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There is a lot of confusion about osteoporosis. Most people think that if you take a calcium supplement you’ll be okay. However, not only will this not help, but it is totally disregarding the other side: negative prevention.

Allow me to explain. You must not only take a positive step towards preventing osteoporosis (in many peoples’ cases, adding a calcium supplement), you must also take a negative step towards preventing it (as in, taking something away).

However, what could we possibly take away that would prevent osteoporosis? After all, what causes it is a lack of calcium density in the bones, not too much. Taking things away will only lead to more of a deficiency, right?

While this logic may seem pretty basic, almost like 1+1=2, 1-1=0. If you take away from the equation, you take away from the solution. However, with health it is not that simple. There is something called the acid-alkaline balance that I would like to bring to your attention.

Human blood and urine are meant to be slightly alkaline (about 8 pH). Very few liquids in the human body are meant to be acidic, the most obvious being stomach acid. Our bodies maintain homeostasis, so your stomach acid alway remains acidic (a pH of 1) and your blood remains alkaline. However, our urine tends to change to slightly acidic to slightly alkaline depending on the food we eat, since it gets expelled this way. Testing urine pH is very telling to what is going on in the body.

Now, because the body is constantly creating homeostasis, many people want to call the acid-alkaline theory bunk. I assure you that it is not. The argument goes that if the body maintains homeostasis, then we don’t need to worry about what we eat because this balance never changes. They would be correct in one respect: our bodies do a good job and do keep things relatively equal. The process does, however, come at a price.

I will now explain why our urine pH is to telling as to what is going on inside of us. When we eat an acidic food and it is broken down and sent to our blood stream, our blood must respond by making the pH alkaline again. How it does this is similar to how someone with heartburn takes Tums to lessen their stomach acid. The body takes calcium and pumps it into the blood to create homeostasis again. There is always calcium in your blood. However, your body needs to store it sometimes, and where do you think your body stores calcium? That’s right, your bones. And every time you eat an acidic food, that calcium leaches from your bones into your blood to create homeostasis again. So, when you eat acidic food, you leach calcium through your urine and are in fact losing calcium, not gaining it.

Some acidic foods are touted for their high calcium content. However, this calcium is almost always (if not always) difficult to absorb and is itself passed out of the body. In short, the amount of calcium you may obtain from an acidic food in no way makes up for the calcium it leaches from your body. Keep in mind, not all calcium is equal. There are foods out there that contain perfect types and quantities of calcium for us.

Here’s the real question: What’s acidic? What must I stay away from to prevent calcium leaching from my bones? What should I eat so I can get adequate and easy to absorb calcium?

The answer: The most acidic foods are none other than the amazing dairy and meat that (not counting actual acids like vinegar) we all love so much. Add to this list eggs, fish (in case you weren’t counting it in meat) and other creatures of the ocean, and its pretty safe to say that anything that comes from an animal is best left alone.

And foods that are alkaline and good for us? Fruits, leafy greens and pretty much all vegetables. We get plenty of calcium from all of these things, in its natural state and ready for our bodies to absorb. Eating in this way will bring our urine pH to the alkaline side, which shows that inside our body our blood is not being rampaged by acidic food.

The short of it is to eat less animal products and more fruits and tender leafy greens/vegetables (preferably raw) if you want to avoid osteoporosis. Stay away from calcium supplements because they are honestly just a waste of money and can harm you by taxing your kidneys to detox all of the extra, difficult to absorb nutrients. A tell-tale sign is that if your urine is yellow (or anything other than mostly clear), you are leaching nutrients and should reconsider the foods and supplements you are taking. If you leach vitamins and minerals, then your food or supplements aren’t doing you any good.

Lia Cross

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I would like to direct your attention to a recent blog made by Steve Pavlina at www.stevepavlina.com. It essentially embodies what I find to be the source of change, and what I also find to be the goal — how a society without bars actually runs. I believe that all of us at WorldSave agree with me.

You can find the blog here: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2008/03/the-war-on-ego/.

I encourage you to read it and not simply pass this notice by. It is really eye-opening if you have never entertained this way of thinking, and if you have it is an impressive reminder.

