Why? No matter what other medicine you take (prescriptions, herbs, vitamins, etc.), your food has a greater impact. A plate full of food wins over a handful of pills every time because there’s so much more of it.

So choosing your food shouldn’t be just a casual matter. But it also doesn’t have to be difficult. By paying a bit of attention to just three qualities of the foods you eat, you’ll automatically start feeling better.

1) Eat Whole Food:

This means unprocessed. A piece of fruit is far better than a glass of fruit juice, even if the juice is freshly squeezed. This is because juice has 3 to 5 times more sugar per volume than fresh fruit. And since most people already get too much sugar, less fruit juice is better.

Of course if the juice is homogenized, pasteurized or bottled in a way that requires heat, it’s even worse.

This doesn’t apply only to juices either. Each step of processing removes nutrients and alters the original nature of any food that’s processed.

This means that processed grains (bread, pasta, cookies, cakes, muffins, etc.), any kind of snack food (chips, pretzels, popcorn, etc.) and anything else you might eat that’s been processed before you buy it will be less nutritious than the whole food version of the same exact ingredient.

In addition, if you eat these processed foods you must become a ‘label detective’ to make absolutely sure what has or hasn’t been added to the end result. Most food additives are there to improve color or shelf-life, not to improve your health. The bottom line is, if you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it.

2) Eat Fresh Food:

This one is obvious, but there’s a hidden message here as well. When we pick out produce, dairy or meat, we typically choose those that are fresher.

For example you’d never pick out a soggy tomato with mold on it from the tomato bin. You’d go for the one that is firm, fresh and smells good. The same goes for any other food you buy that you can see in its normal state.

But when foods are processed, we have no idea what the original state of the food was.

A recent NY Times article drives this particular point home. The article details how a group of purchasing managers from well-known companies such as Kraft Foods, Frito-Lay and Safeway took bribes for buying substandard crops as ingredients for their processed foods.

The substandard crops included millions of pounds of tomato paste and puree with mold counts far above safe limits. The produce got by regulators due to falsified documentation about the quality, acidity and age of the product.

That’s not to say that every processed food suffers from these problems. However it does point out that if food comes in a box, a jar, a can, a bottle or a package, you can’t tell what condition it was in before processing.

To be safe, fresh is always better.

3) Eat Food In Its Natural State:

This one is simple.

Ever seen a bread tree? How about a pasta bush?

Nope. Neither have I.

The point here is that if you’re eating food in a form that you can’t find in nature, it’s, um… not natural. The closer to its natural state a food is, the more likely it is to have all of the vitamins, minerals and other nutritional factors nature intended.

In summary, by eating primarily foods that meet the above three criteria, you can be reassured that you’re actually getting what you pay for. And you’ll be getting your food with the maximum nutritional value possible.

Be well,

Dr. Bruce

P.S. – There is one more element to an ideal diet, namely knowing which foods are the best fuel for your unique metabolic tendencies. Since there are 5,760 basic metabolic patterns, Metabolic Typing® is unsurpassed for zeroing in on the right foods for you.

NY Times Article, February 24, 2010

Healthexcel.com article on Metabolic Typing®

I no longer think that’s true.

It probably sounds funny for a doctor to be saying that. Even so, I stand by it.

The reason is that the human body is extremely complex and each individual uniquely different. This fact means that a ‘one size fits all’ approach to health is destined to fail. At the very least such a standardized approach will miss things and won’t be effective for a significant portion of the population.

That’s not to say that there aren’t procedures and techniques that apply to pretty much everyone. For example, if someone gets a broken arm, the process of setting and casting the arm is consistently effective for everyone. It stabilizes the break and prevents further injury.

Of course how well someone heals from that treatment is another story.

A case in point is a woman I treated who had a broken arm. She came in with a cast on her lower right arm and asked me to help it heal faster.

I asked, “How long has that arm been in a cast?”

She replied, “Two years.”

