Browsing Tag Dr sundardas

Just how dangerous are the amphetamine stimulant drugs prescribed for children with so-called ADHD? According to scientific research funded by the FDA and the National Institute of Mental Health, drugs such as Ritalin increase the risk of sudden death by five hundred percent among children and teens.

In these cases of sudden death, the child suddenly collapses and dies, only to be discovered later by parents or siblings. That’s what happened to Matthew Hohmann in 2004 ands more and more children at a rate that’s 500 percent higher than would be considered typical for children of a similar age and health status.

ADHD drugs like Ritalin are, of course, amphetamine stimulants. They used to be sold on the street as “speed,” but now they’re prescribed by psychiatrists to children after a subjective diagnosis of a fictitious disease: ADHD — a “disorder” which has no measurable biological symptoms whatsoever.

Interestingly, the FDA banned ephedra, an herbal stimulant, after a handful of consumers died from consuming huge amounts of the herb in a desperate effort to lose weight. In that case, in banning the herb, the FDA announced “the risks outweigh the benefits,” declaring that “ephedra is not safe at any dose.” However vaccines are considered perfectly safe even though there are no double blind studies done on their safety or their efficacy. Look at my previous article on “Toxic Story’ about mercury.

In great contrast to that, even as children are literally dropping dead after taking ADHD drugs, the FDA is now insisting “the benefits are worth the risks.”

But what benefits, exactly, are they talking about? There are no trusted scientific studies whatsoever showing ADHD drugs like Ritalin have any long-term positive effect on children. In fact, the available studies show that ADHD drugs stunt the physical growth of children while impairing brain development. Children who take these drugs, in other words, are not merely at a 500 percent increased risk of sudden death; they are almost assured to be stunted in their brain and body growth by this dangerous amphetamine stimulant drug.

The only real benefits to ADHD drugs, it turns out, are the financial benefits to the drug companies. With hundreds of millions of doses of ADHD drugs sold around the world each year, Big Pharma is raking in the profits while children are dropping dead in their own homes. So when the FDA says “the benefits are worth the risks,” what they mean is that the financial benefits to the drug companies are worth the risks to the lives of children.When parents take their children to psychiatrists and are told to put them on drugs like Ritalin, most parents believe what the doctors say. They believe the FDA wouldn’t approve a drug so dangerous that it could kill their child without warning. And they believe the drug companies would never sell products that harm people.

But those beliefs are foolish. In reality, the FDA, the drug companies and the psychiatrists are all working in collusion, knowingly pushing dangerous, deadly drugs onto families for the sole purpose of generating profits. While children suffer and die, they cash in on the ADHD delusion, first by promoting a fictitious disease and then later through high-profit pharmaceutical quackery.

Be well

Dr Sundardas

Sugar and monosodium glutamate have one thing in common. People are more likely to buy products containing them if they are called something else. Consumers trying to avoid sugar have started reading food labels. Many have begun to think that sugar by another name is not really sugar. Manufacturers know that calling sugar evaporated cane juice for instance, fools people into thinking there is less sugar in the product. Many label readers have caught on to the fact that ingredients have to be listed in order, from the largest amount contained down to the smallest. By using different names for sugar, manufacturers can split the content among the different names, putting the idea of sugar further down on the label without actually reducing the amount of sugar in the product.

Once upon a time health food stores did not carry products containing sugar. Today what we think of as a “health food store” is often a type of hybrid resulting from the cross breeding of true health food stores with traditional grocery retailers. These new stores are trying to capitalize on having a healthy image, while their shelves are stocked with products containing processed sugar, often listed by one of its other names.

However, both evaporated cane juice and white sugar are both sucrose, and both contain 400 calories in 100 grams. Both evaporated cane juice and white cane sugar have been heavily processed to remove the molasses content. During this processing the vitamins, minerals, fiber, amino acids, and trace elements that make molasses nutritious have been striped away, leaving one of the purest chemicals ever manufactured. Only tiny amounts of vitamin A and calcium remain in evaporated cane juice. Following processing, evaporated cane juice is 99.5 percent sucrose, and white sugar is 99.9 percent sucrose. Turbinado sugar  is 99 percent sucrose.

