Take fitness into your own hands, don’t wait for your school to call you fat. Enjoy!

Cheers to your health,

Adina

College’s too-fat-to-graduate rule under fire

(CNN) — Most college students expect to receive their diplomas on the basis of grades, but at a Pennsylvania school, physical fitness matters too.

Students at Lincoln University with a body mass index of 30 or above, reflective of obesity, must take a fitness course that meets three hours per week. Those who are assigned to the class but do not complete it cannot graduate.

Now that the first class to have this requirement imposed is nearing graduation day — students who entered in the fall of 2006 — the school faces criticism from both students and outsiders about the fitness class policy.

One of those students is Tiana Lawson, 21, whose recent editorial in the student paper has drawn national attention to the issue. Lawson wrote in The Lincolnian that she would be more understanding if the requirement applied to everyone. She thinks all students, not just those with a high BMI, should have to take the class.

“I didn’t come to Lincoln to be told that my weight is not in an acceptable range,” Lawson wrote. “I came here to get an education which, as a three-time honor student, is something I have been doing quite well, despite the fact that I have a slightly high Body Mass Index.”

Lawson, who told CNN she had been putting off getting her BMI tested until this year, recently found out she would have to take the class. At first angry, Lawson said she is now more “confused” about the requirement.

“I don’t know why they would want some people to be more healthy than others,” she said.

But James DeBoy, chairman of the school’s Department of Health and Physical Education, says the requirement is just like courses to help students’ communications or math proficiency. The faculty also has a priority to be honest with students, he said.

“We, as educators, must tell students when we believe, in our heart of hearts, when certain factors, certain behaviors, attitudes, whatever, are going to hinder that student from achieving and maximizing their life goals,” he said.

Moreover, if there were unlimited resources, the fitness opportunities would be for all students, but that is not the reality, he said.

The historically black college receives public funding, but is under independent control.

Obesity increases a person’s risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, some cancers and other ailments. African-Americans were 1.4 times as likely to be obese as non-Hispanic whites in 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. About four out of five African-American women are overweight or obese, the agency said.

“Obesity is going to rob you of your quality and quantity of life,” DeBoy said. “We believe that this is unconscionable.”

The fitness course, called “Fitness for Life,” consists of activities including water aerobics, Tai Bo and aerobic dance, he said.

Because BMI is not a perfect measure of obesity, students also have their waist circumference measured, he said. There are some people who have a high BMI because of their muscle mass, but are not actually obese, and the waist measurement is meant to weed out those people.

From a legal perspective, the school’s requirement seems “paternalistic” and “intrusive,” said David Kairys, professor of law at Temple University Law School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

“The part that seems excessive is forcing them to take this course, or to exercise three hours a week, which isn’t a bad idea for them, but should be their choice,” he said.

Lincoln is “breaking new ground” with this requirement, as Kairys has not heard of one like it at other schools.

Some students, such as Brittnai Panton, a 19-year-old freshman from Decatur, Georgia, like the requirement. She tested out of having to take the class, but supports having it around.

“Being in this day and age where people are becoming overweight and need more fitness, I think it’s a great idea to earn extra credit, an easy extra credit,” she said.

Many of her classmates don’t find it offensive, she said.

“It is like you’re getting a second chance to actually do fitness in school, which certain people wouldn’t do,” she said. “Many of them find it an easy credit.”

DeBoy said 620 students have either tested out or taken the course, with 80 remaining to get their BMI evaluated. He estimates 12 to 15 will need to take the fitness class in January.

When the faculty first approved the fitness course requirement in 2006, there were minimal concerns raised, he said. The intention is to spread the message that people in school, including high school and middle school, need more physical activity.

“This is one university’s — granted it’s radical and it’s upsetting — approach to try to begin to directly address” obesity, he said.

Cheers to your health,

Adina

Calorie Data to be Posted at Most Chains

Buried deep in the health care legislation that President Obamasigned on Tuesday is a new requirement that will affect any American who walks into a McDonald’s, Starbucks or Burger King. Every big restaurant chain in the nation will now be required to put calorie information on their menus and drive-through signs.

In other words, as soon as 2011 it will be impossible to chomp down on a Big Mac without knowing that it contains over 500 calories, more than a quarter of the Agriculture Department’s 2,000-calorie daily guideline.

The legislation also requires labels on food items in vending machines, meaning that anybody tempted by a king-size Snickers bar will know up front that it packs 440 calories.

