Garma On Health » Health Policy

Does Hemp Oil Cure Cancer (and other things)? Watch

Joe Garma — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 02:50:35 +0000

Some ordinary people think so, but (apparently) few in the medical establishment.

Jim Simpson and his Hemp Oil

JIM SIMPSON is an ordinary guy that has devoted his life to making “hemp oil”, distributing it freely and campaigning for the government (Canadian) to recognize that it cures cancer.

He must feel alone, cause it seems very, very few of the “officials” we rely on will address his claim, much less back it.

However, Mr. Simpson does have the sworn affidavits of four dozen people who claim they’ve been cured of cancer and/or other pernicious ailments. He also has the testimony of a few courageous medical doctors. Very few.

The hemp oil referred to here is not the kind you can buy in a health food store to dress up your salad — it has none of the THC (the main psychoactive substance in the cannabis plant) that is thought to be theraputic; rather the hemp oil (often referred to as “hash oil“) allegedly used to cure disease is the stuff with THC. Your grocer doesn’t sell it. And smoking marijuana will not deliver the goods.

I have no idea about the veracity of the claims made by Jim Simpson, his associates and “patients”. But I found the video to be persuasive enough to want you to know about the possibility of hemp, or hash, oil having curative properties. If interested, go to the link below and watch the video.

Here’s the link to the video

Michelle Obama – Her Righteous Fat Fight

Joe Garma — Wed, 12 May 2010 20:36:26 +0000

Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move obesity guidelines and report to the president

REGULAR READERS of this blog know that I follow the obesity dilemma that has overtaken the USA, especially among our children.

For if the current trajectory is not disrupted, this new generation will be far less healthy than their parents; in fact, the diabetes epidemic could dramatically reduce their quality of life, reduce their lifespan and wreck the health care system.

Sounds dire because it is.

This has become First Lady’s Michelle Obama’s clarion call. As I wrote about here, she is the face and bully pulpit behind the Let’s Move campaign to draw attention to and solutions for an overweight generation where one of three children are overweight or obese.

One in three!

Studies find that about 1 in 5 children becomes overweight or obese by age 6, and that more than half of obese children become overweight before the age of 2. Nearly 6 percent of infants younger than six months are overweight, the report says, up from 3.4 percent between 1980 and 2001.

After spending a few months marshaling resources to study, investigate, exhort, the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity has delivered its report to the president: Solving the Problem of Childhood Obesity within a Generation.

There are about 70 recommendations in this report, such as this: Women could help reduce childhood obesity by maintaining a healthy weight when they become pregnant and by breast-feeding their babies.

Mrs. Obama has said she wants to help solve the problem in a generation so babies born today will come of age at a healthy weight. The report says that could happen if childhood obesity rates dropped to 5 percent by 2030.

Here’s a look at the report’s table of contents; perhaps there are nuggets in it for you:

Table of Contents

The Challenge We Face

I .Early Childhood

A.Prenatal Care

B.Breastfeeding

C.Chemical Exposures

D.Screen Time

E.Early Care and Education

II. Empowering Parents and Caregivers

A.Making Nutrition Information Useful

B.Food Marketing

C.Health Care Services

III. Healthy Food in Schools

A.Quality School Meals

B.Other Foods in Schools

C.Food-Related Factors in the School Environment

D.Food in Other Institutions

IV. Access to Healthy, Affordable Food

A.Physical Access to Healthy Food

B.Food Pricing

C.Product Formulation

D.Hunger and Obesity

What the Health Care Overhaul Could Mean to You

Joe Garma — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 20:17:29 +0000

OBVIOUSLY, MY sister knows that I blog about health matters, so the other day during a dinner we shared, she put her fork down, looked at me with that bewildered look common to us humans, and asked me: “So, when are any of the new health care provisions going to kick in?”

“Huh”, I answered, as I zigzagged through my memory banks to see if anything was logged there pertinent to this question.

Finally, I came up with: “I don’t think much is happening yet.”

