Australia deserves an Open Internet
- 1
- The Australian Federal Government is pushing forward with a plan to force Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to censor the Internet for all Australians. This plan to filter the Internet will not protect children from inappropriate material.
- 2
- The filter will not prevent criminals from accessing and distributing child sexual abuse material. This type of material is not distributed in the open and we need to fund police to continue to infiltrate and prosecute the groups of people responsible for creating and distributing such material.
- 3
- The filter will block access to material that is currently legal to possess and view, just not to sell and publicly display. The list of material to be banned is much more than child sexual abuse material. The banned category of material is anything that has been 'refused classification', which in the past has included websites about euthanasia, controversial movies such as Ken Park and Baise-moi, and many games that are designed for people over 16 years of age.
- learn more
Open Internet Campaign Hub
- 1
- This website is designed to be the campaign hub for all the different individuals and organisations that are that are campaigning against the Government's mandatory Internet filtering policy. Learn more about these groups here.
- 2
- Become a fan of an Open Internet for Australia on Facebook. By becoming a fan on Facebook you are showing your support and staying informed about the campaign.
- 3
- The Open Internet Blog is a space where individuals and organisations can come together to talk about the campaign. If you or your organisation would like to write a post for the blog, please email pete.black@efa.org.au
- take action
8/05/2010
Open Internet
The psychology of choice. - Soul Hang Out
Sheena Iyengar, on how our decisions are conditioned by our perception of choice.Great video!
Arjuna Ardagh: Why It Is Wise to Worship a Woman
A few days ago, after a particularly exquisite evening with my wife Chameli, I put this post up on Facebook before going to bed:"I have had many, many great teachers in my life. A super abundance. No one and nothing comes close to the woman who is now asleep in the bedroom. My marriage has become the guru, the salvation, the muse, the crack through which the divine shines through."
When I woke up the next morning, there were the usual offerings of people who liked the post as well as comments. One man had the vulnerability and courage to post this on facebook:
"Thank you Arjuna for this sharing, I feel like [I'm] in front of a choice which is between feeling envious of what you have and I don't, or instead to decide that 'I want that too,' and, as you show, it is possible..."
I was touched.
Over the next days, I got several more messages like this from men: vulnerable men, honest men, rare and courageous men. They came in as private messages on Facebook or through our website, and they all said basically the same thing:
"I read your Facebook post. I want what you have. Show me how to get it."
So, friends, here it is. The short guide on how to worship a woman, and why it's the wisest thing that a man can do. First of all, lets pop a few very understandable doubts that you might have. I'm familiar with all of them.
1. "I'm wounded and damaged in my relationships to the feminine."
So am I, dear brother, so am I. My parents divorced in a messy way when I was four. I grew up alone with my mother. She did her very best to provide for me, but she was unhappy and insecure. By the time I started to have relationships with women myself in my early teens, I discovered that I had a mountain of resentments, fears, and separation in my relation to the feminine. The conscious practice of worship can become a part of healing the wounds.2. "Arjuna, you're lucky. You've got an incredible partner. I'm together with a woman who's not like Chameli."
I really don't have the ultimate answer to that doubt or question. It certainly could seem to be the case that I've been lucky in finding a great woman, but here's how it happened for me. I've had a lot of less lucky connections in my life. I've experienced my share of the manipulative side of the feminine: the victim, the rageful, the vengeful. And I have seen the ugly side of the masculine psyche in myself. A few weeks prior to meeting Chameli, my wife, something deep and profound shifted in me, which I believe can shift for anyone in the same way.
3. "I don't have a partner at all, and I sometimes doubt if I'll ever meet anybody."
Being with a partner where worship is not flowing, or not being with a partner at all, are basically two aspects of the same situation: you've had an intuition or a glimpse of the possibilities of a deeper love, and you want more of it. The solutions are the same.4. "I feel my heart is closed down. I live in my head a lot, and I wouldn't even know what worship was if it broke into my house at 2 o'clock in the morning and held me at gunpoint."
That's where the whole thing starts for all of us, when we realize that we don't yet know how to love. And that's that the big question that you have to consider: "Is that okay with me?" Never mind how much money you make, or how many friends you have on Facebook, no matter how nice a house you live in, or no matter how big a car you drive, no matter how impressive your partner's bust size, or how much you meditate and become spiritual... have you loved for real, in a total and undefended way? If not, and here's where you have to be honest with yourself, is that OK with you? Is it OK to die one day without the heart's gift having been fully given?Eight or nine years ago, I came to that question in myself, exactly that, and I discovered that the answer was, if I was was raw and vulnerable and uncomplicated, that it was actually not OK. If I died one day without having fully loved, it would not have truly been a life well lived.
Many many years ago, I went to Bali for a vacation, on my own. I met up with some other young travelers there and we hired a Jeep to take us on a tour of the island. We drove up right to the highest point of the island, where Tourists don't usually go. Our guide took us to one of the most sacred temples. It was surrounded by a big brick wall with an ornate entrance. After removing our shoes and wrapping scarves around our heads, we stepped together through this entrance. Inside, there was a short courtyard and then another brick wall with another entrance. After more preparations of lighting incense and giving offerings, we stepped through the second entrance. We were allowed to go through the opening in one more wall, but that was it. All together there were ten walls around the deity in the middle. Hindus could go beyond the fourth wall. Devotees of that particular deity could go beyond the fifth wall, and so it went on. The only people allowed to approach the deity directly were those who had given their lives completely and totally to its worship. Everyone else could come a little closer, a little closer, to the innermost beauty, but not all the way to the center.