Then she continued by saying, “About every six months I go back to the doctor. He x-rays the arm, and when he finds it hasn’t healed, he cuts the old cast off and puts a new one on. Then he sends me home for another six weeks.”

I was surprised by that and asked, “That’s been happening for two years?”

“Yes,” she replied.

If you know anything about the typical healing process for a broken bone, it usually takes between 6 and 8 weeks for a well-set bone to heal enough that a cast is no longer necessary. For the process to take 2 years is very unusual.

In this case, the doctor was doing what he knew how to do to fix the problem – putting on a cast. However what he didn’t know how to do was to support her body’s ability to heal the break.

He had recommended she take calcium, and she had done so faithfully. But the bone hadn’t healed. It was obvious to me that something else was the cause of the slow healing.

We took a two-step approach to solving the problem. The first step was getting the bone to heal. We accomplished that with acupuncture. Six weeks after starting acupuncture she had her next visit to the doctor. The x-ray showed the bone had healed. This time he removed the cast for good.

Although we were both very happy with this result, I was still concerned about the underlying imbalances that prevented the bone healing in the first place.

To uncover these factors, we started with a Metabolic Typing® assessment. It turned out that she was eating many foods that were wrong for her body. These wrong foods placed a long-term, low-grade stress on her system and set up a state of sub-clinical malnutrition. No wonder her arm didn’t heal!

By changing to eating the ideal foods for her body, she started seeing improvement in many areas of health. She lost weight, her energy level increased and she even mentioned that she was thinking more clearly.

She was so encouraged by this that she also wanted to correct some of the damage that eating the wrong foods had caused her over the years. One of the things we discovered was that her adrenals were in an advanced stage of fatigue.

Through testing and treatment, we were able to turn that around as well.

I mention this case to reinforce the idea that if we simply assume that our doctor knows everything there is to know, we could be missing out on other effective approaches to healing, especially if our body is giving us other signals.

And, if we don’t listen to what our body is telling us, we will be left with only the information our doctor or someone else gives us. Effective healing always means paying attention to the signals our body gives us.

Dr. Bruce

P.S. – The absolute best way to figure out the right foods for your unique requirements is with Metabolic Typing®. Learn the best ‘fuel’ for your body by contacting me to get started today.

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It’s a very poetic way of saying that what something is matters more than what someone calls it.

But the reverse is also true. If someone handed you a plate full of rotten, stinking eggs, and told you they were health food, you’d laugh in their face. We all trust the evidence of our senses when it comes to something this obvious. But sometimes the choice isn’t as obvious as smelly old eggs.

A similar event is happening right now in the world of health. It involves a well known artificial sweetener that’s getting a name change so it can be marketed as health food.

The sweetener? Aspartame, which is commonly marketed as Nutrisweet^®.

Before we talk about how evil this bait and switch tactic is, here’s a bit of trivia for you – before the FDA stopped counting complaints against it in 1992, Aspartame accounted for between 78% and 85% of all complaints the FDA received.

In other words, more that 3 complaints out of 4 the FDA received were for this substance. Sounds like health food, doesn’t it?

We’ll leave the question of why the FDA didn’t immediately yank this poison from the marketplace for another day. For now, let’s focus on the most recent outrage.

Apparently Ajinomoto, the makers of Aspartame, are losing market share to the competition. Their response? Rename Aspartame to “AminoSweet” and call it a “healthy” sweetener.

Yeah, that should do it.

To set this clearly in your mind, here is a partial list of the known health problems associated with this “healthy” sweetener:

The bottom line is that this “healthy sweetener” is actually poison. Based on that, here’s my recommended marketing slogan for AminoSweet: “How sweet, it isn’t.”

All the best,

Dr. Bruce

P.S. – Getting and staying healthy is always a mix of doing the right things and avoiding those things that damage your health. It can be complex to sort everything out and make progress. If you want help and support in getting yourself back on top of your game, call my office at 775-827-6901 or email me by clicking here.

