The Leading Cause of Death—Pain

Posted on July 1, 2017 by Mark Pegram

painR1 It’s 3 AM and your body aches in relentless agony. You’ve already had twelve hundred milligrams of ibuprofen and the pain continues. Hot baths, cold baths, and nothing seems to give you relief. The emotional pain begins as you realize that you will not be able to work and your family needs your income to survive. As emotional pain and physical pain dance around your central nervous system, despair becomes your state of being. The remedy is not prescription pain meds or street drugs.

Recent headlines screamed that the leading cause of death for persons under fifty is pain med abuse. Having lived with pain since the late 1970s before overcoming it in the 2000s, I would say the leading cause of all death is PAIN. Is it that opiates are being abused, or is it that there is so much pain that humans will do almost anything to relieve themselves of pain? The signal that your body needs repair becomes worse than the underlying condition. As the pain continues the natural response of our body is to start shrinking the brain and other neural tissue. As the quality of life fails, emotional turmoil leads us into a state where death seems to be better than life. Why have we come to this stage of pain? Pain is the number one ailment in the US with 100 million people in some form of pain.

The cause of pain in the US has been the result of trying to maintain the largest segment of the economy as the medical industry. To accomplish this feat, it has been necessary to manipulate society in many different areas.

The food supply has been changed so that there are many artificial chemicals that our bodies cannot handle. How food is processed is another abuse to our food supply that the body does not respond well to. This prevents our bodies from achieving the normal healing processes provided by food. When we don’t heal, chronic pain is the result.
We have been scared from the sun for over the last fifty years. Vitamin D will damage your body and UV radiation will give you cancer. This lie has led to much of our pain. Not only does UV light provide many beneficial compounds when proper solar exposure is maintained, but also the other side of the visible spectrum or near infrared provides many healing benefits. This includes energy to our mitochondria for cellular healing.
Around the beginning of the Twentieth Century, funding for universities that taught patent medicine while not funding natural healing technologies became the way of American medicine. This led us to find drugs sourced from natural compounds. To understand this, consider the natural anti-inflammatory salicylates that were modified to make aspirin or salicylic acid. Natural compounds were modified to make drugs and our bodies do not respond well to them. Also, treating chronic pain with drugs instead of vitamins and minerals is just stupid. Congress even went as far as to say that you cannot advertise anything that is intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease without going through the FDA’s drug process. If you don’t drink water you will die. According to the FDA, if you advertise that water will prevent death, it is a drug.
Now as congress battles over healthcare, it is not about health, but sustaining the medical sector economy. There is some ethics involved as failure of the economy could lead to pain. One medical practice decided to start treating their patients with vitamins and minerals based on the huge amount of medical research. The result for eight thousand patients was a reduction in office visits from four per patient per year to one visit per patient per year. It does not take an accounting genius to determine that this was huge reduction in income. Imagine the decline in the US economy if the entire population was given an adequate intake of vitamins and minerals. With almost twenty percent of our economy in the medical sector, the US would plunge into recession. Our congressmen are now having to balance the health of the economy with the health of the population. What would you do? Poor policy decision over the last century has put us into a very sad position. If we modeled our health policies like the rest of the modernized countries, there would be a loss of over five million health insurance jobs and many medical and pharmaceutical jobs. Congress has consistently decided in the past that the ill health of the population is better that a loss in the economy. The policies of Health and Human Services can be defined in three simple words: Markets before mandates.

In the decades of my chronic pain, I only survived, through the grace of God, by being able to read medical research papers on nutrition for health and apply the findings to my health. Does everyone have this capability? We have put our trust in institutions because we are told that America is the greatest country in the world. It is a great country, but it has some very bad policies for health. I have a friend that went into medical practice in the 1970s. He constantly complained that he had no solution for the aches and ill health of the aged. Obviously, he had not been trained in nutritional solutions. This is the general course of the medical practice today.

With the new development in research for mitochondrial (cellular energy) health, our understanding of how processed carbohydrates lead to poor health has increased significantly. It seems that our ancient ancestors had a better understanding of how food heals us than our institutions of today. If you wait until this becomes common practice of using foods for health, you most likely will be dead. It will take many decades for our system to change. Over the last half century, we have been scared from the sun, told to use fats that were not healthy, substituted sugar for fats, and continued the use of drugs instead of vitamins and minerals.

