Why Weight Loss Surgery is NOT a Sound Treatment Choice for Type 2 Diabetes

Story at-a-glance

• The Cleveland Clinic has chosen weight loss surgery as a treatment for type 2 diabetes as the number one medical invention for 2013, for the unbelievably ludicrous reason that Medicaid and other health insurance will now pay for it, not because it is effective
• Bariatric surgery as a treatment for type 2 diabetes is a prescription for the most invasive and costly (not to mention risky) intervention possible for a problem that is firmly rooted in a faulty diet and lack of exercise. Virtually 100 percent of type 2 diabetes cases can be successfully treated and reversed through appropriate lifestyle changes
• Complications occur for both types of weight loss surgery, gastric banding and the more invasive gastric bypass. Research has shown your risk of dying within 30 days of gastric bypass surgery is 1 in 50, and 60 percent of patients who undergo gastric banding need to have additional surgery
• Your diet is not only the most effective way to reverse type 2 diabetes, it’s the ONLY way to correct the true underlying cause of diabetes, which is faulty insulin and leptin signaling. To reverse the disease, you need to recover your body's insulin and leptin sensitivities through proper diet and exercise, as detailed in my free nutrition plan

By Dr. Mercola

The Cleveland Clinic recently published its "Top 10 Medical Inventions for 2013" list¹. Doctors and researchers at the Clinic voted for what they thought were the most significant inventions out of 250 submitted ideas.

Noted medical inventions include an implantable neuromodulation device for the treatment of severe cluster headaches, a handheld melanoma detection device, a novel prostate cancer drug, and breast tomosynthesis (a.k.a 3D mammography).

But shockingly, and really almost unbelievably, topping the list at number one is using bariatric surgery for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

According to the Cleveland Clinic:

"Surgery for obesity, often called bariatric surgery, shrinks the stomach into a small pouch and rearranges the digestive tract so that food enters the small intestine at a later point than usual.

Over the years, many doctors performing weight-loss operations found that the surgical procedure would rid patients of Type 2 diabetes, oftentimes before the patient left the hospital.

To explore this diabetes treatment hypothesis, 150 patients with Type 2 diabetes and obesity were enrolled in a study in 2007. 50 patients had gastric bypass surgery.

This is a procedure that reduces stomach volume from the size of an inflated football to a golf ball size; 50 had a sleeve gastrectomy surgery, which reduces the stomach from the size of a football to that of a banana; and 50 were offered counseling in nutrition and exercise while they continued taking their diabetes medication.

By closing off most of the stomach to food, people who received bariatric surgery ate less and, therefore, lost weight. Patients in the study lost about five times as much weight on average as those only taking bloodsugar-lowering medications.

The study results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2012, astounded the medical world.

Compared with patients taking diabetes medication and receiving lifestyle counseling, those who had bariatric surgery were far more likely to be free of diabetes or to have reduced their dependence on diabetes medications for at least two years. The weight-loss surgery also helped many to lower their blood pressure and cholesterol. Most of the patients went from a dozen or more medications daily to none or just a few."

Dr. Michael Roizen, Cleveland Clinic Chief Wellness Officer, told Reuters²:

"Bariatric surgery has been around for a while. The reason it was chosen as the top innovation is because Medicare has broadened its indication for payment, and Medicaid in many states follows Medicare.

A lot of the other (private) insurance companies started covering it, so it's much more accessible. The criteria that insurers use to cover the surgery has been broadened because of its effectiveness in controlling Type 2 diabetes."

While this will probably sound wonderful to some, there's no doubt in my mind that this is absolutely the wrong treatment and not at all an appropriate solution for the vast majority of people, and that's what this list is all about — one of the primary criteria for making it onto the list was the number of people the product or procedure can potentially help.

Bariatric surgery as a treatment for type 2 diabetes is a prescription for the most invasive and costly (not to mention risky) intervention possible for a problem that is firmly rooted in a faulty diet and lack of exercise... What makes this recommendations particularly troublesome is that virtually 100 percent of type 2 diabetes cases can be successfully treated and reversed through appropriate lifestyle changes!

It's also blatantly clear (they even state it outright) that it topped the list because Medicare (i.e. your tax dollars) will now pay for it, NOT because it's been proven safe and effective.

On the contrary, they appear to base their opinion on the results from a singular study. This is probably ill advised.

Dr. John Ioannidis of the Stanford School of Medicine in California warns against placing too much faith in singular medical studies showing large effects of medical treatment (benefits or harms). His massive analysis, recently published in JAMA,³ tracked the fate of thousands of studies, from the effects demonstrated in the initial study, compared to the effects elucidated in subsequent trials.

Interestingly, in 90 percent of cases where "very large" effects were initially reported, such effects shrank or vanished altogether as subsequent studies were done to confirm the results. Dr. Ioannidis told Reuters⁴:

"Our analysis suggests it is better to wait to see if these very large effects get replicated or not... Keep some healthy skepticism about claims for silver bullets, perfect cures, and huge effects."

In the case of weight loss surgery, there are already a number of studies showing both bariatric surgery and gastric banding are very risky procedures that produce poor long-term outcomes! But of course, that only means the revenue stream from those suffering with type 2 diabetes will continue to flow, and apparently that's what really matters and drives medical recommendations in the US...

Nearly Half of Weight Loss Surgeries Result in Major Complications

All surgeries have inherent risks, but bariatric surgeries seem to have a much higher ratio of complications. Complications occur for both types of weight loss surgery, gastric banding and the more invasive gastric bypass.

For example, a study from 2004⁵ reported that the risk of dying within 30 days of gastric bypass surgery was 1 in 50. And, within the surgeon's first 19 procedures, the odds of death within 30 days were 4.7 times higher, due to inexperience.

Gastric banding consists of surgically inserting a band around the top section of your stomach, and cinching it into a small pouch. This is often touted as a simpler, less invasive procedure to gastric bypass, and whereas gastric banding is at least reversible, while gastric bypass is not, the complications are often so debilitating that patients opt to have the bands removed completely. According to research⁶ published last year, nearly 40 percent of patients who undergo gastric banding experience major complications, including:

Band erosion
Malnutrition
Infection

Kidney stones
Bowel and gallbladder problems
Liver failure

Black-outs
Increased risk of death
Abnormal band expansion

Furthermore, the study found that:

• Nearly 50 percent of patients required removal of their bands
• Nearly 1 out of 3 patients experienced band erosion
• 60 percent needed to undergo additional surgery

The researchers concluded that:

"LAGB [laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding] appears to result in relatively poor long-term outcomes."

