Atlantic Health

Poison Ivy is a plant that is widely found through all of North America and is present in two main varieties – Western, or Pacific, and Atlantic. The problem with Poison Ivy, which grows as ground cover and can grow into large bushes, is that it contains an oil – Urushiol – that, when it comes into contact with our skin, causes very nasty blistering and irritation.
It is imperative to understand that the oil occurs not just in the leaves but in all of the plant, including the root and the stem, and it is the immune system pushing against the poison, as it seeps into the skin, that is the root of the pain we experience.
Why Poison Ivy is poisonous
It may seem odd to us that at plant should be poisonous, but like most living things Poison Ivy has its part in the ecosystem. The way it grows is interesting as it is used as shelter for lower growing plants and ground dwelling animals, and the majority of these are, unlike humans, not affected by the oil.
Plus, Poison Ivy supplies berries that are an important foodstuff for a great number of bird species.
How to identify the symptoms and more about Urushiol oil.
The patient will very quickly suffer from irritation in the skin, in company with severe itching and inflammation in the troubled area. The skin will become a different colour and a burning irritation will occur, and in a short while blisters will form along with the rash.
Suffering can be endure for many weeks or may be done with within days, and an individual case is different. It is suggested that cooling the skin is a good antidote and also prevents further infection.
There are many important facts that people need to be aware of about Urushiol oil, and the first is that it is very potent indeed. Research has proven that a particle of the oil the size of a pin-head could infect 500 people, and as it is not a water based substance it will not evaporate.
The latter point presents a major obstacle as it means the oil can stick to on items it has been in contact with for as long as, and maybe longer than, a year. This gives us the possibility of re-infection, or of anyone who has not been in contact with the plant being affected. Clothes, shoes, tools and pets can all hold the oil, and the miniscule amounts believed to cause suffering give it greater potency.
Gloves and coats, together with boots, are among the most common causes of Poison Ivy infection and should be disinfected thoroughly if contamination is suspected.
How anyone can become infected
There are numerous ways that an individual can come into contact with the oil from Poison Ivy, and transfer from already infected clothing and other items is one reason as we have already noted.
The reason that we suffer when having been contaminated by the oil is because of the necessary reaction it promotes, and it is notable that direct contact with the plant is not vital to induce a reaction.
If Poison Ivy is burned the smoke is contaminated with vaporised oil, and even coming into contact with this smog can induce an attack. It has been said that a 100 year old oil once affected a man, an indication of how much troube the plant can be.
Anything that has been in contact with the sap of the plant needs to be avoided, therefore, and cats kept away from Poison Ivy bushes.
How to look after a sufferer of a Poison Ivy reaction
It is vital that treatment is started immediately, and the best method is to wash the contaminated area in warm water. A popular recommendation is to use a very well tried antimicrobial soap and to do all one can to stop the patient from scratching, as this will spread the problem more.
It is imperative to open the blisters, too, and to bring the area of infection exposure to the air. Keeping blisters wrapped is imperative in order not to allow infection.
Remember that it is just the oil that will encourage the infection to spread, so contact with it should be treated with caution.
The condition will, at some point, clear up by itself, but there are treatments available for the irritation and for extreme reactions. It is the decision of the individual whether to wait for it to subside or to invest in further help. Some individuals are fortunate in that they have no sensitivity to Poison Ivy, but these are few and far between and most of us would be infected by coming into contact with the bush.
If one knows of Poison Ivy the best advice we can give is the most natural – avoid it very carefully and don't let your pet near it.

Poison Ivy is a plant that prospers through all of North America and is present in two main varieties – Western, or Pacific, and Atlantic. The importance with Poison Ivy, which grows as ground cover and can eventually be seen as large bushes, is that it contains an oil – Urushiol – that, when it comes into contact with our skin, causes very irritating blistering and irritation.
It is vital to understand that the oil occurs not just in the leaves but in every part of the plant, including the root and the stem, and it is the immune system pushing against the poison, as it seeps into the skin, that is the instigator of the pain we undergo.
Why Poison Ivy is poisonous
It may seem unusual to us that at plant should be poisonous, but like most living things Poison Ivy has its position in the ecosystem. The way it grows is a guide as it gives shelter for lower growing plants and ground dwelling animals, and the majority of them are, unlike humans, not affected by the oil.
Also, Poison Ivy gives rise to berries that are an important foodstuff for a great number of bird species.
How to see the symptoms and more about Urushiol oil.
The patient will very quickly suffer from irritation in the skin, combined with severe itching and inflammation in the troubled area. The skin will become a different colour and a burning irritation will occur, and in a short period blisters will form along with the rash.
Suffering can be endure for many weeks or may be gone within days, and a particular case is different. It is suggested that cooling the skin is a good antidote and also prevents further infection.
There are many important factors that people need to understand about Urushiol oil, and the first is that it is very potent indeed. Research has indicated that a particle of the oil the size of a pin-head could infect 500 people, and as it is not a water based substance it will not evaporate.
The latter mentioned presents a major obstacle as it means the oil can still be on on items it has been in contact with for as long as, and maybe longer than, a year. This presents the possibility of re-infection, or of a person who has not been in contact with the plant being affected. Clothes, shoes, tools and pets can all be party to the oil, and the tiny amounts required to cause suffering give it greater potency.
Gloves and coats, along with boots, are among the most obvious causes of Poison Ivy infection and should be scrubbed thoroughly if contamination is suspected.
How we can become infected
There are numerous ways that an individual can come into contact with the oil from Poison Ivy, and transfer from affected clothing and other items is one reason as we have already noted.
The reason that we suffer when having been contaminated by the oil is because of the natural reaction it promotes, and it is notable that direct contact with the plant is not imperative to induce a reaction.
If Poison Ivy is burned the smoke is mixed with vaporised oil, and even coming into contact with this concoction can induce an attack. It has been said that a 100 year old item once affected a sufferer, an indication of how troublesome the plant can be.
Anything that has been in contact with the sap of the plant must be avoided, therefore, and cats kept away from Poison Ivy bushes.
How to help a sufferer of a Poison Ivy reaction
It is important that treatment is started immediately, and the best method is to wash the contaminated area in warm water. A sensible recommendation is to use a very well tried antimicrobial soap and to do all one can to stop the patient from scratching, as this will spread the problem more.
It is imperative to crack the blisters, too, and to bring the area of infection exposure to the air. Keeping blisters attended to is necessary in order not to invite infection.
Remember that it is simply the oil that will invite the infection to spread, so contact with it should be refrained from.
The condition will, in a while, clear up naturally, but there are treatments available for the irritation and for serious reactions. It is the choice of the individual whether to let it die naturally or to invest in further help. Some individuals are fortunate in that they have no sensitivity to Poison Ivy, but these are scarece and most of us would be infected by coming into contact with the plant.
If one finds Poison Ivy the best advice we can give is the most natural – avoid it very carefully and don't let your pet near it.

Poison Ivy is a plant that prospers through the majority of of North America and is known in two main varieties – Western, or Pacific, and Atlantic. The concern with Poison Ivy, which grows as ground cover and can grow into large bushes, is that it contains an oil – Urushiol – that, when it comes into contact with our skin, causes very unpleasant blistering and irritation.
It is imperative to understand that the oil occurs not just in the leaves but in many parts of the plant, including the root and the stem, and it is the immune system reacting against the poison, as it seeps into the skin, that is the instigator of the pain we feel.
Why Poison Ivy is poisonous
It may seem unusual to us that at plant should be poisonous, but like most living things Poison Ivy has its home in the ecosystem. The way it grows is a guide as it is used as shelter for lower growing plants and ground dwelling animals, and the majority of them are, unlike humans, not affected by the oil.
Plus, Poison Ivy supplies berries that are an important foodstuff for a number of bird species.
How to know the symptoms and more about Urushiol oil.
The patient will very quickly notice irritation in the skin, mixed with severe itching and inflammation in the infected area. The skin will become discoloured and a burning feeling will occur, and in a short span blisters will form along with the rash.
Suffering can be endure for many weeks or may be done with within days, and a particular case is different. It is suggested that cooling the skin is a good antidote and also prevents further infection.
There are various important factors that people need to understand about Urushiol oil, and the first is that it is very potent indeed. Research has indicated that a particle of the oil the size of a pin-head could infect 500 people, and as it is not a water based substance it will not evaporate.
The latter mentioned presents a major obstacle as it means the oil can still be on on items it has been in contact with for as long as, and maybe longer than, a year. This presents the possibility of re-infection, or of an individual who has not been in contact with the plant being affected. Clothes, shoes, tools and pets can all hold the oil, and the tiny amounts believed to cause suffering give it greater potency.
Gloves and coats, together with boots, are among the commonest causes of Poison Ivy infection and should be cleaned thoroughly if contamination is suspected.
How we can become infected
There are numerous ways that an individual can come into contact with the oil from Poison Ivy, and transfer from already infected clothing and other items is one way as we have already noted.
The reason that we suffer when having encountered the oil is because of the natural reaction it promotes, and it is notable that direct contact with the plant is not vital to induce a reaction.
If Poison Ivy is burned the smoke is mixed with vaporised oil, and even coming into contact with this smog can induce an attack. It has been said that a 100 year old item once affected a person, an indication of how dangerous the plant can be.
Anything that has touched the sap of the plant must be avoided, therefore, and cats kept away from Poison Ivy bushes.
How to look after a sufferer of a Poison Ivy reaction
It is vital that treatment is attempted immediately, and the best method is to wash the problematic area in warm water. A second recommendation is to use a very potent antimicrobial soap and to do all one can to stop the patient from scratching, as this will spread the infection beyond its boundaries.
It is imperative to crack the blisters, too, and to bring the area of infection exposure to the air. Keeping blisters attended to is necessary in order not to add infection.
Remember that it is simply the oil that will allow the infection to spread, so contact with it should be treated with caution.
The condition will, eventually, clear up completely, but there are treatments available for the irritation and for extreme reactions. It is the decision of the individual whether to let it die naturally or to invite further help. Some of us are fortunate in that they have no sensitivity to Poison Ivy, but these are rare and most of us would be infected by coming into contact with the plant.
If one sees Poison Ivy the best advice a man can give is the most logical – avoid it very carefully and don't let your pet near it.

