How to avoid being like the 11 percent of Americans who now take antidepressant drugs every day - NaturalNews.com
Oct 20, 2011 1:13 AM
(NaturalNews) The admitted goal of the pharmaceutical industry is to have every man, woman and child in America taking at least two prescription medications every day of their lives (whether they're sick or not). Through Big Pharma's corruption of the FDA, medical journals, med schools and the mainstream media, it creeps ever closer to accomplishing that goal, and today it has been revealed that one in ten Americans are now on SSRI antidepressant drugs.
This is the conclusion of a survey conducted by the CDC. It also revealed that antidepressant use jumped 400% from 2005 - 2008, while women are 2.5 times more likely to use antidepressants than men. (And whites are far more likely to use them than blacks, the CDC found.) (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/19/us-usa-antidepressants-idUSTRE79I7FI20111019)
I could write thousands of words about the dangerous side effects of prolonged antidepressant use (diabetes, psychosis, detachment from reality, etc.), but for this article, I'd rather approach things from a solutions angle and share what I know about getting OFF antidepressant drugs using nutrition and holistic health principles.
How to get off the SSRI meds and save your brain
First, realize that the fictions being sold you by the false advertising of the pharmaceutical industry must be abandoned. Depression is not caused by a "chemical imbalance in the brain" that can be resolved by paying monopoly prices for a patented synthetic chemical sold by a local pharmacy. That's just a fabrication which was engineered to sell you more overpriced pills.
In reality, "depression" is the red flag warning that multiple areas of your life are out of balance and need to be brought back into balance before you'll really feel better. After talking with probably hundreds of people about their experiences with so-called "mental disorders" over the past eight years, I've come to the conclusion that there are at least four powerful strategies for permanently reversing depression without using any drugs whatsoever. They are:
#1) Spend more time in nature.
Spending time in nature reverses depression at so many levels it's almost difficult to overstate the benefits. Sunlight exposure beats back depression at the hormonal level. Breathing fresh air that's filled with negative ions from trees and plants prevents depression at a bioelectric level. Touching the earth with your bare hands, hearing the sounds of nature, feeling the bark of a tree or even just seeing lush green foliage is all vibrational, sensory medicine that also helps reverse diabetes.
If you look at most people who are depressed, they almost all have one thing in common: The LIVE and WORK indoors! They never get out. They never run barefoot in the grass. They are depressed because they are disconnected from the real world. And that's not what the human body and mind was designed to experience.
#2) Get some regular physical exercise
Did you know that when you exercise, your brain manufactures antidepressant drugs for free? No prescription needed, either. One walk on a treadmill might save you $20 worth of drugs!
Actually, your body's own brain drugs are better than any synthetic drugs, too. That's because your biochemistry has no negative side effects. You simply feel good after exercising, and the good feeling may continue for as long as 24 hours.
Your exercise doesn't have to be crazy to make a world of difference. Just walking 45 minutes a day can have a HUGE impact on your life. Don't have 45 minutes a day? I bet you do. I bet you watch 45 minutes of TV a day that you could ditch, or you spend 45 minutes a day engaging in pointless activities that don't contribute to your happiness in any sort of meaningful way. Why not spend those 45 minutes taking a walk instead? You'll not only feel happier, but your body will get healthier too!
#3) Eat more omega-3 oils and organic plants.
Depression also has a powerful nutritional component. Most "depressed" people are living on processed dead foods. They're eating way too much sugar, white flour, breads, pasteurized dairy and other depressing foods. No wonder they feel so blue!
To reverse all this, eat more omega-3 oils from dietary supplements, wild-caught salmon, flax seeds, chia seeds and other sources. Boost your mineral intake by consuming (or juicing) lots of fresh organic produce. Make sure it's organic, because that means it has a higher mineral content. Trace minerals drastically improve cognitive function and moods.
Finally, eat more living foods and less "dead" food. Living foods make you feel alive because they are alive! Dead foods make you feel dead. So get yourself a juicer (the Breville juicers are the best all-around, high-quality juicers), buy some organic carrots, apples, celery and parsley, and start juicing your way to a happier life! (Yes, it really does make you happier.)