Whether sugar is eaten in the form of white sugar, evaporated cane juice, turbinado, or any of the other names for it, its effect on the body is the same. When eaten in large amounts, or eaten without fat or protein, each of them will produce the same sort of insulin spike, weight gain, immune system suppression, and increased chance for diabetes. It has been implicated in Syndrome X and heart disease as well.

The big difference between evaporated cane juice and granulated sugar is the price, which runs about 8 to 10 dollars a pound for evaporated cane juice compared to about 1 to 3 dollars a pound for white sugar. If manufacturers are willing to spend the extra money to put the words evaporated cane juice on their labels, it means they know the public is seriously trying to avoid eating sugar and needs to be tricked into eating it anyway.

Our collective sweet tooth goes back to the days when we lived in caves and life was a physical event rather than a mental one, as it is now. We needed to eat foods high in nutrients in order to have energy to get through the physical challenges of the typical day. Sweets eaten back then were primarily berries and other fruits that contained beneficial nutrients, enzymes and many phytochemicals to keep us going strong. Back then, a sweet tooth was not a bad thing. But sugar craving still exists for the purpose of compelling people to seek high energy nutrition. Until that nutrition is obtained, sugar craving continues, leaving today’s people in that vicious circle where more nutrient depleted sweets are eaten, and more sugar craving signals are sent. For many people, sugar has almost completely replaced nutrient dense foods, with obesity and health issues as the results. Next time you want something sweet, eat some fruit.

Be well

Dr Sundardas

Any woman wanting to avoid breast cancer or its recurrence needs to be aware of the real risk factors. These are not the factors you hear about from the typical oncologist who is interested in pushing drugs. Imbalances in the body are the real risk factors that explain why women get breast cancer, not lack of drugs. The only way to avoid cancer or its recurrence is to address these imbalances. Two minerals, zinc and selenium, are key in maintaining balance in the body and keeping cancer away. Lack of zinc has been implicated not only in the initiation of breast cancer, but also in the transition, progression, and metastasis of the disease. When zinc is deficient, cellular functioning in the breast is compromised. (Genes and Nutrition, April 2) In a recent study done at the University of Washington, scientists investigated the signaling pathways modulated by selenium. They compared global gene expression profiles in mammary tissues from pubescent female rats maintained on a selenium (3ppm) diet with those on a standardized diet. The selenium-enriched diet altered the steady-state levels of genes involved in various cellular functioning, the most dramatic of which was the changes in the expression of multiple genes that regulate circadian rhythm.

The primary gene protecting women from breast cancer, p53, is thought to be the most frequently mutated or altered gene in the development of cancer. This gene requires zinc, and if it is missing, the gene becomes mutated, resulting in it becoming inactivated or suppressed. Dysfunction of p53 is well documented in the development of breast cancer, indicating that a zinc deficiency is a risk factor for breast cancer independent of the levels of boron, copper and calcium. In France, scientists report that estrogen receptor expression in breast cancers is associated with differentiated tumors and a more favorable prognosis. The greater the resemblance of cancerous breast cells to non-cancerous breast cells, the less threatening is the disease. Although the exact mechanism underlying the protection ERs play against cancer progression remains to be researched, these scientists studied the actions of ER alpha, and documented that one of the ways this ER inhibits invasion is though its first zinc finger. A zinc finger is a group of proteins organized around a zinc ion that can bind to DNA and influence gene regulation. (Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 2008)

The relationship between selenium status and intake among breast cancer patients was studied by scientists in Kuala Lumpur. 64 women with breast cancer and 127 matched controls were interviewed to obtain information on their habitual dietary intakes, demographic data, and medical history. Selenium status was determined from toenail and hair analysis. The researchers found that total energy and protein intake was significantly higher among controls than among the breast cancer cases. The selenium intake among the women with breast cancer was significantly lower than the controls. Breast cancer risk decreased with the increasing quartiles of selenium intake. Selenium in hair did not differ among breast cancer cases and controls, but selenium status in the nails of controls was significantly higher compared to the breast cancer cases. (Singapore Medical Journal, March 2009). Drink your minerals ladies