Even according to LapBand.com, one American clinical study that included a 3-year follow-up reported a staggering 88 percent of gastric banding patients experienced one or more adverse events, ranging from mild to severe. Common complications, from gastric banding included the following -- and keep in mind that excess weight increases your risks even further, which means everyone who undergoes weight loss surgery is at even greater risk:

Gastroesophageal reflux
Band slippage and/or pouch dilation
Stomach obstruction

Esophageal dilation
Reduced esophageal function
Difficulty swallowing

Leaking or twisted access port into the stomach
Band eroding into the stomach

Gastric Bypass Will Wreak Havoc on Your Digestive Processes and Ability to Absorb Nutrients

Gastric bypass involves stapling your stomach into a pouch that's only a half-ounce in size, so it literally cannot hold much. The idea is that you'll feel full faster, since your stomach will be unnaturally tiny, but this also means you'll often be eating meals that are sorely lacking in nutritional requirements.

A small opening is also created to allow food to empty slowly from the pouch. Because the opening is so small (made this way deliberately to keep the small amount of food you've eaten in your stomach longer, making you feel "full"), food must be chewed very thoroughly or it won't be able to fit through the opening, leading to vomiting.

You'll also be instructed to eat the protein portion of your meal first, because you very well may get too full to fit in a vegetable or anything else. Even liquids must be restricted for up to 45 minutes before and after a meal, lest they take up what little space you have to consume actual food. As you might suspect, because bariatric surgery patients can consume very little roughage, constipation is often a problem. It is even described as "normal" to have a bowel movement only once every two or three days!

Snacking is also expressly forbidden after gastric bypass, as you're only allowed three small meals a day, and you may have to write off certain foods entirely because your body just can't digest them anymore. This includes red meats, skins of fruits and vegetables (where the bulk of the antioxidants are) and fibrous vegetables. This is simply NOT a healthy way of eating, and the long-term implications are just as severe as the short-term risks. Hair loss and muscle loss are common after the surgery -- both signs that your body is not receiving proper nutrition.

Proper Diet — The Most Important Strategy to Reverse Type 2 Diabetes

What makes this so frustratingly ironic, if not downright tragic, is that your diet is not only the most effective way to reversetype 2 diabetes, it's the ONLY way! Yet the medical community keeps coming up with one bad diabetes treatment after the other, and I think they've really hit it out of the park with this one — all because Medicare and insurance companies will pay for it...

Seven years ago, Dr. Ron Rosedale wrote the article Doctors Cause Diabetics to D.I.E., and if you have type 2 diabetes, or know someone who does, you'd be well advised to read what he has to say on this matter.

"I have been incensed about the traditional medical treatment of diabetes for decades," Dr. Rosedale writes. "Diabetics have been told that they can eat meals multiple times daily that turn into sugar and even sugar itself, as long as they take enough insulin to lower their blood sugar.

The importance of limiting the intake of sugar and foods that turn into sugar has been almost totally ignored. There has been virtually no recognition that high levels of insulin are at least as much of an insult to a person's health as high levels of sugar (see Insulin and its Metabolic Effects).

With blinders on, drugs have been and are still being given to lower blood sugar, even though they essentially whip the islet cells of the pancreas to produce more insulin. These unfortunate, overstressed islet cells have been producing excess insulin for years and often decades to try to compensate for the insensitivity, the resistance of the body's cells to insulin's signal.

This is much like whipping a horse to run faster at the end of a race; it runs faster for a little while, but if you keep doing it, it collapses and dies.

So too do the islet cells that manufacture insulin in the pancreas die when drugs, nay doctors, whip them to keep producing more insulin when they are tired and sick. At this point, a diabetic, who originally had plenty of insulin being produced, and whose problem was merely one of insulin resistance that is easily remedied via proper treatment and diet, now starts losing the ability to produce insulin and becomes, in addition to insulin resistant, insulin deficient; a much more serious and problematic disorder caused by Doctor Induced Exacerbation (DIE)."

Reversing Type 2 Diabetes Sans Surgery or Drugs

Amazingly, one in four Americans has some form of diabetes or pre-diabetes. If this is not a clear sign that conventional health recommendations are flawed, I don't know what is.

I too have personal experience with this disease. I developed it myself at one time, and most of my paternal relatives (my dad included), have, or have died from, diabetes. My personal experience with diabetes and subsequent review of the literature made it VERY clear to me that virtually every case of type 2 diabetes is reversible... And the cure for type 2 diabetes has NOTHING to do with giving insulin or taking drugs to control your blood sugar. In fact, giving insulin to someone with type 2 diabetes is one of the worst things that can be done. Any physician still doing this suffers from profound ignorance of insulin physiology.

It's important to understand that many of the conventional recommendations for treating diabetes are not only flawed but dead wrong. If you need a refresher, please review my previous article, Deaths Halt Diabetes Study. Once you understand that type 2 diabetes is a fully preventable condition that arises from faulty leptin signaling and insulin resistance, the remedy will become clear.

To reverse the disease, you need to recover your body's insulin and leptin sensitivities!

How do you do that? As mentioned earlier, the ONLY way to accomplish this is through proper diet and exercise, as detailed in my free Nutrition Plan. Surgery will not do the trick, and there is NO drug that can correct leptin signaling and insulin resistance... Adhering to the following guidelines can help you do at least three things that are essential for successfully treating diabetes: recover your insulin/leptin sensitivity; normalize your weight; and normalize your blood pressure:

• Severely limit or eliminate sugar and grains in your diet, especially fructose which is far more detrimental than any other type of sugar. Following my Nutrition Plan will help you do this without too much fuss.
• Exercise regularly. Exercise is an absolutely essential factor, and without it, you're unlikely to get this devastating disease under control. It is one of the fastest and most powerful ways to lower your insulin and leptin resistance. If you're unsure of how to get started, I recommend reviewing my Peak Fitness program for tips and guidelines.
• Avoid trans fats.
• Get plenty of omega-3 fats from a high quality, animal-based source, such as krill oil.
• Optimize your vitamin D levels. Recent studies have revealed that getting enough vitamin D can have a powerful effect on normalizing your blood pressure and that low vitamin D levels may increase your risk of heart disease.
• Optimize your gut flora. Your gut is a living ecosystem, full of both good bacteria and bad. Multiple studies have shown that obese people have different intestinal bacteria than lean people. The more good bacteria you have, the stronger your immune system will be and the better your body will function overall. Fortunately, optimizing your gut flora is relatively easy. You can reseed your body with good bacteria by eating fermented foods (such as fermented vegetables, natto, raw organic cheese, or raw milk kefir) or by taking a high quality probiotic supplement.
• Address any underlying emotional issues and/or stress. Non-invasive tools like the Emotional Freedom Technique can be helpful and effective.
• Get enough high-quality sleep every night.
• Monitor your fasting insulin level. This is every bit as important as your fasting blood sugar. You'll want your fasting insulin level to be between 2 and 4. The higher your level, the worse your insulin sensitivity is.