The measure is intended to create a national policy modeled on a requirement that has already taken effect in New York City and was to go into effect in 2011 in places like California and Oregon. The new federal law requires restaurant chains with 20 or more outlets to disclose calorie counts on their food items and supply information on how many calories a healthy person should eat in a day.

“I think it is an historic development,” said Kelly D. Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale. Consumers spend more than half their food dollars outside of the home, he said, “and when people eat away from home they eat more and they eat worse. And part of the reason may be because they don’t know what’s in fast foods, and they’re often shocked to find out.”

While Mr. Brownell acknowledged that some consumers will ignore the nutritional information, he said labeling would affect the decisions of enough people to create a public health benefit.

“The broader issue is that this firmly establishes the government’s role in improving the nation’s nutrition,” he said.

The measure was approved by Congress with little public discussion, in part because restaurant chains supported it. They had spent years fighting such requirements, but they were slowly losing the battle. Confronting a potential patchwork of conflicting requirements adopted by states and cities, they finally asked Congress to create a single national standard.

“We have been strong advocates and supporters in trying to ensure this provision became law, and are extremely pleased that it was signed into law today,” Sue Hensley, a spokeswoman for the National Restaurant Association, said on Tuesday. “The association and the industry were supportive because consumers will see the same types of information in more than 200,000 restaurant locations across the country.”

Exactly when consumers will see that information is unclear, however. The legislation requires the Food and Drug Administration to propose specific regulations no later than a year from now, but completing the rules could take longer. If a legal battle ensues, as often happens with new federal regulations, the effective date could conceivably be years away.

Passage of the measure provoked aggravation among some free-enterprise groups, who saw it as another unnecessary government intrusion into private decision-making. Critics of the new law also contend that there is little evidence to show that menu labeling leads people to eat better.

“Frankly, it seems to me that whether I’m buying an apple or a Big Mac from McDonald’s, if they want to sell it to me without any information, I have a perfect right to buy it,” said Sam Kazman, general counsel for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market advocacy group. “This simply is not a federal issue.”

Under the new legislation, restaurants will be required to display calorie information for standard menu items as well as calories for each serving of food at a salad bar or a buffet line. The chains will not have to post calorie information for daily specials and limited-time items.

William Neuman contributed reporting.

Cheers to your health,

Adina

Expectant mothers reduce diabetes risk in newborns by eating more vegetables

Women who eat more vegetables while pregnant significantly reduce their children’s risk of developing Type 1 diabetes, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Gothenburg and Linkoping University in Sweden, and published in the journal Pediatric Diabetes.

“This is the first study to show a link between vegetable intake during pregnancy and the risk of the child subsequently developing Type 1 diabetes,” researcher Hilde Brekke said. “Nor can this protection be explained by other measured dietary factors or other known risk factors.”

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that develops when the immune system produces antibodies that attack the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Researchers tested the blood of 6,000 five-year-old children for these antibodies, and compared the results to their mothers’ self-reported vegetable intakes during pregnancy.

For the purposes of the study, “vegetables” excluded root vegetables such as potatoes, beets and carrots.

They found children whose mothers had eaten vegetables only three to five times a week while pregnant were 70 percent more likely to have elevated antibody levels than children whose mothers ate vegetables every day. This effect remained after researchers adjusted for other Type 1 diabetes risk factors, such as mother’s education level.

“The most frequently consumed vegetables in Sweden during 1996 to 1999 when ABIS pregnancy data were collected were tomatoes, cabbage, onions, lettuce and cucumbers,” the researchers said.

A diet high in vegetables has been linked to overall better health and a lower risk of a wide variety of diseases. Some specific components of vegetables, such as vitamin C and vitamin E, have been shown to reduce the risk of Type 1 diabetes.

“Recently, flavonoids, the powerful antioxidants, have been suggested to be potentially therapeutic agents for Ttype 1 diabetes,” the researchers said.

An estimated one million people in the United States suffer from Type 1 diabetes, with 13,000 new cases diagnosed in children every year.

David Gutierrez

Source: http://www.naturalnews.com
Sources for this story include: www.upi.com; www.emoiz.com; www.nutraingredients.com.

I’ve heard a few funny things regarding flexibility and life. I’ve heard that for every inch you are away from touching your toes takes 10 years off your life. I’ve heard that inflexibility of body matches with inflexibility of mind.

It doesn’t really matter if those things are true or not, because there are so many non-negotiable aspects to flexibility. Flexibility improves circulation and posture. It reduces strain and prevents injury. It promotes relaxation in the mind and body. It relieves tension and pressure. It promotes muscle recovery, and allows you to become fitter.

