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Dr. Andrew Weil: Is Ginkgo Dangerous?

2013-05-18T13:58:00Z

Many people have expressed concern to me following recent news stories about a government report on the safety of ginkgo biloba extract.

I view the stories about this study as misleading. The worrisome conclusion that the public seems to be drawing from them is that a government agency has shown that ginkgo extract supplements raise the risk of cancer in human beings.

That conclusion is absolutely incorrect. I'd like to discuss it not only to illuminate this particular case, but to provide the reader with some perspective to help analyze stories like these as they arise. They are all too common, I'm afraid.

The report in question is from the National Toxicology Program (NTP), a federal interagency group charged with providing information about potentially toxic substances to government, private entities and the public. It bears the daunting title "NTP Technical Report on the Toxicology and Carcinogenesis Studies of Ginkgo Biloba Extract (CAS No. 90045 - 36 - 6) in F344/N Rats and B6C3F1/N Mice (Gavage Studies)." At 184 pages, it's a dense read -- far too much for the average reporter under deadline to fully comprehend and condense.

That's unfortunate, because while the rats and mice did develop cancers at high rates over the two-year course of study, there are at least two important ways in which the rodents' experience differed dramatically from that of human beings taking ginkgo supplements. These were raised by the American Botanical Council (ABC) in public comments it sent to the NTP:

The extract used was manufactured by a specific Chinese company and is "not consistent with" the standards for quality set forth in official profiles used by prominent botanical medicine testing agencies, particularly those in Europe. This means that the results "are not applicable to the standard-setting ginkgo extracts," the ABC said.

Adjusted for bodyweight, dosage levels given to the animals were up to 55 to 108 times higher than levels of ginkgo normally ingested by human beings taking ginkgo supplements.

"Almost anything will create cancer in rats and mice when it's fed to them at high doses for two years," commented Bill J. Gurley, Ph.D., professor of pharmaceutical sciences in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Arkansas School for Medical Sciences, Little Rock.

"At best, what NTP can say is that significantly high doses of this particular Shanghai Chinese ginkgo extract -- when added to a corn-oil base -- produced cancer in the lab animals," added Mark Blumenthal, ABC's executive director.

To this, I would add my own observation based on over 40 years of research into both synthetic pharmaceuticals and botanical medicines.

Synthetic pharmaceuticals, generally speaking, should be regarded as guilty until proven innocent. This is because they often represent novel molecules and compounds with which human beings have no evolutionary experience. Synthesizing chemicals and expecting them to integrate harmlessly -- even helpfully -- into the complex biochemistry of human metabolism is often an act of unwarranted hubris. From Thalidomide to Vioxx to Meridia, over and over again we've discovered that there are unintended consequences to presenting the human body with chemical creations it has never encountered before. This is not to say all pharmaceuticals are dangerous, only that they should be given high evidentiary hurdles to clear before they are declared safe.

Conversely, a botanical medicine with which human beings have long, positive associations should be seen as innocent until proven guilty. The fact that cultures around the world have used, embraced and developed guidelines around the use of a given herbal medicine is important. It suggests that over hundreds or thousands of years, large groups of human beings (as opposed to rodents) using the medicine in moderate dosages (as opposed to megadoses) have found it safe and useful.

Modern research can refine that knowledge. But I am hard pressed to understand how massively overdosing rodents with an odd, non-representative version of a botanical medicine assists in that effort.

Based on this study, if you take high-quality ginkgo extract in typical dosages -- I recommend 120 mg daily in divided dosages, taken with food -- and have enjoyed good results, I see no reason to discontinue that use. Beyond that, I look forward to rigorous studies based on human consumption at appropriate levels of high-quality botanical medicines. These can help us make even better use of the healing potential of these natural substances, as well as to make us aware of any potential risks.

Andrew Weil, M.D., is the founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine and the editorial director of www.DrWeil.com. Become a fan on Facebook, follow Dr. Weil on Twitter, and check out his Daily Health Tips Blog.

For more by Dr. Andrew Weil, click here.

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Polly Campbell: How To Crank Out An Extra Dose Of Courage

2013-05-18T13:51:00Z

It's time to make my June dermatology appointment.

It's not really a big deal. Except for that one time when it was. A very big deal. The day the dermatologist found melanoma. That was two surgeries and scores of appointments ago. Though I've been healthy for six years now, I still feel my heart lurch whenever I make the appointment. I still feel afraid when I go for the check-up.

It takes courage to go to the dermatologist for me now. Fortunately, I've got just enough to see it through. And so do you. Seriously, you do. You act on it every day.

We rarely think of ourselves courageous. We believe that courage is a term best saved for firefighters or astronauts.

But parenting is a courageous act. So is marriage. Love requires a fair dose of courage and accepting a new job does, too. It requires courage to call the doc after finding a lump, to speak the truth when it's unpopular, to apologize for the hurt you've caused. To say "no" when everyone wants you to say yes. To admit that you've got a drinking problem. To get treatment. It takes courage to commit to a goal you might not ever achieve. To speak to your kid's class at career day. To leave the abusive marriage.