Technorati Tags: weight control,weight loss,Dr. Mercola,diabetes diabetics,weigh loss surgery,leptin,gastric banding,The Cleveland Clinic,Medicaid

You Are What You Eat: 7 Food Additives That Are Secretly Making Us FAT

I'm here to tell you that the food industry is lying to you. There are many "safe" food additives on the market that really are NOT SAFE!! Yes, you heard me right AND I will give you a small list of them below to prove it. These food additives are literally making you sicker, robbing you of your youth, and making you gain weight!

Food additives are man-made, synthetic chemicals used to preserve foods, make them taste better, add supposed nutritional value and get this... THEY BYPASS YOUR HUNGER MECHANISM MAKING YOU CRAVE MORE AND EAT MORE FOOD! Now, let's think like the food industry for a second... If people, eat more food and increase in size, then they will crave more food and then we can sell them more food! It's a great way to make money if you really think about it. Very unethical, but brilliant. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THIS IS HAPPENING!Look around at the American population. Do you really think that it is coincidence that 70% of the US is obese? By 2030, the Journal of Obesity is predicting that 90% of the United States will be obese.

Will You Be A Victim Too?

The sad part about this whole situation is the fact that the general public has no idea that they are being lied to. This reminds me of a quote...

"Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it and eventually they will believe it" - Adolf Hitler

The media is using psychological marketing tactics to make you believe that foods that are "fat free" are healthy and helping you to lose weight.

Please, please, please don't trust everything that you hear. Especially from the news, commercials, TV, radio, etc. Their job is to capture your attention and sell you things. Whether it be their belief systems or weight loss pills.

Alright, sorry about all the ranting and raving. I just get so emotional about this topic because I see people everyday in my office who suffer because they have been lied to.

The Worst Ingredients On A Food Label

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS): This is a man made sweetener that is cheaper to produce and actually sweeter than sugar. There are actually new commercials touting how healthy HFCS is. They are trying to say that it is safe and natural.

Let me ask you this: Can you squeeze corn syrup from corn? Can mom make high fructose corn syrup at home? NO! It's a lie! Remember the quote above? HFCS is anything but natural and will actually shut off your hunger mechanism allowing you to eat without feeling full which will MAKE YOU FAT!

It is associated with blood sugar problems (ATTENTION Moms: Childhood obesity, and Juvenile Diabetes is on the rise! So is ADD/ADHD. HFCS is a huge culprit!) depression, fatigue, B vitamin deficiency, indigestion and tooth decay.

HFCS is found in soda, candy, condiments, cereals, breads, etc.

Mono Sodium Glutamate (MSG): MSG is a food flavoring that is notorious in Chinese foods. It is also hidden in a variety of other foods and goes by many different names: hydrolyzed vegetable protein, hydrolyzed plant extract, plant protein extract, sodium caseinate, yeast extract, texturized protein, autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed oat flour, natural flavorings and calcium caseinate to name a few... there are dozens more names.

MSG is the MOST addictive substance known to man and makes you want to eat more and more! It is called an excitotoxin because it excites your brain cells to the point that it actually makes them explode and die. Sound like something good to put in you and your kids bodies?

Watch out.. it is found in everything from fast food, to kids snacks, drinks, chips, etc., allergic reactions. (80% of people are shown to be allergic to MSG)

MSG causes headaches, itching, nausea, brain, nervous system, reproductive disorders, high blood pressure.

Artificial Sweeteners: Splenda (sucralose), Nutra-Sweet (aspartame), Equal (aspartame), SweetNLow (saccharin) , sorbitol, maltodextrin, dextrose, and acefulsame are all falsely representing weight loss foods. They are very toxic to your body and will bypass your hunger mechanism, causing you to crave more food. Stay away from anything labeled fat free, lite, no fat, no calories, calorie free, sugar free, reduced sugar and reduced fat. Most of these foods have been filled with artificial sweeteners. READ YOUR LABELS! Is having no calories in your "diet" drink worth the risk?

By Dr. Michael Allen  -  Fitness Instructor & Fat Loss Factor™ Founder

Obesity in a Lo-Cal Can

People are still surprised to learn diet sodas don’t give you what they promise. You may drink them because they have no calories. But diet sodas don’t help you drop weight. They make you fat instead. And you can get hooked on them.

I came across an article in JAMA about just how addicting those diet soft drinks are. When you drink them, changes take place in your brain that make you behave differently.1

Your self-control goes out the window. Your body actually becomes addicted to the unnatural sweetness like it’s a drug.

In one study, animals had the choice between cocaine and saccharin. Ninety four percent chose saccharin – even if they were already addicted to the cocaine.2

Early man had none of the sweet foods you have today. And this is when your taste receptors evolved. So now, when you’re exposed to hyper-sweet artificial sweeteners, your brain is tricked into thinking it’s getting nutrition.

When your drink contains aspartame, sucralose, or any other artificial sweetener, you over-stimulate your sweetness receptors. It changes the way you think about the way things should taste.

You crave high-intensity sweetness. And naturally sweet foods like fruit don’t taste as good to you. Vegetables lose their appeal, because they’re not sweet.

Your gut has sweetness receptors, too. It’s all ready to absorb nutrients, so you get a surge in hormones, like insulin. But when the calories don’t arrive, your body tells your brain to go out and get them.

Your appetite increases, and you get cravings that cause you to overeat. What’s worse, you turn to high-carbohydrate foods and sweets to make up the calorie void.3

But now, the insulin you’ve poured into your blood tells your body to turn whatever you do eat into fat.

I read one study of almost 2,600 people. Those who drank diet sodas had a 47 percent higher body mass index (BMI) than those who didn’t, and their risk of obesity was doubled.4

The solution? Go back to the real thing.

When you switch to naturally sweet drinks, your taste receptors adjust and go back to normal. You regain the ability to taste the sweetness found in natural foods and drinks. Your nutrition and the quality of your diet improve.5 And it’s far easier to drop weight.6

There are a lot of natural juices at the grocery store. But every one goes through processing and sits on the shelves, losing nutrients quickly. If you must buy them, stick to organic brands in glass bottles such as R.W. Knudsen, Lakewood, or Santa Cruz.

My suggestion is to invest in a juicer or a heavy-duty blender.
Citrus juicers are only for citrus like oranges or grapefruits. Juice extractors are for juicing fruits and vegetables.

A cheaper extractor will handle soft vegetables like cucumbers, tomatoes, and most fruits, but you’ll need a pricier, more powerful model if you want to juice hard vegetables like beets and large carrots.

I like to use a heavy duty, multi-use blender. It keeps the fiber in the drink you make. Throw in bits of vegetables and fruits, add water and ice, blend, and out comes a delicious drink in seconds.