I'm not a big believer of the worship of statues, but there's a beautiful symbolism to what I saw there, because a woman's heart is just like that. At the essence of every woman's heart is the divine feminine. It contains everything that has ever been beautiful, or lovely, or inspiring, in any woman, anywhere, at any time. The very essence of every woman's heart is the peak of wisdom, the peak of inspiration, the peak of sexual desirability, the peak of soothing, healing love. The peak of everything. But it's protected, for good reason, by a series of concentric walls. To move inwardly from one wall to the next requires that you intensify your capacity to devotion, and as you do so, you are rewarded with Grace. This is not something you can negotiate verbally with a woman. She doesn't even know consciously how to open those gates herself. They are opened magically and invisibly by the keys of worship.
If you stand on the outside of the outermost wall, all you have available to you, like many other unfortunate men, is pornography. For $1.99 a minute, you can see her breasts, maybe her vagina, and you can stimulate yourself in a sad longing for deeper love.
Step through another gate, and she will show you her outer gift-wrapping. She'll look at you with a certain twinkle in her eye. She'll answer your questions coyly. She'll give you just the faintest hint that there is more available.
Step through another gate with your commitment, with your attention, with the small seedlings of devotion, and she'll open her heart to you more. She'll share with you her insecurities, the way that she's been hurt, her deepest longings. Some men will back away at this point. They realize that the price they must pay to go deeper is more than they are willing to give. They start to feel a responsibility. But for those few who step though another gate, they come to discover her loyalty, her willingness to stick with you no matter what, her willingness to raise your children, stick up for you in conversation, and, if you are lucky, even pick up your dirty socks now and then. And so it goes on. You've got the gist by now.
Somewhere around the second wall from the center, she casts the veils of her personality aside, and shows you that she is both a human being and also a portal into something much greater than that. She shows you a wrath that is not hers, but all women's. She shows you a patience that is also universal. She shows you her wisdom. At this point you start to experience the archetypes of women, who have been portrayed as goddesses and mythological figures in every tradition.
Then, at the very center, in the innermost temple itself, all the layers of your devotion are flooded with reward all at once. You discover the very essence of the feminine, and in a strange way that is not exactly romantic, but profoundly sacred all the same, you realize that you could have got here with any woman if you had just been willing to pass through all the layers of initiation. Any woman is every woman, and every woman is any woman at the same time. When you love a woman completely, at the very essence of her being, this is the one divine feminine flame. It is what has made every woman in history beautiful. It's the flame behind the Mona Lisa, and Dante's Beatrice, and yes, also Penelope Cruz and Heidi Klum. You discover the magic ingredient which has lead every man to fall in love with a woman.
When you learn how to pay attention to the essence of the feminine in this way, you fall to the floor in full body prostration, tears soaking your cheeks and clothes, and you wonder how you could have ever taken Her, in all of Her forms, for granted even for a second.
So just a couple small questions remain. First, do you get what I'm talking about? Does it jive for you? Does it make sense? And second, if yes, how are you going to get from where you are now to being able to the full capacity of your heart to love for real? I'd be glad to share more about this if we get to know each other better, but here's how you get started.
First, do what I did, and create an altar in your room dedicated to Divine Feminine. Put only symbols of the feminine on it. I have a painting called "Beatrix" by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. I have a statue of Quan Kin. Populate your altar with anything that reminds you of the feminine, and spend a few minutes of the day in worship. Yes, worship. Adoration. Devotion. Offer up rose petals. Offer poems. Offer everything, and beg Her to reveal Her innermost essence to you. This will work miracles whether you're single and waiting to meet the right woman or whether you're already in relationship and long to meet your woman in a deeper way.
The second way to get started: make a practice, a discipline, of telling your woman, or any woman, ten times a day something which you adore about her. "I love the smell of your shampoo." "I love the way you laugh." "The color of your eyes is so beautiful." Of course, you need to keep it appropriate. You can go as far out on a limb as you like if you're in relationship with a woman, but with anyone else remember the gates. Keep you communication appropriate to the gate number that you find yourself at. Appreciation the curve of a woman's breast, for example, if she happens to be the cashier at the supermarket, would equate more to harassment than worship.
So here's enough to get started. Of course, there's a lot more we can say about this. Feel free to post your comments below, and I'll use them as the foundation for future blogs.
Follow Arjuna Ardagh on Twitter: www.twitter.com/awakeningcoach
Mark Hyman, MD: How to Stop Attacking Yourself: 9 Steps to Heal Autoimmune Disease
Inflammation is "hot" topic in medicine. It appears connected to almost every known chronic disease -- from heart disease to cancer, diabetes to obesity, autism to dementia, and even depression. Other inflammatory diseases such as allergies, asthma, arthritis, and autoimmune disease are increasing at dramatic rates. As physicians we are trained to shut off inflammation with aspirin, anti-inflammatory medication such as Advil or Motrin, steroids and increasingly more powerful immune suppressing medication with serious side effects. But we are not trained to find and treat the underlying causes of inflammation in chronic disease. Hidden allergens, infections, environmental toxins, an inflammatory diet, and stress are the real causes of these inflammatory conditions.