To begin our journey of recovery, please consider eliminating flour from grains and all processed sugar that includes high fructose corn syrup. Find a source from someone that has studied this for decades. I have found Dr. Mercola to a have a firm grasp of nutrition for health. His new book, Fat for Fuel, is very enlightening. You may also want to subscribe to his daily newsletter. Don’t be alarmed as it is very complicated because of the constant barrage of bad information from our institutions. The Whole30 diet plan may be a good place for you to start. Here are the Whole30 rules. Here is what to expect in the first thirty days as you recover from processed foods. There are many other sources for diet like the paleo diet. Pick one and embrace it for your health. –Pandemic Survivor

Climate Change Deniers vs Nutrition Deniers

Posted on December 6, 2016 by Mark Pegram

jailed Medicine has denied the science of nutrition since the earlier 1900s. This because there is not a lot of money to be made from non-patentable nutrients. Science has shown that nutrition or getting enough vitamins and minerals will treat and prevent chronic disease. Doctors are trained in medical school to ignore this science. This has allowed the “great invisible hand” of economics to create the largest segment of our gross domestic product (GDP) as the healthcare sector (about 18% of GDP or almost one in five people in the US derive their income from healthcare). The government has continued to allow this growth in the medical economy because wealth creating manufacturing jobs have been moved out of the country and healthcare has been adopted as a poor substitute.

There is not settled science on manmade global warming. The climate change appears to be more coordinated with the intensity of the sun than with what humans are doing. There does appear to be a move afoot to go after people that do not agree about the science. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse has said, in comparing how the tobacco industry treated science, “Under President Clinton, the Department of Justice brought and won a civil RICO action against the tobacco industry for its fraud. Under President Obama, the Department of Justice has done nothing so far about the climate denial scheme.” Attorney General Loretta Lynch has responded, “This matter has been discussed. We have received information about it and have referred it to the FBI to consider whether it meets the criteria for which we could take action on.” If there is so much upset over science that is not settled, how can we deny the science of nutrition without acting? Shouldn’t all people responsible be held accountable. If we are allowing over 1,000 deaths per day from just vitamin D deficiency per Dr. William Grant, then shouldn’t the Secretary of Health and Human Services be charged? What about all the doctors, scientist, and medical insurance people? Shouldn’t they be charged for fraud and criminally negligent manslaughter?

Criminally Negligent Manslaughter : It seems that responsible parties could be charged with criminally negligent manslaughter because of the “taking of an unreasonable and high degree of risk.” The risk (denial of the science of nutrition) is being taken, to prevent a perceived failure of the economy if there was a sudden rush of health with proper nutrition. What an interesting and destructive conundrum. What a great opportunity to take away much misery and pain in the population. Proper nutrition for general wellness and treatment of chronic disease with nutrition could resolve opiate abuse and spur a surge in every day effectiveness. When I think of the suffering, pain, and death it breaks my heart. We have all been victims of power brokers.

The lack of agreement on the science of medicine is being allowed with the understanding that medicine is not science but art. At least that is the weak excuse that is being used. The population is being played like ping pong balls for the benefit of the medical/medical insurance industry. The propaganda about nutrition that happens in medical school is then relayed to the general population by doctors. Our smartest and best educated are being used like puppets. Power centers pull the doctors strings and the marionette plays for the general population. If you do not agree with your doctor, then you must be an idiot. It was such stage craft when Obama was trying to get Obamacare approved. He dressed a bunch of people in lab coats and put them on the White House lawn. How can I be wrong, look at all these people in lab coats—you’ve got be kidding me! And the politicians wonder why the population is so upset.

Doctors mostly are victims also. Duped into believing that patented medicine is the only way, they eventually just become a part of the system. Like a kidnapped victim begins to become assimilated to a kidnapper after a significant amount of time in captivity. We, as the medical consuming public, fall into lock step and believe that there is no other way than what the doctor tells us.

This is a very complicated problem with many power centers and with a century of misdirection. It will take strong leadership to break us free of this downward spiral. A large healthcare sector of GDP means that we are headed for a significant downfall. To keep and maintain a large market for a large healthcare sector means that there must be a lot of illness, suffering, and pain. I was a victim of the suffering for three decades of my life. As an engineer, I read research papers and determined the vitamins and minerals needed to heal from chronic disease. There should be no problem with doctors doing the same if it were not for the forced assimilation. Only when the government reaches consensus of how nutrition should be delivered in food and medicine will we begin to heal and our economy improve. Perhaps the better solution would be for government to just get out of the way. The government that is to protect us from criminals has become the criminal actor. I am more than willing to forgive all the manipulation and propaganda if our leaders will make policies that gives us health. –Pandemic Survivor

Supplement with Vitamin D NOW!

