Walgreens announces flu shot gift card; give the "gift" of a vaccine (opinion)

(NaturalNews) Summer isn’t even over yet and the big push for the mass vaccination of the entire population is already under way. The CDC started the push by recently urging vaccine shots for everyone — including infants, pregnant women and immune-compromised people. Adding to the vaccination hoopla, Walgreens has announced something quite bizarre: A flu shot gift card. Available for $29.99 at your nearest Walgreens retailer, this gift card is, as Walgreens explains on their website, “a way to help more Americans stay well throughout the upcoming flu season by giving the gift of a flu shot.” See a full-size picture of this flu shot gift card right here: http://www.naturalnews.com/images/Walgreens-Giftcard-290×445.jpg Of course, if you gave your friends the gift of vitamin D supplements , they wouldn’t need a flu shot or a jab in the arm with a sharp needle. Vitamin D has been proven again and again to work better than vaccines at preventing influenza (http://www.naturalnews.com/027385_Vitamin_D_swine_flu_vaccine.html), yet it remains all but ignored by the conventional medical establishment which just happens to be dominated by the financial interests of vaccine manufacturers (pharma companies). Swine flu again? As Walgreens admits on its own website (http://news.walgreens.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=5324), this year’s seasonal flu shot only protects against last year’s viruses. In particular, this year’s flu shot contains DNA fragments from H1N1 swine flu — yep, the very same virus that fizzled out last year after the WHO hilariously declared a stage six global pandemic. This whole charade turned out to be engineered by WHO advisors who had financial ties to the vaccine companies (http://www.naturalnews.com/029441_vaccine_manufacturers_advisors.html). Now they’re trying to jab you again with the same viral fragments. But this year they’re playing mind games with the public by packaging these flu shots as “gifts.” Walgreens must think this is clever, but it’s actually a bit of a farce. Usually a gift is something you actually want; something that’s uplifting or health enhancing in some way. Vaccines, on the other hand, have been widely linked to convulsions and neurological disorders. Just recently, Australia actually banned its seasonal flu vaccine for children after dozens of children went into convulsions from receiving the flu shot. Why do flu shots cause convulsions? Because flu shots contain neurological inflammation agents designed to elicit an immune response for building antibodies. The problem is that these chemicals can also cause neurological damage leading to symptoms you just can’t ignore… such as convulsions. Some teens have even been paralyzed by flu shots. Western doctors routinely ignore this evidence and simply declare vaccines to be “safe for everyone!” even when they clearly aren’t. So anyone who buys a flu shot gift card and hands it to a child or teenager might actually be giving the gift of convulsions . Happy Birthday, Bobby! Here, have some convulsions and go get yourself jabbed in the arm with a sharp needle… Sending the wrong message In my opinion, buying a Walgreens flu shot gift card sends a powerful, two-part message. First, it announces that you’re a complete idiot when it comes to health, and you’re a total sucker for the corporate-controlled interventionist health care system that excels at convincing you to buy dangerous drugs you don’t even need. Secondly, it says that you probably hate the person you’re giving it to. What kind of person buys a vaccine shot as a gift anyway? Does it include a Hallmark card that says “Every time I think of you, I wince in pain and can’t stop convulsing. Enjoy this vaccine so that you can have the same experience.” Or another card, “I couldn’t decide what to get you for Christmas, so I thought I’d get you vaccinated instead. Merry Christmas!” Can you imagine some little kid receiving this gift from his parents? He was hoping for an X-Box or a dirt bike, but instead he gets an envelope with a red card in it. “What’s this?” he asks his parents. “Oh, Bobby, it’s a VACCINE gift card! To protect your health!” Bobby replies, “How does it work?” And his parents answer, “Well, using this vaccine gift card, you can get jabbed in the arm with chemicals and live viruses, and it won’t even cost you a penny!” “I feel really loved,” answers Bobby. “No one has ever given me the gift of a vaccine shot! When can we go to Walgreens and cash in?” What’s next? Chemo Cards! I got to thinking about this: If flu shot gift cards are so popular, why not just expand this into all the toxic chemicals of modern medicine? Perhaps hospitals should roll out Chemotherapy Gift Cards so you can “give the gift of chemo!” Is your loved one just a little too healthy? Does their brain work too well? Is their liver annoyingly operating at one hundred percent? Give the gift of chemotherapy and you’ll destroy their kidney, liver and brain function (after which they’ll gladly accept your flu shot vaccine gift cards next year). The chemo card can act like a coffee punch card, too: After ten rounds of chemotherapy, the eleventh is on the house! (If you’re still alive, anyway…) While this idea may seem outlandish today, it’s actually not that far-fetched. Flu shot gift cards are already packaging western chemical medicines as “gifts.” And we just reported a story about how pharma drug pushers want fast food restaurants to hand out statin drugs for free to customers (http://www.naturalnews.com/029467_statin_drugs_fast_food.html). It seems that the idea of repackaging interventionist chemical medicines as gifts is pervasive. It’s too bad we can’t figure out a way to give the gift of common sense to people. If they had any common sense about health and nutrition, they wouldn’t need flu shot gift cards in the first place.