Autoimmune diseases, specifically, now affect 24 million people and include rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, thyroid disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and more. These are often addressed by powerful immune suppressing medication and not by addressing the cause. That's like taking a lot of aspirin while you are standing on a tack. The treatment is not more aspirin or a strong immune suppressant, but removing the tack.
It you want to cool off inflammation in the body, you must find the source. Treat the fire, not the smoke. In medicine we are mostly taught to diagnose disease by symptoms, NOT by their underlying cause. Functional medicine, the emerging 21st paradigm of systems medicine teaches us to treat the cause, not only the symptoms, to ask the question WHY are you sick, not only WHAT disease do you have.
I recently participated in a group discussion with a conventional doctor, a rheumatologist, and patient with an autoimmune disease, and one of my patients who was cured of a complex autoimmune disease by addressing the causes. The focus of the other doctors, however, was on how to suppress the inflammation with medication, not finding and treating the cause. Functional medicine is a different way of thinking about disease that helps us understand and treat the real causes of inflammation instead of finding clever ways to shut it down. Medicine as it is practiced today is like taking the battery out of a smoke detector while a fire burns down your house!
When my patient described how he cured his autoimmune disease by finding and eliminating the causes of inflammation in his diet and environment, it was dismissed as a "spontaneous remission." In the face of a paradigm-shattering medical case, these docs were hardly curious and quickly dismissive, describing what was shared as anecdotal.
My patient on that panel, a hard-working 46-year old father of three was once so inflamed he could barely function. By treating the underlying causes of his inflammation he is now in vibrant good health, enjoying his life with his kids and fully capable of caring for them.
Stories like these (and the many others I have shared in my blogs, books, and on television) are not anecdotes but a giant compass pointing us in the direction we should be looking to find answers to our health problems.
In today's blog, I will explain what autoimmunity is, how inflammation spirals out of control, describe some of the underlying causes for these fires in the body, and provide you with nine steps to cool the fires of inflammation and overcome conditions that range from allergies to arthritis and more.
Autoimmunity: What it is and How it Occurs
We are facing an epidemic of allergic (60 million people), asthmatic (30 million people) and autoimmune disorders (24 million people). Autoimmune diseases include rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, celiac disease, thyroid disease, and the many other hard-to-classify syndromes in the 21st century. These are all autoimmune conditions, and at their root they are connected by one central biochemical process: A runaway immune response also known as systemic inflammation that results in your body attacking its own tissues.
Your immune system is your defense against invaders. It is your internal army and has to clearly distinguish friend from foe -- to know you from other. Autoimmunity occurs when your immune system gets confused and your own tissues get caught in friendly cross-fire. Your body is fighting something -- an infection, a toxin, an allergen, a food or the stress response -- and somehow it redirects its hostile attack on your joints, your brain, your thyroid, your gut, your skin, or sometimes your whole body.
This immune confusion results from what is referred to as molecular mimicry. Conventional approaches don't have a method for finding the insult causing the problem. Functional medicine provides a map to find out which molecule the cells are mimicking.
Interestingly, autoimmune disorders occur almost exclusively in developed countries. People in poor nations without modern amenities like running water, flush toilets, washing machines, and sterile backyards don't get these diseases. If you grew up on a farm with lots of animals, you are also less likely to have any of these inflammatory disorders. Playing in the dirt, being dirty, and being exposed to bugs and infections trains your immune system to recognize what is foreign and what is "you."
In this country, autoimmune diseases when taken all together are a huge health burden. They are the eighth leading cause of death among women, shortening the average patient's lifespan by eight years. The annual health care cost for autoimmune diseases is $120 billion a year representing nearly twice the economic health care burden of cancer (about $ 70 billion a year). (i)
Unfortunately, many of the conventional treatments available can make you feel worse. Anti-inflammatory drugs like Advil, steroids, immune suppressants like methotrexate, and the new TNF-alpha blockers like Enbrel or Remicade can lead to intestinal bleeding, kidney failure, depression, psychosis, osteoporosis, muscle loss, and diabetes, not to mention overwhelming infection and cancer.(ii)
When used selectively these drugs can help people get their lives back. But they are not a long-term solution. They shouldn't be the end of treatment, but a bridge to cool off inflammation while we treat the root cause of the disease.
There is another way to deal with autoimmune conditions. Let me share the same story I told the doctors on that panel.
Recovering from Autoimmunity: Addressing the Root Causes of Inflammation
My patient Sam ended up on a long misadventure through the medical system before he came to see me. For years he went from doctor to doctor getting all kinds of labels for his problems but no real help in treating them.
This hard-working, once healthy trade professional had suddenly developed a series of inflammatory conditions including chronic sinus and prostate infections. Many doctors gave him many antibiotics for these infections.
Shortly thereafter, he developed severe chest pains and went to the emergency room. While he was there, doctors found swollen lymph nodes and told him he had lymphoma, a form of cancer. For three weeks he lived in despair until the biopsy results came back. It turned out he didn't have cancer but an autoimmune disease. Which autoimmune disease? The doctors weren't quite sure ...