Be well

Dr Sundardas

The FDA has, for decades, ridiculously insisted that mercury fillings pose no health threat whatsoever to children. While dismissing hundreds of studies showing a clear link between mercury amalgam fillings (“silver fillings”) and disastrous neurological effects in the human body, the FDA denied the truth about mercury and effectively protected the mercury filling racket that has brought so much harm to so many people. For over a hundred years, a cabal of “mercury mongers” made up of the American Dental Association, mercury filling manufactu-  rers and indignant dentists have reaped windfall profits by implanting toxic fillings into the mouths of children, all while insisting that mercury — one of the most toxic heavy metals known to modern science — posed no health threat whatsoever.

That reign of toxicity ended  in June 2008. Thanks to the tireless, multi-year efforts of people like Charles Brown, National Counsel for Consumers for Dental Choice (www.ToxicTeeth.org), the FDA was forced to acknowledge a fact so fundamental that, by any measure of honest science, it should have adopted the position decades ago. What position is that? Simply that mercury is toxic to humans.

The FDA has to be sued to do its job of protecting consumers. The FDA’s stonewalling on this issue has been nothing less than a circus of politically-motivated denials, much like the Big Tobacco executives swearing under oath that “Nicotine is not addictive.” In similar style, the FDA insisted for decades that “Mercury is not toxic.” Both statements, as any sane person can readily conclude, are the outbursts of lunatics. Sadly, those lunatics somehow remain in charge of America’s food, drugs and cosmetics (and dental care), meaning that any real progress to protect the People must come from outside the FDA.

And that’s exactly what happened. Consumers for Dental Choice teamed up with Moms Against Mercury (www.MomsAgainstMercury.org) and sued the FDA and its commissioner whose name sounds like an evil-minded villian right out of a Marvel comic book: Von Eschenbach. The lawsuit, entitled, Moms Against Mercury et al. v. Von Eschenbach, Commissioner, et al was concluded in June 2008 with a reluctant agreement by the FDA to both change its website on the issue of mercury and to reclassify mercury within one year, following a period of public comment (which the agency will no doubt try to drag out as long as possible in order to avoid actually sticking to the terms of the lawsuit agreement).

Remarkably, the FDA’s website no longer claims mercury is harmless. The language has now been changed in dramatic fashion, reading: “Dental amalgams contain mercury, which may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetus.”Speaking of people going mad with mercury, that’s the history of the term “as mad as a hatter.” As explained by Wikipedia:
There is scientific evidence behind the meaning of insanity. Mercury was used in the process of curing felt used in some hats. It was impossible for hatters to avoid inhaling the mercury fumes given off during the hat making process. Hatters and other men in working mills died early due to the residual mercury caused neurological damage, as well as confused speech and distorted vision. As the mercury poisoning progressed to dangerously high levels, sufferers could also experience psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations.

Be well

Dr Sundardas

When a group of scientists began to study the incidence of osteoporosis in different countries, they found the highest incidence in countries like UK, Sweden, the United States of America and the lowest in China where the diet avoids all of the risk factors mentioned above as well as including all of the protective items that follow below. Osteoporosis that is not due to dis-ease can develop from malnutrition and malabsorption of Calcium and or Vitamin D. It can   also be triggered by a Vitamin C deficiency and a high acid ash (high protein) diet. A high phosphate intake or an iron overload can aggravate the condition also. Also smoking and drinking lots of milk.

Women’s bones are greatly influenced by hormonal fluctuations, poor nutritional uptake, diet, childbirth and exercise. Men’s bones are influenced by stress, diet and exercise only. While mild osteoporosis leads to stress fractures only, serious osteoporosis amongst the elderly result in hip fractures. While having bed rest for hip fractures, further bone loss occurs. The bed sores can get infected and gangrenous and they die. Hip bones and the  lumbar spine are particularly prone to fractures.