Dr. Janet Hull

Hyperhealth Pro Database, In-Tele-Health, Hansville, WA, 2008.

I’ll tell you about a recent example of this second situation in a moment.

As you might imagine, positive responses vary, depending on what approach we take.

For example, it’s very common for a patient to come in with chronic pain, such as back pain or joint pain, and leave the office with dramatic improvement after their first acupuncture treatment. Or, they might start their Metabolic Typing program and report they feel hugely better only days later.

I love these kinds of responses when they happen.

However, about twice a year I see a new patient who gets no benefit from treatment at all. None.

If you’ve worked with me as a patient, you know that I always have 6 backup plans for getting results. And I expect improvement fairly quickly. Because of this, these patients who get no benefit make me wonder what went wrong.

Over the past 39 years of seeing patients I’ve come up the 2 most common reasons for disappointing results:

1. The condition is so well-established that the best we can hope for is slowing the symptoms down rather than reversing them. When the body loses most of it’s adaptive capabilities, for example in late stage 3 adrenal fatigue or advanced stage cancer, it’s time to call in Western medical specialists to try to turn it around.
2. The person is hoping for a “magic” pill or treatment to fix them overnight. When they don’t experience immediate, dramatic improvement after one time, they decide nothing will work. Typically this person has hopped from one doctor to another before coming in. They will probably keep “doctor hopping” afterwards as well.

For the first type of person, I always want to be sure we’ve uncovered the real underlying issues, no matter how complex they may be. This assures we’ll get the best response to treatment.

Then, if referring out becomes necessary, it assures they’ll have the best response possible to conventional medical treatment because we’ve already done a great deal to support the body.

This second type of patient is much harder to work with.

I had someone like this come in just last week. He completed his Metabolic Typing profile and we spent an hour going over his results. I felt confident we were on the right track to helping him feel better.

Later that day, after eating just one meal according to his Metabolic Typing plan, he didn’t see a huge, immediate improvement. He sent me an email asking why. I replied that it was still too early to make any conclusions and suggested some ways he could refine the process.

I never heard back from him, but a few days later his wife called me to say that he wasn’t going to continue as a patient. She said, “He didn’t see any improvements from the plan.”

I asked, “How many meals did he follow the plan?”

She said, “Just that first one.”

“Hmmm…” I thought to myself, “A classic case of giving up too soon.”

It’s really a shame because these folks won’t see any improvement unless they stick with something long enough.

The reason I’m mentioning this to you today is that as a reader of Balance Point, you have an interest in natural approaches for improving your health. And 99.99% of you know that a natural approach to healing works with your body, not against it. As a result, you will most often have a gradual, natural process of feeling better.

The problem is that in modern times we’ve all been affected to one degree or another by the desire for instant gratification. And when it comes to getting and staying healthy, expecting instant gratification is fine, but sticking with the program will get you much better results.

So please take this as a reminder that when you’re using natural methods to eliminate those old, nagging symptoms, or to increase your energy level and mental focus, you need to give it enough time to know how well it will do for you.

When it comes to your health, sometimes quicker isn’t better…

Be well,

Dr. Bruce

P.S. – If you’re having a hard time sorting out what is working from what isn’t, or you aren’t getting the results you want, you can speed the process greatly by working with someone who has experience helping people get better using natural methods. Give me a call at 775-827-6901 or email me by clicking here to see how to get faster, more reliable results.

But is it the only factor when it comes to being healthy?

For seven years, from 1978 to 1985, I was the co-administrator for a martial arts school in Los Angeles. I also taught several classes at the school. That experience was an amazing opportunity to see the effects of choices people made regarding their health.

When it came to exercising, one student who stands out in my mind. Jim was as dedicated a student as I’ve ever seen. He meditated 2 hours a day from 4:00 to 6:00 am. He also practiced qigong and kung fu several hours a day each. All of this was in addition to his full time job as a professor at USC and spending time with his wife and kids.

