr. Clifford Saper of Harvard Medical School, whose study appears in the journal Science.

He said a person from the United States traveling to Japan must adjust to a 11-hour time change.

"Because the body's clock can only shift a small amount each day, it takes the average person about a week to adjust to the new time zone. And, by then, it's often time to come home," Saper said in a statement.

Coke Takes Action on additive that may screw up our DNA.

Coca-Cola is phasing out a controversial additive that has been linked to damage to DNA and hyperactivity in children.

Sodium benzoate, also known as E211, is used to stop fizzy drinks going mouldy.

Coca-Cola said it had begun withdrawing the additive from Diet Coke in January in response to consumer demand for more natural products.

By the end of the year no can or bottle will contain E211.

Ian: Of course a better answer by far is to just not drink the stuff, but I guess that's too much to ask!

More

Ever think how food feels waiting for us to eat it?


This (and more here) pic may enlighten us. Or not.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Cluster Bombs; the nasty end of humanity

I don't, as a rule, bring up subjects like this but I'm going to anyway, mainly because I do have this belief that there are people like me who read this blog; people who hold to the idea of making a difference.

In Australia, we have a highly successful organisation known as
Getup, which although few in membership, had a profound effect on our last election because of its ability to combine web-based creativity with targeted lobbying. Here's an example of what Getup does, and my reason for posting is that I have a personal abhorrence of weapons designed to indiscriminately kill.. and cluster bombs and land mines, as far as I can see, are about the worst invention for a long time.

The world is changing, and nations are seeing that there can be a better way, but some nations, for purely economic reasons,a re choosing not to support change. Sadly, my country is one of those few.

Take a look
and see how Getup works.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Gym Workout Discovers Secret of Hydration


Peter, our sales manager here at ION LIFE attended an open day at Spirit gym on the weekend. Duly impressed with their new and groovy equipment, he signed on for a get fit course.

First step was to check in with a trainer, who popped him on the combo scales and hydration monitor. The trainer looked closely at the dial of the hydration monitor, and asked, "Er, how much water do you drink?" Peter answered truthfully, "Oh about 1.5 to 2 litres a day. Why?"

The trainer checked his reading to be sure and looked up. "You have the best hydration reading I've ever seen. What's your secret?"

(All together now, one.. two.. three!)

ION LIFE ALKALINE IONIZED WATER!

I can't help it, I have to show you this ROCKET powered bicycle!


Just when I was feeling very smug with my electric bicycle, along comes the ultimate powerpack for a bike.
Here's the link to a moment of total madness.
And here's a pic (above) to give you a taste. But hey, my bike is way quieter!

A Totally Powerful Video about Climate Change Management Through Vegetarianism.

Smoker's lips from Bottled water

Right on the heels of the polycarbonate bottle scare, now we're being told that we'll get smoker's wrinkles if we drink too often from the standard plastic water bottle. So if the hormones in polycarbonate don't grow moustache hair, then the wrinkles will get ya anyway!
Here's the report.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Another View of Climate Change


It may not 'make your day' but the news of an expert telling us we're not all going to cook, but freeze to death is a new slant on the whole Climate Change debate. Cheryl sent me this link to another reradicallyn different viewpoint.

Friday, May 16, 2008

And another Great Book

GOOD CALORIES, BAD CALORIES

In this groundbreaking book, the result of seven years of research in every science connected with the impact of nutrition on health, award-winning science writer Gary Taubes shows us that almost everything we believe about the nature of a healthy diet is wrong.

For decades we have been taught that fat is bad for us, carbohydrates better, and that the key to a healthy weight is eating less and exercising more. Yet with more and more people acting on this advice, we have seen unprecedented epidemics of obesity and diabetes. Taubes argues persuasively that the problem lies in refined carbohydrates (white flour, sugar, easily digested starches) and sugars–via their dramatic and longterm effects on insulin, the hormone that regulates fat accumulation–and that the key to good health is the kind of calories we take in, not the number. There are good calories, and bad ones.

Taubes traces how the common assumption that carbohydrates are fattening was abandoned in the 1960s when fat and cholesterol were blamed for heart disease and then –wrongly–were seen as the causes of a host of other maladies, including cancer. He shows us how these unproven hypotheses were emphatically embraced by authorities in nutrition, public health, and clinical medicine, in spite of how well-conceived clinical trials have consistently refuted them. He also documents the dietary trials of carbohydrate-restriction, which consistently show that the fewer carbohydrates we consume, the leaner we will be.