According to Dr Maurine Tsakok, head and senior consultant of Singapore General Hospital’s department of obstetrics and gynaecology, women taking soy bean products from dougan to miso soup to legumes like peanuts and beans are naturally increasing their estrogen levels. This is because soya products contained plant estrogens and if sufficient quantities are consumed (which was about three times more soya products a week than normal). In a retrospective study of 98 menopausal Singapore women only half were found they needed Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). Dr Tsakok also found that two-fifths of the women who did not need HRT exercised regularly compared with about one- tenth of those on HRT.

Phytoestrogens and phytosterols have complex biochemical effects – acting as natural forms of estrogen stimulators (agonist receptor-site action) and protect against higher levels of estrogens by competitive inhibition (antagonist receptor-site action). This dual behaviour results in increasing declining natural estrogen levels as well as providing protection against sites that stimulate breast and uterus cells from becoming cancerous (normally caused by high levels of estrogen production).

Herbs can effectively lessen the effects of menopause and work as estrogen stimulators. The following are commonly used and ones you will find in Menopausal combined-herb formulations:

Black Cohosh – relieves hot flashes and vaginal dryness

Don Quai – relieves hot flashes and improves circulation. Contains beta-sitosterol.

Ginseng – balances stress, improves circulation, stimulates the immune system.

Vitex Agnus-Castus or Chasteberry – affects the pituitary and the stimulation of the three pituitary releasing hormones. Normalizes progesterone levels.

Valerian – natures valium. A calming agent.

Wild Yam – a prohormonal support

Licorice Root – Stimulates the adrenal glands by compensating for “weak adrenal” syndrome. simulating Aldosterone, the major blood pressure hormone (mineralocorticoid).

Be well

Dr Sundardas               www.NaturalTherapies.com

As men age past age 40, hormonal changes occur that perceptibly inhibit physical, sexual, and cognitive function. The outward appearance of a typical middle-aged male shows in- creased abdominal fat and shrinkage of muscle mass, a hallmark effect of hormone imbal-lance. Loss of a feeling of well-being, sometimes manifesting as depression, is a common psychological complication of hormone imbalance. Until recently, these changes were attri- buted to “growing old,” and men were expected to accept the fact that their bodies were entering into a long degenerative process that would someday result in death.

A remarkable amount of data has been compiled indicating that many of the diseases that middle-aged men begin experiencing, including depression, fatigue, abdominal weight gain, alterations in mood and cognition, decreased libido, erectile dysfunction, prostate disease, and heart disease are directly related to hormone imbalances that are correctable with currently available drug and nutrient therapies. The onset of these symptoms usually appears in the early 50s, although with smokers the onset is significantly earlier.

Andropause is about biochemical changes that brings about physical and emotional changes. Mid-life crisis is an emotional event that brings about more emotional and less physical changes .They may occur independently or they may occur at the same time in which case the impact is multiplied. I think until their 40’s men generally buy into “I am a man and I have to do all this”, cultural and social programming. They do not t question that the load is heavy. At forty as they reach a certain maturity, they may begin to question why it has to be this way. They may even become aware of the load they are carrying and wonder why they should do this.

Certain characteristics displayed by individuals experiencing a mid-life crisis often include but are not limited to a vague and undefined feeling of restlessness for what they do not know . It can include the search of an undefined dream or goal, desire to achieve a feeling of youth- fulness, acquiring of unusual or expensive items such as clothing, muscle cars, jewelery, pay- ing extra special attention to physical appearance, need to spend more time alone or with cert- a certain peers, a deep sense of remorse for goals not accomplished, an underlying desire to initiate new sexual partnerships.

A poll conducted by Desertion Survivors found that 37.1% of respondents’ spouses/partners had deserted them after 20-30 years together, suggesting a strong link to mid-life crisis, with the 20-25 year bracket being the most common, accounting for 20.9% of the overall total.

Positive effects only occur if the individual succesfully negotiates the mid-life crisis.. When they do then they realise  they  are actually in a time of their lives when they can afford to do the things they wanted to do when they were young, which may explain the indulgences in certain commodities or activities. Physically we can do specific hormones and blood tests that would help identify what hormones and issues need to be addressed. We routinely check our male patients’ blood levels of estrogen, testosterone, thyroid, and DHEA to determine what they real picture is. Psychologically, I run specific seminars and programmes that help to clean up old psychological baggage as well as develop new proactive strategies for living.