If you would have asked me at the time, I would have said that Jim was among the healthiest people I knew. But during the third year I knew Jim, he had a shocking turn of events with his health.

On his birthday that year, his wife made him his favorite desert, key lime pie. Being his favorite, after he finished his first piece, he asked for a second. After all, he told me later, it was his birthday and besides he did so much exercise that certainly one more piece of pie couldn’t hurt.

As it turns out, he was wrong.

Within an hour of eating that second piece of pie, his vision started fading. By the next morning he was almost blind.

Fortunately for Jim, this loss of vision wasn’t permanent. After a few days some of his vision returned. But even so, his night vision was extremely impaired and he could no longer attend classes at the school because they were all held at night and he couldn’t see well enough to drive.

Jim’s unfortunate experience was a great lesson to me. It brought home the fact that even though exercise is important, what we eat can have a very powerful effect on our health no matter how much exercise we get.

I’ve come to think of it this way – if you don’t put the right fuel in your car (food in your body), it doesn’t matter how much or how well you drive it (exercise).

Food for thought…

Dr. Bruce

P.S. – The absolute best way to figure out the right foods for your unique requirements is with Metabolic Typing^®. Learn the best ‘fuel’ for your body by contacting me to get started today.

The proverb refers to the fact that many doctors have skills in the healing arts, but when it comes to healing themselves, they’re pretty much in the same boat as everyone else.

A deeper understanding of this idea is that each of us is our own best physician. Usually all we are lacking is the right way to interpret and correct the symptoms our body gives us. Which brings me to my story…

As an doctor of alternative medicine I’ve studied numerous natural approaches to healing over the many years I’ve practiced. But all my studies and successes with patients didn’t help me when I started having chronic pain 14 years ago around age 45.

I did all the things I knew at that time to alleviate the pain. I changed my qigong routine. I did acupuncture. I researched the causes of the pain and started taking herbs and supplements to help alleviate it.

Probably all the things I did slowed the progression of the pain, but it still gradually got worse. The worst pain was on the bottoms of my feet. Here’s an example of what that was like:

In the morning I’d wake up and lay in bed as long as possible, knowing what was ahead. When I couldn’t put it off any more, I would swing my feet out of the bed and  v-e-r-y  s-l-o-w-l-y  place my feet on the floor. Usually I’d increase the weight on my feet by a few ounces at a time.

Each increase in pressure led to an excruciating increase in pain. I’d breathe and let the pain subside a bit before adding more weight. It would take about 10 minutes to finally get the weight of my legs resting on my feet.

Then there was standing up. I would do this as slowly as possible, but the simple act of standing jacked up the pain exponentially. I’d just grit my teeth and bear it. After about another 10 minutes of walking, the intolerable pain would reduce down to what I then called, ‘tolerable pain,’ where it stayed the rest of the day.

By the way, I no longer think the phrase, ‘tolerable pain’ is acceptable.

After 3 years of trying anything and everything I knew or could find out about how to treat it, the pain was worse than ever. I was extremely frustrated, to say the least.

Finally, I discovered an MD in a town 2 hours away who took an alternative approach to healing. I went to see him. He ran $1,000 worth of lab tests. The end result was that he sat me down and said, “The pain is coming from what you’re eating. Unless you change your diet, you’ll be in a wheel chair sometime in the next 10 years.”

Ouch! That hurt more than the foot pain. My immediate response to the wheel chair comment was, “The hell I will!”

He also told me about Metabolic Typing. So I immediately changed my diet according to the results from my Metabolic Typing questionnaire.

Frankly, I wasn’t expecting much from it. In fact, I was so out of balance that when I started changing my food, I actually felt worse for about a week. Still, I was determined not to live in pain, so I persisted.

After about a month of the new way of eating, my pain was down by 30% and I no longer took 20 minutes to be able to walk in the morning.