There are loads of ways to improve flexibility, and you can train your flexibility everyday (in fact, not only can you, but you should). Yoga, tai chi, gentle stretching, and water stretching are all fantastic ways to improve flexibility and promote overall health.

So get stretching!

Cheers to your health,

Adina

It’s traditional to hear about things like kicks and glute raises to get a nice behind, but I find that those exercises over excite and under deliver for most people. You might also hear that squats are great for the butt (which, believe me, they are) but done incorrectly, they really don’t offer all that much lift. So, what do I suggest?

Here it is:

The Lunge

The lungs is fantastic for the quads, and butt. Here’s the trick. DON’T start with your leg forward, dip down then repeat. DO Start with your feet together, step forward on one leg, back knee should kiss the ground (gently touch), then stand back up feet together and switch legs. The legs in the down position should have 90 degree angles at the knees. It’s the upward lift that is really going to tax that tuchas.

The Squat

Simply said, squat below parallel. Once you break 90 degrees, you activate your butt to get back up. Stay with your weight on your heels, chest up, head up. Going onto your toes is not helping your backside! Don’t only focus on doing many squats, focus on lifting heavier weights as well. Mix it up (light and heavy) and you’ll always be challenging those muscles!

Learn how to do a squat!

The Back Extension

Yup – commonly thought of as a lower back exercise, the slow upward motion of a back extension is a butt blaster! Just make sure not to use momentum to lift yourself up, use your butt! And you’ll get the added benefit of strengthening your lower back!
Learn how do to a back extension

The Kettlebell Swing

The kettlebell swing is a beautiful movement with a large range of motion emanating from the hip. To get that great hip motion, the butt squeezes together to provide the drive for the kettlebell.
Learn how to do a kettlebell swing!

Mix it up, heavy light, whatever you like – but get that butt in gear!

Cheers to your health,

Adina

Funny Diet #1:
Do you think using only chopsticks is a good way to diet? Using only chopsticks?

For a moment I’ll pretend that I can take this question seriously, and say that I can appreciate that one’s thinking might be that eating food with chopsticks would be a good way to slow down the eating process, so you give yourself time to feel full, and avoid overeating. However, in reality, if you look at the foods that you eat with chopsticks generally (chinese food, soups, and rice), and then look at how people use the chopsticks – i.e shoveling the food into the mouth, you can quickly see how this would create far too many problems. Not to mention the annoyance of having to drink your smoothie with chopsticks!

Funny Diet #2

The V8 Diet. Can I drink two cans of V8 a day, and then have dinner, and lose weight?
Why you’d want to drink 2 cans of V8 a day sure beats me. Let’s skip the filling and fibrous nature of veggies for a drink that has the same taste and consistency of tomato sauce. (If you like V8, I apologize.)

Funny Diet #3

The Wheetabix only diet. Wheetabix and fruit. Enough said.

Funny Diet #4

The 80 calorie fat free yogurt, water and diet soda diet. Will I gain weight from this? You might die. You probably won’t gain tons of weight though…..

Funny Diet Answers

“If you don’t eat cheese, you won’t get enough calcium, which can lead to scurvy…”

Cheese is really not such a good source of calcium. Calcium deficiency does not cause scurvy (vitamin C deficiency does, although in our country we hardly have to worry about that). Therefore, no cheese does not = scurvy.

Funny Exercise Questions

I’m terrified of building muscle – and I want to do 30-40 minutes per day on the treadmill, but I’ve heard that only after 20 minutes do you start losing weight and toning, the first 20 minutes you gain muscle! And I can only do about 20 minutes per day!

Seriously? You know how many people would jump for joy if they could build that much muscle as long as they run for less than 20 minutes. Nothing else, not weight training, just running for less than 20 minutes. Not interval training, not sprinting, not inclined running, or backwards running or anything else that will help build speed, power, and stamina (not muscle though). Just 20 minutes on the treadmill to build muscle? Seriously all you body builders out there – you’ve been weightlifting for nothing!

Two words: Be Sensible!

If you need/want help – please get it from someone who knows what they’re talking about, not from someone that thinks not eating cheese will cause scurvy!

If you have more funny diets, nutrition questions and exercise goofs that you want to share post them to the comments!

