The Health Blog by Ryan Healy

Uncle Sam: My Favorite Cereal

It's hard to find healthy cereal, especially cereal that's low in sugar and high in fiber. That's why I like Uncle Sam Cereal so much.

Two more reasons why I like Uncle Sam Cereal: it's affordable and you can find it in regular grocery stores (opposed to health food stores).

Here's the ingredient list off the side of the box to give you an idea of how simple the cereal is: whole wheat kernels, whole flaxseed, salt, barley malt, niacin, riboflavin(vitamin B2), thiamin mononitrate (vitamin B1).

Uncle Sam has 190 calories per serving, 135 mg of sodium, 10 grams of fiber, less than 1 gram of sugar, and 7 grams of protein. It's high on carbohydrates, but they're the good kind (i.e., not refined).

And get this. Because of the flaxseed, Uncle Sam Cereal has 2,000 mg of Omega-3 fatty acids per serving! According to the Prescription for Nutritional Healing, Omega-3 fatty acids can help reduce joint inflammation and the risk of cancer.

Depending on discounts, one box can be purchased for $1.99 to $2.99. Not bad for a "health cereal."

Next time you're at the grocery store, pick up a box of Uncle Sam Cereal and give it a try. I like it with unsweetened soy milk. But however you choose to eat it, I'm sure it will be far healthier than many of the current cereals you're eating.

The Buzz About Blogs

If you're even remotely in touch with the mainstream media, you've probably heard the buzz about blogs... how they're shifting power from media giants to an army of individual publishers.

On the heels of this news, everyone seems to want to get a piece of the action. And I don't blame them: blogging is fun.

But just so you don't assume that writing a successful blog is easy, consider this. I started this health blog back in May of 2004. My last post marked the 100th article I've written since then (this one is the 101st).

I've built a small readership in that time, but it wasn't until after my 100th post that I received my very first Trackback, which means somebody took the time to reference something I've written and then pinged my site through a Trackback link.

Some bloggers have an easier go of it I suppose. One guy I know started his blog long after I did, and he had literally scores of Trackbacks and incoming links within the first couple months, probably because of his ties to academia (a lot of bloggers there). If you have connections like that, then getting noticed is easier.

I guess my point is this: despite the buzz about blogs, writing a successful blog takes a lot of time, energy, and enthusiasm. And patience. Sometimes, even, 100 articles' worth of patience.

Red Meat Causes Colon Cancer

The American Cancer Society last month released a study that links high red meat consumption with an increased risk of colon and rectal cancers. The study reports:

The people who ate the most red meat in both time periods were 30%-40% more likely to develop cancer in the lower part of the colon, compared to people who ate the least. People who ate the most processed meats were 50% more likely to develop colon cancer and 20% more likely to develop rectal cancer compared to those who ate the least.

When I read these findings, they made sense to me. It's relatively common knowledge that red meat is not a health food. But I was surprised by how small a portion constituted "high" consumption.

For red meat (beef, lamb, pork), the researchers defined "high" consumption as 3 or more ounces per day for men—or about the amount of meat in a large fast-food hamburger. For women the "high" amount was 2 or more ounces per day. For processed meat (bacon, sausage, hot dogs, ham, cold cuts) "high" consumption was 1 ounce eaten 5 or 6 days per week for men, and 2 or 3 days per week for women. A slice of bologna weighs about 1 ounce; 2 slices of cooked bacon weigh a little more than half an ounce.

They don't define this, but now I'm wondering, "So what if I eat a 6 oz. or 8 oz. filet mignon to celebrate my anniversary?" My guess is that's not a big deal unless I make a daily or weekly habit out of it.

By the way, colon cancer is the third most common cause of cancer cases and death in both men and women in the U.S. If you have rectal bleeding or bloody stool, you may have colon cancer.

You can read more about how to identify colon cancer here (see the bottom half of the page).

"Embrace Small Solutions"

Turns out that health and marketing have more in common than I thought.

As Seth Godin so skillfully points out: "Amazingly, the winners seem to be those that test and measure, live for the long haul and embrace small solutions that are easy to adjust."

Application: It's far better to gradually and steadily improve your health than it is to "crash diet" or—God forbid—opt for gastric bypass surgery.

Yes, I'd Like a Prescription for Vitamin C

Imagine you are driving to your doctor's office.

The funny part is, you feel great. No aches, no pains, no sickness. In fact, you're not going to see your doctor for any illness whatsoever.

Rather, you're going to see him for a prescription... for vitamin C.

A prescription for vitamin C? It sounds ridiculous, but this frightening scenario could come to pass as early as August of this year.

When I heard this news, I was incensed. In fact, I'm still incensed. It's a classic case of government destroying personal freedoms in orderd to "protect" us from ourselves.

Listen up. If you don't act now, it's nearly certain you'll see the entire health supplement industry become regulated overnight. You'll witness thousands of supplements vanish from the market. Some nutrients, like CoQ10, chromium, and selenium, will become illegal.

And you'll be powerless to stop it.

If you do one thing for your health this year, this is the most important. Read the article by Jonathan V. Wright. Read it thoroughly.

When you get to the bottom of the article, please—for all of our sakes—take the actions he recommends. I plan to follow through by the end of next week, and will keep you updated on any feedback I receive.