Poison Ivy is a plant that is to be seen through most of North America and is available in two main varieties – Western, or Pacific, and Atlantic. The concern with Poison Ivy, which grows as ground cover and can grow into large bushes, is that it contains an oil – Urushiol – that, when it comes into contact with our skin, causes very unpleasant blistering and irritation.
It is imperative to understand that the oil occurs not just in the leaves but in every part of the plant, including the root and the stem, and it is the immune system pushing against the poison, as it seeps into the skin, that is the root of the pain we undergo.
Why Poison Ivy is poisonous
It may seem odd to us that at plant should be poisonous, but like most living things Poison Ivy has its position in the ecosystem. The way it grows is a clue as it gives shelter for lower growing plants and ground dwelling animals, and the majority of them are, unlike humans, not affected by the oil.
Plus, Poison Ivy bears berries that are an important foodstuff for a number of bird species.
How to know the symptoms and more about Urushiol oil.
The patient will very quickly undergo irritation in the skin, in company with severe itching and inflammation in the infected area. The skin will become discoloured and a burning irritation will occur, and in a short period blisters will form along with the rash.
Suffering can go on for many weeks or may be finished within days, and an individual case is different. It is suggested that cooling the skin is a good antidote and also prevents further infection.
There are various important facts that people need to be aware of about Urushiol oil, and the first is that it is very potent indeed. Research has indicated that a particle of the oil the size of a pin-head could infect 500 people, and as it is not a water based substance it will not evaporate.
The latter problem presents a major obstacle as it means the oil can stick to on items it has been in contact with for as long as, and maybe longer than, a year. This opens up the possibility of re-infection, or of an individual who has not been in contact with the plant being affected. Clothes, shoes, tools and pets can all hold the oil, and the very small amounts required to cause suffering give it greater potency.
Gloves and coats, along with boots, are among the most obvious causes of Poison Ivy infection and should be disinfected thoroughly if contamination is suspected.
How anyone can become infected
There are many ways that an individual can come into contact with the oil from Poison Ivy, and transfer from already infected clothing and other items is one way as we have already noted.
The reason that we suffer when having encountered the oil is because of the instant reaction it promotes, and it is notable that direct contact with the plant is not essential to induce a reaction.
If Poison Ivy is burned the smoke is contaminated with vaporised oil, and even coming into contact with this concoction can cause an attack. It has been said that a 100 year old item once affected a sufferer, an indication of how much troube the plant can be.
Anything that has touched the sap of the plant must be avoided, therefore, and dogs kept away from Poison Ivy bushes.
How to look after a sufferer of a Poison Ivy reaction
It is essential that treatment is attempted immediately, and the best method is to wash the contaminated area in warm water. A sensible recommendation is to use a very potent antimicrobial soap and to do all one can to stop the patient from scratching, as this will spread the problem more.
It is recommended to open the blisters, too, and to enable the area of infection exposure to the air. Keeping blisters wrapped is vital in order not to add infection.
Remember that it is just the oil that will invite the infection to spread, so contact with it should be refrained from.
The condition will, eventually, clear up completely, but there are treatments available for the irritation and for extreme reactions. It is the decision of the individual whether to let it die naturally or to look for further help. Some of us are fortunate in that they have no sensitivity to Poison Ivy, but these are few and far between and most of us would be infected by coming into contact with the ivy.
If one finds Poison Ivy the best advice one can give is the most logical – avoid it very carefully and don't let your pet near it.

Poison Ivy is a plant that is widely found through most of North America and is known in two main varieties – Western, or Pacific, and Atlantic. The concern with Poison Ivy, which grows as ground cover and can become large bushes, is that it contains an oil – Urushiol – that, when it comes into contact with our skin, causes very unpleasant blistering and irritation.
It is vital to understand that the oil occurs not just in the leaves but in all of the plant, including the root and the stem, and it is the immune system pushing against the poison, as it seeps into the skin, that is the root of the pain we experience.
Why Poison Ivy is poisonous
It may seem unusual to us that at plant should be poisonous, but like the best living things Poison Ivy has its home in the ecosystem. The way it grows is a guide as it is used as shelter for lower growing plants and ground dwelling animals, and the majority of them are, unlike humans, not affected by the oil.
Plus, Poison Ivy bears berries that are an important foodstuff for a great number of bird species.
How to see the symptoms and more about Urushiol oil.
The patient will very quickly notice irritation in the skin, mixed with severe itching and inflammation in the concerned area. The skin will become a different colour and a burning irritation will occur, and in a short while blisters will form along with the rash.
Suffering can be endure for many weeks or may be done with within days, and every case is different. It is suggested that cooling the skin is a good antidote and also prevents further infection.
There are a number of important points that people need to get to know about Urushiol oil, and the first is that it is very potent indeed. Research has displayed that a quantity of the oil the size of a pin-head could spread to 500 people, and as it is not a water based substance it will not evaporate.
The latter mentioned presents a major concern as it means the oil can stay on items it has been in contact with for as long as, and maybe longer than, a year. This opens up the possibility of re-infection, or of anyone who has not been in contact with the plant being contaminated. Clothes, shoes, tools and pets can all hold the oil, and the tiny amounts required to cause suffering give it greater potency.
Gloves and coats, and also boots, are among the most obvious causes of Poison Ivy infection and should be scrubbed thoroughly if contamination is suspected.
How anyone can become infected
There are numerous ways that an individual can come into contact with the oil from Poison Ivy, and transfer from affected clothing and other items is one reason as we have already noted.
The reason that we suffer when having come into contact with the oil is because of the necessary reaction it promotes, and it is notable that direct contact with the plant is not imperative to induce a reaction.
If Poison Ivy is burned the smoke is mixed with vaporised oil, and even coming into contact with this smog can induce an attack. It has been said that a 100 year old item once affected a person, an indication of how troublesome the plant can be.
Anything that has touched the sap of the plant must be avoided, therefore, and dogs kept away from Poison Ivy bushes.
How to look after a sufferer of a Poison Ivy reaction
It is essential that treatment is attempted immediately, and the best method is to wash the problematic area in warm water. A sensible recommendation is to use a very powerful antimicrobial soap and to do all one can to stop the patient from scratching, as this will spread the trouble ever more.
It is imperative to score the blisters, too, and to bring the area of infection exposure to the air. Keeping blisters bandaged is imperative in order not to allow infection.
Remember that it is just the oil that will allow the infection to spread, so contact with it should be treated with caution.
The condition will, at some point, clear up by itself, but there are treatments available for the irritation and for extreme reactions. It is the domain of the individual whether to let it die naturally or to invite further help. Some individuals are fortunate in that they have no sensitivity to Poison Ivy, but these are scarece and most of us would be infected by coming into contact with the bush.
If one sees Poison Ivy the best advice we can give is the most logical – avoid it very carefully and don't let your pet near it.

Poison Ivy is a plant that is to be seen through most of North America and is known in two main varieties – Western, or Pacific, and Atlantic. The importance with Poison Ivy, which grows as ground cover and can become large bushes, is that it contains an oil – Urushiol – that, when it comes into contact with our skin, causes very irritating blistering and irritation.
It is in our interest to understand that the oil occurs not just in the leaves but in every part of the plant, including the root and the stem, and it is the immune system pushing against the poison, as it seeps into the skin, that is the instigator of the pain we experience.
Why Poison Ivy is poisonous
It may seem unusual to us that at plant should be poisonous, but like many living things Poison Ivy has its home in the ecosystem. The way it grows is a clue as it is used as shelter for lower growing plants and ground dwelling animals, and the majority of these are, unlike humans, not affected by the oil.
Plus, Poison Ivy gives rise to berries that are an important foodstuff for a number of bird species.
How to identify the symptoms and more about Urushiol oil.
The patient will very quickly notice irritation in the skin, mixed with severe itching and inflammation in the infected area. The skin will become a different colour and a burning feeling will occur, and in a short span blisters will form along with the rash.
Suffering can persist for many weeks or may be gone within days, and an individual case is different. It is suggested that cooling the skin is a good antidote and also prevents further infection.
There are many important factors that people need to get to know about Urushiol oil, and the first is that it is very potent indeed. Research has indicated that a small amount of the oil the size of a pin-head could infect 500 people, and as it is not a water based substance it will not evaporate.
The latter point presents a major concern as it means the oil can stay on items it has been in contact with for as long as, and maybe longer than, a year. This gives us the possibility of re-infection, or of a person who has not been in contact with the plant being affliected. Clothes, shoes, tools and pets can all hold the oil, and the tiny amounts necessary to cause suffering give it greater potency.
Gloves and coats, and also boots, are among the commonest causes of Poison Ivy infection and should be cleaned thoroughly if contamination is suspected.
How we can become infected
There are many ways that an individual can come into contact with the oil from Poison Ivy, and transfer from already infected clothing and other items is one method as we have already noted.
The reason that we suffer when having come into contact with the oil is because of the instant reaction it promotes, and it is notable that direct contact with the plant is not vital to induce a reaction.
If Poison Ivy is burned the smoke is full with vaporised oil, and even coming into contact with this mixture can cause an attack. It has been said that a 100 year old item once affected a person, an indication of how dangerous the plant can be.
Anything that has been in contact with the sap of the plant must be avoided, therefore, and dogs kept away from Poison Ivy bushes.
How to look after a sufferer of a Poison Ivy reaction
It is essential that treatment is started immediately, and the best method is to wash the problematic area in warm water. A second recommendation is to use a very potent antimicrobial soap and to do all one can to stop the patient from scratching, as this will spread the problem more.
It is essential to score the blisters, too, and to enable the area of infection exposure to the air. Keeping blisters bandaged is imperative in order not to allow infection.
Remember that it is simply the oil that will allow the infection to spread, so contact with it should be refrained from.
The condition will, in a while, clear up by itself, but there are treatments available for the irritation and for the worst reactions. It is the domain of the individual whether to wait for it to subside or to look for further help. Some lucky people are fortunate in that they have no sensitivity to Poison Ivy, but these are rare and most of us would be infected by coming into contact with the ivy.
If one knows of Poison Ivy the best advice one can give is the most obvious – avoid it very carefully and don't let your pet near it.

Detox foot pads are a Japanese merchandise traded under the Kinoki brand. Producers claim that these detox foot pads aid you detox your body in a natural way, while you sleep.

The way detox foot pads operate is like this. At night, when you go to bed, you apply them to your feet and they will naturally soak up toxins through the soles of your feet, cleaning your body and making you feel heartier when you wake up.

These foot detox foot pads have quite a following in Asian countries, where they are mainly used. They have just lately been increasing in popularrity on this side of the Atlantic, with people claiming different degrees of effectiveness, form the miraculous to the useless.

I always opt natural body procedures for losing weight, physical condition, and getting rid of toxins of the body. All The Same, I fathom that this isn't always feasible or easy in the stressful lives that we lead. Additionally, after dealing with one or more hrs of traffic after work, it is difficult to find the strength needed to run until you sweat naturally. That is why I fathom that some people are willing to utilise these detox foot pads as an option.

Now, the essential thing, do they work? Well, yes and no. Or as I like to put it: it depends.

You see, our bodies use sweat as the key process to control our body heat and get rid of toxins. You might not notice, but you are constantly sweating, even when you are not exercising. When we do physical activities, this process happens in a much larger scale. That is why we smell bad when we sweat. Our nose is telling us that all those substances are a big no-no.

Now there are parts of the body that sweat more than others; armpits and feet. That's why they smell more than the rest of the body.

When you permit those detox foot pads on your feet all night long, you increase the perspiring "rate" of your feet, and hence you sweat off more toxins that you ordinarily would. That is why they smell bad when you take them off the next day.

All The Same, the more amount of sweat due to those detox foot pads isn't really cleaning your whole body of toxins. You're feet are just sweating a bit more from the pressure than the detox food pads use. What Is More, you are only sweating off toxins that you can sweat commonly through skin pores. Consequently, they cannot cleanse your body of solid waste becuase skin is not permeable.

Still, why do people claim that they have seen tremendous results with these detox foot pads? My own personal belief is that they function on the same precept than aphrodisiacs. If you really think they will work, they probably will. That's not really a bad thing, but personally, I would rather go to the gym and sweat the toxins off on those rare occasions when I have time.

Everything was serene in the land of the saints. As serene as hell. First, it was about as hot as the Inferno's eighth ring (in case you lost count, that's the one where the great sailor Ulysses is eternally slow-roasted for his part in the Trojan War). Second, it was humid enough to bathe in. Third, there was no wind. And fourth, I was beginning to quote poetry. Saints, 
preserve us! 