#4) Find meaning in your work and in your life.
Many people who are "depressed" also work at a thankless job, or exist in a torturous personal relationship, and they typically live a life with no real purpose or meaning. Having a purpose in life is very inspiring. Pursuing it with daily action can completely reverse any signs of depression and help turn despair into positive, constructive action.
That's why I say if you feel depressed start searching for your real purpose in life!
I know my purpose. It is to protect the diversity of life on our planet and in our universe. Each day, I diligently work as the editor of NaturalNews toward that fulfilling purpose. This is what allows me to keep moving forward regardless of what happens in the world around me. I know that the universe has granted me the opportunity and the tools to live a life with purpose, in service of what I believe is the most noble cause in the entire universe: The protection of life and truth (against destructive forces, against darkness, against deception, etc.).
I challenge you: What can you find in your own life that is an important purpose serving a higher good? If your work is unfulfilling, can you find a way to transition to a more meaningful line of work that would make you happier? (Yes, it might mean earning less money, but you can't buy happiness, so it's priceless!)
Can you find a way to work in the service of others so that the people around you experience an improvement in their own lives? Can you teach others? Can you lead by example? Can you write inspiring books?
This may take some soul searching, but you may find solutions through meditation or yoga or even just taking long hikes in nature and thinking about your life for a change. I've never seen a purpose-driven person feeling depressed for very long. Once you find a driving purpose in your life, you'll be so busy pursuing that mission that you won't even have time to feel depressed!
Or you could just take SSRI drugs and fake like you're happy
Now, if you really can't stand going outside in the sunshine, and you absolutely love to eat donuts for breakfast and pizza for dinner, and you have no purpose in your life other than to inhale more snack chips in front of the TV set, then SSRI drugs may be the perfect thing. With one little pill, you can temporarily alter your brain chemistry to add illusion to insult, making you "feel" like your life is okay even though you know in your heart that it isn't.
Getting off SSRI drugs requires courage. Taking responsibility for your life may be the hardest thing you've ever done, but it might also be the most rewarding. Subsisting on mind-altering drugs while living a life of despair is no life at all. And the longer you take these SSRI drugs, the more detached you will feel, making you even more isolated and depressed.
That's why I say get off your meds NOW! Turn off the TV and take your life back! Get off the couch, out of the pharmacy and away from your toxic doctor with his deadly prescription pad that probably has a Pfizer logo on it. Get out into nature, eat real foods, get into regular exercise and find a meaningful purpose in your life. This will get you back on track to not just happiness, but spiritual fulfillment as well.
After all, being here isn't just about feeling happy all the time. It's about something far more important: Standing for something that matters so that your life is lived with purpose. Who's got time to be depressed when you're serving a higher purpose?
Thursday, October 20, 2011
How to avoid being like the 11 percent of Americans who now take antidepressant drugs every day (NaturalNews.com)
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Short intense exercise helps the body metabolize sugar (News-Medical.net)
Medical Research News Research published in the open access journal BMC Endocrine Disorders shows that a brief but intense exercise session every couple of days may be the best way to cut the risk of diabetes. Professor James Timmons worked with a team of researchers from Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh, Scotland, to investigate the effect of 'high-intensity interval training' (HIT) on the metabolic prowess of sixteen sedentary male volunteers. He said, "The risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type two diabetes is substantially reduced through regular physical activity. Unfortunately, many people feel they simply don't have the time to follow current exercise guidelines. What we have found is that doing a few intense muscle exercises, each lasting only about 30 seconds, dramatically improves your metabolism in just two weeks." Current exercise guidelines suggest that people should perform moderate to vigorous aerobic and resistance exercise for several hours per week. While these guidelines are very worthwhile in principle, Timmons suggests that a lack of compliance indicates the need for an alternative, "Current guidelines, with regards to designing exercise regimes to yield the best health outcomes, may not be optimal and certainly require further discussion. The low volume, high intensity training utilized in our study substantially improved both insulin action and glucose clearance in otherwise sedentary young males and this indicates that we do not yet fully appreciate the traditional connection between exercise and diabetes". The subjects in this trial used exercise bikes to perform a quick sprint at their highest possible intensity. In principle, however, any highly vigorous activity carried out a few days per week should achieve the same protective metabolic improvements. Timmons added, "This novel approach may help people to lead a healthier life, improve the future health of the population and save the health service millions of pounds simply by making it easier for people to find the time to exercise".