With precise references to the most significant existing clinical studies, he convinces us that there is no compelling scientific evidence demonstrating that saturated fat and cholesterol cause heart disease. Based on the evidence that does exist, he leads us to conclude that the only healthy way to lose weight and remain lean is to eat fewer carbohydrates or to change the type of the carbohydrates we do eat, and, for some of us, perhaps to eat virtually none at all.

To read more or order this book, go here

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Four Health telltales

Dr. Anthony Martin wrote a wonderful book called "Medical Crisis: Secrets Your Doctor Won't Share With You".

He claims breast and prostate cancer are nearly 100 percent preventable and that it's more than five years fbefore most cancers grow to the size of the tip of a ball point pen.

Doc Martin says "By the time cancer is found, the patient may have missed precious time."

He isolates four warning signs to catch illness early:

-- If tired for three weeks straight, the body is saying something is wrong. Long-term fatigue is tied to red blood cells and liver, kidney or brain trouble. Ask your doctor for a simple blood test.

-- The body produces free radicals to detoxify itself. When balanced, they are used by the immune system to destroy bacteria and viruses. Ask for a urine test.

-- Fat cells or cells that are too "puffy," can lead to asthma, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Ask for a blood test.

-- Water in the body is either acidic or alkaline. An unbalanced pH is a breeding ground for cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and premature aging. Ask for a saliva test.

Ian: With reference to the last point, some of you may have read an article in 'Informed Choice' by a seller of a volcanic water filters, claiming alkaline water isn't good for health. Perhaps the author might like to call up Doc Martin.

Dr. Martin also has some serious words to say about the devastating new laws all Canadians are facing, where any natural product may arbitrarily be designated a drug. Draconian in the extreme, these new regulations must be fought. Take a look at what the Doc has to say here

Pregnancy and Alkalinity

Sang Whang, in his great book "Reverse Ageing" talks about the Korean theory of alkalinizing the body to affect the sex of a baby. Since I read his book a number of supportive articles have passed through my computer monitor. Now it appears that a study in the New England Medical journal shows that alkalinizing will reduce the possibility of birth complications. It seems a high sugar (read: acidic~ Ian)level in the blood affects the safety of your birth. You don't have to be so acidic as to be diabetic for this to happen.

The study found that high blood sugar levels increased the possibility of an abnormally large baby plus the need for a caesarean. It also found that premature birth (before 37 weeks) was more possible, plus injuries to the baby during birth. The seven year study involved 23, 316 women.

So what's the answer? The authors of the report say that pregnant women should have their blood sugar levels checked throughout pregnancy, but hey, what about simply alkalizing and cutting out the sweeties? Isn't monitoring just reporting on what is patently obvious?

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

IonWays vs. KANGEN WATER (tm)

I had a visit from David Forsyth, managing director of ION LIFE USA and partner in Ion Ways, the highly successful network marketing offshoot that is blitzing USA and now beginning in Canada.

David and I are old mates from way back, so we compared paths yesterday and found that both of us were facing the same challenges (not including our wild women!). We are both fully cognizant of the potential of our businesses and we both have a deep need to keep going because we derive so much satisfaction from helping people.

After he left David sent me a copy of a comparison of water alkalizers that had been carried out by two independent researchers who had been asked to advise an third party organisation on what water alkalizer was the best, and which organisation behind then alkalizer would be the best to work with. If you are interested in working in a heart-based way, I think you will be interested in the researcher's comments.

Cancer Treatment Results graph

This graph represents outcomes from standard (non-alternative) cancer treatment. More and bigger graphic and information from Dr Ralph Moss on this vs. alternative cancer treatments here

For my American Friends

A graphic representation of what has happened to poor old Dollar Bill.
Here

Something to occupy your mind.

You'll find more pics and the answer here.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Growing Food More Energy Demanding Than Freighting it.

Carnegie Mellon University researcher Christopher Weber found that food transport accounts for only 11 percent of food-associated greenhouse gas emissions, while production contributes a whopping 83 percent. Specifically, nitrous oxide and methane -- mainly byproducts of fertilizer use, manure management and animal digestion -- make up a far bigger piece of the emissions pie than emissions from transporting our food from faraway places, the study found.