Not a very good answer, I know, and if it’s the one you would have delivered to my sister, too, this blog post is for you. I looked around and found a good current depiction of where people in various states of health and health care coverage will land in the new world of created by this health care legislation.

Do You Have Health Insurance Now? (What the Health Care Overhaul Could Mean to You) is a good summary of where you may stand at this very moment relative to health care.

The article identifies various situations, such as “do you have health insurance now”, if you do, is it “through your employer”, “through medicare”, “through medicaid”, or “on your own”. It then spells out what the health care overhaul means to your particular situation, and when.

Here’s how it’s presented (in part):

So, check it out at the above link. And, since few know about what you’re about to know, share this information.

What do you KNOW or FEEL about Health Care?

Joe Garma — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 23:57:54 +0000

WAS READING the New York Times today. I delved into two articles about the new health care reform bill. One article explained its cost structure. The other explained how few people know what’s in it, but – strangely — how those who know the least about it are the most vociferous critics.

If you don’t know about something, scream really loudly about how wrong (or right) it is!
I’ve followed this legislation fairly carefully, and yet would be hard pressed to pass a comprehensive test on the matter. I’m thinking that you’d probably say the same thing, so I’m going to provide links to the two articles in question.

The first, An Article of Faith, is by columnist Charles M. Blow. He cites some recent polls. One done by the Pew Research Center last Wednesday discovered that most Republicans polled admit that they don’t understand how this bill will affect them and their family.

They simply don’t know. Do you think that’s stopped them from vilifying the bill and anything/anybody associated with it? Nope.

Why is that, do you think?

Mr. Blow gets into that question a bit, and it’s worth reading (above link). Suffice to say here that when it comes to “beliefs”, facts are extraneously dispensable items.

So, what are the facts?

That’s the purview of the other article read today in the New York Times, Questioning the Cost of the Health Care Overhaul. Presented in that article is a good illustration that shows where the money will come from ($1.1 trillion worth of spending cuts, taxes and fees), and where it will go ($965 billion worth of health insurance coverage).

Note that the revenue number cited above exceeds the cost number, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office which was set up to be an impartial and definitive source for all things budgetary, but who – nevertheless – is obliquely excoriated when their numbers don’t support the politics of the aggrieved.

In the case of the health bill, the aggrieved are the Republicans and Tea Partiers, who, as already mentioned, readily admit that they don’t know much about the thing that they hate so much. They just do.

It’s just this deep down feeling.

Which circles us back to that complicated thing about feelings and thinking. I both think and feel that you’re simply just not gonna get life right unless you find a way to not keep one isolated from the other.
So, in the spirit of harmonious balance, do check out these two articles and examine how you think and feel about what they say about the health bill.

And the next time you hear someone shouting to high heaven about it, ask him/her if the reaction is from feeling (in which case no facts are needed), or thinking (in which case know the facts). You never know, your question might just get them thinking… errr… I mean, feeling.

Whatever!

Health Care is Law. See How You’re Affected

Joe Garma — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 04:30:13 +0000

It’s Done… Obama signs Health Care. See how it will affect you!

[UPDATE: Check out how the CBO scores the health care numbers here.]

WELL, THERE will be an assortment of adjustments, but I guess it’s safe to say that the Health Care Bill has become the law of the land. The legislation will tighten regulation of insurance companies and is expected to extend medical coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans.

I have mixed feelings about it. (Which the good Dr. Weil mirrors here.)

It’s not that I don’t believe that something had to happen to help cover more Americans and restrain the insurance companies. I do. And this health care bill does do that, because it’s an insurance reform bill. It’s not a health care bill.

Health care means caring for health. There’s little in this bill that helps to promote that. What it does do is help make sure that whatever ails you, and for however long, you’ll have insurance to help pay for it. This is probably a much easier thing to do than deliver health care.

Why?

Because to improve health care, we need somehow to change behavior. Our behavior. You know… the kind that is making us the unhealthiest people among first world countries; the kind that has spiked the incidence of chronic disease in the America, such as type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.

Getting people to change what and how much they eat, and to move their bodies is much harder than passing an insurance bill, as difficult as that was. But without changing behavior, there’s not much about health that comes from the bill.