Ecuador travel survival guide: What to bring on a trip to Vilcabamba, Loja or Quito

(NaturalNews) Traveling in Ecuador can be very rewarding: It’s one of the most beautiful destinations in all the Americas, and there are some truly fascinating things to explore there. I spent most of my time in Southern Ecuador, near Loja and Vilcabamba (the Valley of Longevity), but I also traveled around Quito and Guayaquil, too. In these travels, I learned some important travel tips that I’m sharing here. If you plan to visit Ecuador, take these to heart: They’ll save you all sorts of frustration once you get there. Watch those numbers When you buy items at local shops, it’s not unusual for them to add up the purchase total on a slip of paper. (Ecuadorian merchants are much better at math than North American workers, most of whom have forgotten how to add…) When you see the total, you might be shocked to discover that things seem more expensive than they should. Well, here’s why: Ecuadorians write the number “1″ to look like a “7″. Yep: What looks to you and me like a seven is actually a one in Ecuador. Their sevens have a cross-mark on them to distinguish them from ones. So if you think your grocery bill total came to $75.70, the truth is that it’s probably just $15.10. Carry a flashlight everywhere Ecuador doesn’t have a lot of street lights. At night, it gets dark. Sometimes really dark. So always carry a flashlight with you wherever you go. I always carried a head-worn flashlight. It was the easiest to carry and use. In a pinch, you can buy one of these in Ecuador, but they’re less expensive to buy in the USA first, before you go. (I don’t know the pricing in Canada, Europe or elsewhere, but it’s probably cheaper to buy it first.) I also found it handy to always carry a pocket tool with a simple knife. The best I found is the Skeletool by Leatherman. Here’s a link to it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Leatherman-830850-Skeletool-CX-Multitool/dp/B000XU43IC I’ve also seen these for sale at Target stores in the USA. Learn how merchants describe prices If something costs you two dollars and fifty cents, that’s described to you as, “Dos con cincuenta.” That’s “two with fifty.” They don’t say “two dollars and fifty cents.” They just say “Two with fifty.” Merchants will often not bother with demanding every single cent. If the total is $2.52, and you give them $2.50, that’s usually enough. Likewise they will sometimes give you back slightly less change. If they owe you $1.03 in change, they might just give you a buck. You should be okay with that. It works both ways. Small bills Even in a major Ecuadorian city like Quito, it’s difficult to break a $50 or $100. Outside the cities, it’s impossible. In rural areas, you’ll even have trouble breaking a $20. Or if you do manage to find some merchant who will take your $20, it usually works like this: You ask them if they can break a $20 for your small purchase. They say yes, they can break it. So you hand them your $20. Then they run out of their shop and disappear for ten minutes. What they’re doing is running around the street trying to find someone who has change for your $20. A few minutes later, they finally reappear with your change. So yes, many local merchants can break a $20 for you, but only if you’re willing to wait while they canvass the town looking for change. To avoid this, always carry $5 and $1 bills. That’s the real currency in Ecuador: Small bills! Taxis Taxi drivers are some of the nicest people in Ecuador. I’ve spent many hours chatting with them during various trips. In Vilcabamba, go with the taxis that look like white pickup trucks. Many of those drivers speak some English, too! It’s good to tip taxi drivers a bit. If your ride is $2, give them an extra 50 cents. If you take a longer trip to a different city, and your ride is $25, it doesn’t hurt to give them $28. They really appreciate the tips, and what I learned is that the next time you need a taxi, they show up right away. I generally tip from 10% – 20%. Taxi drivers are usually fairly honest in Ecuador, except beware of taxis in Guayaquil, which is a city that has higher crime rates than anywhere else in the country. Don’t just jump into any taxi you see. You might get taken for a ride there. But in Vilcabamba and Loja, taxis are almost universally safe and polite. Keep your personal belongings safe While most Ecuadorians are honest, hard-working people, there are a small number who make a living lifting valuable objects off foreigners. This is especially prevalent at the airports, where a friendly-looking business man in a suit might offer to help you with your luggage and then covertly walk away with your laptop (it’s true; it happened to a friend of mine). Laptop theft is so common in Ecuador now that I know an attorney in Loja who won’t even carry a laptop bag anymore. He carries his laptop in an old backpack instead. Anything that looks valuable — a laptop bag, camera bag, and so on — should be disguised as something else. And please don’t make the mistake of putting your purse over the back of the chair you’re sitting on in a local restaurant. When you finish your dinner, that purse will be history. Also, here’s another trick: If you get on a bus to travel from city to city, the bus worker loading your bags might place your bag under your seat. You think it’s safe, right? But what you don’t know is that your bag was purposely put under your seat so that the zipper is facing the rear of the bus. Once you fall asleep, the person behind you will quietly unzip your bag and steal anything valuable. You won’t figure it out until you get to your hotel room and wonder, “Where my iPhone?” Ecuador is actually a very safe country to visit. There’s not much violent crime compared to other countries, but there is a fair amount of petty theft. So travel safely and keep your belongings hidden and close to your body. Learn some Spanish! The best thing you can bring to Ecuador is some Spanish language skills! Some people in Ecuador speak English, but by no means