Be well

Dr Sundardas               www.NaturalTherapies.com,   www.fftcentre.com

In western medicine, the whole concept of wellness is overlooked. Western medicine practitioners and scientists have made great advances in the management of pathology by studying disease. When they study physiology, they do so to better understand abnormal physiology. They do not study physiology in the hope that they can better understand how to optimize physiology.

Due to this perspective, there has been a great deal of skepticism about subtle energetic screening devices and healing technologies. The fundamental challenge in the model can be stated in the following ways.

1)      Subtle energy changes predate biochemical dysfunctions/medical conditions (i.e. liver cirrhosis)

2)      Western medical professionals will typically ignore these changes because they will maintain these changes have no relation to any changes in physiology

3)      Wellness medicine practitioners who habitually look for these changes and successfully help to optimize the patient’s condition will avert the eventual development of these conditions

4)      The Western medical professional will then claim energetic changes have no relationship to pathology because the patient never went on to develop the  alleged biochemical dysfunction/medical condition  (i.e. liver cirrhosis)

The medical model basically employs the so-called lock-and-key paradigm of biochemistry, according to which, any biochemical reaction needs a specific arrangement of the reacting molecules. Meanwhile, a living organism and its functions cannot be reduced to a set of chemical reactions, even if it were possible to account for all of them. This constitutes a serious problem of any acute treatment. Any illness – actually illness in general – generates a kind of communicational gap within the organism’s functional network. Since living beings are highly integrated open dynamic systems, their health – all health in general – is supported by a permanent mass, energy and information exchange. The dynamics of communication thus is vital for organisms.

One of the fundamental communication processes that our body uses to communicate with us when we are approaching dis-ease is our emotions. Our emotions are our primary mechanisms that our body minds use to communicate how well our lives physical, mental or emotional are working. In the Western Medicine Model when you are feeling emotionally unwell like depression, they would prescribe prozac. In the Wellness Medicine Model, when you feel unwell, you are getting a signal about some state of disharmony whether physical, mental or emotional.

So do you want to pay attention to your Body-Mind or do you wish to drug yourself so you that feel nothing? That is the real difference between Western Medicine and Wellness Medicine.

Be well

Dr Sundardas

www.NaturalTherapies.com,   www.fftcentre.com

For any questions with regards to related posts, do submit your queries below and I will answer to it when I have time. Thank you friends..

A few months ago, many of us heard about the sad demise of Ranjan Das from Bandra, Mumbai. Ranjan, just 42 years of age, was the CEO of SAP-Indian Subcontinent, the youngest CEO of an MNC in India. He was very active in sports, was a fitness freak and a marathon runner. It was common to see him run on Bandra’s Carter Road. Just after Diwali, on 21st Oct, he returned home from his gym after a workout, collapsed with a massive heart attack and died. He is survived by his wife and two very young kids.
It was certainly a wake-up call for corporate India let alone corporate Asia. However, it was even more disastrous for runners amongst us. Since Ranjan was an avid marathoner  ( in Feb 09, he ran the Chennai Marathon) the question arises as to why an exceptionally active, athletic person succumbs to heart attack at 42 years of age.

Was it the stress?

While Ranjan had mentioned that he faced a lot of stress, that is a common element in most of our lives. We used to think that by being fit, one can conquer the bad effects of stress. So I doubted if the cause was stress.

However, everyone missed out a small line in the reports that Ranjan used to make do with 4-5 hours of sleep. This is an earlier interview of Ranjan on NDTV in the program ‘Boss’ Day Out’: Boss’ Day Out: Ranjan Das of SAP India.

Here he himself admits that he would love to get more sleep ( and that he was not proud of his ability to manage without sleep, contrary to what others extolled ).

I have outlined the key points below in the hope it will save some lives.