For now,
Cheers to your health,

Adina

Map out your path to success for 2010 – and the rest of your life. I don’t really like resolutions, because of their inherent failure rate. I choose that each day is a day to do new things, each day can bring new successes and joys. So make sure that each day counts – don’t wait until a new day, new week or new year. What’s your resolution? What are you going to do about it today?

I’d love to know what you want to achieve this year. Please participate in the poll below so I can help you achieve great things this year!

Cheers to your health,

Adina

Now it’s no surprise that America’s unhealthy, we’ve discussed fast food, food additives, obesity, diabetes etc, and yet it’s still scary to think that if our teens are doing so much worse than our adults, are we even on the move to become healthier?

There is so much focus on America’s unhealthy diet habits. There are programs to improve lunches at schools, there are T.V shows about losing weight and the dangers of obesity. And yet still only 13%. Some might suppose that teens are just at that age, and their eating habits will improve as they get older – unfortunately it’s well known that the food habits we are taught at young ages stay with us into adulthood. If teens aren’t eating fruits and veggies at home, they aren’t really more likely to buy them when they are at college. And as their addiction to processed food grows, they are unlikely to teach their kids.

They are also unlikely to be healthy as they get older. Lack of fruits and veggies means lack of essential vitamins and minerals. It also likely means lack of fibre. Vitamins and minerals are essential to maintain healthy bodies, strong bones, teeth, skin and immune systems. Fibre helps us feel full, as well as expel waste from our bodies. When we do not properly expel waste from our bodies, toxins are reabsorbed from our intestines into the body which can cause other health problems.

It’s no secret that fruits and veggies are important… but just how important may still be lost on some people. A 30 year old female having brittle bones, or a young man having hardening in the arteries is not exactly a world I would look forward to.

So make sure to get yours…

Cheers to your health,

Adina

This cancer awareness month, I’m asking you to become aware. To actually read, research and discover things that you did not previously know. To discover things that you will not be told by the breast cancer research foundation, by pink ribbon, or even by your doctor. I’m not trying to bash pink ribbon (yes I am), but the truth is that there are so many good intentioned people out there, people who actually do want to make a difference in the world, who are being pink washed – led to believe that what they are doing is actually helping to find a cure, when in fact, the companies and foundations they are supporting really have no intention of finding a cure. In fact, they even refuse to find a cause. The following is a book exerpt about the root causes of cancer. It portrays the true nature of disease and cancer as our bodies’ way of telling us that something is wrong – that our bodies are fundamentally unhappy, and they have no other choice but to shout out for help as we treat them worse and worse filling them with dangerous toxins, nutrient-free foods and overall crap.

For the next few minutes, please open your mind and read this. What you choose to believe is completely up to you, but please try to become more aware this month.

Cheers to your health,

Adina

Cancer is not a disease, it’s a survival mechanism (book exerpt) – courtesy of http://naturalnews.com

(NaturalNews) What you are about to read may rock or even dismantle the very foundation of your beliefs about your body, health and healing. The title, “Cancer Is Not a Disease” may be unsettling for many, provocative to some, but encouraging for all. This book will serve as a revelation for those who are sufficiently open-minded to consider the possibility that cancer and other debilitating illnesses are not actual diseases, but desperate and final attempts by the body to stay alive for as long as circumstances permit.

It will perhaps astound you to learn that a person who is afflicted with the main causes of cancer (which constitute the real illness) would most likely die quickly unless he actually grew cancer cells. In this work, I provide evidence to this effect.

I further claim that cancer will only occur after all other defense or healing mechanisms in the body have failed. In extreme circumstances, exposure to large amounts of cancer-producing agents (carcinogens) can bring about a collapse of the body’s defenses within several weeks or months and allow for rapid and aggressive growth of a cancerous tumor. Usually, though, it takes many years, or even decades, for these so-called “malignant” tumors to form.

Unfortunately, basic misconceptions or complete lack of knowledge about the reasons behind tumor growth have turned “malignant” tumors into vicious monsters that have no other purpose but to kill us in retaliation for our sins or abusing the body. However, as you are about to find out, cancer is on our side, not against us. Unless we change our perception of what cancer really is, it will continue to resist treatment, particularly the most “advanced” methods. If you have cancer, and cancer is indeed part of the body’s complex survival responses and not a disease, as I suggest it is, you must find answers to the following pressing questions:

* What reasons coerce your body into developing cancer cells?

* Once you have identified these reasons, will you be able to change them? What determines the type and severity of cancer with which you are afflicted?

* If cancer is a survival mechanism, what needs to be done to prevent the body from taking recourse to such drastic defense measures?