is this a common skill. You’ll need some Spanish to get around and enjoy yourself. If you’re an audio learner, I recommend the Pimsleur Spanish courses. If you’re a visual learner, I recommend Rosetta Stone . I’ve used both courses, and they both taught me a lot. Please try not to pronounce your Spanish like a total newbie gringo! It’s better to have a small vocabulary that you pronounce well than a huge vocabulary that nobody else can understand. Remember: If you aren’t rolling your R’s and softening your D’s, you aren’t pronouncing Spanish correctly. In Ecuador, the letter “V” is pronounced almost like a “B.” Enjoy your visit to Ecuador! Learn more about Ecuador Check out my related articles: Loja and Vilcabamba, Ecuador: Destinations for health-conscious people http://www.naturalnews.com/029064_Vilcabamba_Ecuador.html Top ten things to love about Vilcabamba Ecuador, the Valley of Longevity http://www.naturalnews.com/029005_Vilcabamba_Ecuador.html Adventure to Podocarpus National Forest near Vilcabamba, Ecuador http://www.naturalnews.com/028997_Podocarpus_Vilcabamba.html Amazing photos from Podocarpus http://www.naturalnews.com/phototours/podocarpus-vilcabamba-ecuador-tour/index.html Photos of the ranch where I built a food forest http://www.naturalnews.com/Valley-of-Longevity-Property.html Homes and land in Ecuador Vilcabamba Real Estate Company http://www.VREC.org Hacienda San Joaquin – The high-end gated community of homes near Vilcabamba http://www.VilcabambaHomes.com Or email us at vilcaland@gmail.com if you have questions about land or homes. We can help point you in the right direction.

Nearly a million Britons may have had their organ donation wishes improperly recorded

(NaturalNews) According to a recent report, as many as 800,000 Britons may have had their organ donation wishes improperly recorded in the U.K. donor register. Some who expressed that they didn’t want to be donors may have been registered as donors, while others may have been registered as being donors of the wrong organs. When applying for a driver’s license, there is typically a space on the application form to specify whether or not one wishes to be an organ donor. Sometimes, there is a space to specify which organs a person wishes to donate, and which ones he does not. In the U.K., there is a checklist of organs for a person to mark, indicating which organs can be donated and which cannot. But Stephen Banks from Redditch, Worcestershire, recently found out that his donor requests had been improperly recorded in the register. When filling out his form, Banks specified that he was willing to donate every one of his organs except for his eyes. He marked the appropriate boxes for the other and left the “eyes” box blank. But upon receiving confirmation of his submission, he was shocked to discover that, according to the register, he was willing to donate all of his organs, including his eyes. “I have to say I am a little angry. How could such a major error occur?” he asked in response to the blunder. Though somewhat ashamed to admit it, Banks came to the conclusion that the phrase, “the eyes are the key to the soul,” rang true with him, and that he didn’t want his eyes to be given to another person. However, after receiving confirmation from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) thanking Banks for his willingness to donate all his organs, he is not sure what to do. “I haven’t tried contacting them. I feel a bit embarrassed to call up and say: ‘I don’t want to donate my eyes’. I feel a bit awkward about it,” he explained. Yet he is concerned about the error, and the fact that there was no space on the letter to make any sort of correction to it. While it may seem like a simple mistake, the fact that hundreds of thousands of other people in the U.K. may have been improperly recorded as well is unacceptable. An independent review is currently underway to figure out what is going on. Sources for this story include: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8614058.stm

Gaia Herbs achieves industry breakthrough in herb potency, safety and traceability

(NaturalNews) I’m a big fan of herbal products, but have you ever wondered whether the ingredients that are supposed to be in those products are actually present in their correct potency? Did you ever wonder where the herbs really came from? As you’ll discover here, one company has suddenly and dramatically changed the entire medicinal herbs landscape by offering consumers a kind of X-Ray vision (without the X-Rays) into the potency, origin and safety of the exact herbs that are inside each bottle . This innovation is called “Meet Your Herbs,” and I first became aware of it at a recent natural products expo in California where I happened to catch a glimpse of someone carrying a bag emblazed with the slogan. The “Meet Your Herbs” phrase made instant sense to me because I’ve been living in Ecuador for the last two years where I’ve finally been able to grow and meet many of the medicinal herbs I used to buy solely as finished product. The company sporting this slogan turned out to be Gaia Herbs , a company that I had never written about before. Determined to find out what “Meet Your Herbs” meant, I tracked down their booth and headed over. In minutes, I found myself standing with the CEO and founder of the company, a man named Ric Scalzo. So we rolled video and asked him about the story of Meet Your Herbs. You can watch this video interview yourself here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xjpt83iOxDQ Proof of what’s in the bottle The “Meet Your Herbs” slogan describes what can only be called a true breakthrough in medicinal herb products. Here’s how it works: • Each bottle of Gaia Herbs comes with a unique ID number printed right on the label. • Simply go to the Gaia Herbs “Meet Your Herbs” website (www.MeetYourHerbs.com) and enter this ID number. • You can then instantly see the entire matrix of data on precisely which herbs went into that very bottle! This information describes the scientifically tested potency of the