Weber and colleague Scott Matthews conducted a life-cycle assessment of greenhouse gases emitted during all stages of growing and transporting food consumed in the U.S. (using Department of Commerce data) and calculated that the average U.S. household generates 8.1 metric tons (t) of greenhouse gases (in CO2 equivalents) annually as a result of food consumption. By comparison, driving a car that gets 25 miles per gallon of gasoline for 12,000 miles per year (the U.S. average) produces about 4.4 tons of CO2.

Even more surprising, the study noted that U.S. consumers can do more to reduce greenhouse gases by eating one-seventh of a week’s calories from chicken, fish or vegetables instead of red meat or dairy than buying all local foods.:: Via Science News

This Man will never sneak up the stairs again!

One would expect that an artificial hip implant would work as ordered. What would you do if it developed a squeak? A strange yet funny tale of one man's misfortune here.

Goodbye Polycarbonate Bottles!

I mentioned last week that we are no longer ordering polycarbonate bottles for our clients. Like so many products before them, polycarbonate bottles, baby bottles and food containers had found a unique place in our homes, kitchens and sports due to the apparently safe recycling capabilities. Only now do we find that they can leak Bisphenol-A, an estrogen-like substance when washed in ordinary detergent (as you do).

On April 18, Canada announced that it would ban baby bottles containing bisphenol A beginning in mid-June. The action would make Canada the first country in the world to set exposure limits on the chemical. The U.S. National Toxicology Program, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, also recently concluded that there is “some concern” (don't you love that legalistic
nom de guerre) that fetuses, infants and children may be harmed by the amounts of bisphenol A that leach out of many brands of baby bottles, hard-plastic water bottles and food cans lined with epoxy resin.

I've added a link to an interview with David Feldman, MD, emeritus professor of endocrinology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, who identified this risk... are you ready?.. in the early 1990'S.. over a decade ago!

The interesting thing is that he found the Bisphenol-A by accident while looking for steroid hormone receptors in yeast. His lab was using “autoclavable” polycarbonate flasks for his research work, and this is where, after a little deep detective work, Dr Feldman realised the Bisphenol-A had come from. He says:
"At that point we realized that we had identified a molecule that was leaching out of the plastic that, because of its estrogenic hormone-like properties, had the potential to be important and perhaps even dangerous to people who were eating or drinking out of containers made of this type of plastic, polycarbonate. Since polycarbonate has so many uses as a clear and strong plastic, it is ubiquitous in packaging food and beverages, and epoxy resin is used in lining metal cans."

He readily admits that there's work to be done to find 'acceptable' levels of BPA for humans, but adds that "..in the 2003-04 National Health and Nutrition Survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, 93 percent of about 2,500 people ages 6 and above had detectable levels of bisphenol A in their urine. So almost everyone is exposed. We also know that bisphenol A is similar in chemical structure to diethylstilbestrol, a synthetic estrogen that has been linked to the development of vaginal cancer and other toxicities in the daughters of women who took the drug during the ’50s and ’60s to prevent miscarriage. So we know that it is possible for some of these synthetic estrogenlike compounds to have bad effects many years after initial exposure. We also need to remember that the effects of these so-called “environmental estrogens” or “endocrine disrupters” are additive. There are many different ways we can be exposed to these various compounds and they are cumulative."

We are on the job already, chasing up alternatives, but the bleeding obvious for almost all uses is that old family friend, glass. Amazingly, as a society, we smash and trash millions of bottles every year so they can be refilled with alcoholic beverages, rather than washing and re-using them.

Here's a link to the site of a more moral supplier of Polycarbonate wares that will show you what you may have in your own cupboard.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Benjamin H. Grumbles about rocket fuel in water

Here's an article about perchlorate in the drinking water of 11,000,000 Americans. One would think that there would be eleven million reasons for the government to do something about it especially when it's already known that its adverse health effects are especially pernicious in infants or developing fetuses; even at low levels, the chemical can block the thyroid gland's ability to absorb iodide from the bloodstream -- inhibiting normal brain development.

But, even when the good senator Grumbles grumbled about being harrassed by Senator Barbara Boxer, Grumbles answered that there was a "distinct possibility"
(read: almost guaranteed) that it would not do a damn thing.

Ian: It wasn't long ago that lettuce growers nearby had crops condemned from the rocket fuel on their produce. One enterprising grower just re-labelled his iceberg, calling it 'Rocket'.

More from Tree Hugger

How to Stop Chewing food: ever home should have one...