Posted on November 27, 2016 by Mark Pegram

Several weeks ago, the local paper printed a story by the Associated Press that was entitled “Vitamin D deficiency widely overestimated, experts warn patients.” This story was carried by most major news’ outlets at a time when supplementation for vitamin D is necessary in the northern latitudes. The article was based on a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) by four scientists that were on the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) food and nutrition board for vitamin D and calcium. The IOM reported in 2010 that you only needed 600 to 800 IU per day of vitamin D from all sources whether you were a ten-pound baby or a three-hundred-pound adult. What the NJEM paper and the news article fail to mention is that there was a statistical error found in the study and confirmed by several universities. The real value should have been reported at over 7,000 IU per day of vitamin D3. Follow link to read about the error.

One of the researchers, JoAnn Manson of Brigham and Women’s Hospital Boston, is doing a study given 26,000 patients 2,000 IU per day. She hopes to compare the study against statistics from the general population. The problem for Manson is that her study is extremely flawed because now most of the population knows that you need more than the 2,000 IU per day. She wants to slow down the supplementation of the general population to validate her study. The news article emphasizes “there’s an epidemic of needless testing and too many people taking too many pills for a deficiency that very few people truly have.” If that is truly the case, then why is she doing the study at a higher level of supplementation?

It is amazing that the medical industry has been trying to keep the general population deficient of the vital hormone, vitamin D3, for a very long time. The problem goes back to the 1940s when the US sued seventeen multinational corporations for conspiracy of price manipulation and not putting an adequate amount of vitamin D in over-the-counter supplements. Why? The original reason for this criminal act was about making money from discoveries that may not have been patentable. The withholding of the information has gone on so long now that the economy is at risk if everyone gets enough vitamin D to be healthy. Government action has now fallen in step with the medical industry because of the economy. Why has it been two years since the error was found and the public has not been notified? How would an adequate amount of vitamin D affect the economy? One medical practice gave their patients enough supplements to make the general population replete in critical nutrients. Office visits went from four per patient per year to one visit per patient per year. Think how the patients’ health most have improved—think of the dollar loss to the medical practice.

So, what to believe? People with light colored skin typically will make in twenty minutes, about 20,000 IU of vitamin D3, with mid-day sun exposure in the summertime with sixty percent of the skin exposed. People with dark skin may take 3 to 6 times longer. Who are you going to believe, nature or the medical industry? In the winter our immune systems become depressed because of reduction in the amount of vitamin D3 made from sun exposure. Colds and the flu increase and more people die from chronic disease. Let the researchers play their games while you protect your health with adequate vitamins and minerals. It is time to have empathy for the health of the population based on science.

This winter you should supplement per twenty-five pounds of body weight per day with approximately: deficient-vits-and-mins

1000 IU of vitamin D3
100 mg of magnesium (not magnesium oxide as you do not absorb it)
500 mg vitamin C
5 mg zinc

If you weigh 175 pounds, the amount of supplementation of these nutrients in which we are deficient would be 7,000 IU of vitamin D3, 700 mg of magnesium, 3,500 mg of vitamin C, and 35 mg of zinc. This of course is not the whole story of nutritional deficiency, but it would be a great start to get you through the winter. –Pandemic Survivor

Pain, Pain Meds, and Disability

Posted on February 27, 2016 by Mark Pegram

Americans are dying from pain meds and suffering more pain because of pain meds. We not just talking about illegal drugs like: heroin, methamphetamines, cocaine, marijuana, etc. We can add to that prescription pain meds, in particular, the opiate meds. We can also add to that over-the-counter pain meds, NSAIDS. Why are we using so many pain meds? It is because of the pain created by the food we eat, the lack of nutrition, and the choices we have made in medicine. This leads to an extremely high incidence of chronic illness and thus, PAIN.

pain

Around the beginning of the 20^th Century, money was funded away from nutritional medicine and toward patent medicine. This created a population of chronically ill. To resolve the pain of chronic illness, the population has turned to pain meds to treat symptoms and not the actual disease. This has created many types of social problems as well as created an economic nightmare for healthcare. Dr. Mercola Article on how this happened.

A lot of the pain comes from deteriorated cartilage. But the meds that are used to treat pain, prevent the repair of cartilage. Baby boomers have taken large amounts of NSAIDS that have caused deterioration of cartilage, and the need for joint and back surgeries.