herbs, the actual origin of the herbs (where they were grown), the heavy metals testing results, which extraction method was used, and so on. • This matrix of data is provided for each herbal ingredient in the formula! Ric describes it as “A traceability matrix. Meet your herbs is the vehicle through which we empower consumers to trace the origin of the plant product from seed to finished product.” I call it a breakthrough in the herbal products business . To my knowledge, no one has ever done this before. And being able to see the potency, origin and testing results for the exact herbs that are in your bottle takes away all the guesswork. Instead of basing your trust in a product on the company’s reputation, you get the actual proof of exactly what’s in that product and where it came from. All of a sudden, the guesswork is gone. Now you know exactly what you’re getting in every bottle. Check out their Adrenal Health formula As you might guess, I found all this instantly fascinating, so I wanted to try one of the products for myself. (We’ve also made these herbal products available through the NaturalNews Store at a huge discount so you can try them, too. See below for more…) Gaia Herbs grows most of its own herbs, by the way. The company has a 250-acre farm near Asheville, North Carolina, and they process the herbs they grow in a 45,000 square foot certified organic processing facility. They are a “seed to finished product” company that grows, harvests and processes their herbs from start to finish. (It’s extremely rare in the industry to find anyone doing this, by the way.) There at the booth, the company kindly offered me a sample of their “Meet Your Herbs” products, so I choose the Adrenal Health formula as I was on a rather grueling tour schedule that demanded a lot of energy. Using the unique ID number on the back of the bottle, I was later able to look up exactly where these herbs were grown, how potent they were, how they were extracted, how well they scored on the heavy metals tests and many other factors. Try it yourself! You can see exactly what went into the bottle of herbs that I was given! Go to www.MeetYourHerbs.com and enter ID# 97534819 There, you’ll see the complete analysis of the herbs in my bottle of Gaia Herbs Adrenal Health. You’ll see, for example, that the herbs were received by Gaia Herbs on January 15, 2010, then they were tested using the HPLC method which revealed a biomarker concentration of 59.63 for the active phytochemical Rosavins . You can get similar information for all the herbs used that same bottle of Adrenal Health . Amazing, huh? As you can see, this changes everything in the herbal products industry. Even pharmaceutical don’t give you all this information. In fact, pharmaceuticals don’t dare tell you where they came from or how they were manufactured because many of those high-priced pills are actually made in other countries where quality control standards are virtually non-existent. But with this “Meet Your Herbs” innovation, Gaia Herbs has surpassed the quality standard of the pharmaceutical industry while simultaneously opening their herb traceability to the public with full transparency! Get Gaia Herbs Adrenal Formula at 35% off The Gaia Herbs Adrenal Health product is a concentrated herbal liquid inside vegetarian capsules . It’s made with: • Rhodiola root • Holy Basil leaf • Ashwagandha root • Wild Oats Milky Seed • Schisandra berry … and each of these herbs is verifiably potent thanks to the “Meet Your Herbs” traceability matrix. A Gaia Herbs bottle of 120 veggie capsules (containing a liquid concentrate of the herbs) normally sells for $44.95 . Through a special arrangement with Gaia Herbs, we are able to offer a limited supply of these “Meet Your Herbs” Adrenal Health bottles (120 capsules per bottle) at just $29.24 . That’s a 35% savings over the retail price. When you buy three bottles of Gaia Herbs Adrenal Health from the NaturalNews Store, the price per bottle drops to just $26.32 per bottle , or a savings of over 40% off the retail price! Click here to take advantage of this exclusive NaturalNews discount on this very high potency Adrenal Health herbal formula. I’m raving about Gaia Herbs Antioxidant Supreme Gaia Herbs has a full line of herbal products, of course, and there’s one more in particular I’d like to tell you about. It caught my eye as one of the most unique and potent formulas I’ve seen yet in the natural products industry: Gaia Herbs’ Antioxidant Supreme herbal formula. Using potent liquid extracts of herbs — and packaged under the same “Meet Your Herbs” traceability matrix — this Antioxidant Supreme formula contains the following ingredients: • Bilberry • Hawthorn berry • Ginkgo leaf • Green Tea • Rosemary • Prickly Ash • Astaxanthin I could write an entire article on each of these herbal ingredients (and I have on some). They each have their own special properties for supporting good health, and in combination, they make an antioxidant recipe that’s unique across the entire industry. (See the complete description from Gaia Herbs below.) Because this Antioxidant Supreme formula is created using the same philosophy and commitment to quality and potency that Gaia Herbs brings to all its other products, I think you’ll find this to be one of the most beneficial antioxidant supplements you’ve ever taken. Try it yourself and you’ll see why this is one of the newest additions to my list of top herbal supplements. Antioxidant Supreme normally sells for $25 for a 60 capsule bottle. Through our NaturalNews Store, we’re able to offer it directly to our readers for just $16.24 — a 35% savings off the retail price! When you purchase three Antioxidant Supreme bottles from the NaturalNews Store, the price drops to $14.62 per bottle, or over 40% off the retail price. Click here to take advantage of this NaturalNews discount Antioxidant Supreme. A breakthrough in herbal product trust and traceability In all, what you’re seeing here with Gaia Herbs is breakthrough innovation that gives consumers unprecedented transparency in