French scientists have devised a machine that, they claim, chews up food just like a human. My question is; what happens then?

More from the New Scientist...

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Where is Al Gore At?

Awesome heart filling talk from the man himself. Do your children a favour. Watch and act. Check it out here

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Allergies On The Nose


Here's a a Japanese idea for allergy sufferers. Do they work? Who knows?

Piggy Pee

High-density industrial pig farms serve as home to a large percentage of the world's nearly 1 billion pigs, and with high concentrations of pigs comes high concentrations of their often toxic waste products, which can wreak havoc on the environment. However, one company has devised a novel way of disposing of the urine by rendering the urea into plastics for household items, such as pig urine cups, pig urine bowls and pig urine spoons. Once the process is perfected it could be cheaper and more environmentally advantageous than the regular fossil fuel-based plastics. Other manures can be used, as well, and the organic compounds that are extracted can be potentially used in a variety of ways, including as flavoring for cigarettes. A line of pig urine flavored cigarettes could be an alternative stop smoking product if the patches, pills or gum just aren't doing it for you.

Hospitals Stays just got more dangerous.

Scientists cultured the imprint of a health care worker's gloved hand after examining a patient infected with Clostridium difficile, known as C. diff. The larger yellow colonies outlining the fingers are clusters of the potentially deadly bacteria responsible for at least 300,000 infections a year in U.S. hospitals. The patient had showered an hour before the specimen was collected, say researchers.

See the report on why it's just got much more dangerous to go the hospital here

Keyboards and Toilet Seats

What if I suggested that you’re about to handle something with five times the bacteria of a toilet seat? I’m guessing you’d be looking around to find what I’m talking about.

Er... it’s right in front of you…

Yep, your computer keyboard harbours five times more bugs than your average ‘throne’. So the next time you get a tummy bug, look no further. It’s so common that it has a name; ‘qwerty tummy’.

In fact one keyboard discovered during research was so dangerous that the microbiologist studying it ordered it immediately quarantined. It was one hundred and fifty time over accepted microbial limits and five times as filthy as a toilet seat.

How does it happen? What do you think happens to food that is dropped anywhere? It rots and becomes infested with bacteria. That’s exactly how keyboards get in such a disgusting state; eating as you browse.

Scientists swabbed 33 keyboards for food poisoning bugs (e.coli, coliforms, staphylococcus aureus and enterobacteria). They then compared their findings with lavatory seats and lavatory door handles.

They immediately condemned four keyboards as potential health hazards and one was "condemned".

Two secreted "warning levels" of staphylococcus aureus and two others had "worryingly elevated" levels of coliforms and enterobacteria, "putting users at high risk of becoming ill from contact".

Researchers said the findings were typical of offices all over Britain. They added that poor personal hygiene, such as dodging hand washing after going to the lavatory, may also contribute.

Think about it; rotting food, with a sprinkling of faecal matter, then you type a few words... and reach for a sandwich….

"Most people don't give much thought to the grime that builds up on their PC, but if you don't clean your computer, you might as well eat your lunch off a lavatory seat."

Scientists found that one in ten people never clean their keyboard, while 20 per cent never clean their mouse. The report said, "Most people don't give much thought to the grime that builds up on their PC, but if you don't clean your computer, you might as well eat your lunch off a lavatory seat."

Do you share your toothbrush? Of course not. Do you share your keyboard? Have you thought what it is you are sharing? Advice given includes turning the keyboard upside down and shaking it, but I’m very sceptical that this would clean it.

Friday, May 2, 2008

Save That Apple!


OK, OK. You can't make your fruit and vegetables last forever, even if you wash them in alkaline water. And considering that in the UK it's estimated that they chuck out 3 million tons of good F&V every year because it's a bit well.. cosmetically challenged.. here's a site that tells you how to utilise those wrinkly morsels, save money and the planet.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Charlie Comes Good


Received this from Charlie yesterday. Lovely to get emails like this one.

Hi Ian,
Just to inform that I have good result with drinking the alkaline water for almost 2 years. I have got over the old chronic fatigue syndrome, and I have more stamina and energy. I used to have slight difficulty taking full breaths especially when stressed, but that is also a thing of the past.

Also, I used to be underweight, and I have since gained about 10kg and am now at my ideal normal weight.
regards, Charlie

A Simple Staggering Couple of Facts.

The electronics industry consumes 24 percent of the available water in California and that the state uses 6.5 percent of its electricity to pump water.