He had many abnormal blood test results -- like low white blood cell and platelet counts, high levels of auto-antibodies of all types (antibodies that attack our own tissues), high immunoglobulins (the foot soldiers of the immune system), and autoimmune thyroid disease. But doctors had a hard time putting their finger on what was wrong. They couldn't label him.
Meanwhile, Sam developed metabolic syndrome and weight gain (pre-diabetes) as a result of the runaway inflammation in his body.
Here is a quote from one his specialist's notes:
"Whether he has lupus or Sjogren's syndrome is a bit unclear. Regardless, he merely needs observation and no therapeutic intervention at this time."
This unfortunately is all to common. What exactly did they plan to observe, how bad he felt? Or would they just wait for him to get worse before intervening?
That's when he came to me. Using a functional medicine approach, a new way of thinking about the underlying causes and imbalances in chronic disease, I began by asking Sam some simple questions. Then I went hunting for toxins, allergens, and infections -- all common causes of inflammation -- and found the real causes of his symptoms. He had taken so many antibiotics that altered his gut flora or bacteria and promoted yeast overgrowth. Fungus and yeast flourished in his body, growing between his toes, on his toenails, in his crotch, and scalp. He had Helicobacter pylori bacteria in his gut. He had a leaky gut and reacted to many foods, including dairy and gluten. He was exposed to toxins at his job and had high levels of mercury. And he had chronic sinus infections.
So we went to work cleaning house. I treated his yeast with anti-fungals and the H. pylori with antibiotics, got rid of his food allergies, fixed his gut, detoxified him from metals, and cleaned up his sinuses. Then I helped heal his immune system by supporting it with nutrients. I gave him zinc, fish oil, vitamin D, herbs, and probiotics, and put him on a clean, whole-foods, allergen free, anti-inflammatory diet.
At his next follow-up visit, I asked Sam how he was doing, expecting him to say that he felt a little better. However, his response surprised even me. He said he felt fine.
"What about the fatigue?" I asked.
"I have great energy."
"What about the bloating and gas?"
"Nope."
"What about the reflux?"
"Gone."
"What about your sinuses and chronic phlegm?"
"All clear."
"What about your memory and concentration problems?"
"All better."
And he lost 15 pounds.
When his labs came in, they confirmed what he told me -- they were all back to normal. His white cells increased and his immune markers calmed way down.
Sam's results simply reflect the application of a new model of thinking about problems called Functional medicine -- it's a way to get to the root of health problems and treat the underlying causes of what ails you instead of suppressing symptoms with medications.
If you have an autoimmune disease, here is what you need to think about and do.
Nine Steps to Treating Autoimmune Disease
1. Check for hidden infections -- yeast, viruses, bacteria, Lyme, etc. -- with the help of a doctor, and treat them.
2. Check for hidden food allergens with IgG food testing or just try The UltraSimple Diet, which is designed to eliminate most food allergens.
3. Get tested for celiac disease, which is a blood test that any doctor can do.
4. Get checked for heavy metal toxicity. Mercury and other metals can cause autoimmunity.
5. Fix your gut. For details, see my blog on irritable bowel syndrome.
6. Use nutrients such as fish oil, vitamin C, vitamin D, and probiotics to help calm your immune response naturally.
7. Exercise regularly -- it's a natural anti-inflammatory.
8. Practice deep relaxation like yoga, deep breathing, biofeedback, or massage, because stress worsens the immune response.
9. Tell your doctor about Functional medicine and encourage him or her to get trained -- go to www.functionalmedicine.org for more information and to get a copy of the Textbook for Functional Medicine.
Give these steps a try -- and see if you don't start feeling less inflamed. As I said earlier, the answers are right in front of you. Treat the underlying causes of your illness and you will begin to experience vibrant health once more.
Now I'd like to hear from you...
Have you been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease?
How is your doctor treating you?
Have you been frustrated by the medical advice that you've been given?
What steps have you taken to get to the root of the problem, and what have your results been?
Please leave your thoughts by adding a comment below.
To your good health,
Mark Hyman, M.D.
References
(i) Nakazawa, D. (2008). The Autoimmune Epidemic. Simon & Schuster. New York.
(ii) Siegel, C.A., Marden, S.M., Persing, S.M., et al. (2009). Risk of lymphoma associated with combination anti-tumor necrosis factor and immunomodulator therapy for the treatment of Crohn's disease: a meta-analysis. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 7(8): 874-81.
Mark Hyman, M.D. is a practicing physician, founder of The UltraWellness Center, a four-time New York Times bestselling author, and an international leader in the field of Functional Medicine. You can follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, watch his videos on http://www.youtube.com/ultrawellness, become a fan on Facebook, and subscribe to his newsletter at drhyman.com.
Mark Hyman, MD: How to Stop Attacking Yourself: 9 Steps to Heal Autoimmune Disease
Inflammation is "hot" topic in medicine. It appears connected to almost every known chronic disease -- from heart disease to cancer, diabetes to obesity, autism to dementia, and even depression. Other inflammatory diseases such as allergies, asthma, arthritis, and autoimmune disease are increasing at dramatic rates. As physicians we are trained to shut off inflammation with aspirin, anti-inflammatory medication such as Advil or Motrin, steroids and increasingly more powerful immune suppressing medication with serious side effects. But we are not trained to find and treat the underlying causes of inflammation in chronic disease. Hidden allergens, infections, environmental toxins, an inflammatory diet, and stress are the real causes of these inflammatory conditions.