If you blend hard vegetables, you’ll need a strong motor. Get one with as much as 2 hp. Many come with a 7-year warranty.

But there is a world of drinks you can easily make and enjoy without any additional equipment…

• Brew herbal tea and use honey to sweeten it. Cool, add ice, and you’ve got a naturally sweet drink. Look for organic teas like Yogi, Tazo, and Rishi.
• Squeeze lemons and add to filtered water to make lemonade. If it’s too tart, add raw, whole sugar or honey to taste.
• You can make a soda-like drink by blending the pulp of one mango and a slice of lemon and lime with 4 cups filtered water.
• Use cut up organic peaches, strawberries, and grapes in any combination. Add ice, filtered water, and blend.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

This Common Food Ingredient Can Really Mess Up Your Metabolism

by Dr. Mercola

What if you were to learn that every day, 25 percent of your calories came from a poison, disguised as a food?

And what if you discovered that this chemical imposter was responsible for your insulin resistance and weight gain?

And elevated blood pressure ...

And elevated triglycerides and LDL ...

And depletion of vitamins and minerals ...

And even gout, heart disease and liver damage?

What if you were to discover that this toxic substance had been dumped into your food in gradually increasing quantities for the last thirty years, with the full knowledge and blessings of the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, the USDA and the FDA?

Would you be angry?

I wish I could tell you that this is just a dramatic plot from some fiction novel, but it’s actually a shocking reality.

The substance dealing such a crushing blow to your health and responsible for many, if not most of the chronic diseases that are so rampant in our society, is sugar -- and more specifically, fructose.

We now know without a doubt that sugar in your food, in all its myriad of forms, is taking a devastating toll on the health of this nation.

By the end of this article, you will have a solid understanding of how and why this has happened. In order to really grasp this material, you’ll have to learn a little of the biochemistry of energy, which is rather technical. But hang in there -- the knowledge you’re about to gain, and the impact it will have on your health, will be well worth the effort.

I will try my best to make the more technical aspects as simple as I can for you.

Big Gulp, Meet Big Belt

We are eating far more than we were 25 years ago.

On average, men are consuming 187 more calories per day, and women 335 more calories. People who were never heavy before are becoming overweight, and the obese are becoming more so. We are now a “supersized” population.

But why?

Modern science has shown that the obesity epidemic isn’t simply about lack of self-control, but rather a phenomenon driven by biochemical changes that have altered the way your body regulates energy.

Something has caused your appetite regulation system to go awry. Leptin, the hormone responsible for satiety, isn’t working. It isn’t simply a matter of calories in and calories out. Six-month old babies are the latest victims of the obesity epidemic--diet and exercise cannot explain that.

So, what are you eating now that you weren’t eating thirty years ago? What are you doing to yourself that started the day you were born?

Studies show that all of those extra calories are coming in the form of carbohydrates.

What carbohydrates in particular?

Sugar -- specifically, sugared drinks. Soft drinks (41 percent) and fruit drinks (35 percent) make up the majority of these extra calories.

Today, 55 percent of sweeteners used in food and beverage manufacturing are made from corn, and the number one source of calories in America is soda, in the form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). In fact, the average American drinks 60 gallons of soda every year.

High Fructose Corn Syrup Has Only Been Around One Generation!

HFCS was invented in 1966 in Japan and introduced to the American market in 1975. Food and beverage manufacturers began switching their sweeteners from sucrose (table sugar) to corn syrup when they discovered that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) was far cheaper to make -- sucrose costs about three times as much as HFCS.

HFCS is also about 20 times sweeter than table sugar. So it was expected that less sweetener would be needed per product. Instead, the amount of sweeteners has steadily risen.

The switch from sugar to fructose drastically altered the average American diet. The statistics are beyond alarming:

• Corn syrup is now found in every type of processed, pre-packaged food you can think of. In fact, the use of HFCS in the U.S. diet increased by a whopping 10,673 percent between 1970 and 2005, according to a report by the USDA[i].

• The current annual consumption of sugar is 141 pounds per person, and 63 pounds of that is HFCS.

• Adolescents are taking in 73 grams per day of fructose, mostly from soft drinks and juice drinks -- and 12 percent of their total caloric intake is from fructose alone.

• In the past century, fructose consumption has increased 5-fold.

• Processed foods account for more than 90 percent of the money Americans spend on meals.

You’ve probably heard the statistic that one soda a day is worth 15 pounds of fat per year. However, one soda today does not equal one soda of yesteryear. The original coke bottle was 6.5 ounces. Now, you have 20-ounce bottles and a 44-ounce Big Gulp.

Tragically, many infant formulas are more than 50 percent sugar -- 43 percent being corn syrup solids. You might as well be giving your baby a bottle of Coke or Pepsi.

No wonder there is an obesity epidemic.

The War on Fat

Sugar’s rise to power was really an accidental by-product of three political winds, beginning with the Nixon administration:

1. In 1972, Richard Nixon wanted to reduce food costs as part of his “war on poverty.” He partnered with the USDA to do whatever means necessary to bring food costs down.

2. In 1975, HFCS was introduced, replacing sugar because it was cheap and readily available.

3. In the mid 1970s, dietary fats were blamed for heart disease (more about this later), giving rise to the “low-fat craze.” Market response was an explosion of processed convenience foods, all nonfat and low fat, most of which tasted like sawdust unless sugar was added. Fructose was used to make fat-free products more palatable.

In 1982, the American Heart Association (AHA), the American Medical Association (AMA), and the United Stated Department of Agriculture (USDA) reduced fats from 40 percent of your diet to 30 percent. You eagerly complied, believing you were lowering your risks for both obesity and cardiovascular disease.

Yet, as the low-fat craze spread, so did rates of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity -- the very illnesses you thought you were preventing. Clearly, the plan wasn’t working.

Justification for Low-Fat Diet

But how did the war on fat start, in the first place?

It began with a study called the Seven Countries study by Ancel Keys[ii], a Minnesota epidemiologist who used multivariate regression analysis to examine diet and disease. He compared the diets of seven countries, and his main conclusion was that saturated fats were responsible for cardiovascular disease. After much heated public debate, this notion that saturated fats caused heart disease was widely adopted, especially once he made the cover of Time Magazine in 1980.

Keys’ study laid the foundation for nutrition science, education, and public policy for the next three decades.

There was only one problem. His conclusions were dead wrong.

Keys’ neglected to perform the converse analysis demonstrating that the effect of saturated fat on cardiovascular disease wasindependent of sucrose. In other words, sucrose and saturated fat were co-mingled into his data. In retrospect, it is impossible to tease out the relative contributions of sucrose versus saturated fat on cardiovascular disease in this study because the original data is long gone and Keys has passed on.