It had begun well enough. My husband Rick and I, along with our friend Hal, had decided to celebrate a kind of midsummer All Saints Day by cruising the St. Marys River and visiting its related nominal holinesses—St. Mary's College, Historic St. Mary's City, St. George Creek, St. George Island and St. Inigoes Creek—names further sanctified by being crucial to Maryland's founding story. Maryland's first settlers landed on St. Clements Island, but learned that the Yaocomaco Indians were holding a kind of going-out-of-business sale along the St. Marys River (not its name then, of course) because the tribe wanted to consolidate its numbers farther upriver as protection from attack by another more fearsome Native American organization. In addition to the land, the Indians also threw in their old houses and all their cultivated fields, so the newcomers pulled out their chests of pretty beads and closed the deal. Then they named everything in sight for various saints and settled down to make a new colony. 

On the morning before the official cruise was to begin, Rick and I sailed across the Potomac from the Yeocomico (same Indians, different side of the river) and then idled away the long, still afternoon with iced drinks and good books under the ancient oaks at St. Mary's Yachting Center on Carthagena Creek. (Carthagena was named by William Hebb II for a spectacularly unsuccessful 1741 battle fought for the Caribbean port of Cartagena during the War of Jenkin's Ear by the British—with the aid of colonists such as Hebb and Lawrence Washington—against the Spanish. Nothing came of the war, and Jenkin's ear was eventually pickled.) 

Hal arrived on his powerboat early the following morning, which dawned clear and promising, but dead calm, prompting us to opt for a Saints Day cruise by power rather than sail. The three of us set off in Hal's boat with the rising sun and a second cup of coffee. We began our cruise with a perfectly agreeable tour of St. Inigoes Creek—the first creek to the right as you come up the St. Marys. (Inigo is Spanish for Ignatius, so the creek was actually named for Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order. A Jesuit priest arrived with the first settlers in 1634, and the Jesuit order in the years that followed held thousands of acres in this area—as well as the entirety of St. George Island, which was more impressive then than it is now since it used to be considerably larger.) 

Serene? Very. Up one branch and then another we went, enjoying the quiet, long-settled, woodsy character of houses that lined St. Inigoes—like so many Maine lake cottages—while remarking on the dozen or so new docks, long steep stairs and walkways of the creek's new construction. We also noted several fine potential anchorages—particularly a wooded spot at the top end of Lucas Cove that already had a temporary resident, a lone cruiser who resolutely refused to look up from his book as we motored slowly by, waving futilely. All this while, however, we kept an eager eye on a military helicopter that was doing dramatic touch-and-goes at Webster Field, part of the Naval Air Warfare facility at Priests Point. No welcome mat on their doorstep for cruisers, of course, but the inadvertent air show was free for the viewing. Next door to the Navy, on Molls Cove, the St. Inigoes Coast Guard station was as peaceful as its Maine cottage neighbors this weekend morning. The facility serves the Potomac and its tributaries from Point No Point and Smith Point near the river's mouth all the way up to the U.S. Route 301 bridge.

Two homes along St. Inigoes Creek are worth particular note. Rose Croft graces the point of the same name at the northern entrance of the creek and was the seat of the Maryland colony's first collector of revenue. (Ships coming up the Potomac were supposed to stop here to be taxed—cannons were pointed toward the river to encourage cooperation. But those ships bound for Virginia ports simply hugged the opposite shore and so kept well out of range of both cannon fire and tax collection.) Farther up St. Inigoes, on the opposite shore, sits Cross Manor, probably the oldest home in Maryland, its original parts dating to the late 17th century. It is now owned by newsman Ted Koppel and his wife.

Things were still as serene as Buddha as we left St. Inigoes Creek to work our way up to the navigable limits of the St. Marys River. Passing Chancellor Point, we remained theologically neutral and took Pagan and Church points right down the middle. (The two points, which jut out from either side of the river, offered the new settlement of St. Mary's excellent protection from potential enemies, such as Spanish, Dutch and Virginia Protestants.) Just beyond these points, we emerged into Horseshoe Bend, where the river changes direction from north to northwest. 

Once we had gotten about as far upriver as we could, about two nautical miles, we gingerly circled Tippity Wichity Island—a notoriously shallow area with the added menace of an overhanging power line crossing from the northeast shore. (This unassuming geographic feature was once an intriguing blot on the local landscape known as Happie Land, established after the Civil War by a Confederate smuggler named Howgate, who changed the name of the island from Lynch to Tippling-house and  Witchery-house Island—hence Tippity Wichity. Or at least that's the story.)

Serenity onboard was wearing thin as we began our trek back downriver, past points Long and Short, and entered Horseshoe Bend once more. The light morning breeze had petered out at 10:15, as punctual as a Swiss train, and we had entered that brief breathless purgatory before the temperature soars and the day goes well and truly downhill. 

Hal was steering us well clear of the shoal waters that trail off Horseshoe Point, when the sun topped out for the day. The humidity and the temperature kept up their neck-and-neck race for 100 as we idled across Horseshoe Bend. It was at this point that serenity flew out the window. 

Sweating and sulky, I found myself questioning the very nature of cruising—you know, the whole "Why are we here?" and "What's the point?" revisionist talk. As Rick and Hal looked on helplessly, I began reciting Edna St. Vincent Millay's The Unexplorer, which you'll be happy to know is very short because I'm going to quote it: 
     There was a road ran past our door
     Too lovely to explore.
     I asked my mother once—she said
     That if you followed where it led
     It brought you to the milkman's door
(That's why I haven't traveled more.) Maybe the mother was right, I whined. Maybe all we're doing is motoring by hundreds of Elsie and Elmer homes, I said, referring to the famous Borden spokescows. Sure, it's all nice and pretty, but so is Dubuque. And so forth. . . .

Well, as it turned out, the fault lay not in bovine TV stars, but in my stomach. I didn't suddenly hate cruising, I was just very hungry. And fortunately there are few things that a good $6.50 all-you-can-eat college buffet can't cure. 

On reaching Horseshoe Bend, Hal headed directly for St. Mary's College docks, carefully dodging an outgoing fleet of Special Olympians on the way in, and we went ashore. Providentially, a sophomore political science major from the D.C. area promptly materialized and, taking us figuratively in hand, led us by the shortest possible route to the college commissary. Half an hour and four slices of fresh vegetarian pizza later, life was great and Elsie and Elmer had re-established themselves as fascinating reasons to explore the world. 

Call it a minor miracle if you like, but then St. Mary's College of Maryland has always come down on the side of the angels as far as cruisers were concerned. Not only does the college invite cruisers to tie up at the college docks during the day (no overnights, though), it also welcomes them to use the athletic facilities at $5 a day and make use of its showers, as well as the cafeteria, coffee shop and bookstore. If the college docks are full, no problem, there is enough room in Horseshoe Bend for the entire Pacific Fleet to drop anchor (okay, a few of the aircraft carriers might have to wait outside) and dinghy ashore. There is plenty of room at the sandy beach nearby for dinghies.

 "The school has always looked to the water," college President Jane Margaret O'Brien told me when we talked the following week. "All the old buildings face the river because that's the way students saw the school—from the water—until 1934, when the steamship stopped running." It's a question of hospitality in a very rural area, O'Brien continued. The college continues to maintain a close relationship with the water; its sailing team, with 13 national championships, is ranked number one in the country. 


For a place that's pretty much the last stop before the end of the road, St. Mary's was humming on this summer day. The Special Olympians we had encountered on the way in were part of a weekend of racing on a variety of watercraft for the state Special Olympics championships. Next door to the college, Historic St. Mary's City was hosting its annual Archaeology Weekend, which lets visitors sift for themselves among the potsherds and get a once-a-year look at the site's artifact filing system—housed in the climate-controlled basement of a former house.

All of this brings up another benefit of the college's enlightened attitude toward cruisers. Because docking is available, cruisers can easily visit Maryland's fascinating first capital—a feat rarely possible at the nation's other historic sites, which have turned their back on their maritime origins. All of which made our visit to Archaeology Weekend a walk in the park . . . then a short stroll through Trinity Church cemetery, a trek past the Woodland Indian Hamlet, and a hike up the hill to the Visitor Center. At the end of it all—including a short drive by van just a spit down the road—stood curator Silas Hurry, quiet-spoken, earnest and full of the milk of good public relations kindness. He had an eager audience. A few took notes. Here are Cliff's: All of the samples from each dig are clearly marked, sifted, categorized, stabilized, identified, computerized and stored. Now pay attention, because this will be on your final: 

Archaeologists are now leaving as much of the land as possible undisturbed for future archaeologists because they will presumably know more and have better equipment than today's batch, just as we have it all over the former fellows, who did regrettable things like toss out all the soil that had been turned over regularly in cultivation—soil that, it turns out, actually contains the bulk of what is now considered the good stuff. And like oyster shells, which, it turns out, are important indicators of the health of the Bay because you can measure their rings (kind of like trees, apparently) and thickness and so forth. Because oyster shell fragments were about as common as cucumbers in a pickle factory, nobody ever thought it worth the trouble to collect them—except Historic St. Mary's City archaeologists, who did hang on to them and who can be excused for feeling just a little smug about the whole thing. So, never throw out anything, no matter how dumb it seems—but only if you're an archaeologist. End of lesson.

Following our entertaining encounter with dirt and historic debris we retraced our steps, more slowly this time, to visit Historic St. Mary's City. The town, founded in 1634, was a briefly thriving community that was relegated to the trash heap of history a mere 90 years later when the Protestants gained sufficient power and influence to insist that the center of power for the colony be moved north to the more malleable city of Annapolis. The  jilted capital soon faded into memory and its plowed fields, homes, businesses and government buildings forgotten. (The college, in fact, was established as a kind of consolation prize for the lost capital, starting life in 1840 as a girls seminary and ending up as the state's public honors college. So over the years, the school and the lost city have maintained a uniquely special relationship, with their property, interests and activities widely overlapping.)

St. Mary's City was never a city in the sense of a downtown, suburbs and business district. Even at its peak it was only a few dozen homes, a couple of taverns and a state house. The state house was rebuilt in 1934, but most of the other original buildings have been reconstructed only in an outline form called "ghost frames," which gives the impression of a bankrupt 17th century housing development.

An important feature of St. Mary's rebuilt past is the Dove—the maritime cargo van that accompanied the first settler's Greyhound bus, the Ark. When not showing off elsewhere, the Doveis generally parked at a pier not far from the original landing place and at the bottom of a steep descent from the bluff where the "city" stood. On the weekend following our visit, the Dove would be out on the river, serving as the finish line for the 34th annual Governor's Cup, a perennially popular overnight sailing race from Annapolis to St. Mary's (from one capital to another)—a distance of about seventy miles, if you don't count all the extra miles required on those many occasions when a beat to windward is the only way down the Bay. The race is sponsored by St. Mary's College and culminates in what has been called one of sailing's top 10 parties.


It was time for us to move on—we still had one more saint waiting in the wings —so we took a final scenic look down at the river from the Margaret Brent Gazebo. (Brent was named executor of the will of colonial governor Leonard Calvert, Lord Baltimore's son. In 1648 she went before the General Assembly to ask for two votes, one as executor and one as landowner in her own right, and received nothing in return but huffy male disdain.) Back at the college waterfront, we danced inelegantly across the coal-hot sand and returned to Hal's boat. Special Olympics sailors by this time were off the water and had gathered with friends and families in the shade for the awards announcements. The sound of cheers and applause wobbled through the humidity to follow us down the dock.