Other changes began happening as well. My thinking became clearer, my moodiness and emotional swings went away and my energy level started increasing dramatically. I also lost about 7 pounds that first month even though I was eating far more than I had been.

I continued to improve every week, but it took a year and a half before I was completely free of pain. By then I was lifting Olympic style weights, hiking up mountains and feeling better than I had since… well maybe my entire life.

What does this have to do with you? Only this – we are all our own best physicians, but only if we have the right information to work with. So if you have symptoms that are interfering with your life, there is no better time to get that information to begin making the changes that will restore your health and bring back your quality of life.

The best first step I know of for that journey to better health is Metabolic Typing®. Since my original experience with it I’ve been certified by the top Metabolic Typing trainer in the country. I can take you through the process even if you live outside of the Reno area. We can do everything by email and phone. Of course if you are in Northern Nevada you can also come into the office.

Ready to feel better? Contact me to get the process started by replying to this email or clicking this link. You can also call me at the office at 775-827-6901.

Wishing you all good health,

Dr. Bruce

P.S. – I look back on the 3 years I spent trying to fix my health problems and wish I’d found the right approach more quickly. It would have saved me 3 years of unnecessary pain and suffering. If you’re suffering, don’t wait like I did. Contact me today to get started.

What’s so unusual about it?

Aside from it’s potent healing properties, which we’ll get to in a moment, it is also one of the most curious natural substances used in healing. It’s found in nature as a parasitic fungus growing on the bodies of caterpillars in the mountains of Tibet above 14,000 feet. That’s pretty unusual.

It’s such a powerful substance, and so rare, that Tibetan mushroom hunters can earn up to $900 an ounce for gathering it. Again, not something you can say about any other medicinal mushroom.

In fact, in 1993, three Chinese runners were tested for anabolic steroids after breaking five world records. No steroid use was discovered, but all three had been training using Cordyceps.

As interesting as these facts are, the most amazing properties of this mushroom come from its use in traditional herbal medicine. Here is a short list of the known research findings on Cordyceps:

• Supports Cardiovascular Health – used to combat hypertension, abnormal blood clotting & hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis)
• Supports Kidney Function and Detoxification – chronic kidney disease
• Powerfully Strengthens the Immune System – inhibits several types of cancer, enhances NK lymphocytes (natural killer cells), useful for treating the autoimmune disease Lupus
• Strengthens the Body in Numerous Ways – antioxidant, improves athletic performance, lowers high blood sugar, reduces cholesterol, protects the liver, increases energy production, alleviates fatigue, increases stamina
• Regulates the Nervous System – alleviates depression & stress
• Helps Lung Function – reduces asthma symptoms, bronchitis & tuberculosis
• Helps Correct Infertility & Impotence – improves testosterone levels & sperm count, alleviates female menopause symptoms, improves performance

Impressed? I know I am.

Modern herbalists have developed a cultivated form of Cordyceps that can be grown on a culture of rice. It’s not nearly as expensive as the naturally found form, but works just as well.

The only caution for the use of Cordyceps is for those already on prescription anticoagulants. Because it decreases blood clotting time, it can increase the effectiveness of these drugs to dangerous levels.

When taken by itself, the most common dosage ranges from 750 mg to 3,000 mg. Because it can have a stimulating effect, most people take it in the morning and noon rather than later in the day. It can take a month or more to see results, although some people notice changes sooner.

Hyperhealth Pro Database, In-Tele-Health, Hansville, WA, 2008.

Yamaguchi, Y., et al. Inhibitory effects of water extracts from fruiting bodies of cultured Cordyceps sinensis on raised serum lipid peroxide levels and aortic cholesterol deposition in atherosclerotic mice. Phytotherapy Research. 14(8):650-652, 2000.

English, J., et al. Treatment of mild to moderate hypertension with shark cartilage and Cordyceps sinensis. Vitamin Research News. 15(11), 2001.