* Since the body’s original genetic design always favors the preservation of life and protection against adversities of any kind, why would the body permit self-destruction?

* Why do almost all cancers disappear by themselves, without medical intervention?

* Do radiation, chemotherapy and surgery actually cure cancer, or do cancer survivors heal due to other reasons, despite these radical, side-effect-loaded treatments?

* What roles do fear, frustration, low self-worth and repressed anger play in the origination and outcome of cancer?

* What is the spiritual growth lesson behind cancer?

To deal with the root causes of cancer, you must find satisfying and practical answers to the above questions. If you feel the inner urge to make sense of this life-changing event, (cancer that is), you most likely will recover from it. Cancer can be your greatest opportunity to help restore balance to all aspects of your life, but it can also be the harbinger of severe trauma and suffering. Either way you are always in control of your body.

To live in a human body, you must have access to a certain amount of life-sustaining energy. You may either use this inherent energy in a nourishing and self-sustaining or in a destructive and debilitating way. In case you consciously or unconsciously choose negligence or self-abuse over loving attention and self-respect, your body will likely end up having to fight for its life.

Cancer is but one of the many ways the body tries to change the way you see and treat yourself, including your body. This inevitably brings up the subject of spiritual health, which plays at least as important a role in cancer as physical and emotional reasons do.

Cancer appears to be a highly confusing and unpredictable disorder. It seems to strike the very happy and the very sad, the rich and the poor, the smokers and the non-smokers, the very healthy and the not so healthy. People from all backgrounds and occupations can have cancer. However, if you dare look behind the mask of its physical symptoms, such as the type, appearance and behavior of cancer cells, you will find that cancer is not as coincidental or unpredictable as it seems to be.

What makes 50% of the American population so prone to developing cancer, when the other half has no risk at all? Blaming the genes for that is but an excuse to cover up ignorance of the real causes. Besides, any good genetic researcher would tell you that such a belief is void of any logic and outright unscientific (as explained in the book).

Cancer has always been an extremely rare illness, except in industrialized nations during the past 40-50 years. Human genes have not significantly changed for thousands of years. Why would they change so drastically now, and suddenly decide to kill scores of people? The answer to this question is amazingly simple: Damaged or faulty genes do not kill anyone. Cancer does not kill a person afflicted with it! What kills a cancer patient is not the tumor, but the numerous reasons behind cell mutation and tumor growth. These root causes should be the focus of every cancer treatment, yet most oncologists typically ignore them. Constant conflicts, guilt and shame, for example, can easily paralyze the body’s most basic functions, and lead to the growth of a cancerous tumor.

After having seen thousands of cancer patients over a period of three decades, I began to recognize a certain pattern of thinking, believing and feeling that was common to most of them. To be more specific, I have yet to meet a cancer patient who does not feel burdened by some poor self-image, unresolved conflict and worries, or past emotional trauma that still lingers in his/her subconscious. Cancer, the physical disease, cannot occur unless there is a strong undercurrent of emotional uneasiness and deep-seated frustration.

Cancer patients typically suffer from lack of self-respect or worthiness, and often have what I call an “unfinished business” in their life. Cancer can actually be a way of revealing the source of such inner conflict. Furthermore, cancer can help them come to terms with such a conflict, and even heal it altogether. The way to take out weeds is to pull them out along with their roots. This is how we must treat cancer; otherwise, it may recur eventually.

The following statement is very important in the consideration of cancer: “Cancer does not cause a person to be sick; it is the sickness of the person that causes the cancer.” To treat cancer successfully requires the patient to become whole again on all levels of his body, mind and spirit. Once the cancer causes have been properly identified, it will become apparent what needs to be done to achieve complete recovery.

It is a medical fact that every person has cancer cells in the body all the time. These cancer cells remain undetectable through standard tests until they have multiplied to several billion. When doctors announce to their cancer patients that the treatments they prescribed had successfully eliminated all cancer cells, they merely refer to tests that are able to identify the detectable number of cancerous cells. Standard cancer treatments may lower the number of cancer cells to an undetectable level, but this certainly cannot eradicate all cancer cells. As long as the causes of tumor growth remain intact, cancer may redevelop at any time and at any rate.