Once out in Horseshoe Bend, Hal opened the throttle a little more than careful tourism might recommend, but we reveled in the resulting breeze and turned south for St. George Creek. We made two concessions to speed along the way. The first was to admire Porto Bello, the historic estate built in the 1740s by William Hebb II and extensively restored over the past several years by former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee and his wife, writer Sally Quinn. The estate sits on a bluff above the river's western shore. (Porto Bello, like Carthagena, was named by Hebb for yet another battle in the War of Jenkin's Ear—this one a British victory.) Our second tangent was to trace Carthagena Creek past Josh Point, where the creek seems to end before it begins, around the dogleg to the right that materializes at the flashing red "4" to Dennis Point, past private docks and comfortable cottages, and finally turning back as the creek shallowed out beyond Walnut Point. 

Now it was simply a matter of keeping the three green markers (two locals and flashing green "1") to our right and then resisting the urge to make our turn into St. George Creek before we had reached red "A". You can get away with the shortcut if you know what you're doing, but we did not. So we played it by the numbers and split the difference between "A" and flashing green "1".

St. George Creek feels nice and roomy for much of its four and a half nautical miles, as it separates first St. George Island and then Piney Point from the Maryland mainland. It's a busy working waterway, too. As we slowed down just before reaching green "1" to try to catch a glimpse of Camp Merryelande at the southern tip of St. George Island, workboats and fishing boats bustled around us and kept us bobbing and binocular bruised. Merryelande, now a private facility with brightly colored rental cabins with varying degrees of civilization and tents, a sandy beach and a fishing dock, was for many years a girls' summer camp operated by Roman Catholic nuns. (The Jesuits were St. George Island's first European inhabitants. They kept herds of Elsies and Elmers on the island because of its abundance of tasty grasses.) 

The dominant feature on St. George Creek is the Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education and Harry Lundeberg School of Seamanship. This training complex can be seen from either side of St. George Island and, on a clear day, from well out on the Potomac. The school, which trains merchant seamen for employment on U.S. flagged commercial vessels, is generally closed to visitors, but a slow pass by the docks is a good alternative. 

As St. George Creek narrowed and we slowed to keep down our wake, the temperature onboard began to rise as quickly as the cumulonimbus clouds to the west. Pretty soon now, it would behoove us to get off the river. Late afternoon in midsummer is no time to be lollygagging along sightseeing. So we made one quick side trip into Tarkill Cove on the mainland side of the creek then headed for home—St. Mary's Yachting Center, in this case. We had just enough time to put up the awning over the cockpit of the sailboat and pull three greenies out of the cooler before the first storm barreled through. As we put our feet up and watched the rain fall, we agreed with generations of boaters before us that discussing a day spent on the Bay over a cold beer in the sudden coolness of a late afternoon shower is pretty close to heaven. Yep, everything was serene here in the land of the saints. 

Hopping in and out of planes is exercise enough, you say. But that's not the kind of exercise that will condition your heart, make your reflexes and joints more fluid, keep the sugar levels or keep you from swinging from one mood to another!

Nor is it the kind of exercise that will make you euphoric after a good cardiovascular session. You need to counteract the effects of jet lag, artificial air in pressurized aircraft cabins and sky fatigue. Suzanne Schlosberg says,

"Sometimes your travels help you recognize how humdrum your workout routine has become. At home, it's easy to fall into a rut - to use the same weight machines in the same order, week after week, month after month, simply out of habit. But a trip may take the routine out of your routine. You may have no choice but to try new strength exercises or jog in the pool instead of swim laps. And you might find these new pursuits so enjoyable that you add them to your fitness repertoire at home."

Common Obstacles

What are some of the reasons why travelers do not incorporate exercise while they're on the road?

They're stressed or too tired

They don't feel comfortable about working out in unfamiliar surroundings

They don't have access to a hotel gym

But if they made just a tiny effort to change this thinking, they'd be on the road to fitness sooner. Engaging in exercise allows you to get out of that bubble of meetings, seminars and tours.

Walk when on the Road

When traveling, have a pair of good walking shoes (trainers preferably) so that you won't feel so daunted about getting from one side of the airport to another.

Having the right pair of walking shoes will encourage you to walk up the stairs instead of take the escalator, to walk instead of taking the conveyor belt, and to transfer from one concourse to another on foot instead of taking the shuttle service.

You may not know it, but walking these long distances with your luggage in tow serves as a combination/weight lifting exercise!

Fitness while Flying

Once settled comfortably on the plane, make sure you time your stretching and walking periods. If it's just an hour's flight, walk around the plane once and do your stretching at the back of the plane; if it's a three hour to five hour flight (east to west in the North American continent), try to get up from your seat and walk around at least once every hour, doing leg extensions and trunk/neck movements.

If you're crossing the Pacific or Atlantic oceans, those killer flights need not kill you. Increase the frequency of your stretches and walking.

Airlines such as Japan Air Lines show videos of how travelers can incorporate flexibility movements while seated or standing. Take full advantage of these videos. The exercises may help you ward off fatigue and jet lag.

A note about DVT

In the last five years, there have been reports about flight passengers, especially in economy class, suffering from DVT - deep vein thrombosis.

The link between confining airplane seats and deaths from DVT (formation of deadly blood clots) has been established by the United Nations World Health Organization. It has nothing to do with gender, risk factors or genetics. Everyone is at risk in economy class! This should constitute compelling reason to integrate exercise while high in the sky.

To make exercise possible while traveling, schedule your flights so that when you get to your destination, you don't rush through dinner and then go to sleep.

Try to arrive during the late afternoon/early evening, to give you time to shake off the fatigue from the trip, and have at least an hour to do exercises either in your hotel room or in the hotel gym.

Important "to do" things when traveling

Be fully rested before a trip - have the usual "to pack" items ready well in advance so you're not scampering for them at the last minute, depleting your energy levels.

Time your sleep correctly - as soon as you board, get the local time of your destination and set your watch accordingly. If it's already night time in your destination, wear blindfolds and ask for a pillow and try to catch a few winks.

Drink plenty of water - wine and cocktails will only dehydrate you further; note that humidity levels inside aircraft is below 10%, so water is your best bet.

If your job requires you to travel at least four times a month, ask your company's travel department to book you in hotels with gyms or a swimming pool.

Make time out of your travel schedule to insert a workout into your grinding schedule.

Here's a friendly suggestion: get up earlier in the morning and before or after breakfast, head over to the gym and do a brisk walk on the treadmill for 10 minutes, or do the rowing machine (great for the core muscles, back problem reliever) for 10 minutes.

This session is just to wake you up from your travel stupor. See if you can walk to your business appointment instead of taking a cab (that's another 10 minutes).

At night before going to bed, go to the hotel gym again and lift weights for 10 minutes, to complete your workout for the day. This way you did your cardio and resistance training, two essential components of a fitness program.

Now, tell us, doesn't a 10-20 minute session sound less intimidating than clocking 1.5 hours in the gym?

Working out with Friends

Another friendly suggestion: if you're traveling in a group, ask a colleague if he or she would do a game of squash or tennis with you. The concierge can give you local addresses of sports or recreational centers in the vicinity.

When there's no Gym!

If the hotel gym is crowded or "temporarily closed for maintenance," you can still exercise - in the comfort of your room.

Here are some exercises that you can perform:

Turn on the TV or sound system and jog in place; or look up the TV guide and see if some old Jane Fonda or Denise Austin shows are on. Get on with the beat

Jog in place or jump rope (great cardiovascular workout)

Conduct floor exercises (described below)

Floor exercise 1: the Cobra (or back extension). Lying on your stomach as though getting ready for push-ups, keep your hands on your side with palms facing down and fingers pointed forward. With your hands, push to lift your torso off the floor (ensure you're lifting head, shoulders and chest only).

Keep pelvis on the floor and your head looking ahead. Hold and then release. Repeat 3 times. You should feel your spine lengthen. Joe Decker recommends not just pressing back with your hands, but also pushing your upper body up and forward. Do not tilt your head back to look at the ceiling (many people make this mistake). This puts a strain on your neck.

Floor exercise 2: Crunch (for lower abdominals). The lower abdominals are the weakest muscles in your torso because they are rarely worked, and they're the first to sag after childbirth and after menopause.

This exercise will help:

Lying flat on your back with your knees bent, cross your arms over your chest. Squeeze your buttocks, tighten your abdomen and push your lower back into the floor. Hold for 10-20 seconds, breathing normally. Relax, and then release. Repeat as often as you can, without overworking yourself

Floor exercise 3: Hurdler's Stretch. Bend the knee towards the front, and then tuck your lower leg in toward the opposite thigh. Stretch gently toward the straight leg. Do not bounce. This movement is like the ballet movement when an arm goes above the head gracefully, which stretches the sides of the trunk to increase flexibility.

If you pick up any exercise book, there will be a rich inventory of exercises you can perform while on the go. Pack this in your bag so you can refer to it for correct form and posture.

Yoga

Yoga on the train? Yes! A news report was published in the Montreal Gazette recently saying how many overstressed Germans still hide behind their papers rather than exercise. We're sure Americans and Canadians are no less guilty.

So these commuters are being taught yoga and relaxation techniques on their way to and from work. Instructors are now in what the German government calls "wellness trains" in southern Germany. This was an initiative taken by Deutsche Bahn - Germany's state-owned railway. The organization decided to offer relaxation and yoga techniques to calm an anxious work force.

This article along with several others that I will be posting over the next several days is YOUR key to fitting exercise into your life.

To keep things organized and simple, the articles will be broken down into five easy sections:

Section 1: Assessing Physical Damage And Accepting the Importance of Exercise

Section 2: No Matter How Busy you Are, there are Ways you can Exercise

Section 3: Busy Traveler? You can Fit Exercise into your Trips (Which you are reading at this moment)

Section 4: Exercise Aids To Go

Section 5: Information / Resources for the Hurried and Harried

Read them in order, or if you wish, focus on the section that is most relevant to you right now. Regardless of how you choose to read these articles, you can be confident of one thing: once you apply the advice within these pages, your busy life will include something new and important: exercise!

There are a few reasons a think may involuntarily disenroll you. Rank, if you break to pay premiums opportune fashion. Next, for effort a disruption in the plans knowledge to utter eudaemonia aid services and finally, if it cannot foregather your scrutiny needs. If disenrolled involuntarily, you will be re-enrolled in the Novel Medicare promulgation the period people your disenrollment.

A Medicare Plus system is required to apprize members of Medigap warranted stock rights when disenrolling to Pilot Medicare during a Special Ingress Point (SEP) if they are terminating or reducing their aid atlantic. In a eld of cases, the counselling moldiness send scrivened mention to all Medicare members at smallest 60 life before the trenchant appointment. Notwithstanding, if CMS initiates a conclusion, members present be notified 30 life before the impelling fellow. In careful situations a Medigap issuer may enjoin the receiver to provide encourage substantiation of their secure proceeds rights as a lead of disenrollment.

Clients that are involuntarily disenrolled from their Medicare Advantage drawing due to nonrenewal screw the appropriate to use for a Medicare increase policy, as interminable as you do so within 63 life of remark of the disenrollment.

