Joni Kelton

Unsafe At Any Meal

August 10th, 2007 by Joni Kelton

Unsafe At Any Meal
компютриEarl Mindell

This book is amazing. Although it was published in 1987, there are some startling revelations in this book, that have not been disproven with time. Such as the table giving you carcinogen levels in tap water from larger US cities: (from the EPA)

Albuquerque NM: 15mcg
Fresno CA: 4 mcg
Memphis TN: 17mcg
Pittsburg PA: 43 mcg

…and drumroll please:

Houston: 250 mcg!!!!!!!

Only Tampa FL was even close with 200 mcg. Scary.

From Publishers Weekly
This guide clearly identifies specific “foods, additives, and environmental pollutants” that are potentially hazardous to our health and quality of living. Fresh and informative information is presented in a well-organized, easy-to-read format, complete with charts, safety tips, warnings and answers to frequently asked questions regarding nutrition and diet. Mindell discusses package labeling, food poisoning and the dangers of additives, sugar, salt and alcohol. Even more helpful are charts describing vitamins used as additives, recommended caloric intake and the nutritional lowdown on popular fast foods. Mindell, a pharmacist and nutritionist, cautions readers to seek medical advice “before making any changes in your current diet or starting any supplement program.” Although he suggests some alternative foods and offers a very few of his own recipes as nutritional substitutes, his rather extreme accounts of the harmful additives and preservatives existing in foods typically consumed may suppress some appetites.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Buy the book from my amazon store…

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But It Was In The News!!!

August 10th, 2007 by Joni Kelton

Ya right. A “study” proclaims that vitamins are bad for you, and could kill you. Taken at face value, that could scare the crap out of those of us taking supplements. But wait, there’s more. Read how these so-called scientists came to the conclusion. Makes me think this was funded by big drug companies…

Vitamins and Good Sense

By Bernadine Healy M.D.
US News & World Report

Posted 3/4/07

Vitamin studies always seem to stir controversy, but certainly not visions of death. On that score, last week’s report on antioxidant vitamins, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, was a doozy. The researchers concluded that people taking the antioxidants vitamins A, its precursor beta carotene, and vitamin E, for whatever reason, at whatever dose, and for however long, may be putting their lives in jeopardy. But before you toss out your vitamin pills, let’s examine this alarmist study a little bit closer.Â

Researchers from Copenhagen University Hospital set out to determine whether the antioxidant supplements lengthen one’s life. That’s difficult to answer, since most people taking vitamins are healthy. So the researchers identified antioxidant clinical trials large and small, as long as they reported at least one death. Any death counted, whether from heart disease or cancer, kidney failure or hip fractures, murders or suicides. [THIS MEANS THAT THEY COMPILED STUDIES THAT SHOWED THAT, DURING A STUDY, THERE WAS A DEATH - FROM ANY CAUSE] Out of 747 antioxidant trials reviewed, 68 met the bill. Then, in what is called a meta-analysis, the 68 trials were combined into what is effectively one study.Â

Predictably, the trials that made the cut were skewed towards the elderly, who are closer to the Pearly Gates. In fact, the mean age in several trials was over 80 (one participant was 103). Diseases in the patients were legion: heart disease, cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, kidney failure, arthritis, diabetes, cataracts, and Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Trials of heavy smokers and those with premalignant conditions were included, as were those of people in nursing homes. In stark contrast, there were only a few studies here and there of health buffs.Â

Participants in the trials were not the only ones all over the map. So was their vitamin exposure. Some trials gave a single vitamin; others multiple ones. And close to 40 percent of the studies included beta carotene, a discredited supplement ever since it was found to increase, not decrease, a smoker’s chance of lung cancer. (In high doses, beta carotene interacts with tobacco smoke and appears to change its stripes from being a friendly antioxidant to a hostile co-carcinogen.) Vitamin E in excess of 400 international units, or IU’s, may also lose its antioxidant value. Among the 68 trials, dose varied from below the recommended daily intake to way beyond the tolerable upper limit. For example, vitamin E ranged from 10 IUs (22.5 is recommended) to 5,000 (1,5200 is considered toxic).Â

The duration of vitamin usage also plagues this analysis. Many of the participants barely tasted the supplements, as they were given for only a few days or a few months. The average was three years. And no surprise that individual studies varied in outcome. One study, of 13,017 middle-aged patients drawn from the general population, showed that nutritional levels of vitamins C and E and selenium supplements were associated with a 22 percent reduction in mortality after seven years. Compare this with the study of 18,314 patients, all heavy smokers averaging 58 years of age, who took high doses of vitamin A and beta carotene for four years. They had a 16 percent increase in mortality.Â