This is the kind of courage philosopher Dan Putman calls "psychological courage."

This kind of courage is essential to our health and happiness because it allows us to face up to our lives. To acknowledge and even confront the addictions and lies, fears and mistakes we make so that we can move into them and beyond them. So that we can grow and learn and find meaning and purpose and even peace.

Courage is the thing that keeps us moving instead of being stuck in our circumstance and fear. Course, if you're free from fear, you don't need any courage at all. But for most of us, fear is going to show up from time to time. You are going to wake up in the middle of the night, heart beating fast, certain that you are not brave enough to go through this, to confront that, to stand up now. You are going to shake and worry and blame and complain and obsess. You might even eat a gallon of ice cream. Then, you are going to draw from your courage and push on and in and through it.

Think you can't do it? Think you don't have enough to face up to the tough stuff in life? That's OK -- you can always get more.

Researchers like Clemson University psychologist Cynthia Pury have discovered that courage is a quality -- and a process -- that we can practice and strengthen. It requires us both to manage our fears and then to act despite them.

Four Ways to Boost Our Courage

Prepare to act. As Pury says, a firefighter never ventures into a burning building without training. When you know you have a big moment ahead -- one that scares the beejeezus out of you like, say, a wedding, divorce, school exam, doctor appointment -- study up. Visualize. Research. Write down the questions you want to ask, or develop a strategy for the encounter. Learn about the situation you are going into and you'll feel better when you actually do move into it. Of course you'll never shake all the risk, but with a little prep the risks become more calculated rather than crazy.

Know what matters. When we are acting to uphold or align with our values, it's easier to muster the courage we need to move through the fear. Remember what you're after, what the goal is -- living a healthy life, graduating from college, raising your children, learning more about yourself, helping your family -- and you'll develop the courage you need to persist and prevail through the scary stuff.

Change your physical response and relax. I know, right? You're quaking in your shoes and I'm telling you to relax? Yep. If you can settle down just a bit, lower your heart rate and regulate your breathing, you will gain clarity and be able to take an efficient, rational approach to whatever you're facing. Often, like when I was waiting for the oncologist to arrive, I take a few deep breaths from the belly, or do a five-minute mediation to calm myself.

If you can move your body, that helps, too. Go outside and look at the green lawn, or trees blowing in the wind. Both green colors and nature-scapes have been shown in research to reduce stress.

Change your posture. How we hold ourselves influences our mood. So, if you're feeling particularly freaked, well, er, pretend you're not. Stand tall, shoulders back, feet rooted to the floor and feel the strength that comes with that big position. Sitting back in your chair with your feet up on your desk, hands behind your head has also been shown to boost confidence, in studies at Columbia and Harvard business schools.

Remind yourself that you are already courageous. Reflect on the times you've faced hard things and traveled through your fears. Remember too, the risks you've taken -- started the business, moved to new place, learned a new skill (seriously, my ukulele classes had me sweating, but I did it), lived with a chronic illness, made a new friend -- and overcome.

See, you've already found your way through some scary spots. A bunch of times. You can do it again, of course. You are courageous, after all. We all are.

With that in mind, I'm standing tall, rooting my feet to the floor, squaring my shoulders and picking up the phone.

It's time to call the dermatologist.

Some portions of this post were adapted from Imperfect Spirituality: Extraordinary Enlightenment for Ordinary People

For more by Polly Campbell, click here.

For more on emotional wellness, click here.

Ora Nadrich: Are You Living An Authentic Life? (Here's How To Tell)

2013-05-18T13:51:00Z

"The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are." -- C.G. Jung

I've always found it interesting when I hear people say, "What would really make me happy is..." or, "What I really want to do is..."

What that means to me is that they're not living as much of an authentic life as they could be if they're not experiencing the things they really want or desire. Having the belief that the things that would really make you happy are somehow outside of yourself or beyond your ability to manifest means that you're willing to accept your life without them, and if that's okay with you, that's fine. But if you feel that certain things would make your life more whole, complete or happier, then you might want to ask yourself if you're living an authentic life, meaning one that truly reflects who you are in all areas, which includes creating what you really want.

Here are some questions to help you decide if your life is filled with more "having" or "wanting."

1. What percentage of your life is filled with happiness?

2. What percentage are the things you would like to do but haven't?

3. What percentage is accepting what you haven't done?

4. What percentage are the things you don't have that you desire?

5. What percentage is accepting what you don't have?

6. What percentage are the things you would like to have or do that you feel are unreachable or unattainable?

7. What percentage is accepting what "is" rather than what "isn't"?

8. Would you be okay if you never did what you "really want to do"?

9. Would you be okay if you never have what would "really make you happy"?

10. Do you have what makes you really happy?

11. Do you do the things you really want to?

12. Do you feel you're living an authentic life?

If your percentages are higher than you'd like them to be, or you answered "no" to question 8, 9, 10, 11, or 12, you might want to consider being more proactive about creating what you really want in your life, and not just thinking about it as something you would "like" to do or have, but it doesn't yet exist, or might not ever.