If you decide a Medicare Benefit programme is not sect for you and you voluntarily disenroll, you may acquire a reactionist to Medicare matter sum as stressed as you mortal not been ariled by a MA organization before and you disenroll from your rife Medicare Plus thought within the rank 12 months of sum. You present be specific to the self Medicare increase you had before enrolling in the Medicare Benefit idea, excluding any outpatient prescription take amount. If you do not human a modify to get your previous Medicare Affix coverage, you will jazz to undertake medically for your Medicare matter and the protection assort has the power to deny you reportage.

Secure Issuance Rights: Enrollment in an MA direction at age 65 If you registered in a MA programme when you upturned 65, you get Medigap secure opening rights if you disenrolled from the plan within the forward 12 months. Your Medigap Ensure Issue Period starts 60 days antecedent to your disenrollment and ends 63 days after your disenrollment. In this condition, you are worthy for all Medigap policies.

Secured Issuance Rights: If you are over age 65, registered in a MA programme for the foremost second and disenroll within the archetypical 12 months You must bang had a Medigap insurance preceding to Medicare Plus enrollment. Your Medigap Ensure Issuance Period starts 60 days preceding to disenrollment and ends 63 life after disenrollment. If the Medigap contract you owned antecedent to enrollment in the Medicare Vantage counseling is ease state oversubscribed, you may bring to that policy. Otherwise, you can select from plans A, B, C, F, K or L.

The Medigap issuer cannot bill conditions on coverage or secern in pricing based on your age or welfare state eliminate as permitted by province judgement regulations. They also cannot propellent pre-existing term exclusions, flatbottomed without creditable amount. Enter in aim, you staleness utilise your Secured Issuance rights within 63 life of the disenrollment comrade from the Medicare Asset programme.

From Norwich, England to a great Atlantic crossing to the brave new world represented by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Folgers coffee tradition has come a long way. What is the story behind your favorite cup of Folgers coffee?

Early History

The 1600s saw a ship leaving the cold, forbidding shores of Norwich, England. It was bound for Massachusetts Bay Colony and onboard was a small English family which would later on become one of the great names of American coffee.

Peter Folger was 18 years old then. Some time during the Atlantic crossing, Peter met and fell in love with a girl named Mary Morrell whom he married shortly after arriving in America. The young Folger family settled in Nantucket where they raised their six daughters and two sons.

Two centuries later, Folger descendant Samuel B. Folger had several children, one of whom was James A. Folger.

Gold to Coffee

Gold mining was the trend then and in 1849, before the onset of the winter season, the Folger family sent three of their sons to the country with their dreams of gold - James and his two older brothers.

However, since the family only had enough money to pay for passage to San Francisco but not enough to pay for travel to the mining towns, 15-year-old James was forced to stay while his older brothers proceeded to the mines.

At that time, commercially roasted coffee was available but it was a luxury item, even for big city-dwellers. The population at large was entirely unaware of it, let alone ground coffee which was even unheard of at the wholesale level.

James at the time was busy looking for work in order to earn enough money to travel to the mining towns. With his skills in carpentry he was able to find ample work. But the turning point of his life came in the form of a 27-year-old entrepreneur named William H. Bovee, who was looking for a carpenter to build a coffee mill. The Pioneer Steam Coffee and Spice Mill was Bovee's first mill in San Francisco and James' first venture into the world of coffee.

After a year of working in Bovee's mill, James now had enough money to stake a claim and headed out to mine for gold. He came back to San Francisco in 1865 to become a full partner. Later in 1872, James bought out the other partners, renaming the company J.A. Folger & Co.

Under James' leadership, Folgers coffee expanded dramatically. In 1889, James was succeeded by his oldest son, James A. Folger II who spread the word of Folgers coffee in various parts of the country with their principal product of bulk-roasted coffee delivered at grocery stores.

Sugar cravings are the biggest challenge most of us have to face when choosing a healthy nourishing diet. Even after learning about the negative health impacts of eating sugar, the thought of reducing or eliminating your sugar consumption can seem like an outrageous and impossible feat.

Phasing sugar out of your diet is possible when you use lots of nourishing support and a wide array of natural sugar alternatives.  Once the sugar is gone and the withdrawal symptoms pass, your body will find a new balance and health. Without the sugar your immune system will be stronger, your energy and moods more stable and your cravings will fade away. You won't miss the sugar or the bothersome symptoms it was creating.

Sugar Addiction
Sugar is physically addictive. Studies at Princeton University find that sugar consumption leads to all of the identifying symptoms of addiction in rats; increased intake, withdrawal, cravings and relapse. And many experts believe that breaking the sugar addiction is more challenging than getting off of nicotine or even heroine. (1)

Of course, nicotine and heroine aren't ingredients in almost every food on the super market shelves. In addition to being the main feature in candies and desserts, sugar is also included in products from crackers and cereal to bread, condiments and soups. Unless you have made a very conscious and diligent effort to avoid sugar, you have probably eaten it every day of your life. And with every serving, your addiction has been triggered.

"Refined sugar passes quickly into the bloodstream in large amounts, giving the stomach and pancreas a shock. An acid condition forms which consumes the body's minerals quickly. Thus calcium is lost from the system, causing bone problems. The digestive system is weakened and food cannot be digested or assimilated properly. This leads to a blood-sugar imbalance and to further craving for sugar" (2)
Paul Pitchford, Healing with Whole Foods

Phasing the Sugar Out
Although freeing yourself from a sugar addiction can be challenging, it is also deeply rewarding. Phasing the sugar out of your diet will improve your immediate and long term physical health, stabilize your moods and energy levels, and help you enjoy the pleasure and tastes of nourishing natural whole foods even more.  

It's important to approach phasing sugar out of your diet as an act of self love and self care, rather than an act of deprivation or punishment. Humans have a natural preference for sweetness (in food and relations). Use this as an opportunity to adjust to and appreciate different forms of sweetness. As the sugar addiction subsides your body will reestablish its own natural harmony.

Here are some important tips you can use for phasing out the sugar:

•    Adjust to Milder Sweets
Excessive use of refined sugars has likely increased your tolerance and desire for sweets to unhealthy levels. Choosing milder natural sweeteners will allow your body to readjust and free you from the sugar cycle so you can begin to enjoy naturally sugar free desserts as a special treat once again.

•    Eat Sweet Veggies and Whole Fruit
The sweetest whole food is fresh ripe fruit. When eaten in this form, the natural sugars of the fruit are accompanied with the exact combination of enzymes, minerals, vitamins, and fiber that your body for healthy digestion and optimal utilization. Naturally sweet vegetables, like yams, parsnips, carrots and beets offer the same benefit. When eaten regularly, their mellow sweet flavor can help to curb sugar cravings.

•    Chew Well
When whole grains and other complex carbohydrates are properly prepared and chewed well, they release a natural sweetness that calms the nervous system and alleviates the desire for excess sweets.

•   Balance Yin and Yang
Your body always seeks balance. In the Chinese tradition the main elements of this balance are called Yin and Yang. Everything you eat affects your Yin/Yang balance. Eating foods from the extreme ends of the spectrum causes cravings for their opposite. Eating foods from the middle of the spectrum supports a steady balance.

Salty foods, meat and cheese are on the far Yang end of the spectrum. Sugar, coffee and alcohol are extremely Yin. Many people struggle to maintain balance while flip-flopping between the two ends of the spectrum.

Whole grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts and beans all fall in the middle of the spectrum. A steady diet of foods from these categories will support your body's Yin/Yang Balance and free you from your cravings.

•    Balance Protein and Carbs
Protein and carbohydrate metabolism regulate one another and its important to keep them in good balance. When you eat concentrated proteins (like meat and cheese) in excess, you'll naturally crave excessive quantities of concentrated sweets.
On the other hand, if you don't get enough protein you may also find yourself with sugar cravings.(2)

The first issue is the result of the main stream diet and the second issue commonly occurs in vegetarian diets that rely on processed, rather than whole, foods. Whole grains and beans have a balanced amount of protein and carbohydrates.  Again, eating a whole foods plant based diet with only modest amounts of animals products (if any) is a great tool for avoiding sugar cravings.

•    Take Micro-algae Supplements
Micro-algae are an excellent source of easily digested protein for quickly regulating sugar metabolism. Spirulina, chlorella and wild blue-green are highly effective in reducing sweet cravings. (2)

•    Drink Lots of Water
Dehydration is a common cause of cravings. Whenever you feel the urge to grab a sweet snack, drink a glass of water instead. This is a great way to intercept your cravings, re-hydrate, and bring your body back into a healthy balance.

•    Exercise and/or Breathe Deeply
Cravings can also be caused by an overly acid condition in your body. Exercise and deep breathing change your PH to a more alkaline state. These no-food techniques are helpful in getting your blood moving and taking your mind off your cravings

•    Enjoy Homecookin'
Most processed foods and restaurant fare is loaded with sugar, even when it's not "sweet." When you prepare your own food at home you decide exactly what goes into it. Enjoy preparing and eating delicious sugar-free whole foods using our nourishing Detox Diet Recipes to avoid the sugar from eating out.

•    Nourishment Menu
Cravings are always a message from the body that it needs something that it's not getting. Often, those cravings can be satisfied by non-food activities. A Nourishment Menu helps you find non-food ways to do something "sweet" for yourself. Check out our simple instructions for creating your own Nourishment Menu from the May 2009 issue of the Whole Body Detoc Diet newsletter Healthy and Loving It.

Cravings are your body's way of telling you that something is missing or out of balance. Given the state of our modern food supply it's no wonder so many of us struggling with cravings…especially for sugar. The key to moving through any craving is to understand it and see it for what it is. Just because you can't stop thinking about ice cream doesn't necessarily mean that your body needs it. Consider the other factors at play and, most importantly, feed your body nourishing whole foods to keep it healthy and satisfied.

(1) http://substanceabuse.suite101.com/article.cfm/sugar_really_can_be_addictive_substance

(2) Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition by Paul Pitchford; copyright 1993, 1996, 2002 North Atlantic Books

"Zombies. man. They creep me out." -Dennis Hopper in the Land Of The Dead.


Book Excerpt:


By William Thomas




They are everywhere.

And they are winning.

Walk down virtually any metropolitan street, if you still dare, and you will discern with a jolt of alarm that no one around you is aware of each other's presence or their surroundings as they shuffle past with the shambling gait of automatons. Hearing blocked by blaring or blathering headsets, heads bent over cell phones, iPods, palm pilots, multimedia players, text messagers and other hypnotic gadgetry, these walking dead with their vacant stares are so far departed from the reality around them they don't even know they're gone.

Cell phone zombies are proliferating everywhere. Spread by the most virulent contagion on Earth – the lust to own and continuously jack into wireless technology – addictive endorphin jolts sent by cell phones to the brain threaten agonizing withdrawal, even as their invisible emanations attack the frontal lobes, short-circuiting memory, awareness and cognitive thought.

Succumbing to the identical marketing strategies marshaled by the same advertising agencies pushing tobacco onto children, hordes of cell phone zombies as young as four-years-old are replacing normal human relationships with the cold calculus of truncated text messages, while disturbing their sonic space and interrupting conversations with friends and spouses to jabber with ghosts who are not even present, even as they spread the blight of their second hand microwaves among the last pockets of cell phone resistance.