I love this study, even though it is small...a high intensity workout for 3 minutes 3x a week has a significant impact on how your body can metabolize sugar. There was another study like this last year that I remember, that basically said the same thing ~ that there are health benefits to working out for just 20 min 3x a week.
Our schedules are busy, and seeing this science reduces my guilt of not working out more! I think that one of the most important goals of exercise is to work your heart (heart disease #1 killer in US), and a brief high intensity workout would certainly do that. Anything that makes you breathe deep and heavy for 15 or 20 minutes...also great to get the oxygen circulating through your blood to cleanse it.
Short intense exercise best way to lower risk of diabetes
Published: Thursday, 29-Jan-2009
Printer Friendly 
A regular high-intensity, three-minute workout has a significant effect on the body's ability to process sugars.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Immune System Health (Harvard Study)
Dr. Starnbach, the editor of the 43-page report, is a professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at Harvard Medical School. The Truth About Your Immune System: What you need to know is available for $16 from Harvard Health Publications, the publishing division of Harvard Medical School. Order it online at http://www.health.harvard.edu/E or by calling 1-877-649-9457 (toll free).Harvard Study on Immune System
Miscellaneous News Published: Tuesday, 23-Oct-2007 Printer Friendly The lifestyle factors that appear to help keep the immune system in shape are the same ones that promote overall health, such as these:
Friday, November 21, 2008
Diet, exercise are major cancer causes
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor WASHINGTON (Reuters) - What people eat and how fast they grow are both significant causes of cancer, but many Americans still incorrectly believe that factors such as pesticides on food are bigger causes , experts reported on Wednesday. Breastfeeding reduces the risk of cancer for mother and child, and tall people have a higher risk of cancer than shorter people, the report found. "We need to think about cancer as the product of many long-term influences, not as something that 'just happens,'" Dr. Walter Willett, a nutrition expert at the Harvard School of Public Health in Massachusetts, told a news conference. The report, released jointly by the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research, is the result of five years of study by nine teams of scientists. They reviewed 7,000 studies on diet, exercise, weight and cancer. Most of what they recommended is in line with what health experts, including governments and the World Health Organization, have long been advising -- that diets based on fruits, vegetables and whole grains and that go easy on red meats, dairy products and fats protect against heart disease, diabetes and cancer. They found evidence that factors such as hormones that cause the body to grow quickly may be involved in some cancers. AS LEAN AS POSSIBLE "Be as lean as possible within the normal range of body weight," the 400-page report reads. That means keeping a body mass index, they said, of between 21 and 23. BMI is a calculation of height to weight, and the normal range is usually considered to be 18 to 25, with anything over 25 being overweight. Exercise is also key. "Be physically active as part of everyday life," is the second of 10 recommendations made by the expert panel. The recommendations also include eating mostly plant foods, such as fruits, vegetables and grains, avoiding calorie-dense foods such as sugary drinks, and limiting red meat, alcohol and salt. The American Institute for Cancer Research also released a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults that show most do not understand these risks. Only 38 percent knew of the link between cured and processed meats and cancer, 49 percent knew that diets low in fruits and vegetables raised the risk of cancer and 46 percent knew that obesity was a well-documented risk. But 71 percent thought that pesticide residue on produce was a cause -- something that has never been shown; 56 percent thought stress causes cancer, again not proven; and 49 percent believed hormones in beef cause cancer. "Americans are increasingly likely to attribute cancer to factors over which they have no control, and for which no proven links to the disease exist," the report reads. "This reflects an 'everything causes cancer' mindset," it adds. The meat industry quickly denounced the report. "WCRF's conclusions are extreme, unfounded and out of step with dietary guidelines," said American Meat Institute Foundation Vice President of Scientific Affairs Randy Huffman.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Wanna be 9 yrs younger? EXERCISE!