How You’ll Be Affected

Now that my rant is over, it’s important to know how you’ll be affected by this new bill, so check out the graphic below which presents a set of situations, one that probably represents you, and then go to this New York Times page that will give you some details. My thanks to Farhana Hossain for the informative illustration.

Beware PCBs in Fish Oil; Salmonella in Processed Food

Joe Garma — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:03:51 +0000

As food gets more manufactured, we need to be ever more vigilant about what we eat. Our health depends upon it.

[Be patient… story in the video starts after a 15 second ABC commercial.]

IT SEEMS that news of food contamination has spiked recently. Every other month it’s some sorta meat that’s contaminated, hormone-filled, swimming in anti-biotics; or perhaps spinach or some other vegetable tainted with salmonella. And now it’s time for fish oil supplements and various snack foods to take their turn.

PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl compounds) are the carcinogenic culprit in the fish oil supplement case, and good ole salmonella makes it’s repeated visit to spread itself all over a wide range of processed foods – including soups, snack foods, dips and dressings -via a flavor-enhancing ingredient.

So, I’m going to flesh out these two stories just a bit, and — as ever — encourage you to start reading labels, forgo the processed food, and wash your veggies. First up, fish oil.

PCBs in Fish Oil

Small fish eat PCBs. Big fish eat the small fish. You eat the big fish, or supplement with the oil extracted from them. Various watch groups test for PCB in fish, but — despite the industry’s declaration of stringent standards — unhealthy levels of PCBs have been found in lab tests of ten fish oil brands marketed by ten reputable supplement companies.

PCB has an infamously storied career. It has sickened thousands of people and is considered a voracious carcinogen. According to California law, people should not be exposed to more than 90 nanograms of this carcinogen a day. But the results of tests of all ten fish oil supplements contained 90 nanograms, all more. These companies include GNC, Omega Protein, Rite Aid, CVS, TwinLab, Now, NatureMade, etc.

(Read statements made by these companies here.)

The doctors interviewed about PCB and fish oil are recommending that those with heart disease, or prone to it, continue with fish oil supplementation. Omega-3 fatty acids contained in fish oil have been clearly demonstrated to support heart health. (Watch the video above.)

Those with healthy hearts might revisit the benefits of taking fish oil. I fit into that category. My intention is to redouble my effort in finding the purest source for omega-3. The kill oil and cod liver oil I take seems to be OK, based on the Internet research I did after this story broke.

Now to the salmonella story.

Salmonella in Processed Foods

Regular readers of this blog are well aware of my penchant for wailing against processed foods (“non-foods”). They’re so prevalent that some kids can not identify most fruits and vegetables. Well, here’s yet another story presenting yet another reason to eat what farmers grow, rather than what food factories create.

Over the last few days, there’s been a major recall of hundreds of processed foods where salmonella contamination has been discovered. We’re talking soups, snack foods, dips, dressings and other processed foods that have one thing in common: Salmonella was found in the hydrolyzed vegetable protein used as a flavor-enhancing ingredient.

The good news is that the risk to health is relatively small, particularly since the salmonella is destroyed from heat when cooking the food it’s in.

The bad news, in my opinion, is that this s just the tip of the iceberg. The Food and Drug Administration finds only a small amount of the offenders, and the processing processes will only continue to add risk to this type of “food”.

Which bring me to my usual exhortations to focus on real food, hopefully grown locally, that you wash, cook minimally and eat with gusto. It’s not so hard. Check out these posts: Diet 101 and The Basics — My Approach to Health.

Watch: Obama Takes Ownership of Health Care

Joe Garma — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 04:55:21 +0000

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

PRESIDENT OBAMA released his version of a health care reform bill today, Monday, February 22, 2010. Widely criticized over these many months of contentious health care debate, Mr. Obama finally put “his thumb on the scale”, to quote As Huffington Post reporter Sam Stein in the video clip above.

The drama is building. Watch the video to learn how this chess game is being played.

Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” Campaign

Joe Garma — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:35:07 +0000

1 of 3 kids is overweight or obese. Diabetes looms.