What stops us from having the very things we say we want in our lives is usually ourselves. Whether it's feeling that we don't deserve those things or that we don't believe it's possible to get them, it comes down to changing our thinking around it. If you live your life in the present thinking, "I am doing what I really want" and, "I have what I really want" rather than thinking it "could" or "might" be someday, you will find yourself living a life that's about what "is" rather than one that's accepting what "isn't." When we live our lives true to who we really are, which includes doing and having what we desire, we can then answer the question, "Are you living an authentic life?" with a definitive "Yes!"

For more by Ora Nadrich, click here.

For more on emotional wellness, click here.

Cindy Griffith-Bennett: Turn These5 Things You Do Every Day Into Meditation

2013-05-18T13:50:00Z

For most of us, a typical day begins when we get out of bed, wash, and then start our activities. At some point, we get a bite to eat, walk somewhere, and talk to someone. Often, by the end of the day we find ourselves stressed out and physically exhausted. It doesn't have to be that way!

By turning everyday activities into meditation moments, you can bring more mindfulness, clarity, and peace into your day while energizing yourself and reducing stress. A study published in the journal Consciousness and Cognition found: "Brief meditation training reduced fatigue, anxiety, and increased mindfulness. Moreover, brief mindfulness training significantly improved visuo-spatial processing, working memory, and executive functioning."

These brief mindfulness meditations don't require sitting like a pretzel or sniffing incense, not that there is any thing wrong with a traditional meditation practice if you have the time. But if you are like me, life keeps getting in the way! Here are five opportunities to add meditation without taking time out of your hectic schedule.

When you get up in the morning, you usually wash. Let's use washing your face for our first meditation opportunity. Feel the temperature of the water on your hands. Focus on the temperature as you add a little soap. Notice how the suds feel on your hand. When a thought comes in, think of it as someone else's phone ringing. You hear it, but you don't have to answer it. Next, feel your soapy hands or the washcloth on your face. Focus on that sensation as you wash your face. Next, feel the rinse water on your face -- how does it feel? Is it too cold? Too hot? Just right? If your mind wanders, there is no need to judge, just go back to focusing on the feeling of the water on your face. As you towel off, feel the sensation of the air on your face. It's that simple, you just meditated!

As you go about your day, you are most likely waiting in line or in traffic, so take a moment to breathe. Everyone has to breathe, and there is no way the person in front of you in the coffee line will know you are meditating! Sense the breath coming in and out of your nose or mouth. Don't worry about thoughts; you know what to do, think of your thoughts as someone else's cell phone ringing. Some people like to label their thoughts as "thought" and then let them go. The important thing is returning to sensing your breath coming in and out of your body. You will feel your shoulders relax and your patience returning.

Now it is time to grab some lunch. We all eat, don't we? Another mindfulness meditation can be done while eating. Take a small bite and really taste the food. What is the consistency? What are the different flavors? Can you tell if there is salt or pepper added? Do you like it? Try to eat a few bites without talking. You don't have to spend the whole lunchtime on this, but even 30 seconds or a minute will have interesting results. For even more relaxation and satisfaction, try chewing each bite until it is totally done before you take a drink. You will most likely feel fuller, and psychologically you will feel more satisfied. I love to eat a Peppermint Pattie one tiny bite at a time. The cool mint and chocolate taste even better! I also take a moment to be grateful for the food, the food preparer and, in the case of the Peppermint Pattie, for the chocolate!

It is always healthy to take a walk after you eat. But even if you don't have time then, you will have to walk somewhere today, maybe from the kitchen to the living room or from your car to the house. Take this time to do a quick walking meditation. Feel your feet as they touch the ground and lift up. If you have thoughts, label them or decide to answer them later. You may walk a little funny at first. You probably haven't paid attention to your feet in a while! We all have to walk somewhere, and this meditation can be used for short walks or long ones. It is important to pay attention to where you are going, but besides that, simply focus on the sensation of your feet as they touch and leave the ground. Once you get good at this, you can add focusing on your breath!

Lastly, you will most likely speak to someone during your day. Before you speak, ask yourself, "Are my words kind, useful, necessary and true?" What a wonderful opportunity to empower others with our words! This may not sound like a meditation, yet this technique uses focused attention. You really need to pay attention to your thoughts for this one! You can also give yourself the gift of paying attention to how you speak to yourself. Are your words to yourself also kind, useful, necessary and true? Often we have such negative self-talk. This is a wonderful opportunity to empower yourself!