Additionally he never separated out the issue of how the fat was consumed. There is a major difference in raw and cooked animal fat, especially fat cooked at high temperatures, which clearly produces known carcinogens.

Nevertheless, lowering fat (without regard to sugar) became the nutritional model that persists to this day, despite copious evidence that it doesn’t work.

As your fats went from 40 percent to 30 percent, your carbohydrates went from 40 percent to 55 percent. And this carbohydrate increase was of the worst possible kind: SUGAR.

Proof that Sugar Cause Obesity

The American Beverage Association claims there is “no association between high fructose corn syrup and obesity.”[iii]

However, a long lineup of scientific studies suggest otherwise:

• Dr. David Ludwig of Boston Children’s Hospital did a study of the effects of sugar-sweetened drinks on obesity in children[iv]. He found that for each additional serving of a sugar-sweetened drink, both body mass index and odds of obesity increased in the children he studied.

• Dr. Kelly Brownell of Yale University did a systematic review and meta-analysis of 88 studies about the association between soft drink consumption and health outcomes[v]. He found clear associations between soft drink consumption and higher body weight.

• The Fizzy Drink Study in Christchurch, England explored the effects on obesity when soda machines were removed from schools for one year. In the schools where the machines were removed, obesity stayed constant. In the schools where soda machines remained, obesity rates continued to rise[vi].

• A study by Schulze in JAMA in 2004[vii] provides further evidence that sugared drinks cause type II diabetes.

• A similar study in 2008 of African American women[viii] demonstrated higher intake of both sugar-sweetened soft drinks and fruit drinks leads to higher rates of type II diabetes.

• In a very recent study[ix], sixteen volunteers were fed a controlled diet including high levels of fructose. Ten weeks later, the volunteers had produced new fat cells around their hearts, livers and other digestive organs. They also showed signs of food-processing abnormalities linked to diabetes and heart disease. A second group of volunteers who were fed a similar diet, but with glucose replacing fructose, did not have these problems.

But it doesn’t stop at soft drinks.

Sweetened fruit drinks are contributing to your expanding waistline as well. High fruit juice intake (sucrose) is associated with childhood obesity, especially in low-income families[x].

What is it in soft drinks and juice drinks that is damaging your health?

Primarily, it’s the fructose. Read on to discover exactly how and why this is so.

Fructose is NOT the Same as Glucose

Glucose is the form of energy you were designed to run on. Every cell in your body, every bacterium -- and in fact, every living thing on the Earth -- uses glucose for energy.

Image from Clinton Community College

Fructose is not the same molecule. Glucose is a 6-member ring, but fructose is a 5-member ring. Sucrose (table sugar) is 50 percent glucose and 50 percent fructose, and HFCS is 42-55 percent fructose.

If you received your fructose only from vegetables and fruits (where it originates) as most people did a century ago, you’d consume about 15 grams per day -- a far cry from the 73 grams per day the typical adolescent gets as a bolus from sweetened drinks. In vegetables and fruits, it’s mixed in with fiber, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and beneficial phytonutrients, all which moderate the negative metabolic effects.

It isn’t that fructose itself is bad -- it is the MASSIVE DOSES you’re exposed to that make it dangerous.

Before you can understand the differences between how your body metabolizes glucose and fructose, you have to have a basic understanding of LDL.

There are Two Types of LDL -- and Only One is Bad

In the 1970s, low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) were discovered. LDLs were found to be higher in people with cardiovascular disease, so the focus of medicine and nutrition became lowering your LDLs.

One of the crucial pieces of the puzzle that wasn’t recognized at the time was that there are two kinds of LDL: Pattern A and Pattern B.

1. Pattern A LDLs are large, light, buoyant “floating” LDLs that don’t get under your endothelial cells, and they don’t cause plaque formation. They are harmless.

2. Pattern B LDL (or VLDLs) are smaller, denser LDLs that are able to wedge themselves under your epithelial cells and therefore roughen surfaces and stimulate plaque formation. These are the bad guys.

Unfortunately, when you get a standard lipid profile at your annual check-up, the LDL measured is a combination of both types. Lab measurements lump them together unless you have a very specialized panel, which most physicians don’t order.

To decipher whether or not you have an excess of the bad type, you can look at your triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels. (HDL, or “high density lipoprotein is commonly called “good cholesterol.”)

Here is a simple way to determine if you have too much bad LDL:

1. If your triglycerides are low and your HDL is high, then the LDL you have is the good variety.

2. If your triglycerides are high and your HDL is low, then the LDL you have is the bad variety. The triglyceride-to-HDL ratio is a far better indicator of cardiovascular disease than the total cholesterol-to-HDL ratio that everyone uses.

Now, here’s the bottom line: Dietary fat raises your large, buoyant LDL -- the one that is harmless. Dietary sugar raises your small, dense LDL -- the one that correlates with heart disease!

So, what has happened over the past 30 years was that sugar was added to our low-fat foods to improve palatability -- in the form of either HFCS or sucrose -- and a high-carb, high-risk diet was created -- simply the worst combination for your health.

And the fiber was eliminated.

Fiber Foregone

Fiber is an important nutrient (although not acknowledged as such by the government) and offers many health benefits, particularly if the fiber comes from vegetables.

A high-fiber diet may offer some protection from colorectal cancer, although the research is unclear exactly how this works and what all the factors are. The benefits of vegetable fiber are not yet completely understood. We do know that the risk ofcolorectal cancer is lower among populations with high intakes of vegetables and fruits, and there is some evidence that vegetable fiber may offer some protection from prostate cancer.

Fiber has three important roles:

• It reduces the rate of intestinal carbohydrate absorption, reducing your insulin response.

• It increases the speed of transit of intestinal contents to your ileum, which speeds up release of satiety hormones.

• It inhibits absorption of some free fatty acids to your colon, which would become short chain fatty acids, which suppress insulin.

Thousands of years ago your ancestors likely consumed 100 to 300 grams of fiber every day. Now, you are lucky to get 12 grams daily.

Why is this?

• Fiber-less foods are cheap.

• They have a longer shelf life and are easier to ship. This makes them easier to export to other countries.

• Fiber-rich foods take too long to prepare and eat, and are often less appealing to the general public.

The standard American diet (SAD) is typically loaded with processed foods full of sugar, and devoid of most nutrients and fiber. Sounds like the perfect recipe for an explosion of chronic disease.

The Molecule that Makes Fat Stick to You

Obesity is a disorder of excess fat accumulation. But what regulates fat accumulation?

Fat is a metabolically active tissue. Your adipose tissue is in a perpetual state of flux with free fatty acids (FFAs) being converted into triglycerides and back again, in an ongoing cycle.

