Archive for the 'Health and Fitness' Category

Medical research is getting a huge $5 billion grant which will create

good paying jobs and will result in a huge health reward for the country

and the world. The fact that this grant is only 1% of our military budget

should give us pause, but it is better than a sharp stick in the eye.

Hopefully a good portion of these funds will find their way into the

emerging science of epigenetics. Epigenetic therapy may become the

best words in medicine since vaccine.

First, here’s what the dictionary has to say about epigenetic therapy.

In biology, the term epigenetic refers to changes in phenotype

(appearance) or gene expression caused by mechanisms other than

changes in the underlying DNA sequence.

What that means is:

Over the last century scientists have discovered that we share most

of our genes with all other life forms on this planet. We actually have

genes in common with worms, snails and other unsavory creatures.

In fact, our closest relative, the chimp, has almost 99% of our genes.

The remaining 1.1% account for all of the differences between humans

and apes… OR SO WE THOUGHT.

Recently we have discovered that genes are only our genetic framework.

The final touches to our body chemistry are environmentally derived.

The things we feel and are exposed to emotionally affect who we

eventually become. Epigenetics concern a plethora of molecules which

attach themselves to our genes in response to each person’s individual

physical and emotional environment These modified genes affect our

looks, abilities, and lifetime health tendencies. This new science

explains, for example, why identical twins aren’t identical.

We now know were to look to unravel the rest of the “where do we

come from” story. What a fascinating generation we are living in.

Soon we will be able to zero in on and possibly reverse commonplace

maladies like cancer or organ disease and failure.

One effect of these gene modifications is they are multi-generational.

That is, we pass our environmentally modified genes on to our future

generations based upon the dramatic events that occur to each of us

individually during our lives.

The consequences from world traumatic events like the Holocaust will

take many generations to fully manifest themselves. Scars from wars

and other atrocities we afflict upon each other alter our core genetic

makeup by causing some genes normally turned off to be turned on

and others normally on to be turned off. These switches, from birth on,

affect each one of us differently and are what really make us different

from each other.

In other words, who we are is as much a result of the stresses, or

happiness, or emotional content, be it nurturing or otherwise, that

surrounded our parents and our grandparents during their lives as we

are a result of what we eat and breathe and drink today.

Behavioral science now has a foundation in chemistry and biology.

As more sophisticated instruments are built to decipher our genetic

encoders, clues are discovered and unraveled which have led to an

understanding of our body’s organic response to our physical environment.

We had best get to cleaning up our act if we expect future generations

to avoid our missteps. Apparently to error is human and also inherited.

What a brave New World we will soon live in. Through genetic

modifications to every living thing, including ourselves, we may be

able to eliminate hunger and disease in the next 50 years.

I wonder if we will still be able to find an excuse for war.

Preview: Obama may tank faster than the Titanic.

He is championing the right causes but…
Put simply, people are not as gullible as they used to be.

On the war front:
The administration is expanding our wars on and off budget,
increasing the use of agencies like Prince’s Blackwater militia in areas
like Afghanistan. Blackwater is part of the CIA assassination program
which uses a private militia to fill in where official government action
could be called into question. They operate above the law, courtesy
of policies established in the Bush administration, and they cost
at least 10 times what our own military personnel would cost.
And the deaths of their forces don’t enter into “official” statistics.

On the health front:
It is hard for many Americans NOT to hold obese people
or drug addicts or people with unwanted pregnancies responsible
for their condition. While aids has lost steam as a major contributor
to death in our nation, to fight the disease costs a fortune and it is hard NOT to hold the indiscriminate drug user or sex deviant responsible for the consequences of their actions. People who live on Big Macs and dingdongs at the expense of their bodies earn little sympathy from those who protect their body’s health with a proper diet. Unwanted pregnancies are a result of raging hormones, but are also a result of a disgusting head in the sand approach to sex education on the part of our government. The backward facing Bush administration and religious communities can be held directly responsible for the lack of responsible sex education but we all share the burden of these irresponsible policies.

We can’t trust the government to solve our problems since they are in many respects enablers. We can’t expect “for profit” businesses like insurance companies not to capitalize on opportunities created by our own personal lack of self discipline or self-respect.

So our only answer is to rely upon ourselves, our own good judgment,
and the hope that wisdom and experience will win out.

Geez we are in trouble.

We love them for their fur…. and their purr.

 Think about it.

 There is something incredibly tactile about a purr rumbling through thick fur.  If you are lucky enough to be close enough, you can get a therapeutic benefit akin to a heat pad and a vibrator combined.

And then, there is their fur.

To run your fingers through the silky fur of a long-haired cat is like sliding velvet covered fingers on glass. The feeling is hard to describe, but so comforting it almost feels illegal. 

 And then,  of course, cats are so clean.

Sure, they are imperious.  You’re darned right they have their own agenda.  On occasion, they defer to their “master” and allow a few behind the ear or belly scratches.  Consider yourself lucky are if you are deemed acceptable to a award these perks.

Feels good to be a cat. They are so cool.

So be cool.                         

Purr.                  

Be like a kitten.

You’ll get all the attention you want — probably way more than you are looking for.

Which type of cook are you?

Posted by Bob Parmelee at 12:33 AM 0 comments

      No, for a change, I am not referring to Hillary Clinton. I am talking about “medical” recommendations by America’s leading physicians and pharmacies. Let’s look at the cholesterol  flip flop for example. At first cholesterol was clogging arteries and killing people. A campaign was initiated against the “wrong” kind. Hundreds of diets were spawned to help us from becoming victims to the cholesterol assault on our arteries and veins. Millions of people were encouraged, myself included, to begin taking cholesterol reducing pill supplements like lipitor. The next news we hear is that cholesterol is a life giving nutrient ( see Dr. Douglass on nagging health advice) which the body makes for itself when our diet doesn’t provide enough of it. Estimates of acceptable levels are now two to three times the earlier levels.    

     How about the incredible edible egg? For awhile eggs held the spotlight among finger pointing physicians looking for causes of heart disease. It wasn’t until a massive 800,000 strong study showed egg eaters to have a much lower rate of heart attacks and strokes than egg avoiders before the onus on eggs was removed. And to think I almost gave up eggs! 

      What is happening is the intellectual integrity of our doctors has been corrupted by the drug and pharmacy companies. The truth is we can no longer trust the advice we get from our own health care professionals. It now seems they will push whatever these suppliers tell them to; of course these drug companies are strictly profit driven. Furthermore, studies show that over half of the authors writing clinical guidelines receive financial support from the companies whose drugs they are reviewing. Talk about the fox guarding the hen house.    

     Here is another example of drug company muscle flexing. We all must hear at least ten ads for sexual performance enhancing drugs daily. As a male I am offended by the constant innuendo by drug companies about my inability to perform adequately in the sack. It is my lifelong experience that no woman has ever had a sexual desire anywhere close to mine. I have never met a male who has uttered the words “I can’t keep up with her in bed”. If I continue to hear these ads I will eventually assume I have a problem and will probably buy some pills just to see if I can do better. Before that happens, I hope they find a pill for women so the drug companies can dog them for awhile.     

     The point is, to sell a product to a few needy, they are guilting the many. Drug companies will promote whatever makes them money, whether we need it or not. So beware. If you can’t trust your doctor or druggist, who can you trust? Yourself, of course. No one knows you better than yourself.