knowing WHAT’s in the bottle, WHERE it came from, HOW potent it is, and HOW it was tested. Remember, even pharmaceuticals don’t dare give you access to all this information! Naturally, only a company that has full confidence in the potency, safety and efficacy of its products would dare reveal all these details about its products. That’s why this “Meet Your Herbs” program is so exciting: It puts Gaia Herbs at the top of the credibility list in the herbal products industry. That’s why I personally have started buying Gaia Herbs formulas for my own use. It’s also why I made an effort to help get them into our NaturalNews Store. I don’t promote products that I wouldn’t use myself and recommend to family and friends, and after doing my homework on Gaia Herbs, I can confidently say that this company has earned my full recommendation. In fact, I probably need to place my own order before all of you buy up the entire inventory at the NaturalNews Store. Here’s the link to the Gaia Herbs specials at our store: http://store.naturalnews.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=100370 We also have other specials still in place there, including deep discounts on raw organic maca, Himalayan crystal salt, Orange TKO liquid cleaner, organic vanilla bean powder and much more… Enjoy these amazing products at these fantastic prices! (Believe me, many people here are working very, very hard to keep bringing you these extraordinary discounts in the very best natural health products in the world.) Thank you for your support! Description of Adrenal Health formula from Gaia Herbs [Editor's note: The following text is provided by Gaia Herbs.] Adrenal Health enhances the body’s physiologic response to stress. Stress is defined as any situation or condition that causes undue physical, emotional and/or mental strain on the body. When one experiences stress, in any form, the adrenal glands secrete specific hormones that have a profound effect on the body. One can imagine the adrenal glands as little “hats” that sit on top of the kidneys. These hats secrete hormones such as cortisol and DHEA in response to stress. Over time, as one experiences stress on a daily basis, the adrenal glands can function less optimally, secreting unhealthy levels of these stress-related hormones. Overworking of the adrenal glands can lead to something called adrenal stress. Nervousness, poor memory, difficulty with concentration and decision-making, cravings for sweets, weight gain and compromised sleep are all associated with failure to maintain healthy levels of these two hormones. • Supports Healthy Adrenal Functions • Supports Calmness and Freedom from Excitability • Promotes Adaptation to Stress • Supports Healthy Adrenal Functions • Supports Calmness and Freedom from Excitability • Promotes Adaptation to Stress SUGGESTED USE Take 2 capsules with a small amount of water 2 times daily after meals. Not to be used during pregnancy or lactation. If you have a medical condition or take pharmaceutical drugs, please consult with your Doctor before using this product. Keep away from children. Use only as directed on label. The Adrenal Health formula can have a profound influence on the body, helping to maintain a healthy response to stress by supporting the adrenal glands and nourishing the nervous system. Select herbs within the formula contain compounds recognized for their ability to support the health and function of the adrenal glands and maintaining normal secretion levels of key stress-related hormones such as cortisol.* Rhodiola rosea root supports the functioning of the adrenal glands and encourages a healthy response to physical, emotional and mental stress by normalizing cortisol levels and other stress-related hormones. If used regularly, it enhances the body’s natural resistance and adaptation to stressful influences. Rhodiola rosea root is classified as an adaptogen, which represents a class of herbs that help the body adapt to stresses of various kinds. In order to achieve this classification, a plant must be harmless and must have a normalizing, broadspectrum action that supports homeostasis, particularly when under stressful influences.* Holy Basil has long been used in Ayurvedic medicine to support a healthy response to stress, nourish the mind and elevate the spirit. Revered by Ayurvedic practitioners as “the incomparable one,” this herb’s documented actions on the body date back thousands of years. Today, we know that holy basil contains a variety of constituents, including eugenol, camphor, caryophyllene, ursolic acid, luteolin and apigenin that function collectively to normalize stress hormones and enhance adrenal function. The properties inherent in this herb make it ideally suited for helping to support a healthy adrenal system and stress response.* Ashwaghanda , often referred to as “Indian Ginseng,” is a common herb used in Ayurvedic medicine (from India) to support mental and physical vitality and stamina. It contains steroidal compounds and additional chemical constituents that advance the body’s natural resistance and adaptation to stressful influences. Ashwaghanda also supports mental endurance, promotes total metabolic efficiency and encourages an overall sense of well-being.* Schizandra berries provide powerful antioxidant protection, particularly from free radicals and other toxins in the environment that may cause cellular damage. Regarded as a popular adaptogenic agent, schizandra berries are unique in that they hold a remarkable blend of five distinct flavor properties collectively serving to promote overall health and vitality. Namely, bitter, sweet, sour, salty and hot. Schizandra berries function to enhance the body’s natural resistance and adaptation to stressful influences, support mental endurance and promote overall metabolic efficiency.* Wild Oats milky seed contains numerous compounds that promote a vital nervous system while working to ease temporary nervous stress, weakness, and exhaustion.