FFAs can move in and out of your cells, across cell membranes, but triglycerides (three fatty acid molecules plus one glycerol molecule) are too big to cross. Fat enters and exits a cell as FFA, but is stored as a triglyceride. When fuel is needed, the triglyceride is broken down into FFAs, which can then be burned as fuel.

The glycerol molecule, which is a primary component of a triglyceride, comes from something called glycerol-3-phosphate (g-3-p), or “activated glycerol,” which originates from the metabolism of glucose. The amount of G-3-p you make determines the rate that FFAs are “esterified” into triglycerides inside your fat cells[xi].

The rate of deposition of fat into your fat cells is dependent on the presence of g-3-p. The more g-3-p that is available, the more fat is deposited.

Carbohydrate Biochemistry 101

I promised you a crash course in biochemistry -- so here we go.

Much of the following information comes from the important work of Dr. Robert Lustig[xii] Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco.

In order to appreciate just how damaging fructose is to your body, it is crucial to have a basic understanding of how different types of carbohydrates are metabolized.

We’ll start with glucose since it’s the basic carbohydrate energy source for all living cells.

I. Glucose Metabolism

Glucose is the basic fuel for living organisms, from bacteria to humans, and is the primary energy source for your brain. It is a product of photosynthesis and is found in rice, corn and other grains, and bread and pasta.

Once you take in glucose from a meal -- like, say, from two slices of bread -- 80 percent of it is used by all of the organs of your body -- every single cell. The remaining 20 percent goes to your liver to be metabolized and stored.

The following is what happens to that 20 percent, once it reaches your liver:

• Whatever glucose your body doesn’t need immediately gets converted into glycogen for storage in the liver. Glycogen is your body’s non-toxic short-term energy storage package, where it can be easily converted to energy when you need it. Your liver has no limit to how much glycogen it can store without detrimental effects. (That is what athletes take advantage of when they “carbo-load.”)

• A small amount of pyruvate is produced, which ends up being converted to ATP (the chemical storage form of energy) and carbon dioxide. An even smaller quantity of citrate is produced from this process through the “citrate shuttle,” which ends up as VLDL (very low density lipoproteins, the bad ones) in a process known as de novo lipogenesis -- but we’re talking about a very small amount (less than one calorie from two slices of bread).

• Insulin is released by your pancreas in response to the rise in blood glucose (i.e., blood sugar), which helps the glucose get into your cells. Without insulin, your cells would not be able to process the glucose and therefore would have no energy for movement, growth, repair, or other functions. Insulin is key to unlocking the door of the cell to allow the glucose to be transferred from the bloodstream into the cell.

• When you consume 120 calories of glucose, less than one calorie contributes to adverse metabolic outcomes.

This is all very normal, and it’s how you were designed to operate.

II. Ethanol Metabolism

Ethanol, or ethyl alcohol, is the favorite carbohydrate of many. But it is also a carbohydrate that undergoes a very different metabolic process, leaving in its wake a trail of toxins a mile long.

Ethanol is an acute central nervous system toxin and a chronic hepatotoxin due to the fact that it must be metabolized almost completely in the liver.

After consuming an alcoholic beverage, 10 percent of the ethanol gets broken down by the stomach and intestine as a “first pass” effect, and another 10 percent is metabolized by the brain and other organs. The fact that ethanol is partially metabolized in your brain is the reason you experience that familiar “buzz.”

The remaining 80 percent hits the liver, where it must be broken down. This is four times the load on the liver as the same number of calories from glucose.

But the metabolic process in the liver is quite different from that of glucose.

This metabolic cascade can be summarized as follows:

• The liver converts ethanol to aldehydes, which produce free radicals that damage proteins in the liver.

• Some of these aldehydes are converted to glucose, but a large amount of excess citrate is formed in the process, stimulating “junk chemicals” that result in free fatty acids (FFAs), VLDL and triglycerides. As compared to the 1 calorie from glucose that was converted to VLDL (see previous section), the same caloric intake from ethanol produces 30 calories of VLDL that are transported to your fat cells and contribute to your obesity, or participate in plaque formation. This is what leads to the dyslipidemia of alcoholism.

• The resulting lipids, together with the ethanol, lead to an enzyme that begins an inflammation cascade, which in turn causes hepatic insulin resistance, liver inflammation and cirrhosis.

• Fat globules accumulate in the liver as well, which can lead to fatty liver disease.

• Free fatty acids (FFAs) leave the liver and cause your skeletal muscles to become insulin resistant. This is a worse form of insulin resistance than hepatic insulin resistance and can lead to type II diabetes.

• After a 120-calorie bolus of ethanol, a large fraction (about 40 calories) can contribute to disease.

Why am I including a discussion of ethanol metabolism in a report about fructose?

Because, in nearly every way, fructose is metabolized the same way as ethanol, creating the same toxins in your body.

III. Fructose Metabolism

Now we finally come to fructose.

When you consume fructose, 100 percent of it goes directly to your liver to be metabolized. This is why it is a hepatotoxin -- it overloads the liver. Fructose metabolism creates the following adverse effects:

• Fructose is immediately converted to fructose-1-phosphate (F1P), depleting your liver cells of phosphates.

• The above process produces waste products in the form of uric acid. Uric acid blocks an enzyme that makes nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is your body’s natural blood pressure regulator, so when it is blocked, your blood pressure rises -- leading tohypertension. Elevated uric acid levels can also cause gout.

• Almost all of the F1P is turned into pyruvate, ending up as citrate, which results in de novo lipogenesis, the end products of which are FFAs, VLDLs, and triglycerides. The result -- hyperlipidemia.

• Fructose stimulates g-3-p (activated glycerol), which you will recall is the crucial molecule for turning FFAs into triglycerides within the fat cells. Remember, the rate of deposition of fat into fat cells is dependent on the presence of g-3-p. The more g-3-p that is available, the more fat is deposited. Fructose is the carbohydrate most efficiently converted into g-3-p11. In other words, fructose is the most lipophilic carbohydrate.

• FFAs are exported from the liver and taken up in skeletal muscle, causing skeletal muscle insulin resistance.

• Some of the FFAs stay in the liver, leading to fat droplet accumulation, hepatic insulin resistance and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)[xiii][xiv].

• Insulin resistance stresses the pancreas, which pumps out more insulin in response to rising blood sugar as your cells are unable to get the sugar out of your bloodstream, and this can progress to type II diabetes.

• As with a bolus dose of ethanol, a 120-calorie bolus of fructose results in a large fraction (again, about 40 calories) that directly contributes to disease.

Do these symptoms sound a bit familiar to you? Hypertension, lipogenesis and dyslipidemia, obesity, inflammation, insulin resistance, and central nervous system leptin resistance?

If you are thinking it sounds a lot like classic metabolic syndrome, you are dead on!