Unlike the flesh-munching ghouls depicted in Hollywood horror flicks, which die and "reanimate" through the transmission of the Solanum virus through a usually gruesome exchange of bodily fluids, "voodoo zombies" are created by potions and spells cast by Haitian hougnan priests. 

"Zombie powder," as Max Brooks notes in his essential ZOMBIE Survival Guide, "contains a very powerful neurotoxin" not unlike the pervasive brain-eating chemicals added to food, soft drinks and other drugs – including (as we have seen elsewhere in this book) fluoride, aspartame and mercury. Separately and in combination, these insidious compounds are synergistically activated by pulsating electromagnetic emissions that mimic and override normal cellular functioning to destroy brain neurons and turn people into zombies.

Held entranced as their life force is leached away by devices eerily similar in size and shape to the voodoo dolls used to cast curses, cell phone zombies are especially dangerous, because unlike real Solanum-inducted zombies incapable of expressing feelings or speech, cell phone zombies can appear nearly normal when not jacked in. A real zombie, when it encounters you, "will home in like a smart bomb," Brooks explains, and start gnawing your face. A cell phone-voodoo zombie "will take a moment to try to figure out who or what you are."

Smiling a reflexive, unfelt apology for their intrusion – even "growling if hurt or provoked" as Brooks describes – many cell phone zombies "understand words; some even understand simple sentences [and] possess the ability to speak – simply, of course – and rarely for extended conversations."


TILL DEATH DO YOU APART
While not known to devour human flesh like "real" zombies, their mindless preoccupation with themselves, slavish fixation on meaningless distractions, and complete disregard for their rapidly deteriorating ecologic, economic and Constitutional environment threaten to spill from the worst zomboid infestations in the United States across the entire globe.

Certainly, the carnage caused by their mindless wars against non-threatening nations on which American zombies project their paranoia is consuming bone and gristle, hopes and dreams by the boxcar loads. With more than one million people – mostly children – killed in Iraq since 2003 by zombie-like GIs hopped up on anti-malarial pills and Dexedrine, fear, stress, exhaustion and the potent spells of patriotism and "revenge" for non-existent crimes, America's blindly-following zombie legions are as dangerous to any country they overrun as the horrors described by Brooks in his best-selling account of the zombie wars. [World War Z]


CELL PHONE CARNAGE
Still, innocent bystanders and drivers can be at grave risk from deranged zombies talking on their cell phones while operating heavy fast-moving vehicles.

In cities that have not yet disarmed cell phone-brandishing drivers, the resulting daily carnage is as gory as any scene out of "Night Of The Living Dead". Stunned by an additional $4 billion a year in claims for drivers using cell phones, North American insurers discovered that juggling phones while driving is not causing a 600% increase in accidents. Other drivers busy shaving, applying makeup, tuning radios, taming pets, pouring coffee, eating meals, retrieving dropped cigarettes, talking to passengers or attempting various sexual gymnastics are even more preoccupied.

Cell phones are much worse than lmerely dangerous driving distractions. Tests conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy found that using a cellphone turns drivers into zombies, severely impairing their memories and reaction times by disrupting signals to and within their brains. Hands-free mobile phones cause even more crashes because they typically emit 10-times more brainwave interference than handheld units.

Phoning from inside a car or truck is a bad call for everyone in the vehicle – especially children – because the surrounding steel structure amplifies cellphone emissions. The UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee reports, "using a mobile phone in a vehicle can accelerate radiation levels by up to 10-fold due to resonance effect."

For all drivers dialing out, Swiss researchers have found "changes of brain function induced by pulsed high-frequency electromagnetic fields outlast the exposure period." University of Toronto investigators report that the heightened probability of cracking up your car persists for up to a half-hour after completing a call.

That's comparable to the risk of crashing while driving dead drunk exclaims Dr. Chris Runball, chairman of the B.C. Medical Association's emergency medical services committee.

"Talking on a cell phone makes you drive like a retiree even if you're only a teen," reports the University of Utah, after finding that when motorists as young as 18 talk on their cell phones, "they drive like elderly people, moving and reacting more slowly and increasing their risk of accidents." Only hands-free phones were used in the study.

"If you put a 20-year-old driver behind the wheel with a cell phone, his reaction times are the same as a 70-year-old driver," says David Strayer, a University of Utah psychology professor and principal author of the study. "It's like instant aging." (Except studies have shown older, more experienced drivers are much more cautious – and safer – than testosterone-addled teens.) [AP Feb 2/05; Human Factors Winter/05]

Cell phone users are also as impaired as alcoholics. The quarterly journal Human Factors and Ergonomics Society reports that motorists talking on cell phones are actually more impaired than drunk drivers with blood-alcohol levels exceeding 0.08. It doesn't matter whether the phone is hand-held or hands free.

EM engineer Alasdair Philips of Britain's Powerwatch looked for people under age 40 using cell phones more than four hours a day, and found them already retired as "unfit for future work" due to early onset dementia. Philips says, "I would rate over four hours per day cell-phone use as potentially as dangerous as drinking a bottle of spirits per day – only it will damage the user's brain function rather than kidney function, and we don't yet have brain transplants."

SAFETY TIP: Protect yourself from zombies operating motor vehicles! If you are driving and spot someone using a cell phone in a vehicle nearby, pull off the road and seek cover as soon as it is safe to do so. Or maneuver behind that driver and increase your distance accordingly. Do not open fire. "Self-defense" is not yet a legal defense for shooting drivers wielding cell phones.


PHONING FETUSES
If infants are born zombies, we are doomed. In the world's most extensive, government-funded report on cell phone radiation, biomedical expert Dr. Stan Barnett described cell phone radiation effects on fetal tissue. After its release in June 1994 by a reluctant Australian government, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) described laboratory tests as far back December 1974 showing how neurons in the soft skulls of developing fetuses are extremely sensitive to heat during the process of cell division.

"The mother's pelvic structure promotes deep RF radiation penetration and that radiation can be absorbed within the developing embryo or fetus," Dr. Barnett warned. The womb's saline fluid is also highly conductive to Radio Frequencies and microwaves – and the EMF-conductive human body is 65% water-by-weight. [CSIRO June 1994; irf.univie.ac.at/emf]]

Whether cell phone radiation cooks the baby's brain or destroys its rapidly dividing brain cells through microwave radiation, "the resulting neural deficit may not be restored," Dr. Barnett found. Perhaps not wanting to terrify the public, he neglected to add that this fetal brain damage from cell phones could easily lead to zombification. But he did add that though the fetus may continue to develop and appear normal, her brain functioning may be reduced for life. [EMFacts Consultancy Mar 26/03]

PhD Robert Kane points to corroborative research showing that all fetuses "showed growth retardation from cell phone exposure" – with female offspring exhibiting the highest risk of "impaired learning ability." When we recall that cell phone zombies speak largely in clichés, corporate jingles and broken sentences we can see how insidiously far-reaching this process has already gone.

Associated Bioelectromagnetics Technologists findings also show that RF exposure from cell phones and cell phone relay towers "is wholly correlated with the repeatedly documented increased incidence of autism – now reported by at least some researchers as greater than 1 per 100 newborn."

God have mercy on us all. If one in a hundred infants are not actually autistic but hard-to-differentiate zombies – we may find ourselves overwhelmed within another generation.


TOASTED TOTS
No one saw it coming. At first a cumbersome novelty, then a faddish convenience, the turning point in the zombification of humanity came in 2006, when corporate hougnan witch doctors casting microwaves began targeting the newborn. Already brain damaged by forced mercury injections in multiple infant vaccines, these newly arrived humans were taken home and bathed in electromagnetic smog invisibly spread by wireless routers, portable phones and intercom "sentries" placed in close proximity to their cribs.

The next step in their zombification came in putting cuddly "kiddy" phones capable of speed-dialing grandma and grandpa into the grasping hands of four year-olds. Soon, humans just out of the womb will no doubt be taking congratulatory calls at their mother's breasts.

Some of us tried to resist. The MO1 developed by the toy company Imaginarium and telcom giant Telefónica in Spain prompted parental groups across Europe to demand a government ban on inflicting cell phones on children. Jóvenes Verdes, an environmental advocacy group for young Spanish persons, denounced the mobile telephone industry for "acting like the tobacco industry by designing products that addict the very young."

In Paris, where the curvy crimson-and-blue MO1 "beginner" mobile phone for 6-year-olds has overcome defenders by promising "peace of mind" – or maybe no mind at all – the French health minister has issued a public warning against "excessive" mobile phone use by young children. "I believe in the principle of precaution," muttered Monsieur Bachelot. "If there is a risk, then children with developing nervous systems would be affected. I've alerted parents about the use of mobile telephones because it's absurd for young children to have them."

Also concerned about the zombification of the young, Frank Barnes, a professor of engineering at the University of Colorado who led a study showing that children are at special risk from cell phones, told the press: "This clearly is a population that is going to grow up with a great deal of larger exposure than anybody else because the kids use the phones all the time."


TARGETING CHILDREN
Responding to relentless advertising spells and giveaways, the age of cell phone users continues to drop as fast as their IQ and attention span. In 2007, the average age of first-time "users" was 10. Within the next two years, International Data Corp forecasts the 9-and-under market will rack up an additional $1.6 billion in revenue for cell phone companies – and add another nine million child zombies in the United States alone.

Despite desperate rear-guard stands, the last holdouts against child zombification in the European Union are crumbling. As Dorjeen Carvajal reports, "Telephone use is also getting more precocious in Europe, according to a Eurobarometer survey of almost 1,000 children in 29 countries, most of whom had telephones after age 9."

The mobile telephone industry "is reaching deeper into saturated markets to tap customers with chubby hands capable of cradling both dolls and phones," Carvajal comments. As cell phone users in their 'tweens and teens drive subscriber- growth everywhere, International Data Corp projects that by 2010, 31 million children could become zombies from holding miniature microwave ovens to their vulnerable soft brain tissue.

Targeting the youth market for zombification is especially cynical because children treat their microwave phones like a doudou or stuffed animal companion, the French mobile phone trade association AFOM revealed after surveying the habits of children too young to discriminate against dangers proffered by adults they trust.

Cell phone-toting tots also spend more of their parent's money on the latest games, ring tones and wallpapers – and teens chatter even more than adults on their cell phones, greatly increasing cell phone company profits. Not to mention their own risks of developing allergies, senility, cataracts, learning disabilities, hyper activity disorders and brain tumors. [Intl Herald Tribune Mar 7/08]

Brain-damaging cell phone exposure continues through childhood. A 1996 study probing the "Electromagnetic Absorption in the Human Head and Neck for Mobile Telephones at 835 and 1900 MHz," conducted by the fabulously named Dr. Om Gandhi showed electromagnetic radiation from cell phones "coupling" even more alarmingly with the electrically active brains of children, than through the thicker carapaces of cumulatively compromised adults.

"I didn't know at the time industry was targeting children as the next growth segment. Boy, they really got after me," Dr. Gandhi says, after he found that the thinner outer ears and skulls of children allow more energy from their cell phones to short-circuit delicate brain tissue. "The reason industry doesn't like it," Gandhi explains – "They don't want to lose this part of the market." [IEEE Transactions of Microwave Theory and Techniques Oct/96]

"We're pretty bullish on increased usage by teenagers," exudes Adam Guy, a senior analyst at the Strategist Group. "Usage penetration is exploding."