“In human studies, NSAIDs have been shown to accelerate the radiographic progression of OA of the knee and hip. For those using NSAIDs compared to the patients who do not use them, joint replacements occur earlier and more quickly and frequently. The author notes that massive NSAID use in osteoarthritic patients since their introduction over the past forty years is one of the main causes of the rapid rise in the need for hip and knee replacements, both now and in the future.” – See more at Journal of Prolotherapy.

This of course is to say nothing of the number of deaths, kidney failures, heart failures, bleeding of the stomach and gut, and liver failures from over-the-counter meds. All caused by taken more and more meds to prevent pain. We have the greatest medical system in the world when it comes to treating acute illness. But with chronic pain, we fail miserably. Add to this the use of prescription meds and illegal meds and the social and economic issues continue. I feel your pain and experienced pain for three decades before researching to find that it was just nutritional issues.

When it comes to nutrition, it seems that we are left to our own resources to find cures. Without the use of the internet and the many professionals that reported on the issues, I would most likely be dead. I am only one out of ten Americans over sixty that is not on a prescription med. Begin your research into nutritional healing. The most of it has to do with not getting enough vitamins and minerals.

This issue cannot be resolved simply by eliminating the use of pain meds with more guidelines for doctors. The only way that we as a society can overcome this issue is for our institutions to reach a higher level of moral standards. By that, I mean institutions should adopt standards (yes, specifically Health and Human Services) and educate the population on the research that has already been done to relieve chronic illness and pain with nutrition. It is not our genome that is at fault. It is the nutritionally and emotionally stimulated epigenome that needs repair.

Dose Response of Vitamins and Minerals

Posted on October 28, 2015 by Mark Pegram

How much of which vitamins and minerals should we supplement with is always the question. It really depends on your diet. Following the guidelines of the National Institute of Health is very daunting. How are the guidelines developed? Is the recommended amount the correct amount for me?

The guidelines are usually developed based on the Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) from studies with scanty data or from studies with limitations in addressing the questions. Then the Required Dietary Allowance (RDA) is determined by moving the amount two standard deviations to reach 97.5% of the population. As examples, consider vitamin C and vitamin D. If the requirement cannot be based on science, then it is just a WAG called Adequate Intake (AI).

Guidelines for vitamin D were last issued in December 2010. The guidelines were stated specifically for bone disease or the amount needed to prevent rickets and osteoporosis. However, there was an egregious statistical error made. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) stated that 600 IU per day was adequate for most age groups and weight. It was later found that the IOM used averages for their regression analysis, which lead to the 600 IU per day. When using individual data, it was found that the amount should have been 10 to 15 times higher. This was confirmed by Creighton University and UCSD in February 2015. The government has taken no action to correct this error. The point, ignoring the statistical error, is that the IOM only considered bone health and not the other benefits of having an adequate amount of vitamin D.

A similar statement of need for vitamin C places the RDA at about 45 to 90 mg/d depending on age and gender. This amount was consider enough to avoid having scurvy. No consideration was given for the other diseases that vitamin C can help to prevent:

Cardiovascular Disease
Cancer
Alzheimer’s
Cataracts
Gout
Improved Immunity
Reduced Mortality Rate

Bats, guinea pigs, and higher primates, which include humans, do not synthesize vitamin C. If we consider the dog and goat, the amount of vitamin C synthesized is amazing. Dogs make about 18 mg/d per pound body weight. A fifty-pound dog then makes about 900 mg/d. A 154 lb. adult goat will make about 13,000 mg/day. If we find an amount per pound body weight that the goat makes, we find a huge number at 84 mg/lb./day. This was the amount that the researcher Linus Pauling thought was correct and he consumed over 12,000 mg/day. He died at the age of 93. If we approximate the amount for humans at 180 lbs., we find that we should be getting about 3,500 mg/day. This is the amount that I normally supplement or about 2 to 4 grams per day.

“My advice that you take larger amounts of C and other vitamins is predicated upon new and better understanding of the role of these nutrients — they are not drugs — in the chemical reactions of life.” – Written in Pauling’s book, “How to Live Longer and Feel Better”

“The best doctor gives the least medicine.” Benjamin Franklin

It only makes sense, given the above discussion of amounts, that the correct amount of vitamins and minerals are critical to health. Why then does the government only make RDAs as a distinction of gender and age? Of course, they are trying to reach an amount so that you do not have to do a calculation when trying to determine an adequate amount of vitamins and minerals for health. They use averages. This led to the error on vitamin D. Are we so poorly educated that we cannot do a simple multiplication? Why can’t the government simply state that we need an amount based on weight. I have seen many discussions about this issue in the IOM documents. However, it is mainly to stay with the “normal nomenclature.” It would be much easier to simply state an amount per mass and eliminate gender. Just think how much easier it would be if we stated vitamin D at 40 IU per pound body weight per day and vitamin C at 18 mg per pound body weight per day. It doesn’t fit the science claim the researchers that hold patents for prescription drugs.