So you now have five different opportunities to add meditation into your day and start to reap the rewards! Not only can you reduce your stress, increase your mindfulness, strengthen cognitive ability, and energize your body, you can also empower yourself and others without stopping your busy day! It just takes washing, breathing, eating, walking and talking -- all things you do every day anyway.

For more by Cindy Griffith-Bennett, click here.

For more on meditation, click here.

Guideposts : Meet The Canine Minister To A Man With Alzheimer's

2013-05-18T13:04:10Z

By Ron Berler

Appeared originally in Mysterious Ways magazine.

Casey wasn’t the most popular dog in her owner Carol Baird’s neighborhood of Dalton, Ga. A huge, burly Alaskan malamute, she had a heart of gold but a nose for trouble.

She’d slip out the Baird family’s back door and trot down the street without a care. Most people gave her a wide berth. That was hardly surprising. From a distance, Casey looked a lot like a wolf.

She behaved like one too, or at least had an appetite like one. Neighbors often stormed over to complain. “Your dog got out again, and ate all of our dog’s food!” or “Casey’s turned over our garbage!”

So when a man rapped on Carol’s door, said he lived three blocks away and then asked for her dog’s name, Carol braced herself. What did Casey do this time?

“We have a sliding-glass door that we usually keep open in the summer,” the man began, “and every day for the last several weeks your dog has wandered off the street and come uninvited into my house.”

That dog, Carol thought. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I don’t know why Casey gets herself into such mischief. A lot of it’s our fault. We have to start watching her more closely. But honestly, she means no harm...”

“No, you don’t understand,” the man interrupted. “I came over to thank you.”

The man must have seen the confusion on Carol’s face. No neighbor had ever said anything positive about Casey before. They usually wanted to know who would fill up the two-foot hole she’d energetically dug in their backyard.

But not this neighbor. He explained that his father, who had Alzheimer’s, lived with him and his wife and needed constant monitoring. The father rarely moved from his easy chair in front of the TV in the living room and was often agitated. Caring for him had exhausted the man and his wife.

“I couldn’t remember the last time we had two hours to ourselves,” the man said. “And then, one day, your dog showed up.”

Casey wandered into the house through the sliding door and made straight for the man’s father. “She sat right beside him, like she had planned to visit him all along,” the neighbor said, his voice filled with wonder.

He saw his father turn to Casey and begin to pet her. He stroked her and stroked her, and fell peacefully asleep. “He slept two full hours,” the neighbor said. “It was the biggest midday reprieve my wife and I have had in years.”

Casey returned the next day, and every day after that, as if she had an appointment to keep. Each time was the same. She’d pad to the old man’s chair and sit by his side, letting him pet her till he dozed off.

“To my wife and me,” the neighbor said, “Casey was a gift from heaven. That’s why I’ve come to see you today. Is Casey here?”

“Yes, she is,” Carol said. “Casey!”

The big malamute trotted up, looking at the neighbor with searching eyes. The neighbor gave a gentle pat. “You must have known, didn’t you?” the neighbor said to Casey. “That’s why you just stopped coming a couple of days ago.”

“Known what?” Carol asked.

“My father died in his sleep the night after Casey’s last visit. She knew her job was over.”

Download your FREE ebook, Mysterious Ways: 9 Inspiring Stories that Show Evidence of God's Love and God's Grace

Carol Dombrow: Divide and Conquer: How to Get Your Daily Fruits and Vegetables

2013-05-18T12:35:03Z

Canadians are not meeting the Food Guide recommendations, especially when it comes to eating enough fruit and vegetables. Part of the problem is knowing how many fruits and vegetables we need to eat in a day and what a serving size should be. Guess what? We all have a terrific tool at our disposal to help us eat healthy -- our dinner plate. Divide your dinner plate in half and fill one half with fruits and vegetables. If you are using a bowl for your meal, it will work the same way and don't worry about counting how many servings you are eating, just follow the rule.

We all know that fruits and vegetables are good for us. They help to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and some cancers. They provide a great array of nutrients including folate, vitamins A and C and potassium, along with powerful antioxidants. They are mostly low in calories and are a great way to add fibre to your meals. So how come only 26 per cent of Canadians ages 2 and over are meeting the minimum number of daily servings recommended for their respective age group and gender? Boy, I wish I had the answer to that question. All I know is that we all need help in meeting our fruit and vegetable requirements.

Here are some tips:

For breakfast, prepare a bowl of cut up fruit the night before so it is ready to eat as is or add to your cereal or yogurt.

For lunch, you may choose a full meal salad. Just mix prewashed lettuce or spinach, add in peppers, carrots, tomatoes or whatever veggies you have on hand and include a protein such as cheese, chicken, hard cooked eggs or chickpeas. Bring along a small container of oil and vinegar salad dressing.

Making a sandwich? How about filling it with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, avocadoes or whatever veggies or fruit you fancy. Bring some cut up veggies and a dip to accompany the sandwich. Fresh fruit makes a great dessert or snack later in the afternoon.