The findings are the first to show in humans how keeping fit affects the ageing process. The study of 2,401 twins found that a sedentary lifestyle raises the risk of a range of problems from heart disease to cancer and appears to play a key role in the ageing process. It all appears to boil down to the length of structures called telomeres -- which protect the DNA on the chromosomes, the researchers from King's College London wrote in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Many studies have shown telomeres get shorter over time, suggesting the cells are ageing or dying. The study, which extracted a DNA sample from their volunteers, found people who exercised more each week had longer telomeres. Exercise lowers the risk of a range of problems such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer, the researchers said. "It is not just walking around the block. It is really working up a sweat," said Tim Spector, a genetic epidemiologist who led the study, in a telephone interview. The study found people who exercised vigorously 3 hours each week had longer telomeres and were biologically 9 years younger than people who did under 15 minutes.Exercise keeps you younger, study finds
Never too late to live healthily - 75% of lifestyle factors are within your control
Feb. 11, 2008 -- If that New Year's resolution isn't working out, don't worry. New research shows it's never too late to adopt healthy habits that can help you live longer. A new study shows that men who led a healthy lifestyle in their 70s were more likely to live into their 90s and have a better quality of life. And a related study shows that people who live to be 100 don't necessarily do it by avoiding disease entirely, but by not becoming disabled by them. Researchers say studies of twins have shown that genetic factors account for just 25% of the variation in life span, and that these findings reinforce the importance of the other 75% affected by lifestyle factors within people's control. In the first study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers followed 2,357 men who were part of the Physicians' Health Study. The men were evaluated when they started the study at about age 72 and were surveyed at least once a year for the next two decades. Overall, 970 men survived to age 90 or beyond. Researcher Laurel B. Yates, MD, MPH, of Brigham and Women's Hospital, and colleagues estimated that a 70-year-old man who did not smoke, had normal blood pressure and weight, no diabetes, and exercised two to four times a week had a 54% chance of living to age 90. But for each of these common health risk factors, the chances of living to age 90 were reduced as follows: Having three of these risk factors drastically reduced the odds of surviving to age 90 to 14%, and having five risk factors dropped the chance to just 4%. In the second study, Dellara F. Terry, MD, MPH, of the Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center, and colleagues studied 523 women and 216 men aged 97 or older. Researchers split the participants into two groups based on gender and the age they developed diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, dementia, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), osteoporosis, and Parkinson's disease. If they developed disease at age 85 or older, they were considered "delayers," and those who developed disease at a younger age were called "survivors." The results showed that 32% were survivors and 68% were delayers. But researchers found that those who developed heart disease or high blood pressure before age 85 and still survived to 100 had similar levels of function as those who developed disease later. Researchers say the results suggest that the timing of disease may not be as important in living longer as how the disease affects people's health, which is mitigated by lifestyle factors.It's Never Too Late to Live Healthily
WebMD Medical NewsHealthy Lifestyle Helps People Live Longer
Secret of Centenarians
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Exercise, Sleep & Cancer Prevention
Women's Health News "Greater participation in physical activity has consistently been associated with reduced risk of cancer incidence at several sites, including breast and colon cancers," said James McClain, Ph.D., cancer prevention fellow at the National Cancer Institute and lead author of the study. "Short duration sleep appears to have opposing effects of physical activity on several key hormonal and metabolic parameters, which is why we looked at how it affected the exercise/cancer risk relationship." Even though the exact mechanism of how exercise reduces cancer risk isn't known, researchers believe that physical activity's effects on factors including hormone levels, immune function, and body weight may play an important role. The study examined the link between exercise and cancer risk, paying special attention to whether or not getting adequate sleep further affected a women's cancer risk. Researchers assessed the association between physical activity energy expenditure (PAEE), sleep duration and incidence of overall, breast, and colon cancer in 5,968 women at least 18 years old with no previous cancer diagnoses. The women completed an initial survey in 1998 and were then tracked through the Washington County Cancer Registry and Maryland State Cancer Registry for nearly 10 years. The results pointed to a sleep-exercise link. "Current findings suggest that sleep duration modifies the relationship between physical activity and all-site cancer risk among young and middle-aged