Autoimmune diseases, specifically, now affect 24 million people and include rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, thyroid disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and more. These are often addressed by powerful immune suppressing medication and not by addressing the cause. That's like taking a lot of aspirin while you are standing on a tack. The treatment is not more aspirin or a strong immune suppressant, but removing the tack.
It you want to cool off inflammation in the body, you must find the source. Treat the fire, not the smoke. In medicine we are mostly taught to diagnose disease by symptoms, NOT by their underlying cause. Functional medicine, the emerging 21st paradigm of systems medicine teaches us to treat the cause, not only the symptoms, to ask the question WHY are you sick, not only WHAT disease do you have.
I recently participated in a group discussion with a conventional doctor, a rheumatologist, and patient with an autoimmune disease, and one of my patients who was cured of a complex autoimmune disease by addressing the causes. The focus of the other doctors, however, was on how to suppress the inflammation with medication, not finding and treating the cause. Functional medicine is a different way of thinking about disease that helps us understand and treat the real causes of inflammation instead of finding clever ways to shut it down. Medicine as it is practiced today is like taking the battery out of a smoke detector while a fire burns down your house!
When my patient described how he cured his autoimmune disease by finding and eliminating the causes of inflammation in his diet and environment, it was dismissed as a "spontaneous remission." In the face of a paradigm-shattering medical case, these docs were hardly curious and quickly dismissive, describing what was shared as anecdotal.
My patient on that panel, a hard-working 46-year old father of three was once so inflamed he could barely function. By treating the underlying causes of his inflammation he is now in vibrant good health, enjoying his life with his kids and fully capable of caring for them.
Stories like these (and the many others I have shared in my blogs, books, and on television) are not anecdotes but a giant compass pointing us in the direction we should be looking to find answers to our health problems.
In today's blog, I will explain what autoimmunity is, how inflammation spirals out of control, describe some of the underlying causes for these fires in the body, and provide you with nine steps to cool the fires of inflammation and overcome conditions that range from allergies to arthritis and more.
Autoimmunity: What it is and How it Occurs
We are facing an epidemic of allergic (60 million people), asthmatic (30 million people) and autoimmune disorders (24 million people). Autoimmune diseases include rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, celiac disease, thyroid disease, and the many other hard-to-classify syndromes in the 21st century. These are all autoimmune conditions, and at their root they are connected by one central biochemical process: A runaway immune response also known as systemic inflammation that results in your body attacking its own tissues.
Your immune system is your defense against invaders. It is your internal army and has to clearly distinguish friend from foe -- to know you from other. Autoimmunity occurs when your immune system gets confused and your own tissues get caught in friendly cross-fire. Your body is fighting something -- an infection, a toxin, an allergen, a food or the stress response -- and somehow it redirects its hostile attack on your joints, your brain, your thyroid, your gut, your skin, or sometimes your whole body.
This immune confusion results from what is referred to as molecular mimicry. Conventional approaches don't have a method for finding the insult causing the problem. Functional medicine provides a map to find out which molecule the cells are mimicking.
Interestingly, autoimmune disorders occur almost exclusively in developed countries. People in poor nations without modern amenities like running water, flush toilets, washing machines, and sterile backyards don't get these diseases. If you grew up on a farm with lots of animals, you are also less likely to have any of these inflammatory disorders. Playing in the dirt, being dirty, and being exposed to bugs and infections trains your immune system to recognize what is foreign and what is "you."
In this country, autoimmune diseases when taken all together are a huge health burden. They are the eighth leading cause of death among women, shortening the average patient's lifespan by eight years. The annual health care cost for autoimmune diseases is $120 billion a year representing nearly twice the economic health care burden of cancer (about $ 70 billion a year). (i)
Unfortunately, many of the conventional treatments available can make you feel worse. Anti-inflammatory drugs like Advil, steroids, immune suppressants like methotrexate, and the new TNF-alpha blockers like Enbrel or Remicade can lead to intestinal bleeding, kidney failure, depression, psychosis, osteoporosis, muscle loss, and diabetes, not to mention overwhelming infection and cancer.(ii)
When used selectively these drugs can help people get their lives back. But they are not a long-term solution. They shouldn't be the end of treatment, but a bridge to cool off inflammation while we treat the root cause of the disease.
There is another way to deal with autoimmune conditions. Let me share the same story I told the doctors on that panel.
Recovering from Autoimmunity: Addressing the Root Causes of Inflammation
My patient Sam ended up on a long misadventure through the medical system before he came to see me. For years he went from doctor to doctor getting all kinds of labels for his problems but no real help in treating them.
This hard-working, once healthy trade professional had suddenly developed a series of inflammatory conditions including chronic sinus and prostate infections. Many doctors gave him many antibiotics for these infections.