So is brain penetration. Guy's gushing followed yet another study – this one published in the Journal of Cellular Biochemistry – found that heavy cell phone use can cause brain cancer and other diseases in children, as well as adults by interfering with DNA repair

Speaking directly to cell phone zombification and death, Dr. Theodore Litovitz, a biophysicist and professor emeritus of physics at Catholic University, explains: "Because stress proteins are involved in the progression of a number of diseases, heavy daily cell-phone usage could lead to great incidence of disorders such as Alzheimer's and cancer." [Reuters Apr 23/08; wirelessconsumers.org Dec03/01]


A ZOMBIE CASE HISTORY
In Claysburg, Pennsylvania, Greg Pozgar resisted buying a mobile phone for his then 12-year-old daughter, Morgan. "My biggest concern was whether my children were responsible enough to handle it," he said.

No one told him to worry about its emanations.

After receiving her first cell phone as a Christmas gift that year, young Morgan went on to become a champion of text messaging at age 13 in a national $25,000 competition organized by the electronics manufacturer LG. This is the company that in 2007 made Europe's "fashion handset of choice" by offering a "Chocolate phone" featuring an advanced touchscreen interface, instead of conventional keypad. [techdigestuk.typepad.com]

Competing Motorola's V220's Tri-Band promises "network connection" between zombies-under-construction in countries becoming saturated in brain numbing electrosmog. The "stylish" V220 offers chic brain damage, exciting car crashes, no-fear-of-pregnancy sterility or classic cancer – in pink.

After hesitating over heath concerns, Disney has also jumped into the kiddy cell phone sweepstakes. Mattel markets a Barbie cell phone for girls 8 to 14. "Nine-year-old Trey Chapman loves the cool design, flashing lights and big buttons – one for mom and one for dad," chuckled USA Today. How well Ms. Chapman will enjoy her daughter's reduced learning ability, asthma and other potentially debilitating maladies was not mentioned. [USA Today Mar 14/05]

Verizon has also responded with its popular "parent capable" LG VX8300. The "Chaperone" cell phone puts the "home" in Homeland Security. Now parents can harass their kids with text messages while tracking them through GPS satellite locators built into their continuously radiating cell phones. Every time a young family member enters or leaves an electronically designated "Child Zone", participating parents receive automated text messages informing them of their child's movements – "So you can relax wherever you are." [verizonwireless.com; Intl Herald Tribune Mar 7/08]

Whether this home surveillance puts a crimp in the sexually transmitted diseases currently afflicting one in four American teenage girls, or their nearly one-in-three pregnancies before the age of 20 remains to be seen. [Reuters Apr 23/08]

The good news and the bad news is that cigarettes are being replaced by mobile phones. Unable to afford both addictions, teen smoking fell off sharply in 1996 – the same year mobile phone use skyrocketed among 15- to 17-year-olds. And no wonder, since cell phones are marketed by the same ad agencies using the same self-image come-ons that attracted teens to cigarettes – a sense of individuality and sociability, a desire to rebel, the need to bond with friends.
[British Medical Journal Nov 4/00]

Totally hooked, Morgan now sends and receives up to 7,000 text messages a month.


AVOIDANCE THE ONLY DEFENCE
After the Spanish Neuro Diagnostic Research Institute in Marbella discovered that a call lasting just two minutes can alter the natural electrical activity of a child's brain for up to an hour afterwards, Spanish doctors now fear that disturbed brain activity in children will lead to zombie-like impaired learning ability, as well as psychiatric and behavioural problems.

Brain scans allowed Dr. Michael Klieeisen's team to see what is happening to the brains of cell phone users. "We never expected to see this continuing activity in the brain," he told the European press in new stories blacked out in the U.S. "We are worried that delicate balances that exist – such as the immunity to infection and disease – could be altered by interference with chemical balances in the brain."

The study coincided with a survey showing 87% of 11- to 16-year-olds own cell phones, with 40% of them spending 15 minutes or more talking on them every day. A troubling 70% said they would not change the use of their phone even if advised to by the government.

A British government adviser on mobiles, Dr. Gerald Hyland, finds the results "extremely disturbing." Parents who believe they are enhancing their children's safety and social standing by sending them back to school with cellphones could be impairing their health and ability to learn, Dr. Hyland warns. "The results show that children's brains are affected for long periods even after very short-term use. Their brain wave patterns are abnormal and stay like that for a long period. This could affect their mood and ability to learn in the classroom if they have been using a phone during break time, for instance."

These same altered brain waves "could lead to things like a lack of concentration, memory loss, inability to learn and aggressive behaviour."

He could be describing zombies!

"There really isn't a safe amount of mobile phone use," Dr. Hyland continues. We don't know what lasting damage is being done by this exposure. If I were a parent I would now be extremely wary about allowing my children to use a mobile even for a very short period. My advice would be to avoid mobiles." [Mirror Dec 26/01]


AN OCEAN APART
It's not like nobody knows how dangerous cell phones are. Perhaps because of earlier unpleasant experiences with vampires, European governments are intensely studying the effects of cell phones on otherwise normal humans. So far, their scientists have found everything from nervousness and headaches to brain tumors and even genetic damage resulting from cell phone radiation. [Independent Mar 30/08]

Led by Sir William Stewart, the famous British biochemist and president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science biomedical specialists, the Stewart Inquiry report on "Mobile Phones and Health" was released in April 2000. At a science conference in Glasgow, Sir William urged mobile phone makers to stop presenting their products as essential "back to school" items for children, whose easily penetrated skulls and longer lifetime use makes them particularly vulnerable to Radio-Frequency (RF) and microwave (MW) cell phone radiation. Sir William told the press he would not allow his grandchildren to use mobile phones. [Journal of the Australasian College of Nutritional & Environmental Medicine Sept /01]

In Sweden, where cell phones are being marketed to 5-year-olds, Olle Johansson, Associate Professor of Neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm declares: "Parents should take their children away from that technology." [Dialing Our Cells by William Thomas]

In an interview in the Berlin Morgenpost, Wolfram Koenig, head of the Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz - the federal authority for radiation protection in Germany - urged companies not to target children in their advertising campaigns.

Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, director general of the World Health Organisation, also told a major Norwegian newspaper that children should be discouraged from using mobile phones. The former Norwegian prime minister and popularizer of "sustainability" is also a licensed physician with a degree in public health. Making shorter calls does not help, Brundtland emphasized. [Microwave News Mar-Apr/02; Dagbladet Norge Mar 9/02]

France, Germany and the European Environment Agency also advise "minimal" handheld and hands-free cell phone use. But the Irish Doctors Environmental Association says flatly that young children should be stopped from using mobiles.
The Irish point to zombie-like side-effects from cell phone radiation, including excessive clumsiness, fatigue, confusion, tingling and dizziness. [Independent Mar 30/08; Irish News Feb 9/05]

Back across the Atlantic, where one in three teenagers uses a cell phone, "There is no research being done in the United States at the present time," Dr. Ghandi laments. "All of that research has been stopped because of industry."

Dr. Ghandi says this violates both the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act and the mandate of the Federal Communication Commission, which regulates RF transmitters on behalf of the industry. His latest heavy-duty paper – Thermal Implications of the New Relaxed IEEE RF Safety Standard for Head Exposures to Cellular Telephones at 835 and 1900 MHz – compares the relaxed RF exposure standards set by an American advisory group called the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers to standards now followed by the European Union.


Gandhi helped establish those regulations. As he explains, in the United States "these days in the committee (that sets the standards), one co-chair is from Motorola and the other is from the Navy, the military-industrial establishment, and they are suddenly loosening their standards. I compared the three standards to show the new standards are out of line. Too loose." [Uncensored (NZ) Nov 9/06]


HEAVY CASUALTIES SOON COME, MON?
If tobacco companies dared employ the same sophisticated neural "programming" techniques to sell cigarettes to toddlers as cell phone manufacturers do by using the same marketing firms – they would face a lynch mob. But by inflicting devices recently denounced by a leading cancer researcher as injurious as smoking on the very young, mobile manufacturers are turning the public into compliant, brain dead zombies.

And maybe just plain dead, as well.

Just-released findings by award-winning cancer expert, PhD Vini Khurana predict that cell phones will kill far more people than either smoking or asbestos. Smoking continues to cull some five million people worldwide every year, while asbestos exposure in England continues to claim as many corpses as road accidents.

After carefully reviewing more than 100 clinical studies showing that using "hands free" and regular cell phones for 10 years or more can double the risk of brain cancer, the very capable Khurana – who has received 14 awards while publishing more than three dozen scientific papers over the past 16 years – concludes that malignant brain tumours resulting from cell phone use constitute "a life-ending diagnosis" for hapless users who now find themselves in an "unchecked and dangerous situation."

Professor Kjell Mild, of Orbero University, Sweden, who is a Government adviser and led the research, said that children should not be allowed to use mobile phones because their thinner skulls and developing nervous system made them particularly vulnerable. He and Professor Lawrie Challis, who led the MTHR research, want a revision of the emission standard for mobiles and other sources of radiation, which they describe as "inappropriate" and "not safe". [London Telegraph Oct 9/07]

Professor Khurana has become a Big Kahuna in the war against cell phone zombification after placing his considerable reputation behind the most damning indictment of cell phones to date. He warns emphatically: "Unless the industry and governments take immediate and decisive steps, the incidence of malignant brain tumours and associated death rate will be observed to rise globally within a decade from now – by which time it may be much too late to medically intervene."
[Independent Mar 30/08]


PROCESS OF ELIMINATION
It may already be too late.

A recent poll of 1,286 cellphone users has found that one in four cannot imagine life without their cell phone. The question remaining unasked is if they can imagine their lives continuing unimpaired with it.

Four in 10 people, particularly young adults, make cell phone calls to kill time as well as themselves, when traveling or waiting for someone they will invariably ignore. "We've got everything on my phone," boasts Mark Madsen, a 24-year-old college student from Chattanooga, Tennessee. "I use it mostly for the phone, but I also play video games and use the MP3 player. I pretty much use it all the time."

Like addicts everywhere, more than one in three cell phone subscribers say they are occasionally "stunned" by their user bills. Nevertheless, an increasing number of homes are speeding the zombification of their inhabitants by going completely wireless, with no landline at all. Public pay phones are also being removed, making it ever harder to avoid being owned by a brain-stunting cell phone.

This is good news for political leaders desiring a compliant populace for policies involving genocide, torture and concentration camps. It is also a boon to an illness industry feeding off human misery. On a New Zealand news show, Dr. George Carlo called marketing strategies aimed at children, "grotesque" after identifying as many as 50,000 new cases of brain and eye cancer attributable to cell phone use being diagnosed every year. (Mobile users who wear metal-frame glasses intensify the exposure to their eyes and heads). [IsraCast Technology News July 29/05]

Based on current epidemiological studies, that number will reach half a million cell phone cancer cases annually within the next two years.


WRONG ANSWERS
"We have never had this kind of impending risk to society," Dr. Carlo says. After heading a $28 million cell phone study from 1993 through 2001, his finding – "that RF causes genetic damage" was welcomed by his cell phone industry sponsors.