Curing cancer has little to do with getting rid of a group of detectable cancer cells. Treatments like chemotherapy and radiation are certainly capable of poisoning or burning many cancer cells, but they also destroy healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract, liver, kidneys, heart, lungs, etc., which often leads to permanent irreparable damage of entire organs and systems in the body. A real cure of cancer does not occur at the expense of destroying other vital parts of the body.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of people who were once “successfully” treated for cancer die from infections, heart attacks, liver failure, kidney failure and other illnesses because the cancer treatments generate a massive amount of inflammation and destruction in the organs and systems of the body. Of course, these causes of death are not being attributed to cancer. This statistical omission makes it appear we are making progress in the war against cancer. However, many more people are dying from the treatment of cancer than from cancer. A real cure or cancer is achievable only when the causes of excessive growth of cancer cells have been removed or stopped.

Power in the Word

Cancer is the second leading “cause” of death for Americans. According to the American Cancer Society, about 1.2 million cases will be diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. in 2008. More than 552,000 Americans will die of it. Among men, the top three cancer diagnoses are expected to be prostate cancer (180,400 cases), lung cancer (89,500 cases), and colorectal cancer (63,600). The leading types of cancer among women are breast cancer (182,800 cases), lung cancer (74,600), and colorectal cancer (66,600 cases).

Cancer is not just a word, but also a statement that refers to abnormal or unusual behavior of cells in the body. However, in quite a different context, cancer is referred to as a star sign. When someone tells you that you are a “cancer”, are you going to tremble with fear of dying? It is unlikely, because your interpretation of being of the cancer sign does not imply that you have cancer, the illness. But if your doctor called you into his office and told you that you had cancer, you would most likely feel paralyzed, numb, terrified, hopeless, or all of the above.

The word “cancer” has the potential to play a very disturbing and precarious role, one that is capable of delivering a death sentence. Being a cancer patient seems to start with the diagnosis of cancer, although its causes may have been there for many years prior to feeling ill. Within a brief moment, the word “cancer” can turn someone’s entire world upside down.

Who or what in this world has bestowed this simple word or statement with such great power that it can preside over life and death? Or does it really? Could it actually be that our collective, social belief that cancer is a killer disease, in addition to the aggressive treatments that follow diagnosis, are largely responsible for the current dramatic escalation of cancer in the Western hemisphere? Too far fetched, you might say! In this book, however, I will make the point that cancer can have no power or control over us, unless we unconsciously allow it to grow in response to the beliefs, perceptions, attitudes, thoughts, feelings we have, and the life choices we make.

Would we be just as afraid of cancer if we knew what caused it or at least understood what its underlying purpose is? Unlikely so! If truth were told, we would most probably do everything to remove the causes and, thereby, set the preconditions for the body to heal itself.

A little knowledge (which is what we call ignorance) is, in fact, a dangerous thing. Almost everyone, at least in the industrialized world, knows that drinking water from a filthy pond or polluted lake can cause life-threatening diarrhea, but still only few realize that holding on to resentment, anger and fear, or eating fast foods, chemical additives, and artificial sweeteners, is no less dangerous than drinking polluted water; it may just take a little longer to kill a person than tiny amoeba can.

Mistaken Judgment

We all know that if the foundation of a house is strong, the house can easily withstand external challenges, such as a violent storm. As we will see, cancer is merely an indication that there is something missing in our body and in life as a whole. Cancer shows that life as a whole (physical, mental and spiritual) stands on shaky grounds and is quite fragile, to say the least. It would be foolish for a gardener to water the withering leaves of a tree when he knows so well that the real problem is not where it appears to be, namely, on the symptomatic level (of withered leaves). By watering the roots of the plant, he naturally attends to the causative level, and consequently, the plant regenerates itself swiftly and automatically.

To the trained eye of a gardener, the symptom of withering leaves is not a dreadful disease. He recognizes that the dehydrated state of these leaves is but a direct consequence of withdrawn nourishment that they need in order to sustain themselves and the rest of the plant.

Although this example from nature may appear to be a simplistic analogy, it offers a profound understanding of very complex disease processes in the human body. It accurately describes one of the most powerful and fundamental principles controlling all life forms on the planet. However skilled we may have become in manipulating the functions of our body through the tools of allopathic medicine, this basic, highly evolved principle of evolution cannot be suppressed or violated without paying the hefty price of side-effect-riddled suffering and pain – physically, emotionally and spiritually.

I fervently challenge the statement that cancer is a killer disease. Furthermore, I will demonstrate that cancer is not a disease at all. Many people who received a “terminal” cancer sentence actually defied the prognosis and experienced total remission.