Shortly thereafter, he developed severe chest pains and went to the emergency room. While he was there, doctors found swollen lymph nodes and told him he had lymphoma, a form of cancer. For three weeks he lived in despair until the biopsy results came back. It turned out he didn't have cancer but an autoimmune disease. Which autoimmune disease? The doctors weren't quite sure ...
He had many abnormal blood test results -- like low white blood cell and platelet counts, high levels of auto-antibodies of all types (antibodies that attack our own tissues), high immunoglobulins (the foot soldiers of the immune system), and autoimmune thyroid disease. But doctors had a hard time putting their finger on what was wrong. They couldn't label him.
Meanwhile, Sam developed metabolic syndrome and weight gain (pre-diabetes) as a result of the runaway inflammation in his body.
Here is a quote from one his specialist's notes:
"Whether he has lupus or Sjogren's syndrome is a bit unclear. Regardless, he merely needs observation and no therapeutic intervention at this time."
This unfortunately is all to common. What exactly did they plan to observe, how bad he felt? Or would they just wait for him to get worse before intervening?
That's when he came to me. Using a functional medicine approach, a new way of thinking about the underlying causes and imbalances in chronic disease, I began by asking Sam some simple questions. Then I went hunting for toxins, allergens, and infections -- all common causes of inflammation -- and found the real causes of his symptoms. He had taken so many antibiotics that altered his gut flora or bacteria and promoted yeast overgrowth. Fungus and yeast flourished in his body, growing between his toes, on his toenails, in his crotch, and scalp. He had Helicobacter pylori bacteria in his gut. He had a leaky gut and reacted to many foods, including dairy and gluten. He was exposed to toxins at his job and had high levels of mercury. And he had chronic sinus infections.
So we went to work cleaning house. I treated his yeast with anti-fungals and the H. pylori with antibiotics, got rid of his food allergies, fixed his gut, detoxified him from metals, and cleaned up his sinuses. Then I helped heal his immune system by supporting it with nutrients. I gave him zinc, fish oil, vitamin D, herbs, and probiotics, and put him on a clean, whole-foods, allergen free, anti-inflammatory diet.
At his next follow-up visit, I asked Sam how he was doing, expecting him to say that he felt a little better. However, his response surprised even me. He said he felt fine.
"What about the fatigue?" I asked.
"I have great energy."
"What about the bloating and gas?"
"Nope."
"What about the reflux?"
"Gone."
"What about your sinuses and chronic phlegm?"
"All clear."
"What about your memory and concentration problems?"
"All better."
And he lost 15 pounds.
When his labs came in, they confirmed what he told me -- they were all back to normal. His white cells increased and his immune markers calmed way down.
Sam's results simply reflect the application of a new model of thinking about problems called Functional medicine -- it's a way to get to the root of health problems and treat the underlying causes of what ails you instead of suppressing symptoms with medications.
If you have an autoimmune disease, here is what you need to think about and do.
Nine Steps to Treating Autoimmune Disease
1. Check for hidden infections -- yeast, viruses, bacteria, Lyme, etc. -- with the help of a doctor, and treat them.
2. Check for hidden food allergens with IgG food testing or just try The UltraSimple Diet, which is designed to eliminate most food allergens.
3. Get tested for celiac disease, which is a blood test that any doctor can do.
4. Get checked for heavy metal toxicity. Mercury and other metals can cause autoimmunity.
5. Fix your gut. For details, see my blog on irritable bowel syndrome.
6. Use nutrients such as fish oil, vitamin C, vitamin D, and probiotics to help calm your immune response naturally.
7. Exercise regularly -- it's a natural anti-inflammatory.
8. Practice deep relaxation like yoga, deep breathing, biofeedback, or massage, because stress worsens the immune response.
9. Tell your doctor about Functional medicine and encourage him or her to get trained -- go to www.functionalmedicine.org for more information and to get a copy of the Textbook for Functional Medicine.
Give these steps a try -- and see if you don't start feeling less inflamed. As I said earlier, the answers are right in front of you. Treat the underlying causes of your illness and you will begin to experience vibrant health once more.
Now I'd like to hear from you...
Have you been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease?
How is your doctor treating you?
Have you been frustrated by the medical advice that you've been given?
What steps have you taken to get to the root of the problem, and what have your results been?
Please leave your thoughts by adding a comment below.
To your good health,
Mark Hyman, M.D.
References
(i) Nakazawa, D. (2008). The Autoimmune Epidemic. Simon & Schuster. New York.
(ii) Siegel, C.A., Marden, S.M., Persing, S.M., et al. (2009). Risk of lymphoma associated with combination anti-tumor necrosis factor and immunomodulator therapy for the treatment of Crohn's disease: a meta-analysis. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 7(8): 874-81.
Mark Hyman, M.D. is a practicing physician, founder of The UltraWellness Center, a four-time New York Times bestselling author, and an international leader in the field of Functional Medicine. You can follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, watch his videos on http://www.youtube.com/ultrawellness, become a fan on Facebook, and subscribe to his newsletter at drhyman.com.
Young Entrepreneurs Discuss the Struggle to Gain Capital
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Christina Gagnier: Save the "Street": A Technological Reboot in Order for Public Television?