For dinner, try to have a variety of veggies and fruit to fill up half your plate and concentrate on those that are darker in colour. Dark colours mean more nutrients. Mix up the colours to get a variety of nutrients.
Make fruits and veggies the easy snack. Keep a bowl of fruit on the middle shelf in the fridge so it's the first thing your family will see when they open the fridge looking for something to eat. Cut up veggies and put those in plastic containers so they are ready to eat. Have some interesting dips available to make the veggies more attractive.

When you are doing your weekly shopping, ensure you are buying enough fruits and vegetables for the whole family to make sure everyone can meet their food guide requirements. Plan to use the fruits and vegetables that are most likely to spoil quickly at the beginning of the week.

As we move into summer, delicious local fruits and vegetables are widely available at farmers markets and in your supermarket. It's a great time to try something new and involve the whole family in selecting, preparing and eating delicious produce. Make fruits and veggies the star of the plate. It's good for everyone's health.

Elizabeth Swisher, M.D.: Thank You, Angelina Jolie

2013-05-17T22:39:02Z

Thank you, Angelina Jolie! Your confidence and courage is inspiring and will no doubt help thousands of women face the same difficult decisions. Knowledge is power, and understanding your genetic risk of cancer allowed you to take charge of your future and change your destiny. As a gynecologic oncologist and cancer genetics specialist, I am deeply saddened every time I take care of a woman fighting advanced ovarian cancer who is in that position because of a genetic risk inherited from her mother or father. Often there is a family history of cancer that should have alerted her medical providers to her cancer risk, which means that cancer could have been prevented. Wendy, Sharon, and Karen are just a few of my dear patients who died needlessly of hereditary ovarian cancer, and who inspire me every day to re-double my research and clinical efforts to identify genetic risk and prevent women's cancers. We aim to provide every woman the power exercised by Angelina -- to understand their personal cancer risk and make individual choices to minimize that risk.

Too many women have genetic testing only after a cancer is diagnosed. There are several reasons for that unfortunate delay. Not all women have a strong family history of cancer, even though they have an inherited risk. For example, some women have inherited their cancer risk from their dad, who is unlikely to have breast cancer and will certainly not get ovarian cancer. And even strong family histories of cancer may be overlooked by healthy women and their providers. The high cost of genetic testing for cancer risk is another obstacle. For instance, Medicare will only pay for cancer genetic testing after someone gets cancer, but not before. That policy is counterintuitive when the goal of cancer genetic testing should be identifying risk in order to allow effective cancer prevention. Most insurance companies will not cover BRCA1 or BRCA2 testing for men. President Obama, your mother died of ovarian cancer, and in my opinion, you should have testing to see if your girls could be at risk. But be prepared to pay cash.

You have probably heard about how much cheaper DNA sequencing has become in the last few years. We can already sequence all the human genes for a thousand dollars and articles abound that predict that whole genome DNA sequencing will become commonplace and facilitate personalized medicine. Then why is most cancer genetics testing done one gene at a time for many thousands of dollars? My colleague Mary-Claire King, Ph.D., who discovered the BRCA1 gene in 1990, has been working with me and others to develop cancer gene panels that in a single blood test can sequence all the known cancer genes. In my research, I have used Dr. King's new test that she named BROCA to find the genetic cause of ovarian cancer in dozens of families. We have discovered that BRCA1 and BRCA2 are not the only ovarian and breast cancer genes, and another 15 genes account for about 30 percent of inherited ovarian cancer. We could test all of these genes at the same time in a single blood test including BRCA1 and BRCA2 at less than the current cost of the BRCA gene test in the U.S.

You might ask: If we can already do this type of genetic testing in a research setting, what is holding back a universal cancer gene test for patients? The barrier is gene patents. Thousands of human genes are patented in the U.S., including BRCA1 and BRCA2. If Dr. King had won the race to publish the final BRCA1 sequence, I guarantee you that BRCA1 would not be patented today. The U.S. Supreme court has recently heard arguments from a lawsuit by the ACLU against Myriad Genetics, the company that holds the BRCA1 and BRCA2 patents. The court should rule next month on the legitimacy of these gene patents. We already have the genetic tools to identify many women who are at risk before they get cancer and at a lower cost. Let's hope that we can soon apply these tools rationally during clinical care to decrease the cancer burden in this country.

What can you do?

-- Know your own family history. Ask your parents and grandparents about your family history, ask who had cancer, what kind of cancer (e.g., where the cancer started, not where it spread to) and at what age they were diagnosed. Share that information with your medical providers. If you are concerned about your cancer risk, ask for a referral to see a certified genetic counselor to talk about your family history.

-- Protest the patenting of genes. Even if the Supreme Court does come out against the Myriad patents, it is likely to be a narrow ruling that will not apply to all gene patents. Join me in standing against patents of natural genes. Investigators that accept federal dollars for research should keep their discoveries in the public domain.