The point to take away is: consuming fructose is consuming fat. Fructose is not really a carbohydrate -- a high fructose diet is a HIGH FAT diet. A high-fat diet that creates a vicious cycle of consumption that won’t turn itself off.

You can see by comparing the metabolism of fructose with the metabolism of ethanol that they are very similar. In fact, when you compare the metabolism of 150 calories of soda with 150 calories of beer (a 12 ounce can of each), about 90 calories reach the liver in either case. Fructose causes most of the same toxic effects as ethanol because both come from sugar fermentation.

Both ethanol metabolism and fructose metabolism lead to visceral adiposity (belly fat), insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.

Studies are accumulating that bear this out.

For example, high-fructose diets were shown to cause dyslipidemia in healthy people with and without a family history of type II diabetes, a recent study showed[xv].

Two other studies were done using medical students, both looking at biological responses to fructose loading. In the first, the med students were given either a large glucose load or a large fructose load. In the students given fructose, almost 30 percent of the calories ended up as fat. In the students given glucose, almost none ended up as fat.

In the second study, medical students were given a high-fructose diet for 6 days. In just that short time, their insulin resistance and triglycerides doubled!

The Neurochemical Basis for Gluttony

You eat as a result of the activation of the “reward pathway” (also known as the hedonic pathway) of your brain.

Your brain’s pleasure center (aka ventral tegmental area, or VTA, and nucleus accumbens, or NA) is the root of all behavior, driven by chemical messengers that are intimately tied into the energy processes I have outlined above.

The part of your brain that responds to what you eat is the same part that responds to nicotine, morphine, amphetamine, ethanol, sex and exercise! That is why people taking narcotics tend to overeat.

Leptin and insulin are modulators of these reward responses, decreasing this VTA-NA activity. In other words, leptin and insulin cause your brain to send you signals to stop eating.

Fructose undermines these normal satiety signals, increasing caloric consumption both directly and indirectly:

1. Fructose does not stimulate a leptin rise, so your satiety signals are diminished.

2. Glucose suppresses ghrelin (the hunger hormone—it makes you want more food), but fructose does not.

3. By raising triglycerides, fructose reduces the amount of leptin crossing your blood-brain barrier.

4. Fructose increases insulin levels, interfering with the communication between leptin and your hypothalamus, so your pleasure signals aren’t extinguished. Your brain senses starvation and prompts you to eat more.

5. Fructose decreases the production of malonyl-CoA, which may help promote a sense of energy adequacy.

Along with causing insulin resistance, fructose alters the hedonic response to food thereby driving excessive caloric intake, setting up a positive feedback loop for overconsumption.

Big Fat Lies From the Corn Industry

Now that scientific studies have shown the metabolic similarity between HFCS and sucrose, the Corn Refiners Association has embarked on a vociferous campaign to convince the public that their product is equal to table sugar, that it is “natural” and safe.

Of course, many things are “natural” -- cocaine is natural, but you wouldn’t want to use 141 pounds of it each year.

The food and beverage industry doesn’t want you to realize how truly pervasive HFCS is in your diet -- not just from soft drinks and juices, but also in salad dressings and condiments and virtually every processed food. The introduction of HFCS into the Western diet in 1975 has been a multi-billion dollar boon for the corn industry.

Now the corn industry has come up with another product it’s using in beverages called “crystalline fructose.” This is produced by allowing the fructose to crystallize from a fructose-enriched corn syrup, resulting in a product that is 99.5 percent pure fructose -- a fructose level twice as high as regular HFCS!

Clearly, all the health problems associated with HFCS could become even more pronounced with this product.

Making matters worse, crystalline fructose may also contain arsenic, lead, chloride and heavy metals -- a virtual laundry list of toxic agents you should clearly avoid. In fact, more than one study has detected unsafe mercury levels in HFCS[xvi]. If you have children, all of these contaminants can impact your child’s development and long-term health.

Why doesn’t the FDA regulate fructose since it poses the same health risks as ethanol -- and it regulates ethanol?

The FDA doesn’t touch chronic toxins. They regulate only acute toxins, and ethanol falls into that category because it produces immediately toxic neurological effects. Fructose doesn’t get metabolized in the brain, so it’s effects, although damaging, are cumulative and magnify over time.

Also realize that nearly all HFCS is made from genetically modified corn, which comes with its own set of risks.

The FDA classifies fructose as GRAS: Generally Regarded As Safe. Which pretty much means nothing and is based on nothing.

It is interesting to note that soda taxes[xvii] have recently been proposed both in New York and California, and legislation for the removal of soft drinks from schools has been enacted in several states.

What’s a Sugarholic to Do?

Ideally, I recommend that you avoid as much sugar as possible. This is especially important if you are overweight or have diabetes, high cholesterol, or high blood pressure.

In fact, I believe that the positive health impacts of breaking the country’s sugar addiction would be even greater than if everyone stopped smoking, because elevated insulin levels are the foundation of nearly every chronic disease known to man, from cancer and arthritis to cardiovascular disease.

I also realize you don’t live in a perfect world, and following rigid dietary guidelines is not always practical or even possible.

If you want to use a sweetener occasionally, this is what I recommend:

1. Use the herb stevia

2. Use organic cane sugar in moderation

3. Use organic raw honey in moderation

Avoid ALL artificial sweeteners, which can damage your health even more quickly than HFCS.

And I don’t recommend agave syrup since it is a highly processed sap that is almost all fructose. Your blood sugar will spike just as it would if you were consuming regular sugar or HFCS. Agave has gained meteoric popularity due to a great marketing campaign, but any health benefits present in the original agave plant are processed away.

Be sure to eat your sugar with fiber ... as in a piece of fruit. As Dr. Lustig says, “When God made the poison, he packaged it with the antidote: fiber.”

Wait 20 minutes before second portions at meals, giving your brain a chance to receive satiety signals.

And exercise regularly. Dr. Ludwig recommends you “buy your screen time with physical activity.”

Exercise is important for several reasons, some of which might surprise you:

• Exercise improves skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity (insulin works best in your muscles)

• Exercise reduces stress and lowers cortisol, which decreases appetite

• Exercise suppresses ghrelin, thereby decreasing appetite

• Exercise speeds up metabolic cycles, reducing citrate levels, thus reducing fat production

• Exercise can make you sharper, reduce arthritis, lift your mood, strengthen your bones, and even slow down aging

Avoid so-called energy drinks and sports drinks because they are loaded with sugar, sodium and chemical additives.

Rehydrating with pure, fresh water is a better choice.

If you or your child is involved in athletics, I recommend you read my article Energy Rules for some great tips on how to optimize your child’s energy levels and physical performance through good nutrition.