As we move forward with the development of free platforms to create dynamic programming online, an American institution has been left behind: public television, and most specifically, programming from PBS. While the Internet has democratized our ability to create and share, we cannot forget that public television is a critical part of our cultural fabric, especially for those on the other side of the digital divide.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has been the victim of budget cuts for last few federal budget cycles. Coupled with these cuts, local stations, like Los Angeles' KCET, face challenges of revenue loss due to the cutbacks many of its financial supporters have been forced to make over the last few years. Instead of treating public broadcasting as a product of a bygone era, we ought to use technology to reboot it.
This is not just about saving the broadcasting of my childhood favorites, Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. PBS is all things to all people. As a child, its educational programs, like Sesame Street, teach children the three "R's" they need in today's world: Reading, Writing, and my addition, Reason. Shows like Reading Rainbow and Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood not only imparted letters and numbers upon children but also taught children how to navigate life, treat others with dignity and respect and inspire curiosity.
As children continue to grow, the modern equivalent of the shows my contemporaries used to enjoy, the 1990's Ghostwriter, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and my personal favorite, Wishbone, further develop skills and provide wholesome entertainment for the 7-12 age demographic.
Even if one departs from "save the children" arguments, PBS has broadcasting for all ages. The Nightly Business Report delivers financial news and information. Masterpiece Theater delivers those much-loved murder mystery movies while Saturday nights bring reruns of shows like the British comedy Keeping Up Appearances.
PBS Documentaries are one of its most important features. Anyone who watched Ken Burns' The War knows how imperative it is to use channels everyone can watch, which are not driven solely by profit motive and the appeal of advertising dollars, to educate people about our collective history.
And don't forget Antiques Roadshow. Who would have thought a show about old junk people bring to get appraised could be so interesting? It's hard to resist getting excited when an old couple from New Orleans brings a cigarette case they have had with them for over 70 years to get appraised, only to find out it is a Cartier case and worth $75,000.
PBS is a part of OUR culture. It is truly a reflection, and a part of, the American spirit. Most important, it is accessible to those who cannot afford cable or Internet access. In the midst of our technological revolution, we should invest in and only hope that organizations like the Corporation for Public Broadcasting can continue to teach three-year olds to seventy-five year olds their letters, numbers and life lessons.
Save the "Street!"
Follow Christina Gagnier on Twitter: www.twitter.com/gagnier
Discovering the Success to Franchising and Entrepreneurship | The World Business
Discovering the Success to Franchising and Entrepreneurship
Last Updated on Wednesday, 4 August 2010 10:18 Written by admin Wednesday, 4 August 2010 10:18
Singapore, 29th January 2008 – Recognising the entrepreneurs’ needs to unravel the ambiguities of franchising in the local market, Astreem Corporation unwraps this year’s edition of Discovery Day. Discovery Day helps to bring out the entrepreneur in you and matches you with the perfect franchise business.
Discovery Day is organised by Astreem Corporation that has a team of experts in building the business of entrepreneurs. Discovery Day is designed to meet the needs of those who aspire to own a successful businesses “for themselves but not by themselves”, as well as those who want to expand their brand by sharing their successful business model.
About Discovery Day
Discovery Day features a wide selection of successful franchises in the F&B, lifestyle and service industry every quarter of the year. The successful franchisors present proven business formulas and help attendees navigate intricacies in starting up their business and successfully realise their entrepreneurship dream. The franchisors’ experiences and successes will provide guidelines and prepare aspirants in reaching the opportunities ahead. Discovery Day is also a day to get personal with entrepreneurs who want to share their respective paths to success.
Who should attend Discovery Day
Individuals who want to own a successful and established business at lower set up cost
Entrepreneurs who want to start a business at lesser risk
Directors/Managers responsible in diversifying their company’s investment portfolio
Attendees of Discovery Day will learn more about franchising concepts and its advantages and disadvantages. They will have an understanding of the acquisition process of franchise and, know the ‘how’s and ‘why’s of choosing the right franchise. Attendees will also discover the unique business concept of featured franchises and their keys to success.
Astreem held the first Discovery Day of 2008 last Saturday, 26th January at Casa Mediterranea Restaurant & Bar with a feature on the top three franchises below S$100K.
TT Quick Massage, Chippy, and iAremyhair were presented during the event. These three franchisors have successfully established their franchise programs with the support of Astreem. “Through Astreem Discovery Day, we are able to reach out to potential franchisees effectively in a one-on-one approach with the help from Astreem’s team of experts,” says Dennis Yeo, Director of TT Quick Massage.
For more information, visit http://www.astreem.com.
Moumita Sarkar
Astreem Corporation
Tel: +65 6392 3608
Mobile: +65 9636 2637
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Tags: Discovering, Entrepreneurship, Franchising, Success
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Greencastle Banner-Graphic: Local News: 4 organizations vie for $100,000 (08/05/10)
GREENCASTLE -- In February, the Putnam County Community Foundation announced the availability of up to $100,000 for creative charitable projects or programs that would make a significant difference to the entire county in the areas of economic development or education.Called "Envision 2011," the grant opportunity inspired four organizations to submit applications for funding.
The Greencastle/Putnam County Development Center submitted an application to create and support local entrepreneurs.
Partners would be Greater Greencastle Chamber of Commerce, Greencastle Project Ignition, Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, DePauw University, and Indiana Small Business Development Center.