* * These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Gaia Herbs’ description of Antioxidant Supreme Anti-Oxidant Supreme – Liquid Phyto Caps by Gaia Herbs During the winter flu season, most people increase their intake of Vitamin C and other antioxidants. One of the best formulas I’ve found and use on a consistent basis is Anti-Oxidant Supreme , Liquid Phyto Caps. Liquid caps means just that , the capsules are filled with a liquid formula carefully prepared to fight germs, viruses, bacteria by naturally boosting the immune system with some of the best defense in natural health. Because the capsules are filled with liquid, the body processes the supplements quickly and gently. Boosting the Immune System Naturally. Natural ways to boost the immune system, especially during flu season, include eating right, exercising, getting sunlight, drinking plenty of liquids and getting enough rest; but even when we do this, there are times when weaknesses inherent in our own bodies requiring us to work a little harder at keeping the immune system strong and healthy. This is where Anti-Oxidant Supreme , Liquid Phyto Caps comes in. Not only does it boost the immune system naturally, it also works with your own body chemistry to keep fighting the good fight of health. Why Are Antioxidants Important? Antioxidants have an important job of fighting off free radicals that can wreak havoc in the body. These free radicals lead to all sorts of illnesses and deterioration of the body and mind. During the winter months especially, when flu season is in full force, taking a good antioxidant is very important. Anti-Oxidant Supreme , Liquid Phyto Caps helps destroy the free radicals that lead to a compromised immune system. They do this because of the special free radical destroyers that include the following ingredients: Bilberry, Hawthorn berry, Ginkgo leaf, Green Tea, Rosemary, Prickly Ash and Astaxanthin. A Close-Up Look at the Ingredients The above-mentioned seven ingredients are excellent antioxidants and help deliver the powerhouse free radical fighters to various parts of the body that need them most. Not only that, but some of these ingredients are especially good for various organs in the human body. Let’s take a closer look at the ingredients in Anti-Oxidant Supreme , Liquid Phyto Caps. Bilberry – This berry is especially excellent for eyes, heart, connective tissue and blood vessels. It also helps strength and protects the digestive tract as well as the skin. Some believe it has special significance in blood/brain function, and destroys free radicals that attack these areas of the body. Hawthorn berry is especially good for heart health, protecting the cardiovascular system with its potent antioxidant activity. Ginkgo leaf has amazing antioxidant properties. The nuts were used traditionally but the leaves only rarely. This versatile herb’s antioxidant effects are espeically pronounced in the brain, nerves, and cardiovascular system. Not only does Gingko fight the oxygen free radicals, it seems to also eliminate excessive nitric oxide, which happens to be yet another type of free radical. Green Tea has been used in the east for centuries, and in recent years has become popular here in the west. It contains polyphenols and flavonoids which both help create antioxidant activity. Rosemary leaf is a powerful antioxidant that supports cognitive abilities and helps fight against poor memory, digestive problems and bad circulation. Prickly Ash bark is a strong and successful circulatory stimulant and nerve tonic that has powerful antioxidant function. It is known to help distribute the other antioxidants throughout the body, simply by increasing circulation in the person using it. Astaxanthin helps protect cell membranes with its antioxidant properties. • Whole Plant Derived Anti-Oxidants • Rich in Several Plant Flavonoids Known to be Powerful Free-Radical Quencher • Formulated to Support and Promote Wellness throughout the Body • Rich in Oligomeric Proanthocyanidins (OPC’s) • Organ-Specific Antioxidant SUGGESTED USE Take 1 capsule 2 times daily between meals. Not to be used during pregnancy or lactation. If you have a medical condition or take pharmaceutical drugs, please consult with your Doctor before using this product. Keep away from children. Use only as directed on label. * These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Antidepressants simply don’t work on most patients, study finds

(NaturalNews) Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have found that antidepressant drugs do little to nothing for people with mild to moderate depression. Countering the belief that medication helps everyone with depression, Robert DeRubeis and his colleagues found that only in very severe cases of depression do antidepressants offer any sort of perceived benefit. Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association , the study clarifies the benefit of antidepressants on those with varying degrees of depression. They administered Hamilton Depression Rating Scale questionnaires to 718 people who fell all across the depression spectrum. Study facilitators gave participants either an antidepressant or a placebo for at least six weeks. Following a second evaluation, the only participants who demonstrated measurable improvements were those falling into the “very severe” category of depression. Researchers noted that those on medication with milder cases of depression are probably finding relief from the act of speaking with their doctors about their symptoms and learning more about their conditions. Interestingly, many people with mild depression find relief in simply speaking with another person about their feelings. Antidepressant apologists were quick to defend the drugs, citing the possibility of an elevated placebo effect due to participation in the study. Dr. Philip Wang, deputy director of the National Institute of Mental Health, is one of them, emphasizing that if current antidepressants are not working for people on the milder end of the spectrum then drug companies must device custom antidepressants that will work for milder conditions. The most common