· Short sleep duration ( <5 or 5-6 hours ) increased risk for high BP by 350% to 500% compared to those who slept longer than 6 hours per night. Paper published in 2009. As you know, high BP kills.

· Young people ( 25-49 years of age ) are twice as likely to get high BP if they sleep less. Paper published in 2006.

· Individuals who slept less than 5 hours a night had a 3-fold increased risk of heart attacks. Paper published in 1999.

· Complete and partial lack of sleep increased the blood concentrations of High sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (hs-cRP), the strongest predictor of heart attacks. Even after getting adequate sleep later, the levels stayed high!!

· Just one night of sleep loss increases very toxic substances in body such as Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Tumour Necrosis Factor-Alpha (TNF-alpha) and C-reactive protein (cRP). They increase risks of many medical conditions, including cancer, arthritis and heart disease. Paper published in 2004.

· Sleeping for <=5 hours per night leads to 39% increase in heart disease. Sleeping for <=6 hours per night leads to 18% increase in heart disease. Paper published in 2006.

For lack of space, I cannot explain here the ideal sleep architecture. But in brief, sleep is composed of two stages: REM ( Rapid Eye Movement ) and non-REM. The former helps in mental consolidation while the latter helps in physical repair and rebuilding. During the night, you alternate between REM and non-REM stages 4-5 times.

The earlier part of sleep is mostly non-REM. During that period, your pituitary gland releases growth hormones that repair your body. This part of sleep is when HGH or Human Growth Hormone is naturally generated. If you are not asleep, what happens is that you generate cortisol which is a stress hormone that has the long term effects of accelerating ageing and leading the production of toxic substances like IL-6, TNF-alpha and cRP.

In Chinese Medicine we have the concept of chi and its movement in different meridians at different times. The Liver Meridian is particularly active from 1.00 am to 3.00am. If you are asleep, your Liver Meridian can properly detoxify as well as your mesenchymal matrix. If you are not, then this function is perverted and your natural cellular detoxification mechanisms start shutting down. This prepares your body for the development of severe and chronic diseases.

The latter part of sleep is more and more REM type. For you to be mentally alert during the day, the latter part of sleep is more important. No wonder when you wake up with an alarm clock after 5-6 hours of sleep, you are mentally irritable throughout the day (lack of REM sleep). And if you have slept for less than 5 hours, your body is in a complete physical mess ( lack of non-REM sleep ), you are tired throughout the day, moving like a zombie and your immunity is way down ( I’ve been there, done that ).

Unfortunately, Ranjan Das is not alone when it comes to missing sleep. Many of us are doing exactly the same, perhaps out of ignorance.

Two years ago, I developed a devastating infection called rheumatic fever and experienced heart failure (heart function dropped to 30%). This was a period in my life when I was eating well, exercising well (too well- averaging almost 12 hours in aerobics, weights and Martial arts) and sleeping 5 hours a day. There was one month when I worked right through non-stop and the infection struck. My blood profile was perfect except for elevated  CRP, Creatinine Kinase and the infection marker. All the other markers of heart disease like cholesteol, triglycerides, glucose, sodium and potassium were perfect. It has taken me almost two years to get back to normal.

Please forward this blog to as many of your colleagues/friends as possible, especially those who might be short-changing their sleep. If we can save even one young life because of this blog, I would be the happiest person on earth.

Be well

Dr Sundardas

Toxic Water

The Associated Press (US) has done a study, and they’re reporting today that all kinds of chemicals are found in your tap water, and this time we’re not talking about lead, mercury, pesticides, synthetic hormones, or anything like that. Today we’re talking about pharmaceuticals in your water.

Sounds pretty crazy doesn’t it? But it’s true. Pharmaceuticals are now found in 24 major metropolitan cities. I mean the water supplying those cities is contaminated with pharmaceuticals. Not just one or two either, but six different pharmaceuticals so far – that’s what has been found – including anti-depressant medications, anti-seizure medications, anti-inflammatory medications, painkillers, even caffeine. Yes, there is caffeine in the water. You don’t even need to drink coffee in the morning anymore!