PS - If you'd like to read more on this topic, check out Jon Herring's article at Early to Rise and the discussion that's taking place on the Speak Out Forum (I've responded to the discussion as -RMH-).

Kevin Trudeau's Natural Cures

Have you seen that infomercial of Kevin Trudeau pitching his book Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About?

I happened to catch a few minutes of it one night, and it was nearly enough to make me pick up the phone and order. But I decided not to...

And, boy, am I glad! I was over at Amazon.com and looked up the book to see what other people are saying, and it's not good.

Apparently, the book is a pitch-fest for Trudeau's web site. Readers say very few remedies are actually provided in the book; for the majority of them you'll have to purchase a subscription to the web site.

It seems one reviewer, Dr. Michael L. Johnson (real name), has been following reader's comments. And he's observed that Amazon has deleted many of the negative reviews.

"I have contacted Amazon as to why my review (along with over 100 other negative reviews) is no longer viewable. Sounds VERY fishy to me! PLEASE... save your money and DO NOT buy this book."

Is it true Amazon has deleted reviews? I don't know, but you can read the reviews of Natural Cures here.

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Mr. Dumont's Health Tips

In The Power of Concentration by Theron Q. Dumont, I've found a couple passages about health I thought it would be good to quote here.

As I've mentioned before, without your health, you have nothing. That's why I believe attending to your health should be a top priority. Dumont writes, "I can think of nothing, but lack of health, that should interfere with one becoming successful."

And though I've not written much about it before, I believe optimal health is achieved both by external and internal influences. External influences are the things you put into your body, the kind of activities and exercises you engage in, etc. Internal influences are your thoughts, beliefs, values, etc. Regarding internal influences, Dumont writes:

I have found the following a very helpful exercise to take just before going to bed and on rising in the morning: Say to yourself, "Every cell in my body thrills with life; every part of my body is strong and healthy." I have known a number of people to greatly improve their health in this way. You become what you picture yourself to be. If your mind thinks of sickness in connection with self, you will be sick. If you imagine yourself in strong, vigorous health, the image will be realized. You will be healthy.

I have not practiced Dumont's bedtime exercise, but I have often imagined myself healthy when sick, and it seems to help greatly. There's nothing scientific about it... it's just the power of the mind over the body.

By the way, The Power of Concentration was written in 1918. I picked up a free copy at Gutenberg.org.

The Health Care Racket...

A brief rant about health care...

My wife, Stephanie, called me up at work the other afternoon, an hour before I was going to go home. I could hear my daughter crying in the background.

Stephanie told me she thought Annabelle had an ear infection. She'd been cranky all afternoon. Stephanie said she was going to go to the doctor's office for a 5:30 appointment.

So she went to the doctor. The doctor peeked in Annabelle's ear and confirmed what Stephanie was already 99% sure of: Annabelle had an ear infection. Cost: I'm not sure yet, but probably $50 or more for less than 10 minutes work.

Then the doctor writes a prescription. Stephanie goes to the pharmacy at King Soopers and pays $50 for it.

The part that angers me is how the doctor is the gatekeeper to the pharmacy. Why can't we self-diagnose for minor illness? It's easy enough to identify an ear infection... don't have to be a doctor for that.

Diet Pepsi Needs a New Slogan

Diet Pepsi's current slogan is "Light Crisp Refreshing." But given the effects of aspartame, it seems it would be more truthful if they adopted a slogan like "Light Crisp Toxic." Or they could go a whole new direction with "Toxic Crispiness."

Sales would plummet, but I'd be happy.

I've written about the dangers of aspartame before (last October), and just a week ago Early to Rise carried a story about aspartame. They had received a question from a reader: "If NutraSweet is so bad for you, why was it approved  by the FDA?"

Long story short, Donald Rumsfeld, then part of Ronald Reagan's transition team, used his political clout to strongarm the FDA into approving it. Thanks, Rummy!

For the full story, check out the Early to Rise article about the approval of aspartame (scroll down to the Health section).

Do You Cease When Sated?

I read this passage in The Plug-In Drug by Marie Winn and thought I'd share it with you.

And yet television does not satisfy, else why would the viewer continue to watch hour after hour, day after day? "The measure of health," wrote the psychiatrist Lawrence Kubie, "is flexibility... and especially the freedom to cease when sated." But heavy television viewers can never be sated with their television experiences. These do not provide the true nourishment that satiation requires, and thus they find that they cannot stop watching. (p. 33)

Besides the obvious fact that television is a major enemy of physical health, I thought I'd quote this passage for another reason: because of the power and truth of Lawrence Kubie's observation.

His statement that, "The measure of health is [...] the freedom to cease when sated," applies not only to television viewing, but a whole host of addictive and habit-forming activities.

Take a look at this list. Are you "enslaved" by any of these things?

1. Television
2. Junk food
3. Pornography
4. Video games
5. Forums and chat rooms
6. Alcohol

Just about everybody is heavily involved in something. But taking something to excess is not necessarily a sign of poor health or addiction. Rather, it's the inability to "cease when sated" that indicates an unhealthy attachment.

If you cannot stop when you'd like... if you feel driven for more, more, more... if you find yourself captive to any thing, activity, or thought... you, my friend, have a problem. And I'd strongly advise you to break the habit, break the addiction, and experience the healthy air of freedom.