Lia Cross

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It seems that everywhere you look now there’s an ad for Viagra or one of its many spin-offs. If this tells us anything, it certainly makes it clear that men in America have a serious problem. Unfortunately, many of those men are in the dark as to what their problem is exactly. They think the problem is the erection, when really it goes much further than that. Erectile dysfunction isn’t just something everyone must deal with and that an affluent society can afford to correct. It isn’t just something we want fixed so we can get back to our sex lives. ED is a warning sign for underlying blood circulation issues, and is a clear sign that you’re heading toward a heart attack or stroke.

Recently, I noticed one of the ED drug commercials mention that a man had ED and high cholesterol. He was amazed and didn’t know that his high cholesterol could have “caused” his ED. I put the word in quotes to signify that those are the commercials words and not mine. Listening to this blasphemy being played to so many Americans on a daily (even hourly) basis made me irate. High cholesterol cause ED? No. Not even close.

What they could have said (and that would be true) is that high cholesterol was a warning sign that he might get ED. Why? Because high cholesterol is a warning sign of heart disease, and part of heart disease is clogged arteries, and what causes ED? Clogged arteries.

It seems pretty obvious to me that this is the case. An erection is caused by blood flow to the penis. What else would cause you not to be able to one? There are only two solutions: You aren’t aroused OR you aren’t getting blood flow down there. Simple. If you’re aroused mentally and fine you aren’t physically responding, you better watch out. You’re on course for a heart attack. And guess what, going for some Viagra won’t help.

The cure for ED (and for any other disease caused by clogged arteries) isn’t drugs. Even modern medicine simply says you can “treat” or “manage” your disorder, dysfunction, disease, cancer, etc. by taking drugs. Not cure it. Why waste your time with anything that won’t make you better?

In order to make yourself better, you must first understand why you are sick. What causes clogged arteries? The simple answer is: Animal products. Why? Because animal products are the only things on this planet that contain dietary cholesterol, and dietary cholesterol is linked significantly to not only raised blood cholesterol, but also to just about every other disease plagued by our society, not to mention the big hitters: heart disease, diabetes, cancer.

Another interesting statistic, to support the above: Based on blood cholesterol levels, the incidence of heart disease might be 24% lower in lifelong vegetarians and 57% lower in lifelong vegans compared to meat eaters (Oxford Vegetarian Study).

If heart disease is lowered, then so are other side effects of it such as erectile dysfunction.

While you may not be interested in going vegan, you can see that it would obviously be to your benefit (male or female) to cut way down on animal products. Eat lots more fruits, lots more veggies, and preferably keep them raw! Learn how to make yummy green smoothies with lots of fruit so you don’t taste the greens. It will go a long way for you health.

One of my favorite green smoothie recipes is as follows.

-2 frozen bananas (well ripened but not black before freezing — you can add more bananas if you want)

-1/2 or more cup mixed berries (optional, as they will make your green smoothie look brown)

-apple slices

-orange juice (fresh squeezed please! Also optional)

-whatever fruit you have on hand, frozen or not.

-add some cold filtered tap water

-stuff the rest of the blender with lots of spinach (I prefer baby spinach)

Blend, pour into a glass, and enjoy! This makes quite a lot so experiment with less until you find a mix that you like. Some people just like orange juice and spinach and find that to be quite tasty.

Making dietary changes, like adding more raw fruits and vegetables and cutting back or eliminating animal products, will help you get rid of ED and any other issues associated with heart disease. Don’t settle for modern medicine’s “treatments”. Seek a cure. There is enough information out there that you can find a solution that works for you.

Sources:  The China Study, by T. Colin Campbell, PhD and Thomas M. Campbell II

Lia Cross

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Okay, not entirely, but you’ll see what I mean very soon.

Fat causes diabetes, not sugar. Adult-onset Diabetes occurs when the body’s insulin cannot effectively take sugar out of the bloodstream. The culprit is not the sugar. Even if you have a lot of it, that shouldn’t impede the insulin’s effect. Granted, a lot of sugar means a lot of work for the insulin, but that’s what insulin is made for. Sugar in blood means that insulin has to work. That’s its job. Insulin doing its job isn’t what makes people sick. Its insulin not being able to effectively do its job that makes people sick. So what prevents insulin from doing its job properly? Fat.