Cordyceps Monograph. Institute for Natural Products Research.

Jones, K. Mushrooms: Sports supplements of tomorrow. Healthy & Natural Journal. February/March 1996:50-52.

And although my goal in writing this email newsletter is to provide you with readable, and more importantly, understandable information on the latest trends, there’s no way I can cover everything. There’s just too much information available. That means that sometimes you have health concerns you want to explore that might not have been covered in these pages.

That’s why today I’m going to share with you a few of my favorite information resources. These are the most reliable, well-researched sources for natural medicine information I know.

Most of these resources are internet based, but there is one that runs directly on your computer so you can get to it any time.

Internet Resources for Natural Health Info

Healthier Talk News: A good resource for high-quality information on alternative and natural approaches to wellness is Healthier Talk News. They compile articles from a variety of reliable sources including Al Sears, M.D., Alan Spreen, M.D., holistic pharmacists and professional health researchers.

Ray Sahelian, M.D.: An extensive collection of information on herbs, supplements and natural therapies based on his clinical experience. Dr. Sahelian lists over 250 specific supplements. You’ll find the list by scrolling down on his home page.

NaturalPedia: This resource comes from Mike Adams (The Health Ranger) and his NaturalNews.com web site. Mike has compiled an outstanding database of information on natural approaches to health. The index page is here.

Science Daily: For general health and medicine news, including mind and brain research, they do a good job of covering what’s new. You’ll find a mix of pure research and somewhat of a bias towards mainstream (pharmaceutical) solutions here. Even so, it’s a good place to see the latest in health discoveries.

National Institutes for Health Medline Plus: This Federal Government resources has, as you might expect, a great deal of information on mainstream research and treatments. But you might be surprised to know that it also has a decent section on Complementary and Alternative Therapies.

Medline covers such topics as acupuncture, herbal medicine, chiropractic treatment and supplements. Obviously this is fairly mainstream information, but there are some gems in there.

The Best Offline Source of Information

If you ever look at the reference section below most Balance Point articles, you’ll frequently see my favorite natural health information resource, the Hyperhealth Pro Natural Health Encyclopedia.

This is a natural health database that runs on your computer. It’s filled with an amazing variety of in-depth information on natural health remedies. In every case they cite the original research supporting the uses of the herbs and supplements listed.

It covers over 5,300 topics and has 59,287 clinical references. If you were to print it out, it would be the equivalent of a 40,564 page book! And even though there is so much information in it, it’s very easy to use.

To tell you the truth, this is my secret weapon when it comes to health research. It’s almost always the first place I look when researching topics for the Balance Point newsletter.

And the folks who compile this information are really great people. I’ve been using this resource for the past 7 years and it never fails to amaze me. And considering the depth of information, it’s very reasonably priced at $69.95 (CD Rom) or $59.00 (electronic download).

Apparently some of the folks at Hyperhealth read Balance Point, and recently they contacted me to offer my readers a discount for ordering Hyperhealth Pro.

That means you can get $10 off the normal price of the program when you order through this link and use the promo code, “DRBRUCE” (without quotes). You’ll see the place to put in the promo code on the second step of the online ordering process.

You should know that I will get a small percentage of the cost for the program if you order through the links above and use my discount code. If you’ rather order some other way, I still recommend that you check it out. You can do that by going to www.hyperhealth.com and ordering directly. You will pay $10 more, but the program is well worth it.

You should also know that this program only runs on PC computers. If you have a Mac, you’ll need PC emulator software for it to work.

By using the above promo code you’ll be able to make use of my favorite natural health resource for a great price. I don’t know how long this discount will be available, so if you are interested I recommend you take a look at it soon.

Why?

There is simply nothing better for increasing energy, improving mental focus and supporting physical, emotional and mental balance. The movements of Tai Chi Ruler do all of these things when practiced regularly.