MICHELLE OBAMA is using her platform as First Lady to draw attention to childhood obesity. On Tuesday, February 9th, Mrs. Obama, kicked off a sweeping initiative to revamp how American children eat and play.

Part of this includes a task force assembled for a 90 day period to review and recommend programs and policies that will influence children’s physical exercise and diets.

Why is she doing this? Aren’t parents the gatekeepers of their children, not the First Lady?

Call it a consciousness raising exercise backed by some much needed intervention. Consider this: One of every three kids in America is overweight or obese. Although it’s the responsibility of parents to guide their children’s diet and exercise habits, it’s apparent that too many are not stepping up to meet their responsibility.

Perhaps part of the problem are the parents themselves. Perhaps parents need to be pushed a bit, because as it stands over 60% of American adults are overweight or obese, and their habits are being transferred to children, much to their detriment.

The result is that childhood obesity rates in the United States have tripled over the past three decades, and today nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese. Health experts blame obesity for a variety of medical conditions, among them heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and asthma.

Simple things can make a difference, and part of the plan it to make what works very well known to everyone. Things like replacing juices in lunch boxes with water or skim milk, eliminating dessert during the week, and watching less TV — these had dramatic effects on body mass index of children. (Meaning, they got thinner.)

It’s not the unsightliness of over-fat children that catalyzes Mrs. Obama’s action, but concern for their health and longevity. Because, truth be told, obese children are twice as likely to get diabetes, and a child with diabetes is likely to die young, an average of 18 to 22 years younger.

[Learn more about obesity.]

Kill the Sugar

Americans eat 150 pounds of sugar each year. This simply means that sugar is killing us. Most of this consumption does not come from emptying the sugar jar onto your morning Cherios; instead, it’s hidden in the foods we consume too much of:

-Ranch dressing: 3 teaspoons of sugar per serving.

-Soda: 10 teaspoons of sugar per serving.

-Ketchup: 2 teaspoon of sugar in a 2 tablespoon serving.

-Glazed donuts: 13 teaspoons of sugar.

Eating sugar spikes your blood glucose level. Excessive amounts wind up turning into belly fat. Look around. How are all the bellies doing? Hanging in there, usually over the belts. Excess belly fat is a potential precursor to diabetes.

[Read what Dr. Oz says about sugar.]

Diabetes

Diabetes has become a ticking time bomb:

-80 million Americans have diabetes or are on the verge of it.

-$174 billion per year is spent on diabetes and the various aliments it causes, such as 86,000 amputations per year.

-If left unchecked, it will bankrupt the health care system all by itself.

Type 2 diabetes — the kind you get primarily from behavior, not exclusively due to genetics — is often treatable, preventable and reversible. What’s not reversible is the damage it does before you know you have it.

For instance, diabetics regularly die of heart attacks caused by insufficient blood flow to the heart. What happens is the unprocessed sugar acts like chards of glass that scrap and puncture blood vessels causing scaring. Scaring builds up and fills up the blood vessels, preventing blood flow to the heart and brain, as well as kidneys and eyes.

Diabetes Warning Signs: Constantly thirsty, frequent urination, slow healing, tingling toes, blurred vision.

Diabetes Risk Factors: Belly fat, sedentary lifestyle, family history, smoking. A waist size more than 1/2 of your height.

If you have any of these warning signs and risk factors, go see your doctor.

Prevention and Reversing: It comes down to diet and exercise. For tips on diet, read these posts: Diet 101 and A Blueprint for Eating Right.

There’s lots to know about exercise, but for the purposes of reducing the risk of, or helping to reverse diabetes (and obesity), start by walking. Build up to at least 30 minutes a day, and when you can, walk up hills. If you have access to a treadmill, increase the incline. You want a pace where you can talk but not easily.

Exercising 30 minutes per day reduces the risk of getting diabetes by 60%. Exercise is not negotiable. If you can’t will yourself to do it, get a buddy to join you, or encourage you.

√ Know someone who could benefit from this information? Please send it to them.