women," he said. Out of those 5,968 women, 604 experienced a first incidence of cancer, including 186 breast cancer cases. Women in the upper 50 percent of PAEE showed significantly reduced risk of overall cancer and breast cancer. Among women 65 or younger when surveyed and in the upper half of PAEE, sleeping less than seven hours a day increased overall cancer risk, negating much of the protective effects of physical activity on cancer risk for this group. The next step, says McClain, would be to confirm current findings and investigate potential mechanisms underlying the interaction between sleep and exercise in order to better understand their roles in cancer prevention. Research is expanding rapidly on the effect of insufficient and prolonged sleep duration on many health outcomes although few studies have examined the association of sleep duration with cancer risk. This novel study examining the interaction of sleep and physical activity suggests another future focus of research on health behaviors and cancer outcomes.Exercise can lower a woman's overall risk of cancer
Published: Monday, 17-Nov-2008 Printer Friendly Exercise is good for more than just your waistline. A recent study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's Seventh Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research suggests that regular physical activity can lower a woman's overall risk of cancer - but only if she gets a good night's sleep. Otherwise, lack of sleep can undermine exercise's cancer prevention benefits.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
30 min 5 days a week
The federal government released a new set of exercise guidelines a couple of weeks ago, and the basic recommendation was straightforward: Thirty minutes a day, five days a week, at a moderate effort, for basic health; double that and/or make it more intense for more significant health and fitness benefits. But what if you're over 65? Should you be doing the same things, or approach exercise a bit differently? What about kids -- do their developing bodies need a different sort of workout? What if you're pregnant? Or hobbled by arthritis? The new guidelines attempt to clarify a host of issues like these. Exercise recommendations have been issued over the years by different federal agencies as well as by such organizations as the American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine. While the "2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans" from the Department of Health and Human Services are generally consistent with those recommendations, the attempt here was to provide the broadest possible review of the available science, and to create a document that would have the weight of federal policy. According to William E. Kraus, a professor of medicine at Duke University's medical school and a member of the advisory panel that assembled the guidelines, that policy dimension gives this document some extra significance: Its conclusions may figure into legislative and other debates about funding for school physical education programs, regulations for the operations of senior citizens programs and other public-policy questions. "These guidelines provide muscle that was not available" in the discussion of where physical activity fits in an array of issues, Kraus said. "It becomes part of national policy. . . . By doing such a broad review of the science, we feel very confident that HHS is armed with the best data to come up with broad recommendations." It also takes a sometimes confusing subject and renders it in pretty simple terms. The effect of a more intense workout, for example, was given a specific multiplier -- namely, 2. So if you are willing to work out at a level where you are breathing so hard that conversation becomes difficult, you can cut the recommended times in half -- to 15 minutes a day for general health, or 30 minutes a day for more substantial health and fitness improvements. (Don't try to start out at this level, by the way; work up to it.) The concept of "accumulation" was endorsed, at least as a way to get started. If you have been inactive or have trouble finding a free half-hour, you can still benefit from multiple10-minute chunks -- a walk or calisthenics before work, a stroll at lunch and a final session at night, for example. For the general adult population, there are more details and suggestions, and forms for tracking daily activity, at http://www.health.gov/PAguidelines/default.aspx. The panel -- helpfully, I think -- also singled out specific populations for which exercise might seem less important or be more likely to go overlooked. The overriding point was that the general recommendation of five-day-a-week aerobic training and at least biweekly strength training holds for nearly everyone, including senior citizens, women through pregnancy and the postpartum period, and people with chronic problems such as osteoarthritis that might make them overly cautious. Kids need to be moving at least an hour a day, in ways appropriate to their age. There needn't be so much structure, but there does need to be variety, with activities that are aerobic, build muscle, and help develop balance and coordination. Twenty push-ups, in other words, may be less important than climbing a tree or wrestling a sibling; a jog around the neighborhood may be fine for the parents, but let the kids stick to hopscotch or soccer.
Washington Post
All Together Now: 30 Minutes a Day, Five Days a Week
Tuesday, October 21, 2008; Page HE03 TOOLBOX
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