The Need for Answers

There is no cancer that has not been survived by someone, regardless how far advanced it was. If even one person has succeeded in healing his cancer, there must be a mechanism for it, just as there is a mechanism for creating cancer. Every person on the planet has the capacity for both. If you have been diagnosed with cancer, you may not be able to change the diagnosis, but it is certainly in your power to alter the destructive consequences that it (the diagnosis) may have on you. The way you see the cancer and the steps you take following the diagnosis are some of the most powerful determinants of your future wellness, or the lack of it.

The indiscriminate reference to “cancer” as being a killer disease by professionals and lay people alike has turned cancer into a disorder with tragic consequences for the majority of today’s cancer patients and their families. Cancer has become synonymous to extraordinary suffering, pain and death. This is true despite the fact that 90-95 percent of all cancers appear and disappear out of their own accord. There is not a day that passes without the body making millions of cancer cells. Some people, under severe temporary stress make more cancer cells than usual and form clusters of cancerous cells that disappear again once they feel better. Secretions of the DNA’s anticancer drug, Interleukin II, drop under physical and mental duress and increase again when relaxed and joyful. Thus, most cancers vanish without any form of medical intervention and without causing any real harm.

Right at this moment, there are millions of people walking around with cancers in their body without having a clue that they have them. Likewise, there are millions of people who heal their cancers without even knowing it. Overall, there are many more spontaneous remissions of cancer than there are diagnosed and treated cancers.

The truth is, relatively few cancers actually become “terminal.” However, once diagnosed, the vast majority of all cancers are never even given a chance to disappear on their own. They are promptly targeted with an arsenal of deadly weapons of cell destruction such as chemotherapy drugs, radiation and the surgical knife. The problem with cancer patients is that, terrified by the diagnosis, they submit their bodies to all these cut/burn/poison procedures that, more likely than not, lead them to the day of final sentencing, “We have to tell you with our deepest regret there is nothing more that can be done to help you.”

The most pressing question is not how advanced or dangerous a cancer is, but what we need to do to not end up dying from it. Why do some people go through cancer as if it were the flu? Are they just lucky or is there a mechanism at work that triggers the healing? In other words, what is that element that prevents the body from healing cancer naturally, or what is that hidden element that makes cancer so dangerous, if it is dangerous at all?

The answers to all these queries lie with the response of the person who has the cancer, and not with the degree of “viciousness” or advanced stage it appears to have progressed to. Do you believe that cancer is a disease? You will most likely answer with a “yes,” given the ‘informed’ opinion that the medical industry and mass media have fed to the masses for many decades. Yet, the most pressing yet rarely asked question remains: “Why do you think cancer is a disease?” You may say: “Because I know cancer kills people every day.” I would question you further: “How do you know that it is the cancer that kills people?” You would probably argue that most people who have cancer die, so obviously it must be the cancer that kills them. Besides, you may reason, all the expert doctors tell us so.

Let me raise another question, a rather strange one: “How do you know for sure that you are the daughter/son of your father and not of another man?” Is it because your mother told you so? What makes you think that your mother told you the truth? Probably because you believe her; and you have no reason not to. After all, she is your mother, and mothers do not lie about these things. Or do they? Although you will never really know that the person you believe to be your father is, in fact, your father, you nevertheless have turned what you subjectively believe into something that you just “know,” into an irrefutable truth.

Although there is no scientific proof whatsoever that cancer is a disease (versus a survival mechanism), most people will insist that it is a disease because this is what they were told to believe. Yet their belief is only hearsay information based on other people’s opinions. These other people heard it from someone else. Eventually, the “truth” of cancer being a disease can be traced to some doctors who expressed their subjective feelings or beliefs about what they observed and wrote about in some review articles or medical reports. Other doctors agreed with their opinion, and before long, it became a “well-established” fact that cancer is a vicious illness that somehow gets hold of people in order to kill them. However, the truth of the matter may be quite different.

Wisdom of Cancer Cells

Cancer cells are not part of a malicious disease process. When cancer cells spread (metastasize) throughout the body, it is not their purpose or goal to disrupt the body’s vitals functions, infect healthy cells and obliterate their host (the body). Self-destruction is not the theme of any cell unless, of course, it is old and worn-out and ready to be turned-over and replaced. Cancer cells, like all other cells, know that if the body dies, they will die as well. Just because some people assume that cancer cells are there to destroy the body does not mean cancer cells have such a purpose or ability.