The most recent foray into drugs versus nutrients that I have seen is the use of a drug to eliminate opioid constipation. Two fallacies come to mind. First, there should not be the need for opioid drugs to reduce pain, especially chronic pain, if the patient was getting enough nutrients. I know this from three decades of pain. Second, to use a drug instead of an adequate amount of magnesium in an absorbable form is outrageous. A simple supplementation with magnesium citrate or soaking in a bath of Epsom salts (if you are vitamin D3 replete) should take care of the issue. In addition, this would improve your magnesium status to support the 300+ enzymes associated with magnesium. The major benefit of using magnesium to overcome constipation from opioids is that the side effects are health. With drugs for constipation, you have the adverse reactions of abdominal pain, diarrhea (if you overdo magnesium this may be an issue), nausea, flatulence, vomiting, and headache. Krispin discusses how much magnesium per pound body weight is required. Why hasn’t the IOM or the NIH given us this simple guide?

Your take away is that vitamins and minerals are stated in an amount for diseases that have historically plagued us and not for the other benefits of health. Examples:

Beriberi (B1, thiamine)
Pellagra (B3, niacin)
Rickets (D3)
Scurvy (C)
Hypocobalaminemia – deterioration of the spinal cord and brain (B12, B6, and folate or B9)
Paresthesia – pins and needles in hands and feet (B5 Pantothenic Acid)
Night Blindness (A)
Cretinism (Iodine)

Think about jeans for a minute. What if we picked the average size and the style with the minimum amount and type of fabric that would satisfy social norms as dictated by the government. Would anybody wear them? –Maybe in North Korea.

Averages are not a great way to determine the adequate amount of vitamins and minerals that you need. You are not average. You are exceptional with a body designed for health. Moreover, the vitamins and minerals do not work by themselves. It is the combination of an adequate amount of all vitamins and minerals working synergistically in human biology, which allows the body to stay well. – Pandemic Survivor

PS: To those of you, who have listened to my five speeches on vitamins and minerals, be well and thank you.

Leading in Nutrients – The Affordable Care Act, Part II

Posted on November 15, 2014 by Mark Pegram

What are the natural or innate characteristics of leaders? The significant characteristic of leadership is the ability to paint a picture of truth that others can understand. When the picture is false it becomes a lie. The lie is where great leaders have failed us over the years. Much propaganda delivered in health and nutrition now makes it difficult for anyone to find the truth. This includes you and your doctor.

The ability to paint a picture in leadership that others can understand is a great gift. It is not a developed gift but a gift or quality that is innate in the leader. Research was used to determine the qualities of a leader. Only one quality of leadership could be found through all ages of test participants. The participants were asked to drink a glass of water with lemon juice added – no sugar. They were then asked to describe how great the lemon water was to drink. This was started with participants at the age of five. The children were then asked to go play. As they played, the researchers noticed that the children who were able to describe the lemon water as tasty without grimace, became the leaders in play. This test was repeated with groups through middle age with the same result. Participants who were able to describe the lemon water as great to drink became “natural” leaders.

This gift of painting a picture that others can easily understand is what makes a leader great. There have been many examples of leadership when both the lie and the truth were used effectively. However, when the gift was used as a lie, eventually failure of the led was the result. Compare/contrast the words of leadership during WWII between Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler.

Has this happened to us in health? The immediate example is the Affordable Care Act. A regular citizen, like yourself, has discovered some serious issues of lack of the truth. Richard Weinstein, MBA, Investment Advisor, found that Jonathan Gruber, the architect-advisor to the ACA, used less than truth to help the ACA pass legislation. Rich was frustrated for a year because he could not get the attention of the press. It was only after his findings became part of a legal challenge to the ACA that he found traction. Huffington Post Article: “This Philly-Based Investment Advisor Has Become Obamacare’s Digital Menace.” 11/11/2014

Rich was driven by the words that got the bill passed, “If you like your policy, you can keep your policy.” Last year, his health insurance policy was cancelled. The closest comparable policy was twice as much. He spent his nights researching the words of the architects of the ACA by reviewing videos that were available on the web. This past week, the Obama Administration was embarrassed by the videos and took immediate action. Obama declared that he wanted “Net Neutrality.” To me this sounds like double-speak as an effort to better control the internet. Glen Beck, on his morning radio show, called this declaration a “Trojan Horse” or subterfuge. A fear tactic was used this week with the words, “if you like Netflix, you can keep Netflix with net neutrality.”