If you’re not familiar with Qigong, (formerly spelled “Chi Kung”), you should know that it is an extensive collection of movements using gentle, relaxed motion combined with breathing and stretching. On the outside it looks surprisingly simple, but on the inside the effects can be dramatic.

How dramatic? One recent student commented, “When I first learned this, I thought, ‘This is too simple to be effective.’ I was wrong.”

Another interesting aspect of Qigong is that it can be adapted to your unique health situation. World-class athletes benefit from it as do people with serious physical limitations.

For example, in one set of classes here in Reno, there were 3 students who were unable to stand to practice because of Multiple Sclerosis. You wouldn’t normally think that they would be able to benefit from an exercise class.

As it turned out, all of them learned and practiced the exercises with little difficulty. One of them even commented that she noticed better balance, more stamina, and a deeper awareness of healing from doing Qigong.

How Does Qigong Work?

The fact that these gentle movements can have such dramatic results, raises the question of how they create these improvements.

There’s probably a whole book’s worth of answers to that question, but we can at least point out some of the highlights here. The benefits listed below specifically refer to Tai Chi Ruler, although many of them also apply to other forms of Qigong:

• Combines various types of exercise in one simple set of movements, including stretching, strengthening and improving physical balance
• Helps relieve joint pain and stiffness
• Increases bone, muscle and connective tissue strength
• Strongly supports improved mental focus and clarity
• Improves normal body processes such as digestion, breathing and elimination
• Strengthens circulation and cardiovascular health
• Alleviates stress and improves sleep

That’s a lot of benefit from a gentle exercise!

Here is the secret to how this is possible… by combining movement, breathing, focus and awareness, these exercises engage all the most fundamental aspects of our experience as a human beings. This creates a powerful combination for balancing and aligning all of the core aspects necessary for living a healthy and fulfilled life.

In addition, these movements are based on sound physiological principles.

For example, modern researchers have discovered that one of most profound influences for brain health is physical activity. Multiple studies point out the fact that exercise is good for the brain.

There is also research showing that regular exercise has an anti-aging effect. It can increase life span by up to two years. It also inhibits age-related shortening of telomeres.

Needless to say, there is no form of exercise that will be right for every person. And Qigong isn’t some sort of magical cure-all. If you don’t practice it, you get no benefit.

On the other hand, those who do practice definitely feel the effects, particularly the longer they practice.

Another student recently commented to me about her experience of Qigong:

“I learned these exercises a year ago in a class you gave. They felt really valuable to me, so I kept up my practice over the last year. Now that I am learning more about the underlying ideas, I can see how they have affected me over the year.

“I am able to move more freely in my neck and shoulders, my attitude and outlook on life is better and I feel overall much stronger. These exercises are a huge gift to me in my life.”

Powerful stuff.

If you want to get the benefits of this rarely taught set of movements, the next class will be March 6, 2010. You can see the details on the classes page of the Reno Alternative Medicine web site.

I am limiting the class size to be sure everyone attending gets the most benefit possible from their experience. Because of this I recommend securing your place early. You can reach me at (775) 827-6901, or email by clicking here.

Hyperhealth Pro Database, In-Tele-Health, Hansville, WA, 2008.

Larson, E. B., et al. Exercise is associated with reduced risk for incident dementia among persons 65 years of age and older. Ann Intern Med. 144(2):73-81, 2006.

Brink, W. D. Ready, set go. Get the best out of exercise while avoiding the hazards. Life Extension. 6(2), 2000.

Cherkas, L. F., et al. The association between physical activity in leisure time and leukocyte telomere length. Arch Intern Med. 168(2):154-158, 2008.

How Exercise Boosts Cognitive Function, Kevin Helliker, Wall Street Journal, August 30, 2005.

The most obvious example of this is the water that comes out of the tap. We usually don’t think twice about whether it’s pure and safe, we simply assume it is.