form of antidepressants used today are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs. Recent studies have shown that SSRIs are highly dangerous. A National Institutes of Health (NIH) study published in the December 14 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine found that SSRIs increase the risk of stroke. The drugs are also implicated in causing suicidal and murderous thoughts, serious brain injuries, and death. Those looking for some natural alternatives to SSRIs may wish to investigate L-tryptophan, an essential amino acid found most notably in turkey. Tryptophan is the only known precursor to serotonin found in the diet. Since serotonin is converted into melatonin which regulates mood and sleep patterns, tryptophan is highly effective at countering depression. Tryptophan is once again available on the market after being banned by the FDA in 1989. Other options for treating depression include supplementation with 5-hydroxy tryptophan (5-HTP), the substance that the body creates from tryptophan, or S-Adenosyl methionine (SAMe), a derivative of the amino acid methionine that can help with depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, and fibromyalgia. Sources for this story include: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-depression6-2010jan06,0,4335963.story, http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_92974.html, http://www.raysahelian.com/depression.html

Heal yourself in 15 days with the "Attitude of Gratitude" (part twelve)

(NaturalNews) So far in this 15-day self healing series, we’ve talked about healing yourself through many innovative methods that help protect you from threats to your health while activating the inner healing potential you already possess. Today, in part twelve of this series, we’re going to explore the power of gratitude in accelerating your healing even further. This isn’t some etheric, touchy-feely self-help exercise, by the way: there is a very real healing effect that is initiated in your body when you express gratitude towards people or things outside of yourself. Some of this effect can be measured biochemically, while other aspects of it are currently beyond scientific measurement. But the bottom line is irrefutable: Expressing gratitude initiates a powerful healing effect in your own mind and body. What do you have to be happy about? Getting to this gratitude, however, isn’t always so easy. Being able to genuinely express gratitude requires you to shift your focus away from the things that are negative and toward those things that you feel thankful for. And as you already know, it’s very easy to forget to be thankful for all the amazing things we experience on a daily basis. Many of us living in western society tend to focus on what we don’t have. We think we don’t have enough money, we don’t have enough time, we don’t have the partner we’re looking for and so on. And in that exercise — which can frankly dominate our day-to-day thinking if we’re not careful — we tend to ignore those amazing things we do have. So the more we can step back and examine what we already experience that’s valuable to us, the more we can focus on gratitude and the more we can accelerate our own inner healing as a result. Here’s a list of some of the things for which you may find plenty of gratitude: • Your health. Even if it isn’t perfect, you may be thankful for the health you have. • Your family. • Your freedoms (freedom of speech, etc.) • Your intelligence, consciousness and awareness. • Your memories! (Life without memories would be bizarre…) • Sunshine and nature — the great outdoors. • Food and seeds, some of the many remarkable gifts from Mother Nature. • Your job, business or career which provides the income you need. • Your inquisitiveness and desire to learn new things. • A spiritual awakening, or realization or philosophy that you follow. • Your pets / animal companions. In fact, if you think about, there are probably a great many things for which you can feel great gratitude — the small plants in your window sill, the knowledge about health that you’ve accumulated through reading, and even the fact that the sun will indeed come up tomorrow. Take a few moments and think about what you are thankful for. You may even wish to take a few minutes to jot down some notes for yourself. Set aside just 60 seconds a day With your list of those things you are thankful for, I’d like to invite you to set aside just one minute per day (or more, if you wish) to review that list, to verbalize your gratitude and to really take in your thankfulness for those things that you do have. Literally say it out loud: “I am thankful for the garden in my back yard and the opportunity to grow a small portion of my own food” for example. In just 60 seconds per day, if practiced daily, you will create an attitude of gratitude which will brighten your mood and uplift your day-to-day experience of life because it allows you to refocus your attention on those things you appreciate rather than those things you might despise. And this, as I hinted at earlier, will result in a very real physiological and biochemical healing effect within your own body. How gratitude becomes self-healing Every type of energy that you express to someone else is reflected in your own inner experience. So if you express hatred toward some other person or subject matter, there is an element of that energy that is also expressed internally in that moment. To hate someone else is to subject yourself to some reflection of that own hate, in other words. At the same time, to love something else — or to express thankfulness towards it — causes a reflection of that positive energy to be felt inside yourself, too. So the mere act of expressing gratitude is a form of self-healing. As a person who has written both positive and negative stories for many years, I am acutely aware of this dynamic. When I write negative stories for NaturalNews (critical stories), the energy that is reflected back is often negative in its tone, especially from the parties being