Confusing and confounding findings are now included on a regular basis as a method to advance political advantages. Subterfuge is used in economics, in atmospheric science, and in evidence based medicine. The commonality is the complexity of finding truth. Findings by our elite scholars are being used to manipulate the people for the sole purpose of empire building. Empire building is simply the maintenance and growth of any organization without concern for the stress on society as a whole.

We, as citizens with concern for the health of government and people, have to now take action. The internet is there for you to determine your own truth. However, be careful, the double-speak artists are paid well to paint beautiful pictures. We do need to follow the leadership of a plain citizen, Richard Weinstein. Have you had a health situation that could be healed with nutrients? It is up to you to talk about this with your friends and family and to help our ethical leaders understand what is happening to our society. – Pandemic Survivor

Leadership in Nutrients – Part I

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Mark Pegram

Leadership is often misidentified as management. Certainly management is necessary to achieve any great goal. However, is it the correct goal? This is where ethical leadership steps in to give clarity to the community in its effort to achieve greatness in that society. There is always tension in what is an ethical goal. The obvious goal in any society for health is to lead long healthy lives with suffering only for very short periods of time before death takes us. When economic principles supersede the desire for health, a very suffering population can result.

The best way to understand the difference in leadership and management is the story that I heard in the 1980’s. We were attempting to add excellence in quality to a manufacturing environment. We listened to many quality gurus describe processes necessary to achieve the goals. But one story clearly differentiated the process of achieving the goal versus defining the goal: There was a team given the assignment of clearing a jungle and building a road to the other side of an island. At one point during the mission, the manager climbed a tall tree that had been cleared from the jungle. He relayed to the workers that the jungle cutters, the brush clearers, the road builders, and the people keeping the crocodiles away were all doing a great job. He could see the other side of the island and exclaimed to the group that they were more than half way there. On a tree that was adjacent, the leader climbed to the top. He raised his arm and shouted, “Wrong Island.”

Is managing health through evidence based medicine that spotlights only drugs, surgery, and other medical procedures the right island?

Where is the leader that stands up and declares, “Evidence based medicine when focusing only on drugs, surgery, and medical procedures is the wrong island?” “Evidence based medicine when focusing on drugs, surgery, medical procedures, and nutrients is the right island,” declares the leader.

And the economics shout back, “who is going to pay for the research on nutrients that will have no return except for health?”

“What will replace all the lost jobs in medicine and medical insurance?” the politicians proclaim.

Who is going to pay for the research on nutrients is answered by, us, the people. We have already paid for the research on drugs, surgery, and medical procedures that allowed the medical industry to achieve huge economic benefits. It is now time for the government to direct the largest portion of money spent on research toward nutrients and their interactions for health. It is interesting to note there is presently enough evidence based medicine for ethical leaders to make decisions on nutrients. But, what has clouded the effort is the desire to maintain the large sector of the medical-economic complex. Government has adopted the policy position that money to support the economy of healthcare is more important to the security of the nation. This has resulted in a population that suffers from a severe chronic disease epidemic. Could the problems of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes as the big three killers be corrected?

It is now time for our government leaders, Congress, the Executive Branch, and the Supreme Court to make ethical leadership decisions. The health of the nation would give a much more thriving, wealth building economy than our present paradigm of the medical-economic complex can ever achieve. Are you going to be the change agent to motivate ethical decision making in health? Only through contacting your leaders at all levels will this ever happen. It is the people’s issue that must develop in a grass roots wave. The other choice is to maintain the status quo and continue with great management of the medical-economic complex.

“Wrong Island!” – Pandemic Survivor

If I Could Get That One Drug for my Health!

Posted on October 30, 2014 by Mark Pegram

Health is only found through the abundance of life. This not only includes materials items, but also how you feel and the hormones that you generate by how you think. Otherwise known as the placebo effect. We have depended on modern medicine to relieve us of illness without consideration for the cheese burgers, sodas, cake, ice cream, and other processed junk food. We believe that if we do everything that our doctors tell us we will be healthy. But an invigorating, exciting, and healthy life is only accomplished through your thinking and how you experience your environment. All things are necessary for life: love, vegetables, meat, grains, water, air, sun, healthy environment, medical care, living in community, and attitude.