Just silly. Blenderizing these diverse trials into one giant 232,606-patient-strong study to come up with a seductively simple proclamation is just silly. When the researchers tallied up the mortality from the 68 trials, there was no difference based on vitamin intake. The headlines that these supplements significantly increase the risk of death by 5 percent overall came only when the researchers pulled out the 47 trials they deemed to have been the best executed. Actually, in the 21 randomized trials they peeled off, mortality was decreased by 9 percent among those taking the vitamins.Â

Sure, statistics can prove anything. But this study violates a cardinal rule of meta-analysis. Pooled studies must be compatible. That means combining apples and applesâ€”or at the least, similar patients and comparable doses and duration of treatments. The first question to ask in evaluating any such study is whether the combination makes sense, both common sense and medical sense, in the first place. On both, the study flunks.Â

Where does this leave us? With the same advice that we had before: Don’t smoke. Consume at least five fruits and vegetables daily; go easy on the saturated fats; enjoy fish and maybe even fish oil tablets; take supplemental calcium and vitamin D until studies say otherwise. And assuming your daily diet isn’t always perfect, its just fine to add on a multivitamin. The whole package will help you live longer. And I don’t need a meta-analysis to say so.Â

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Why I Chose A Natural Health Education

April 2nd, 2007 by Joni Kelton

I began in this world born to farm-raised parents and grandparents - breathing clean air, doing honest work, and eating wholesome meals prepared from the land that was cultivated from the sweat and toil of my family.

When I was around the age of six, my mother remarried and moved myself and my brother to another farm â€“ still complete with hard work, fresh fruits and vegetables, and farm-raised animals. But it was completely different. My mother smoked up to four packs of cigarettes a day, my new “father” (who was also from a farm family) weighed nearly 400 lbs even then, and smoked his four packs a day, as they both still do.

My parents’ vocation changed from family farming to long-distance trucking. With that came hour upon hour of sitting and riding with no exercise; ill-prepared, sometimes cold leftover food from truck stops; constant exposure to second hand smoke from both cigarettes and diesel fumes.

The quality of our food, exercise and learning became deplorable. At one time, we were even on government assistance that provided some sort of rubber cheese, powdered milk, and plenty of white flour and sugar. Even at my young age, I rebelled against eating that type of thing; instead choosing to wait until something better came along when possible -Â lettuce fresh out of the garden, tomatoes off the vine, or Grandma’s home cooking.

I saw my mother come down with double breast cancer, all the while continuing to smoke and not eat properly. My stepfather continues to gain weight to this day, suffering from all the litany of diseases, problems, and difficulties his weight brings. My brother and subsequently his family eat nothing but junk, his wife is almost homebound with excessive weight at under 30 years old. He is rail thin, gaunt, and smokes 2-3 packs of cigarettes a day.

I decided early on in my life that I was not going the route of my parents â€“ instead I chose to go the entirely opposite direction. After I left the family farm, I remember preparing home-cooked meals with my roommates out of fresh vegetables, good quality meat, and always searching for the best food. None of us smoked, we loved being outdoors, and got plenty of exercise.

Fast forwarding to my life now, I have been deep into the holistic lifestyle and nutritionally focused for years. I am not perfect: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are my downfall, as well as Starbucks coffee, but I feel so far ahead of many of my contemporaries in the nutritional and wellness arena. I already shove nutritional, cleansing, and supplement advice down the throat of whomever happens to be standing closest to me. These days I am besieged with questions regarding relief of symptoms, alternatives to allopathic medicines, and nutritional advice for specific situations. Even though I feel I know so little, it seems I know volumes more than my immediate circle of friends and family.

I no longer communicate with my immediate family. They do not understand nor support my lifestyle without cigarettes, drugs or excessive alcohol. I have decided that their relationship to me is far too toxic, so I have ended it and feel far better for having done so.

This is why I have chosen to pursue an education in Nutritional and Natural Health: it seems it was chosen for me, and the universe is never wrong. I chose Clayton College after extensive research involving both positive and negative reviews, comments from past students, and advice from graduates like Dr. Ward Bond. I feel I am well prepared to begin a new phase of my life, and to help others to the best of my ability be healthy and educated about their own health. I am pursuing an entirely new career after 23 years in graphic arts, marketing and writing, and I have the full support of my wonderful husband whose beliefs in health, wellness and the universe match mine.

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