Get up; slam some tap water, and you have your chemicals for the day! Well, that’s just an exaggeration of course. They’re not found in large amounts in the water, and we’re going to talk about that over the next few minutes – talk to you about the dangers of these chemicals found in the public water supply and reveal what you can do to protect yourself from these chemicals. All that’s coming right up.

Now this might be kind of a scary talk, actually. If you know where your water comes from you may not want to drink it anymore. In fact, I think anyone drinking out of the tap is probably not well informed yet. We’re going to help you get informed here in the next few minutes.

Here is how the water really works. Many cities take their water from the rivers. Now, this is where you get your water, and they just treat it. So whatever actually comes downstream to those cities is put into their municipal water supplies. Now many consumers have the misconception that these cities actually remove all the dangerous chemicals and substances from the water before they put it into the pipes that go into your kitchen and your bathroom and your home.

That’s not true. They don’t remove everything. Sure, they remove the dirt, the sand, and the leaves but they don’t even remove microorganisms and bacteria. No, that’s not their job. They don’t remove them. They just kill them.

Their only job is to sanitize the water so that what you get is drinkable. It will not kill you, but it’s not clean. They use chlorine for that usually. They dump chlorine chemicals into the water; chlorine kills the microorganisms, and then you end up drinking chlorine and dead bacteria at the tap.

Public water treatment systems rely on chlorine to kill harmful bacteria. Until recently, concerns about drinking water focused on eliminating pathogens. Chlorination of drinking water was a major factor in the reduction in the mortality rates associated with waterborne pathogens. The use of chlorine was believed to be safe until recent years, when halogenated organic compounds, such as chloroform, were identified in chlorinated drinking water supplies. Recent surveys show that these compounds are common in water supplies throughout the North America. These concerns about cancer risks associated with chemical contamination from chlorination by-products have resulted in numerous epidemiological studies. These studies generally support the notion that by-products of chlorination are associated with increased risk of cancer and other health problems. These risks arise from both drinking and bathing in chlorinated water.

Figures for the U.S. shows that in the 1880,the death  rate from typhoid was about 90 per 100,000 Americans.  Thanks largely to chlorinated water, the death rate today is only  about 0.1 per 100,000.   Recent research done in the 1950’s, has enabled scientists to establish a link between chlorine and arteriosclerosis’s in chicken.  It was also suggested that this was because of chlorine’s ability to destroy Vitamin E. Vitamin E promotes heart muscle function, strengthens capillary walls and dilates blood vessels. It thereby reduces blood pressure and the risk of heart disease. Vitamin E functioning as an anti-oxidant also protects against cancer.

In a 1988 survey, scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory found that drinking chlorinated water increased  the risks of high blood cholesterol.  The survey which covered 1,520 residents of 46 towns in Wisconsin, found that both men and women who d rank chlorinated water had higher levels of LDL, the “bad” cholesterol.

In 1989,researchers at the EPA’s Health Effects Research Lab (HERL) reported that mice showed “abnormalities” in fat metabolism when they were given chlorinated water and a typical, modern high-fat diet.  The mice too, had higher levels of “bad” cholesterol.

While links between chlorinated water and cancer are harder to establish, it is known that chlorine reacts with organic matter in water to form compounds called  trihalomethanes THMS) which are cancer-causing. Chloroform which one of the THMs was once used as an anaesthetic. It has since been banned by the US Food and Drugs Administration in 1976 because of its carcinogenic properties.   Recently, HERL scientists found that chlorine reacts  with organic compounds in water to form two other cancer-  causing agents: MX and DCS.  These substances both contribute to cell mutation and tumour growth.

So what can you do? Drink clean filtered water that gets rid of all the chemicals like chlorine.

Be well

Dr Sundardas

Do you find yourself at the mercy of your emotions, a victim of reaction, behaving in ways that you’re not proud of and often regret? Are you one of the millions of people who avoid conflict and confrontation because you don’t know how to deal with other people’s emotions? Perhaps you avoid emotions entirely, not allowing yourself to feel deeply – out of fear or simply because you never learned how to experience, enjoy, and manage deep emotions such as love, joy, sadness, or happiness.