What has happened to health in America as we are suffering from many ailments as we age? Not only do we suffer from ailments of chronic disease as we age, we are allowing our youth to age too quickly. The issue with health in America is specialization. Specialization by the institutions that are overseeing our environment and the things that we consume. Everyone thinks that the doctor can solve all of our problems of health, but he only acts in his area of specialty. I could list all of the government organizations and other institutions to show the conflicts. There is no one that has the priority of health. Government believes that the economy is the most important thing to provide you security and health. This priority is repeated many ways in food, medicine, and medical insurance. Think about the conflict of isolating people with Ebola exposure versus the economy. During the recent months, the economic loss from SARS was cited as the reason to not over react to Ebola fears by the head of the CDC.

Consider the GMO foods that we are now consuming. How do these things get approved when no one really has control over them? Who controls the food supply? It is the economic benefit of food companies and government that controls the food supply. You would think that the FDA would be in control of GMO’s. However, anything that is generally consider as safe is provided to you as a food. But what is safe? Does food that gives us calories in large quantities with the nutrients processed into unknown substances safe? Have you read a label recently on any processed food item and can you recognize all of the chemical compounds?

Our nation is truly blessed with a very competent medical service that is constantly being balanced by economic factors. I say, give the people health by understanding that “food is medicine.” Of course, if there was a significant reduction in chronic disease, the large medical economy would collapse. One out of every five people are now getting their income from the medical industry. It truly is a balancing act when all the acrobats have gone south for the winter. – Pandemic Survivor

How Mom and Dad Dealt with Flu and Colds

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Mark Pegram

Writing the last post about building the immune system to protect against viruses, made me think about how my parents used to protect our health with nutrition. Some would consider it a very drastic environment for a child growing up with hard work on the farm. It was a way of life that I hope we do not disrupt with new rules about farm labor. We toiled together every day and we got diseases together because close contact. We also had a wonderful life being in the great outdoors every day. Close contact with the earth, plants, and animals helped me to establish the value of life. To love and value life and not treat life as the last of priorities.

There were many forms of illness that were experienced during my childhood. We hardly ever went to a doctor. We only sought the aid of a doctor in case of a serious illness that could result in disability or death. Of course this was the way of life during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Yes, we got all the necessary vaccine requirements of the time. Small pox, polio, and tetanus were of main concern. There were always the diseases that we considered minor because the symptoms would disappear quickly from great nutrition provided by growing our own vegetables, fruit, meat, and grain. Let’s not forget the large amounts of fat from grass fed cow’s milk and meats and the unadulterated enzymes in skimmed milk that was not processed.

In the last post, I suggested that vitamin D, vitamin C, vitamin A, magnesium, other minerals, and folate are necessary for a strong immune system. So how did we get these important nutrients without science to guide us? It was through the understanding of long used remedies that had been passed along through centuries of farm life and trial and error.

It was the winter of 1959 that can best explain how this was accomplished. After Thanksgiving, the whole family had various forms of lung congestion and sinus issues that were brought on by unknown causes. Dad could not stand to see the ailments continue. The Saturday after Thanksgiving, he took off to find the remedies necessary to relieve us. When he returned he had only three things. A gallon of cod liver oil, a box of oranges, and three gallons of black strap molasses, sulfured, that was used to fortify cattle feed. We lined up every day to take our dose of cod liver oil, followed by a helping of the sulfured black strap molasses. We were encouraged to eat the sweet oranges. In less than a week, everyone was well.

The cod liver oil provided us with the needed vitamin D and vitamin A. I am sure that there were other unidentified nutrients to be found in this concentrate of fish liver oil. The oranges were a source of vitamin C as well as other helpful nutrients. In the concentrated remnants of the cooked-down molasses cane were the many minerals that were stored in the grass. The fortification of sulfur in the molasses was there to drive the many sulfate requirements for health. We also had huge amounts of turnip and collard greens. There it is, vitamin D, vitamin A, vitamin C, minerals, and folate. I am also sure that our normal diet with the many forms of fruit, vegetables, grains, and meats also contained all of the vitamin B and vitamin E that were required for health. This is truly the way of sustaining natural health during farm life.

Now, we are struggling to define what constitutes healthy forms of nutrients. With all of the processed food and the many enzymes and nutrients that have been removed, our only action to achieve health is to use drugs as dictated by societal norms. Get the proper amounts of vitamins and minerals every season to boost your immune system and to protect your health. – Pandemic Survivor.