When consumed, fat coats the entire body on the inside, and it will stay in the body for up to 48 hours after consumption. When our blood stream is coated in fat, it means that insulin will have a tough time grabbing onto the sugar and filtering it out of the blood. The fat just gets in the way. Because of this, insulin has to work harder and harder to get the sugar out. This overworks the pancreas, the organ that creates insulin.

So, while insulin may have to work harder when there is more sugar in the blood, this is not the problem because that is insulin’s job. The problem occurs when fat gets in the way of insulin doing its job. Then, no matter how little sugar enters the blood, insulin will have to be mass produced just to get a little bit done, thus overworking the pancreas. Obviously, when the blood sugar cannot be moved out, it spikes. Then, when the fat dissapates and insulin can do its job, clearly there would be a drastic drop in blood sugar because then there would be too much insulin for too little sugar. This creates all sorts of imbalances that can have severe detrimental effects on the body.

All fat is not bad, however. We should not consume more than 10% of our calories a day from fat, and it should also be in the proper ratios of Omega 6 – 3 (linoleic acid-linolenic acid). Omega 6 is a flammatory fat, which helps the body inflame and clot. This is important when we are injured but is detrimental in excessive quantities. When omega 6 fat overwhelms the diet, heart disease becomes evident, as well as virtually all other diseases that plague modern society. However, it is also not good to get too much omega 3 fat, which is anti-inflammatory. This makes sure that things run smoothly and don’t clot up. As you can see, too much of this can be very bad if you get a bad cut. You simply would bleed out without the ability of your blood to clot.

The answer, then, as mentioned above, is to get these in the proper ratio (1:1). But this is only the half of it. It is not enough to simply have the right ratio, but we must also not consume too much. Consuming the wrong ratio leads to imbalances of our body’s flammatory responses. Consuming too much leads to complications with our blood sugar (diabetes). Therefore, the answer is to both consume the proper ratio of fats and to consume less than 10% of our total calories from fat.

You may be thinking: How can I possibly do that? I have to count so much stuff! How much fat is in my food, how many calories, what types of fat… how laborious! But not to worry, it’s much simpler than that. You see, there are foods on this planet that contain exactly the right amount and ratio of fat, and you don’t have to worry about much of anything while eating them. What are these wonderful foods?

They are: Fruits and Vegetables!!! Fruits and leafy green vegetables contain not only the perfect ratio and amount of fats when eaten properly, but provide the body with everything else it needs as well (these other areas will be looked upon in following blogs). As long as one is careful to not overeat fatty fruits, and to not undereat overall (and, of course, to stick with organic produce!), then you will be well on your way to overall, lasting health.

For more information, consult the sources.

Sources: The 80/10/10 Diet, by Douglas Graham

Lia Cross

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What is WorldSave? If you take the name literally, you come to the conclusion that the site is here to save the world in some way, and that’s right. It’s an effort to band people together, globally, to discuss and comment on ways to “save the world.” Lia Cross, the other moderator, and I both know that it takes a lot of people to form a movement, and so by setting up camp on the internet, we hope to draw in every kind of person from every kind of place. By having people from all walks of life, and in all sorts of environments, we can get a better view of the world with diversity and unity as we learn more about each other and ourselves.

WorldSave is also about personal development. I strongly believe that before we can change the world, or start striving to make changes in it, we have to change ourselves. Our health, our happiness, our emotions; what we eat, how we dress, how we think – it’s all connected to how we live, and we live in the world. Our choices impact everything around us, even if we don’t recognize it at first, and so by making better choices, we can create a better environment.

That, at a very basic level, is what WorldSave is about. It’s also about what our community of members makes it, and I know that even my own understanding of it, even though I co-created this site, is miniscule. WorldSave, if utilized, can reach an unlimited potential. However, though we strive for community, even if just one person comes here, is inspired, and makes a good change, WorldSave has done its job. All of us need support, and I hope this place will provide that, as well as give foundation for a better way of living.

Welcome, everyone who wants to make a difference.

- candela.

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