I’m going to recommend you question that assumption in a moment, and also give you the tools to easily test it for yourself, at least if you live in the U.S. I’ll also offer suggestions if you don’t.

But first, here is a few of the crucial roles water plays in our health. You might be surprised by some the things on this list:

• Drinking sufficient water may help prevent hangovers (sorry, had to get in a New Year’s reference).
• Chronic dehydration can lead to hypertension, kidney stones, the build-up of toxins in the body.
• Because they are composed of a high percentage of water, cartilage (joints) and muscles need to have sufficient water to function normally.
• Sufficient water intake can alleviate a wide variety of health issues, including obesity (due to increasing thermogenesis), psoriasis, and even fatigue (a symptom of dehydration).
• Drinking enough water can reduce the risk of bladder and colon cancer.

All of these are in addition to the basic fact that all the fluids in our body require water to move freely. And when fluids move freely everything else works better.

Back to the idea of safe tap water.

Given how crucial pure, uncontaminated water is for a healthy life, you may have assumed that there are laws, or at least rules guaranteeing safe water in our homes. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has done extensive research on the safety of our tap water. The results aren’t very encouraging. If we interpret the findings closely, it becomes apparent that decisions about water safety are mostly a compromise between cost-cutting and what is referred to as “acceptable risk.”

Basically acceptable risk means it won’t outright kill someone right away. That doesn’t, however, mean it’s healthy.

Sources of water contamination are everywhere. Ground runoff of fertilizers, pesticides and other pollutants lead to more than 600 toxic chemicals being potentially present in our water. And normal water processing not only doesn’t eliminate all of these, it actually adds chemicals to the water (chlorine and related substances) that combine with these chemicals to form additional deadly byproducts.

Of the 600+ toxins that can end up in water, only 11 are regulated by the government. Feel safer yet?

And, although bottled water may be a better choice, you have no way of knowing for sure how pure it is or even where it came from.

Hopefully you can see why it makes sense to filter your tap water.

If you live in the U.S. and want to check your city’s water quality, you can use the EWG “What’s In Your Water” research site. You can go to that site by clicking here.

If you are on a well, or live outside the U.S., you’ll want to get your water tested by a certified laboratory.

After testing, if you want to filter your water, there are lots of choices available. Anything will be better than nothing, and even simple carbon filter will help. For the purest, most highly filtered water, consider a reverse osmosis system for your drinking and cooking water.

My favorite brand of this comes from FreeDrinkingWater.com. This is the one we use in our home. As a point of full disclosure, this link is not an affiliate link and I don’t get any compensation for recommending them. However, if you do buy a filter system from them and mention my name, they’ll send me a set of replacement filters.

You can mention my name or not as you prefer. Either way you’ll pay the same amount, which is $299 for their 5-stage, reverse osmosis system.

As a small aside, when we ordered our system from them, it came with a small particulate meter. Since we’d previously been using a counter-top carbon filter, we set aside some water from it and did a comparison with the water once we’d set up the reverse osmosis system.

The water from the counter-top filter measured a respectable 48 ppm (parts per million) of particulate matter when tested. That’s pretty good. However when we tested the reverse osmosis filtered water, it tested at 1 ppm. In other words, 48 times better.

Hyperhealth Pro Database, In-Tele-Health, Hansville, WA, 2008.

Truckee Meadows Water Authority Water Report – use this link to see your water quality if you live in the Reno area.

EWG “What’s In Your Water” Research Page – use this link to find out your water quality if you live in the U.S. but outside the Reno area.

NRDC Bottled Water Report

FreeDrinkingWater.com

Boschmann, M., et al. Water-induced thermogenesis. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 88(12):6015-6019, 2003.

Michaud, D. S., et al. Fluid intake and the risk of bladder cancer in men. New England Journal of Medicine. 340(18):1390-1397, 1999.

Blechman, S., et al. Drinking water helps prevent colon cancer. Muscular Development. 37(2):46, 2000.