-- Support medical research that increases our understanding of cancer, including how to recognize risk and tailor cancer prevention. Ask your congressman to support federally-sponsored research such as the NIH and consider raising money and awareness for private cancer research foundations.

Let's applaud Angelina Jolie. Dealing with cancer risk involves highly-personal decisions. Here is a woman already in the public eye and under constant scrutiny who made an entirely selfless decision to share her story with millions. Many high-risk women like Angelina face criticism for their "drastic" choices to undergo preventive surgery. I admire Angelina for taking the unselfish view that she will do whatever it takes to be sure she will be around to parent her children. And I commend Angelina for making her decision public and thereby supporting other women who face an increased cancer risk.

For more on breast cancer, click here.

Donna Henes: Why We Need Rituals in Our Lives

2013-05-17T22:29:53Z

The need for ritual is a basic human instinct, as real, as urgent and as raw as our need for food, shelter and love. And it is every bit as crucial to our survival. A compelling urge to merge with the infinite, ritual reminds us of a larger, archetypal reality and invokes in us a visceral understanding of such universal paradigms as unity, continuity, connectivity, reverence and awe. Like sex, ceremony -- solitary or shared -- offers us a way to relate intimately with the primordial universal force and allows us to embrace that sacred power that informs and fuels all existence. Ritual is our lifeline to the divine.

Today there are many people from all backgrounds who feel somewhat estranged from the religious structures in which we were raised. The traditionally instituted ritual forms and encoded liturgies that we have inherited no longer serve all of the complex contemporary circumstances of our modern lives. They do not always satisfy our longing for meaning, our craving for spiritual communion, nor our yearning for numinous truth. Nor do they necessarily speak to our deepest-felt needs. The absence of significant ceremony in our lives has left us feeling disconnected, confused, alone and bereft. Insulated and isolated in extremely intense times, we dangle, stranded in an enormously complex universe without a spiritual safety net to save us.

Many modern seekers turn to science for a sense of predictable cosmic order, for explanations of the inexplicable, and for solutions to problems. Some assume that the secrets of a sacred existence are the sole possessions of ancient lost civilizations or indigenous primal peoples and are tempted to imitate and expropriate their customs. Others believe that in order to gain access to the ways and means of vital ceremonial participation, it is essential to join an established religious organization -- a church, a synagogue, a mosque, a temple, a tribe, a coven, a circle, a sect or a charismatic cult.

This is simply not so. We do not need to follow a set of hand-me-down observances, preprescribed formulas, or lowest-common-denominator recipes in order to develop and express a relevant, resonant ritual manifestation of our own true best selves. Nor do we need ordained priest/esses, rabbis, ministers, imams, medicine wo/men, shamans or gurus to design, direct or officiate our important events and passages. We each have within us the resources based on our own unique life experiences to create an eloquent ceremonial order to our own existence. We have everything we need to mold our meaningful moments into our own psychic support system. I always say that I practice my religion precisely the way my forbearers did 50,000 years ago. I make it up as I go along.

But how do we know what to do in a ritual? It might seem audacious, even heretical, within the context of our culture's innocent idolization of the expert opinion, to dare to presume that we might know what's best for us. Yet, if we examine the private and social patterns that we have created throughout our lives, we can begin to recognize, identify, affirm and claim the ways we have already, intentionally or not, established a system of celebration and commemoration for our families, our communities and ourselves. This realization helps us to develop a confidence in our sense of ritual appropriateness and our own ceremonial ability.

Building on this new-found assurance, we can begin to nurture our creativity and consciously strive to liberate our spontaneity. We can learn to encourage our inner voice by studying our dreams, trusting our intuitions, heeding our instincts and pursuing our impulses. By freeing ourselves to follow the promptings of our private signs and signals we can develop our own symbolic vocabulary. In this way, we are able to constantly re-invent an individual ritual language, which can charge our special events as well as our common dailiness with clarity, energy, meaning and grace.

Ceremonial observance adds lucid layers -- depth, dimension, drama and distinction -- to our lives, making the ordinary seem special, and the special, extraordinary. Through the practice of ritual we are privileged to experience ourselves as prepared, present, passionate, principled and potent. When we set aside the quality time and claim the psychic space for ceremony, when we assume the authority to do so, we are able to transform our perceptions, our perspectives, our experiences, and in the process, our reality.

For more by Donna Henes, click here.

For more on the spirit, click here.

Troy Roness: Pushing Back for Individuality

2013-05-17T22:18:30Z

I'd like to believe that even though I speak and write publicly about my eating disorder, my advocacy and my personal struggles, when it comes to "real-life" experiences and day-to-day interactions, I am a very private person. This fact is difficult for my personal acquaintances to fathom, but that doesn't make being private a fault.

Life is not about keeping secrets, but it is not about telling everything to everyone else, either. I guess I have never felt comfortable shouting to the world the nitty-gritty details of my life. Much of it is no one's business anyway. Being so open all the time leaves you vulnerable to negative emotions in the end, in my opinion.