Program elements consist of entrepreneurship training, entrepreneurship grants, entrepreneurship internships, entrepreneurship marketing and a Buy Local marketing effort.
The City of Greencastle's Commission on Sustainability submitted an application to create Putnam RISE: A Partnership for Renewal, Investment, Savings, and Efficiency.
This proposal seeks to educate county citizens about ways to become more energy efficient, and to stimulate the local economy through energy efficiency investments in our schools, neighborhoods, and homes.
Partners would be the four county school corporations, Greater Greencastle Chamber of Commerce, Shuee and Sons Appliances, The Window Place, and Greencastle Presbyterian Church. Program elements consist of an "Energy Challenge" to all four county school corporations, residential efficiency projects for Putnam County homeowners and a Buy Local campaign.
The Putnam County Public Library submitted an application to further family literacy in Putnam County.
Partners would be Friends of Putnam County Public Library, Family Support Services, Putnam County Head Start, Everlasting Foundation, Knoy Resource Center, and Putnam County Senior Center.
Program elements consist of adult literacy services, provision of books for children from birth to age 5, intergenerational reading programs designed for families with low literacy skills, and adding two branches of the library in Putnam County, one in Bainbridge and one in Cloverdale.
The United Way of Putnam County submitted an application to enhance and enrich education and social development for county youth and positively impact the employment base of the community.
Partners would be Big Brothers-Big Sisters Monroe-Owen County, Reading Improvement Center, Summer Enrichment Program, DePauw University Hartman House, and Johnson Nichols Health Clinic.
The partners seek to expand mentoring services to all of Putnam County, expand Summer Enrichment services to middle school aged children, expand Reading Improvement services by hiring a staff person and training more volunteers and increase accessibility.
"All four applications contain great ideas that would benefit our county," said Phyllis Rokicki, chair of the Community Foundation's Grants Committee. "This will be a very difficult decision."
The board will announce finalists next week, foundation Executive Director Elaine Peck said.
Eric Wolfe added that this grant and all the Community Grants would not be possible without generous gifts from donors.
Wolfe specifically mentioned the Art Evans Family, the Bohmer Family, Howard Moore, the Lyon Family, Mary Louise Miller, and Old National Bank.
The Putnam County Community Foundation is a nonprofit public charity established in 1985 to serve donors, award grants and provide leadership, enriching the quality of life and strengthening community in Putnam County.
The Community Foundation administers more than 200 funds and endowments for donors supporting a variety of charities.
To obtain additional information or to have a representative from the Community Foundation speak to your group, please contact the office at 653-4978 or visit the Web site at www.pcfoundation.org
The Secret Science of Getting Rich Through Entrepreneurship — I Self Develop - Self development Center
Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.Powered by WP Greet Box WordPress PluginEverywhere you turn nowadays, you always hear about venturing into entrepreneurship. But what is entrepreneurship exactly? It is actually defined as the process wherein a group or an individual makes an effort to pursue opportunities to satisfy needs and wants through uniqueness and innovation.
In a nutshell, entrepreneur solves problem for a profit. Some people have the misconception that entrepreneurs are gamblers in the sense that they take risks and invest in industries that have no record of success.
However, the truth is, these entrepreneurs take calculated risks that have the potential to provide them with huge returns. That is one of the secret science of getting rich. The ability to take calculated risk. The key factors you need to remember about entrepreneurship are opportunities, innovation, and growth.
An entrepreneur sees opportunities in environmental trends and changes that nobody has seen before and pursues this opportunity with whatever resources he has at hand. The second theme in entrepreneurship is innovation which involves transforming and revolutionizing existing products or services to cope up with the changing global environment.
The third theme is growth; this involves the continual efforts of an entrepreneur to expand his business locally and internationally. An entrepreneur is on the constant look out on how to create new approaches to make his business grow and become a huge success. In the secret science of getting rich, growth is very imporant. An an entrepreneur is not growing, he is declining.
These themes are the key factors which businesses are founded upon. The largest corporations you find today did not start out big, rather they started out as small enterprises by visionaries who want more than what is offered to them.
You can see from the history of some of the most successful business today that the founders of these businesses have taken great leaps of faith and incredible amounts of risks in order to be what they are today. Wherever you turn, you see the results of entrepreneurship.
But it is most obvious in internet commerce because this is a new industry. People that were unheard of before are becoming some of the riches names in the world and it is all because they have taken risks and have succeeded. So whether we realize it or not, it is the entrepreneurs who drive the global environment nowadays. They are the ones who are always seeking out opportunities and taking risks to improve our world and profit from it in return.
The business environment and even the technological advancements that are available today would not have been possible if these entrepreneurs did not come out of their comfort zone to invest in the development of these businesses.
As you can see, having the entrepreneurial spirit is definitely necessary for businesses to reach greater heights and provide better and faster products and services to their clients. It is no wonder then that a lot of business enterprises are hiring young and dynamic individuals with a vision and who are not afraid to take calculated risks to ensure the survival of the business tomorrow.
Alvaro Castillo has been writing about health and specializing pregnancy along with how to deal with the first year of their baby’s life for 10 years, helping women with positive results. For more information check out his website at http://www.myhomeparent.com or visit his blog http://myhomeparent.blogspot.com to share your opinion
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