Protein for Health

Posted on September 25, 2014 by Mark Pegram

Proteins are the building blocks for your body. It allows the enzymes to work properly. Protein is also required to allow proper sleep at night because it controls the melatonin/tryptophan cycle for your circadian rhythms. Protein is responsible for all your DNA/RNA functioning. You can live without carbohydrates but not without fat and protein. This is demonstrated in the way that the Inuit or natives above the Arctic Circle survived in cold climates by eating meat and fat from seals, whales, and polar bear. The Inuit also ate the organ meats which was the primary source of their vitamins.

I do believe that lack of protein may be the reason that we are so fat. Carbohydrates give us energy and vitamins and minerals. However, large quantities of carbs will make you fat because of the high calorie content from sugar. Let’s say you get up in the morning and eat what is commonly considered a healthy breakfast meal of cereal. A serving of Frosted Mini-Wheat’s, 1.8 oz. serving (24 biscuits) has 180 calories, 4 grams (g) protein. In addition you have a cup of orange juice. This is about 111 calories with only 1.7g of protein. At lunch you have a Subway Chicken Teriyaki with spinach salad. This gives you 220 calories and 27 grams of protein. You have eaten well and only consumed 511 calories. For diner you decide to have steak with mash potatoes, a salad, and garlic bread. The six ounces of meat is about 42 grams of protein. With lean and fat that is 438 calories. The 1-1/2 cup of mash potatoes is about 305 calories and 5.7 grams of protein. You also have two slices of garlic bread for 412 calories and 9.8 grams of protein. The mixed green salad with tomatoes, cumber, onions, green pepper, and dressing is 171 calories and 2g protein.

You add up the total and you have had about 1800 calories or what you believe is just right for a 150 lb. forty year old person. This is enough for your BMR calorie requirement. Your activity requirement is 500 calories because you have a desk job or are otherwise sedentary. You make this up by having snacks throughout the day that are primarily carbs and adds only 6 grams of protein. You total up your protein to find that you have 98 grams. How much protein should you have? Most health sites list protein at least 1/2 gram per pound of body weight or 75 to 85 grams as a minimum requirement. You have accomplished a great day of nutrition by most standards. But who do you know that eats that healthy.

Another typical day and you have two pieces of wheat toast with jelly and a glass of orange juice. 350 calories and 2 grams of protein. You have a McDonald’s Quarter Pound with cheese meal for lunch with a coke. 520 plus 29 grams protein, fries 230, 2 g protein, 16 oz. coke 140 calorie. For diner: 6 oz. chili beans with cheese for 740 calories and 24 grams of protein and corn chips 2 oz. for 280 calories and 4g protein. This gives you 2260 calories and 61 g of protein. You don’t feel well. You did have an adequate amount of calories. You worked out extra hard at the gym to burn off the fat and sugar and your muscles are aching and yet you still feel hungry. Why? It would seem that you had enough protein since you ate meat and cheese at two meals. However, you did not get the minimum requirement of protein. If you eliminated the toast for breakfast and had ham and eggs without the bread, you would have done fine even with all the sugar consumption at lunch.

The total protein and fat requirement is more important than the amount of calories that you eat. The above example with adequate protein from a breakfast of ham and eggs would have allowed you to feel stronger during your workout and the recovery would have been quicker. Also, you most likely would have slept and felt well.

The minimum requirement of protein is extremely important to how you feel. Getting the correct amount of vitamins and minerals is also very important. I went for a year eating junk food to see what it did to my lipids. I did gain a significant amount of weight. I ignored the amount of fat that I ate. However, my lipids, cholesterol and triglycerides were all normal with adequate protein, vitamins, and minerals. This is amazing since before getting an adequate amount of protein, enough minerals and especially vitamin D3, I had cholesterol as high as 140 and my triglycerides were as high as 700. Do not attempt this!

To better understand the requirements of protein, I would suggest that you visit Krispin.com to determine your protein requirements. All about protein.

Reduce the amount of carbohydrates to control calories, especially sugar from all sources. Get an adequate amount of protein and fat. Remember the suggested values for protein are minimums. If you are very active, stressed, or over sixty, you may require higher amounts of protein. Of course if you have kidney disease, follow your doctor’s instructions for protein consumption. Also, be sure you are getting enough vitamins and minerals, especially vitamin D3. My path to wellness included getting the correct amounts of protein and fat in addition to vitamins and minerals. – Pandemic Survivor

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