A Word of Warning About Infant Formula

And finally, be extremely careful about the infant formula you are feeding your baby. Nearly all infant formulas have as much or more high fructose corn syrup than a can of soda -- in addition to many other things that are extremely detrimental to your baby’s health and development.

You have learned that, metabolically, there is very little difference between ethanol and sugar, so by giving your infant formula, you might as well be giving him a bottle of beer or soda!

And studies have shown that the earlier you expose kids to sweets, the more they crave them later.

It is important for pregnant women to keep their blood sugars well managed not only for their own health, but also for the long-term health of their children.

Researchers have found that children born to mothers with gestational diabetes (high blood sugar during pregnancy) had an 82 percent chance of becoming obese between the ages of 5 and 7 through a phenomenon called “metabolic imprinting.” Even mothers with elevated blood sugar, short of gestational diabetes, had children with a significantly increased risk for obesity.[xviii]

I advocate breastfeeding if at all possible -- it is by far the healthiest option.

One of the most clear-cut, non-debatable topics in health care is that breast milk is the best source of nutrition for newborns. The benefits to the baby and the new mom are enormous. Breastfed infants have shown lower obesity rates in later childhood[xix].

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr. Robert H. Lustig, Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at University of California, San Francisco, for sharing his incredibly important insights, without which this article would not have been possible. Much of the above information came directly from Dr. Lustig’s work related to central regulation of energy balance, and I am very grateful for his willingness to share it with me so that I can pass it along to you.

Amish Fat Loss Secret

Was reading the news today and discovered the Amish Secret To Fat Loss.

What's great about this secret is it puts an end to the whole "I have the fat gene" argument.

Why?

Because some of the thin Amish people studied HAD that very same "fat" gene! The plot thickens! (So to speak)

So how do these guys stay thin?

Do they go to the gym?

Do they use treadmills every day?

Do they have personal trainers design complicated programs for them using the latest equipment?

...Nope!

They just ‘walk’ more than we do. And do fun stuff like gardening, playing actively with their kids, and other stuff that involves MOVEMENT.

So how can you take advantage of this tidbit? I recommend parking as far away from the store or office as possible and walking the extra distance (beats the heck out of wasting time scavenging for a spot close by anyway). And stop waiting around for the elevator. Conquer those stairs.

Just make sure not to give up your computer and other electronic gadgets in the process. That would be nuts., but cut down on how much time you spend using them

From Your NON-Amish Friend
Nate Rifkin - Nate Rifkin Enterprises LLC

P.S. If you are going take up something… to help your health and weight loss, I recommend yoga!!

Posted: True Health Is True Wealth

A Legacy of Inspiration

~ True happiness is impossible without true health and true health is impossible without rigid control of the palate. All the other senses will automatically come under our control when the palate has been brought under control. And he who has conquered his senses has really conquered the whole world.  … Mohandas Gandhi

In January 1948, Mohandas Gandhi was shot three times by a Hindu assassin as he walked through a garden in New Delhi to take evening prayers. He died instantly.

Today he is remembered as an anti-colonialist, an advocate of non-violence, a pioneer of civil disobedience and the father of the world's largest democracy.

He achieved a great deal as a political leader, working against discrimination, poverty and the caste system. He ended "untouchability." He expanded women's rights, religious tolerance and economic self-reliance.

For all these things, Gandhi is rightly honored. In the long run, however, Mahatma (literally "Great Soul") may be best remembered for his contribution to humanity's inner life.

Gandhi advocated a simple and unassuming lifestyle. He lived modestly, wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, and ate plain vegetarian food. He said it did not require money to be neat, clean and dignified.

He undertook long fasts, sometimes for self-purification, other times as social protest.

And he had a sense of humor. Asked once what he thought about Western civilization, Gandhi replied, "I think it would be a good idea."

Gandhi suffered many hardships in his life. He was imprisoned several times and for many years in both South Africa - where he first employed non-violent civil disobedience as an expatriate lawyer - and in India.

During these periods, he took the time to write down his key principles. Here are just a few of his thoughts:

~ In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.

~ All of your scholarship, all your study of Shakespeare and Wordsworth would be in vain if at the same time you did not build your character and attain mastery over your thoughts and your actions.

~ A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks he becomes.

~ The only tyrant I accept in this world is the 'still small voice' within.

~ Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

~ I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present.

~ What a great thing it would be if we in our busy lives, could retire into ourselves each day, for at least a couple of hours, and prepare our minds to listen to the voice of the great silence.

~ Experience has taught me that silence is a part of the spiritual discipline of a votary of truth.  Proneness to exaggerate, to suppress or modify truth, wittingly or unwittingly, is a natural weakness of man, and silence is necessary to surmount it. A man of few words will rarely be

 thoughtless in his speech. He will measure every word.

~ True happiness is impossible without true health and true health is impossible without rigid control of the palate. All the other senses will automatically come under our control when the palate has been brought under control. And he who has conquered his senses has really conquered the whole world.

More than sixty years after his death, Gandhi is still viewed as one of the world's great spiritual leaders.

He dedicated his life to the purpose of discovering Truth - something he insisted could only be revealed to those with a deep sense of humility - and believed the most important battle is overcoming our own fears and insecurities.

The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing, Gandhi insisted, is sufficient to solve most of our problems.

"He was driven to help the poor, the sick and the downtrodden and to free them from colonialism no matter the cost to himself," writes Archbishop Desmond Tutu. "In the end it cost him his life.  However, he left us a legacy of inspiration that is remarkable in its sincerity and love of humanity."

Albert Einstein agreed. He was moved to say: "Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked the earth."

Gandhi asked that his writings be cremated with his body. He wanted his life to be his message, not what he had written or said.

In the end, he believed that words are meaningless. Actions alone show our true priorities. Or, as he famously said:

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

 Carpe Diem,  Alex Green – SpiritualWealth

Posted:  True Health Is True Wealth

Related Resources:

• The Weight Is Over

The Weight Is Over

TAIslim™ For a Totally New You

Doctors and diet experts agree that there’s only one permanent way to lose pounds and inches, and that’s to burn more calories than you take in. But if you’ve failed with diet after diet, it’s not your fault. Trendy pills and potions use gimmicks to give you some early results, but the weight always returns. Over time, this yo-yo cycle of losing and regaining can actually slow your metabolism, making it even harder to lose weight. But now, FreeLife^® science has found the way to lose weight and feel great, and that’s TAIslim™.

In Asia, the word tai signifies “total” or “complete.” And unlike any other diet you’ve ever tried, the comprehensive TAIslim plan addresses every key aspect of successful weight control. TAIslim is based on FreeLife’s revolutionary patent pending technology and research on the ability of the goji berry to reduce unsightly and dangerous belly fat.

TAIslim™ Para tu nueva imagen 

Check out TaiSlim now