60 Votes Reached for Health Bill

Joe Garma — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 18:53:40 +0000

None were Republican Votes

THIS MORNING, the Democrats finally hobbled together the 60 votes needed to stop a Republican filibuster.

The Senate’s health bill can now collide with the House’s bill as representatives from both legislative bodies, along with those from the Executive branch can jawbone and arm wrestle till a final bill gets passed to the president for, presumably, signature. And then this fine nation will have a new health care system of sorts.

Does it matter?

Yes, it mattes a great deal, but in a muddy way. If you want a European-type health care system, it matters that you’re not getting one (far from it). If you wanted things to stay as they are, you might be less frustrated than your Euro-inclined counterpart (unless you dance to the drumbeat of the Republican leadership who basically pronounce this bill to be the beginning of the end for America), because the current system has been more tweaked than overhauled.

As the Associated Press summarizes:

“At its core, the measure is designed to spread coverage to tens of millions who lack it, while banning insurance company practices such as denial of coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions. The White House also wants the legislation that eventually makes it through Congress to slow the rate of growth in national medical spending overall. The House passed its version of the legislation last month, and final compromise talks are expected quickly.”

Some Highlights:

Extends health benefits to more than 30 million uninsured Americans by expanding Medicaid and providing subsidies to help moderate-income people purchase private insurance.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated the revised measure would lower deficits by $132 billion over a decade, with the possibility of much higher reductions in the subsequent decade.
Forecasters said the bill would expand coverage to roughly 94% of eligible Americans under age 65, a total that excludes illegal immigrants.
The Medicare payroll tax of 0.9 percent on income over $200,000 a year for individuals and $250,000 for couples.
Insurance companies are required to spend 80% of their premium income on medical care for individual insurance policies, and 85% for group policies.
Insurance companies would be barred immediately from denying coverage to children because of a pre-existing health condition. The prohibition on denial of coverage for adults would not take effect in the Senate bill until 2014.
On abortion, the measure would let a state disallow coverage in new insurance exchanges by passing a law to that effect. Additionally, it sets up a mechanism to segregate funds that would be used to pay for abortions from federal subsidy dollars flowing to health plans.

You can read more about it in the Associated Press article I referenced above.

Remember: It’s not over — both houses of congress will soon begin mud wrestling over the particulars, with president Obama presiding as an arms-length referee, dodging the mud flakes.

How Safe is your Tap Water?

Joe Garma — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 02:19:09 +0000

YESTERDAY, I posted this article that I hope presented an unassailable argument for recycling that plastic water bottle once and for all; meaning, none will ever be bought again!

(If your mind leaps up in protest, read the article and see if you’re willing to reconsider.)

Following up on yesterday’s post, I want to alert you to an article posted today by Lori Bongiorno from the Conscious Consumer. It’s Part 2 of her review of cities with the best and worst tap water.

The fact that there are cities with dirty tap water is well known and accepted (the fact, not the condition). But plastic water bottles are not the solution.

Tap Water is Better than Bottled

Please do not presume that if your city is on the dirty tap water list, you must go purchase six cases of plastic bottle water.

Just the opposite! Instead of the environmentally dangerous, health threatening and pocket-emptying plastic water bottles, please consider buying a water filter. Filter the tap water. Then pour it into a safe, reusable, non-plastic container.

As I said above, I spell out the argument here.

Is your city on the list?

Anyway, here’s the list… check it out and then click over to Ms. Bongiorno’s articles for the scoop.

Cities with the best water:

Arlington, TX
Providence, RI
Fort Worth, TX
Charleston, SC
Boston, MA
Honolulu, HI
Austin, TX
Fairfax County, VA
St. Louis, MO
Minneapolis, MN

Cities with the worst water:

Pensacola, FL
Riverside, CA
Las Vegas, NV
Riverside County, CA
Reno, NV
Houston, TX
Omaha, NE
North Las Vegas, NV
San Diego, CA
Jacksonville, FL

Relieved that your city is not on the “worst water” list? Great, but if you know people who are, let them know by forwarding this post.