Being a private person is a positive trait that is underappreciated in a noisy world. Our culture is obsessed with sharing our lives all the time. Society tends to uplift the loudest out there, and if you are being talked about, then you are on top. People constantly compete to be seen and heard. What a load of garbage.

Making the most of your time and efforts, whether public or private, can seem daunting when you don't even know who you are. I've muddled through that question time and again, and I know exactly where things lie for me. Being male, having an eating disorder, being Christian, having conservative views and being a sexual minority tend to make audiences question why I stand where I do and where my reasoning comes from.

For example, in the past six months I've heard, overheard, read and been told plenty of things regarding my personal life:

"You are nothing but a facade."

"You don't date much, and you need to have a better sex life. You are a very lonely person."

"You are so hard to love (platonically)."

"You concern and confuse people, and you never communicate what is going on in your life."

Not to mention finding out that a very immature individual I'd previously dated had publicly communicated with others about me. That just takes the cake.

Now, not only did I massively overhaul the sorts of people I surround myself with, but, more importantly, I adopted a completely different approach to how I view myself. I found out that my biggest adversary was me. Life lessons, therapy and all that jazz have taught me one thing: I will never need someone or something to make me complete, even if society tries to tell me otherwise.

Unfortunately, in today's world, self-acceptance is largely determined by how we feel we are viewed by those around us whom we deem important. Just as I subconsciously let events and thoughts give rise to the eating disorder that I've battled for far too long, allowing myself to die slowly because of my own thoughts and because someone else's feelings didn't match my own, I've found that I was still allowing the other's influence to dictate my own outlook.

To build healthy individuality, we must undertake the task of understanding ourselves and our feelings. This involves appreciating the not-so-simple act of self-disclosure. For us to truly understand ourselves, and to stop being concerned about others' opinions of us, we ought to be able to disclose what our true beliefs are. After all, allowing an influence that is fundamentally ingrained inside us is detrimental to our well-being.

When we candidly admit to ourselves that we aren't perfect but are all we've got, we can begin to benefit from a finely tuned self-acceptance. Getting rid of people we've surrounded ourselves with may be the hardest thing we try to do, but consider the cost of preserving their presence in our lives. Our attention, polluted with hurt, is not only counterproductive but dangerous given the wrong person and situation.

Letting go can be extremely helpful, and I cannot emphasize enough that this process is just that: a process. It cannot be done overnight. Working on and coming to terms with who we are doesn't have a timeline.

It is impossible to please everyone. Do your best to accept that and make yourself a priority. Remember, you aren't responsible for anyone else's expectations. Knowing yourself (and the world around you) is one of the hardest things in the world to figure out. The beginning of wisdom happens when we are honest with ourselves. I've always believed that life's events happen for a reason, and all through my journey I've found that hardships definitely enhance the strength to hold on.

For more by Troy Roness, click here.

For more on emotional wellness, click here.

BMI Decreases The Further You Live From This

2013-05-17T22:15:56Z

Fast food isn't the only culprit in the country's growing obesity epidemic, a study from UCLA claimed earlier this year. But before letting McDonald's and Co. completely off the hook, consider this: For every mile that participants in a recent University of Texas study lived from the closest fast-food restaurant, researchers noticed that there was a 2.4 percent decrease in their BMI.

The discovery, made by a team from the MD Anderson Cancer Center and published in the American Journal of Public Health, reveals the potential impact of neighborhood environment on residents' body fat -- particular low income, African-American residents like the 1,400 Houston women who participated in the study.

“The results of this study add to the literature indicating that a person’s neighborhood environment and the foods that they’re exposed to can contribute to a higher BMI," said lead study author Lorraine Reitzel, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Health Disparities Research at MD Anderson, in a release.

"There's something about living close to a fast food restaurant that's associated with a higher BMI," she added, pointing to "behavioral economics" as a key factor in the decision to choose fast food over a healthier choice.

According to Reitzel, people who are pressed for time behave in such a way that will cost them the least amount of time to get things done, an approach that may extend to their food choices, particularly the affordable convenient kind being offered by fast-food chains.

To test the theory, Reitzel and her team examined the density of fast food restaurants within a half mile, one mile, two miles and five miles around each participant's home. What they found: That closer proximity was associated with a higher BMI not only among those of lower income, but in the group with the higher incomes as well. The data also showed that every additional mile participants' lived from the closest fast food restaurant was associated with a 2.4 percent lower BMI.

And while Reitzel's research is one of the first to look at the impact of fast food restaurants on obesity rates among blacks, findings published in the journal Critical Public Health last week reveal that the connection exists regardless of race.

According to an international team of health experts who looked at the number of Subway restaurants per 100,000 people in 26 economically advanced countries, the density of fast-food outlets is positively associated with the prevalence of obesity across 26 advanced economies in both men and women.