criticized. But when I write positive stories, the energy that’s reflected back to me is very positive. You might wonder why, then, I still write some negative stories. The answer is that from time to time there are some injustices that are so extreme that I feel a need to expose them publicly even though I pay a personal price in terms of reflected negative energy. Even then, you’ve probably noticed a shift over the last several months where more stories here on NaturalNews are oriented toward the positive, because that’s what I much prefer to write about. In fact, when there’s an opportunity to write a positive story or do a positive product review, I actually feel a great sense of gratitude simply from the opportunity to do that. And that makes me feel good, too. So I’m practicing the same gratitude dynamics that I’m describing here in this article. What’s interesting about all this is something the Buddhists will tell you: In terms of self healing, it doesn’t really matter what you express gratitude towards — the positive feedback and effects on your own healing are still present. You could find a rock on a dirt path and express gratitude toward the rock and you’d still receive a measurable benefit from it. You can, in fact, express gratitude towards any thing or any person in the world — even if such gratitude is not necessarily justified — and still experience the benefits of that gratitude in your own mental and physical healing. This even works if you express gratitude towards larger concepts like “life” or “God” or “the universe.” Anger cannot coexist with gratitude Anger is a very destructive emotion because it causes stress, adrenal depletion and tension throughout the body. But you can learn to replace anger (or other negative emotions) with gratitude, and anger cannot coexist with gratitude . In this way, gratitude can begin to nudge out the other negative emotions you might be experiencing. This doesn’t mean you have to run around blindly thankful for everything without discerning times when criticism or anger might be called for, but the more you can find the gratitude in everyday things , the more you’ll activate and support your body’s inner healing processes. So start today and rediscover those things you feel gratitude towards. Express that gratitude either silently or verbally and enjoy the experience of that positive energy being reflected back at you. Previous articles in this 15-day “Heal Yourself” series Part One – Remove barriers to healing http://www.naturalnews.com/028053_self_healing_quality_of_life.html Part Two – Unleash your inner healing potential http://www.naturalnews.com/028060_self_healing_immune_system.html Part Three – You are what you absorb http://www.naturalnews.com/028067_self_healing_digestion.html Part Four – Transform your health by making new blood http://www.naturalnews.com/028075_blood_health_transformation.html Part Five – Experience the healing potential of living plant juices http://www.naturalnews.com/028100_self_healing_fresh_juice.html Part Six – Accelerate your healing with a 24-hour fast http://www.naturalnews.com/028117_self_healing_fasting.html Part Seven – Heal yourself by rejecting the mainstream crowd http://www.naturalnews.com/028136_self_healing_crowd_psychology.html Part Eight – Stop making disease http://www.naturalnews.com/028153_self_healing_disease.html Part Nine – Correct your nature deficiency http://www.naturalnews.com/028203_nature_deficiency_self_healing.html Part Ten – Protect your skin exposures http://www.naturalnews.com/028249_skin_health_consumer_products.html Part Eleven – Eat MORE, not less http://www.naturalnews.com/028298_superfoods_self_healing.html

Israeli Scientists Show DNA Evidence Can be Fabricated

(NaturalNews) Scientists from the Tel Aviv, Israel-based company Nucleix have demonstrated that it is possible to create fake DNA samples and plant them as evidence at a crime scene, in a paper published in the journal Forensic Science: International Genetics . “You can just engineer a crime scene,” said lead researcher and Nucleix co-founder Dan Frumkin. “Any biology undergraduate could perform this.” In addition to having developed a method of fabricating DNA evidence, Nucleix has also developed a method of detecting faked DNA that it plans to sell to forensics labs. The scientists have developed two different ways to manufacture DNA samples in order to fool law enforcement. The first involves using DNA profiles from law enforcement databases, which record the code at 13 different spots on a person’s genome. Using a pooled library of DNA samples from a number of different people, the geneticists were able to physically construct DNA that was identical to a suspect’s DNA at those 13 points. It would take only 425 different DNA snippets to be able to construct every possible permutation, the researchers said. The second method involved collecting actual DNA from the person whose genetic material was to be faked, such as by collecting a strand of their hair or saliva from a cup they had used. In both cases, the DNA was then reproduced in large quantities using a technique called whole genome amplification. This DNA was inserted into red blood cells, which were then passed off as a real DNA sample. A normal blood sample would contain both red and white blood cells, and the red blood cells would contain no DNA. In addition to this difference from a normal sample, amplified DNA lacks certain molecules contained by normal DNA. Forensics labs are unlikely to test for either of these anomalies without cause, however. “DNA is a lot easier to plant at a crime scene than fingerprints,” said Tania Simoncelli of the American Civil Liberties Union, in response to the study. “We’re creating a criminal justice system that is increasingly relying on this technology.” The researchers warned that their techniques could also be used to replicate enough of a person’s DNA to carry out genetic testing on them without their consent, thus violating their right to genetic privacy. Sources for this story include: www.nytimes.com.