Jerry Phillips worked with Ross Adey on similar research funded by Motorola beginning in 1991. After Adey came to similar conclusions as Carlo, "Motorola was adamant that Adey never mention DNA damage and radiofrequency radiation in the same breath," Phillips recounts. [WSW July 11/02; wirelessconsumers.org Dec03/01]

More than two decades ago, EMF researcher Alan Frey also wondered if headaches experienced by radio and radar operators – and now widely reported by cellphone users worldwide – were resulting from microwave-induced leakage of toxic molecules through the blood-brain barrier. "Headaches may only be the most obvious indicator of what is going on biologically," Frey warned back in the mid-1980s.

Studying blood-brain barrier changes since the late 1980s, neurologist Leif Salford of Lund University in Sweden is the leading expert in this research. "With improved detection procedures and new tracers, one of his most recent studies found changes in the rat brain chemistry after only two minutes of cellphone-level exposures; the rats' blood-brain barrier had failed, allowing proteins to enter the brain, and it is known that certain proteins which are normally present in blood, can cause nerve damage in the brain," writes Aussie cellphone rsearcher and reporter Stewart Fist. 

Professor Darius Leszcynski headed up the first two-year program looking at the effects of mobile phone radiation on human cells rather than those of rats at Finland's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority. He, too found that cell phone transmissions open the blood-brain barrier to potentially brain-damaging toxins in the blood. [WSW July 11/02]

"We think we are on to something very significant," Professor Salford says. "It seems that molecules such as proteins and toxins can pass out of the blood, while the phone is switched on, and enter the brain. We need to bear in mind diseases such as MS and Alzheimer's are linked to proteins being found in the brain."

So, he added, is Parkinson's Disease. [Electronics Australia Magazine Feb/00]

Alzheimer's mental and memory impairment, and the jerky motions of Parkinson's are telltale zombie symptoms.


PROTECT THE MACHINES
"There is no proof that cellular telephones can be harmful," insist already infected FCC zombies on their "Kidszone" website. Blithely ignoring hundreds of alarming clinical studies, the Federal Communications Commission offers reassuring "Cell Phone FAQs" before going on to advise:

"Some of the places that you should never use your mobile phone are inside hospitals and airplanes. When you make or receive calls, electromagnetic waves are sent through the air. Hospitals have a lot of electronic devices that monitor patient's heartbeats and other things when they are getting surgery or when they are recovering from an illness. When electromagnetic waves try to go through them, the devices sometimes stop working."

The FCC does not say what happens when a much more subtle and sensitive instrument called the human brain is exposed to "electromagnetic waves… sent through the air". [fcc.gov]


LOST CONTACT
Max Brooks, best-selling chronicler of the first Zombie World War, informs us that "nzúmbe" is a Kimbundu, West African word for a dead person's soul. "So what makes this living human a zombie?" Brooks asks. "The answer is simple: brain damage." [World War Z]

Few things damage brains as severely as chronic exposure to cell phone radiation. Leif Salford is concerned that spreading wireless technology is "drowning people in a sea of microwaves." Speaking directly to the threatened zombification of the entire human population, Salford says brain neurons that would normally not become senile until people reached their 60's, are doing so now when people reach their 30's because of cell phone exposure. [RFSafe.com Nov26/03]

Children and teens who become hooked on cell phones face a lifetime of learning disabilities, hyperactivity, high risk from driving accidents, greatly increased acute and chronic asthma, hearing loss, vision loss, sleep disorders and cancers – as well as classic symptoms of zombification, including loss of social skills, inability to think and reason clearly, loss of contact with their surroundings.

Faced with hard-to-detect zombies in their own ranks, alarmed British military scientists have discovered that every cell phone transmission disrupts brain functioning responsible for memory and learning. "Overuse" can cause forgetfulness and sudden confusion, as well as loss of the ability to concentrate, calculate and coordinate. [India Tribune Sept 17/04]

A leading Lloyd's of London underwriter refuses to insure phone manufacturers against the risk of subscribers developing cancer. The world's most prestigious insurer also fears even more claims arising from zombified cell phone users who develop early onset Alzheimer's. [Observer Mar11/99]


NO MORE KIDS?
The coming cell phone cancer plague could terminate the cell phone zombie threat. But the cost to societies will be far greater than tobacco-related deaths. With more than 2 billion people – including at least 500 million children – using cell phones at present, the coming die-back of habitual cell phone users threatens the ability of nations to cope with bankrupt medical systems and overflowing hospitals and hospices. How will the trains – and everything else – run on time during socially dizzying disruptions caused by the sudden loss of key executives, city managers, government bureaucrats, tradespeople, professionals, as well as busy NGOs and activists to brain damage, electromagnetic sensitivity as acute as chemical sensitivities, and debilitating cancer?

RF/MW signals currently under discussion for inflicting on wireless classrooms throughout North America and the overdeveloped world will operate in the 2.4 GHz frequency range. This should do it. Because this cell-disrupting power density is two to three times higher than current cell phones. If schoolchildren survive this onslaught, plans are already underway to boost classroom radiation levels with "upgraded" technology emitting an even more lethal 5 GHz frequency range.[www.irf.univie.ac.at/emf]

Once turned into zombies and eventually culled by cell phones, these kids may be difficult to replace, because researchers at University of Szeged in Hungary have discovered that men carrying their cell phones on standby anywhere in their clothing throughout the day produce about a third less sperm than those who do not. Of the remaining sperm, high numbers were found to be swimming erratically – significantly reducing chances of fertilization. [BBC June 27/04]

Now put men made infertile by their cell phones together with fashionable beachgoing women who carry their cellphones in their bikini bottoms and the coming cell phone cull could become a crash. Especially if women are culled by bra-makers encouraging them to carry cell phones in their convenient, already cancer-prone cleavage.

Ironically, as more and more once-normal humans succumb to the seductive status and convenience conferred by cell phones, these extreme dangers become as self-perpetuating as the plague of brain-dead zombies already walking among us.

Vini Khurana urges everyone to stop using cell phones immediately. [Independent Mar 30/08]


LOW POWER INCREASES EFFECTS
Cell phone manufacturers often point to the low power output of their devices. But Dr. Franch and other medical investigators have found that the negative health effects of cell phones worsen with low dosage. This "simply reflects the fact that biological systems operate in a non-linear manner," writes Dr. Peter Franch in a co-authored landmark study, Effects Of 835mHz Exposure On Cell Structure And Function. "The higher frequency range" used in today's digital cell phones "is also very close to the resonant frequency of human DNA, and as well as the resonant frequency of the human skull case."

Oops.

"Mobile telephones are arguably the most radiative appliance we have ever invented apart from the microwave oven and people are putting them by their heads – arguably the most sensitive part of the body," comments British biologist and mobile phone specialist Roger Coghill. "Human brains may absorb up to 40% of a cell phone's RF energy, and as much as 60% of its microwave energy."

Sensitive to subtle electromagnetic harmonies, human brains and bodies depend on electrical impulses to conduct complex life-processes – including the ability to read, recall and respond to these words. Much like a boxer taking repeated blows to the head, rapidly pulsing cell phones signal permanent brain damage.

Cell phone researcher Dr. Peter Franch says unequivocally that brain and other "cells are permanently damaged by cellular phone frequencies." This cellular damage, Franch notes, is maximized at low dosage, and "inherited unchanged, from generation to generation."

"For the first time in history, we are holding a high-powered transmitter against the head," agrees Dr. Ross Adey. "When you talk on your mobile phone, your voice is transmitted from the antenna as radio frequency radiation between 800 MHz and 1,990 MHz… at a range that's right in the middle of microwave territory. [WSW July 11/02]

Whipping anything back-and-forth 800 or 1,990 million times per second is bound to cause breakage in the double-strand DNA of human cells.

Sure enough, in Dr. Franch's clinical study, both normal human cells and malignant brain tumor both cells were permanently damaged by cellular phone frequencies.

Dr. Henry Lai, a 20-year EMF researcher, and colleague Dr. N.P. Singh confirmed these conclusions by finding double-strand DNA breaks in test animals exposed for just two hours to pulsed, cell phone microwaves. Double-strand breaks do not repair themselves and can lead to mutation. An Adelaide Hospital study confirmed these findings after discovering that B-cell lymphomas doubled in mice within 18 months of one-hour daily exposure to power densities experienced by a cellphone user. B-cell lymphomas are implicated in 85% of all cancers.

Before having their research abruptly shut down by zombie officials, Dr. Lai's experiments at the University of Washington placed rats in a pool of water where they learned to swim to a platform. After half the group was exposed to cellphone radiation, they became zombies and forgot the way to the platform. After it was removed, unexposed rats swam around bewildered, while the cellular-exposed group exhibited zero memory of it ever being there. [guardian.co.uk]


SAY WATT?
Even though irrefutable medical evidence shows that, in addition to sparking a host of other maladies, cumulative brain damage from cell phones can lead to impairment severe enough to turn users into the walking dead, so far cell phone "safety codes" only regulate radiation capable of burning skin. "Basically, Health Canada claims if it can't cook you, it can't hurt you," says Canadian EMF expert, Walter McGinnis. "It's like saying cigarettes aren't dangerous unless they burn you."

Setting the standards for cell phone exposure in Britain, the National Radiological Protection Board's recommended radiation limits are expressed in Specific Absorption Rates that measure radiation averaged over one gram of tissue. The 1999 NRPB recommended limit was 10 milliwatts. One year later, proposed European guidelines of two milliwatts were five-times more restrictive. But on March 9, 2000 the China Consumers Association issued a worried warning about cellphone radiation after their tests found that some cell phones radiate up to 1,550 milliwatts per square inch.

Cellphone manufactures insist that "many studies" show their miniature microwave ovens are safe. But when pressed by the Washington Post to back up their claim, the cellphone industry could cite no studies showing no adverse impact from cellular telephones on human tissues, nervous systems or organs. As Dr. George Carlo confirmed, "The industry had come out and said that there were thousands of studies that proved that wireless phones are safe, and the fact was that there were no studies that were directly relevant."

Among more than 15,000 scientific reports on the cell phone hazards, at least 66 epidemiological studies show that electromagnetic radiation increases brain tumors in human populations. ["Cell Phone Convenience or 21st Century Plague?" by Dr. Nick Begich and James Roderick earthpulse.com]


THE CELL PHONE "SHIELD" SCAM
Can shooting yourself in the head be "safe"? Cellphone "shields" do not block microwaves, or change their harmful frequencies. If they did, cell phones could not communicate.

The only way to ensure complete protection against being turned into a zombie by cell phones is to avoid using them except in emergencies when no other voice communication is available – at the max, experts suggest, one or two minutes per month.

But cell phone manufacturers and sales rep zombies are working tirelessly to infect others by situating cell phone relay transmitters in town centers, schools and shopping centers. Remote natural settings especially attract towers festooned with microwave transmitters. Be wary! Faced with growing public opposition and some recent notable victories that have seen cell phone towers removed, their rote-reciting advocates are once again advancing their contaminating emissions by stealth – hiding cell phone relays in trees, eaves and even church steeples. Private landowners are also paid annual fees to site unassailable cell phone transmitters on their property capable of irradiating entire neighborhoods.

Incredibly shrinking mobile phones are being made small enough to fit inside a cigarette case by putting their antenna inside the phone. But this sharply reduces reception, which in turn is causing base stations to boost their RF and microwave power outputs back to size-challenged cell phones. [New York Times Mar 10/03]

SAFETY TIP: If a visitor's cell phone picks up a strong signal where you live, find the offending tower and remove it. Or move.

Before you become a zombie, too.