Perhaps you have become numb to emotions, not recognizing what or that you’re feeling something. Without the skills to handle them, you might “stuff” your emotions, exploding at some later time when you reach your breaking point.

Then there are those who were taught not to feel, who grew up learning that feelings were bad and you shouldn’t have them at all. And when you do feel something, you cannot let anyone know about it. Well, you’re not alone. Everyone has emotions and many people have no idea what to do with their emotions when they experience them. So, welcome to the Club.

Learning more about emotions, understanding what happens to you when you become emotional; learning to control yourself and your responses to emotions are your personal responsibility as an adult – regardless of what you may have learned or witnessed as a child – and they a big part of living a successful life.

Success cannot only be defined by what you do or what you have; it’s defined in your heart by how you feel about how you are living your life, the things you do, and the impact you make on others including how you make other people feel. Emotions are what make life grand. Emotions bring life to living.

What does it mean to be intelligent about your emotions?

It means being able to recognize and manage your emotions as well as control your behavior in response to emotion. It also means you are aware of the emotions of others and are able to manage relationships using empathy and competence. This is the practice of becoming emotionally confident and it takes time, vigilance, and practice in order to enjoy your emotions and respond to them appropriately as well as becoming more adept at handling the emotions of others and dealing with conflict.

Obviously, the better you are at knowing and managing yourself and your emotions, the better you become at dealing with other people’s emotions. The first step in learning about emotions is to become more conscious to what you are feeling in any given moment.

When your friend, employee, child or spouse doesn’t behave or perform in the way you had expected, it may seem natural to feel very angry, frustrated or resentful. But ultimately, will a strong flood of uncontrolled emotion get you the results you need? How do you find a better way?

A staff member doesn’t handle a problem with a customer well, and you, as the manager, are upset. You think to yourself, “Why on earth would he do such a thing? Doesn’t he know better? He should know that’s not how to deal with a customer!”

Your young child is playing upstairs. You decide to go and check on her and discover that she’s been drawing on the wall. “Look at my beautiful picture!” this small face smiles up to you. You, of course, are enraged and think before responding, “Haven’t I taught her not to draw on the wall? Doesn’t she know better?”

There are probably thousands of examples of these moments, moments when you think “What would make someone do that?” It is at this very moment when we reach a fork in the road and quite often, we get stuck. The stuck point is the assumption that the person knows better. This is the expectation. You have an expectation for how an employee should behave, how your children should behave, how things should function, even how you should be and what you should do. This the tyranny of the “shoulds”.

Expectations in and of themselves are not bad. We need to have some direction, some vision, and some idea of what we want. Of course, some expectations are unrealistic and this causes tremendous stress, anxiety, anger, struggle, and discontent. But other expectations are reasonable and realistic. Whatever the case, it’s not having the expectation that gets us in trouble; it’s when the expectation is not met that gives us difficulty.

When your expectations are not met, you can experience a psychological response including anger, resentment, anxiety, frustration, disappointment, etc. In fact, disappointment always points to an unmet expectation. This physiological response often causes people to choose the path at the fork that leads to what I call “The Ugly,” the inappropriate, unproductive, and unprofessional expression of emotion – loss of temper, yelling, conflict, bad feelings, name-calling, gossip, etc. In fact, this response leads to poor relationships, decreases morale, and can be deadly to a leader’s reputation as well as detrimental to the environment or culture of the workplace or your home. It leads to fear, causes shame, and requires effort to correct as well as time to heal. The opportunity for choosing a better response is at the stuck point, that moment when you feel the anger start or the frustration creep in. What are you assuming here? Take a step back and question your assumption. That is the beginning of running your mind. This is the beginning of making a choice to embrace peace and happiness.

The pursuit of happiness is not about embracing hedonism. It is about recognizing what matters to you. What matters to the others in your life. Then armed with this you pursue the outcomes in a way congruent with you and your values. Along the way, stop and smell the flowers. When you run into obstacles and road blocks embrace the leaning.

Be well

Dr Sundardas

http://www.biologyofbliss.net/