A cancerous tumor is neither the cause of progressive destruction nor does it actually lead to the death of the body. There is nothing in a cancer cell that has even remotely the ability to kill anything. What eventually leads to the demise of an organ or the entire body is the wasting away of cell tissue resulting from continued deprivation of nutrients and life force. The drastic reduction or shutdown of vital nutrient supplies to the cells of an organ is not primarily a consequence of a cancerous tumor, but actually its biggest cause.

By definition, a cancer cell is a normal, healthy cell that has undergone genetic mutation to the point that it can live in an anaerobic surrounding (an environment where oxygen is not available). In other words, if you deprive a group of cells of vital oxygen (their primary source of energy), some of them will die, but others will manage to alter their genetic software program and mutate in a most ingenious way: the cells will be able to live without oxygen and derive some of their energy needs from such things as cellular metabolic waste products.

It may be easier to understand the cancer cells phenomenon when comparing it with the behavior of common microorganisms. Bacteria, for example, are divided into two main groups, aerobic and anaerobic, meaning, those that need to use oxygen and those that can live without it. This is important to understand since we have more bacteria in our body than we have cells. Aerobic bacteria thrive in an oxygenated environment. They are responsible for helping us with the digestion of food and manufacturing of important nutrients, such as B-vitamins. Anaerobic bacteria, on the other hand, can appear and thrive in an environment where oxygen does not reach. They break down waste materials, toxic deposits and dead, worn-out cells.

The body sees the cancer as being such an important defense mechanism that it even causes the growth of new blood vessels to guarantee the much-needed supply of glucose and, therefore, survival and spreading of the cancer cells. It knows that cancer cells do not cause but, prevent death; at least for a while, until the wasting away of an organ leads to the demise of the entire organism. If the trigger mechanisms for cancer (causal factors) are properly taken care of, such an outcome can be avoided.

It is commonly believed that our immune system protects us against cancer. However, this is only partially true. On the one hand, the immune system readily destroys the millions of cancer cells that a healthy human body produces as part of the daily turnover of 30 billion cells. On the other hand, the immune system takes no action to eradicate cancer cells that develop in response to a build up of toxins, congestion and emotional stress.

Cancers and all other tissues in the body are larded with cancer-killing white cells, such as T-cells. In the case of kidney cancer and melanomas, for example, white cells make up 50 per cent of the mass of the cancers. Since these T-cells easily recognize foreign or mutated cell tissue such as cancer cells, you would expect these immune cells to attack cancer cells right away. However, the immune system allows cancer cells to recruit it to actually increase and spread the cancer to other parts of the body. Cancer cells produce specific proteins that tell the immune cells to leave them alone and help them to grow

Why would the immune system want to collaborate with cancer cells to make more or larger tumors? Because cancer is a survival mechanism, not a disease. The body uses the cancer to keep deadly carcinogenic substances and caustic metabolic waste matter away from the lymph and blood and, therefore, from the heart, brain and other vital organs. Killing off cancer cells would in fact jeopardize its survival. Cleansing the body of accumulated toxins and waste products through the various cleansing methods advocated in my book Timeless Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation (www.ener-chi.com) removes the need for cancer.

Cancer is not a disease; it is the final and most desperate survival mechanism the body has at its disposal. It only takes control of the body when all other measures of self-preservation have failed. To truly heal cancer and what it represents in a person’s life we must come to the understanding that the reason the body allows some of its cells to grow in abnormal ways is in its best interest and not an indication that it is about to destroy itself. Cancer is a healing attempt by the body for the body. Blocking this healing attempt can destroy the body. Supporting the body in its healing efforts can save it.

Andreas Moritz’s book, Cancer is not a Disease – It’s a Survival Mechanism, explains the root causes of cancer and how to eliminate them for good. Available through www.amazon.com or www.ener-chi.com.

So today’s challenge is this – get in and out of the gym fast today by combining your cardio and weights into one circuit workout. Instead of doing 1/2 hour cardio, then moving on to your weights in the slow methodical manner, bunch them all together. Mix your running with your squats and pushups and bench presses. Do it systematically – run 400m, 20 squats, 20 shoulder press, run 400m, 20 lunges, 20 bench press, run 400m etc etc etc.

You can do the same exercises and complete a number of rounds, or you can keep the exercises that you normally do, but throw your cardio into the middle of them.

This will keep your heart rate up, your cardio intervals will be more intense and your weight intervals won’t have lag time. You will finish your workout quickly, efficiently, and then you can go home and read the paper - as your body burns calories all day long.

Cheers to your health,

Adina