Subway now has more outlets than McDonald's, the report notes.

Christine Eilvig: The False Prophet

2013-05-17T21:57:11Z

I loved the film Kumare, a story of a false prophet. The movie maker Vikram Gandhi decides to impersonate a fake guru and quickly builds a following.

Vikram's point of view is that we tell ourselves the stories we want to believe. The truth is something we are creating, because the world is as we are. We have all of our answers inside, but we have forgotten how powerful we truly are. So we end up chasing happiness outside of ourselves. Views I in all ways share.

The false prophet ends up causing massive healing around him. This makes Vikram wonder in the documentary. To me, it's simple. We heal and grow when we are looked at with hopeful and believing eyes. And we break a little every time we experience the opposite.

I love Vikram's TED Talk, where he underlines the point that we need to write our own story and own the fact that we are great spiritual beings. If we are the ones creating it all, let's create something we love and are nurtured by.

For more by Christine Eilvig, click here.

For more on the spirit, click here.

China Bird Flu Death Toll Rises To 36

2013-05-17T21:46:33Z

LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - Four more people in China have died from a new strain of bird flu, bringing the death toll from the H7N9 virus to 36 from 131 confirmed cases, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.

The United Nations health agency said the four deaths were from cases that had already been identified in laboratories. Since May 8, there have been no new cases of infection with H7N9, it added.

The WHO reiterated that there is no evidence that the new strain of bird flu, which was first detected in patients in China in March, is passing easily from human to human - a feature that, if it emerged, could spark a pandemic.

It cautioned, however, that until the source of infection has been identified and controlled, there are likely to be further cases of human infection with H7N9.

The WHO said Chinese health authorities were continuing with enhanced surveillance, epidemiological investigations, close contact tracing, clinical management, laboratory testing and sharing of samples as well as prevention and control measures.

It added that in past week as the number of new cases has dwindled, some provinces have begun to scale back emergency operations. (Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Alan G. Kraut: Trauma Survivors Deserve Therapy That Actually Works

2013-05-17T21:41:21Z

The mind-boggling events of the past month -- the Boston Marathon bombings, the fertilizer plant explosion near Waco, a deadly collapse of a garment factory in Bangladesh -- will undoubtedly leave in their wake a host of survivors suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Many victims will get over the short-term trauma of those events, but others -- in the coming weeks and months --will begin experiencing the chronic bad dreams, flashbacks, sleep difficulties, and frightening thoughts that characterize PTSD. Those individuals will likely avoid places, events or objects that remind them of the experience.

In the United States alone, PTSD affects nearly 8 million adults in any given year, federal statistics show. Fortunately, clinical research has identified certain psychological interventions that effectively ameliorate the symptoms of PTSD. But most people struggling with the disorder don't receive those treatments.

One of the most widely-researched treatments for PTSD is prolonged exposure therapy (PE), pioneered by psychological scientist Edna Foa of the University of Pennsylvania. In PE, patients approach -- in both imaginary and real-life settings -- situations, places, and people they have been avoiding. The repeated exposure to the perceived threat disconfirms individual's expectations of experiencing harm and over time leads to a reduction in their fear.

Another approach is cognitive processing therapy (CPT), which focuses on helping the patient question and challenge the negative thoughts and feelings about the trauma.

PE, CPT and similar treatment programs are relatively short-term, and have proven effective in a variety of settings. And health economics studies suggest that providing such evidence-based treatments for PTSD result in reduced health-care costs -- partly because they are relatively short-term but also because they tend to ward off substance abuse, suicides, depression and other byproducts of trauma.

So why aren't they being commonly delivered to the people who need them?

One reason is that far too few graduate programs provide students with the training to competently provide these treatments. And many therapists, embracing therapy as more of an art than a science, view evidence-based treatments as antithetical to good treatment. A large, professional bias holds that therapy should be individualized and should focus on the underlying causes of one's problems and symptoms. But studies show scant evidence that psychodynamic therapy -- which focuses on such issues as difficult childhood relationships with parents -- effectively eases PTSD symptoms.

The U.S. mental health care system needs to change its attitude about effective therapies, given that traumatic events such as natural disasters and gun violence are pushing concerns about PTSD to the front of public consciousness. More than 286,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have sought treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder over the past decade, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reports. Researchers at Harvard Medical School found that roughly one-third of residents in the path of Hurricane Katrina suffered some form of post-traumatic stress after the 2005 storm. And in the two months following last year's tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, more than 16 percent of Newtown, Connecticut's police force had missed work because of PTSD-related issues, according to news reports.

There are plenty of ways to better disseminate proven treatments for PTSD. The federal government could demand the use of these interventions for Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, or pay less for treatments lacking empirical support. Private medical insurers can take similar steps. State licensing boards could require training in scientifically-backed treatments in order to grant a license to practice.

In addition, governments can fund dissemination initiatives and establish treatment guidelines. The U.S. Veterans Health Administration has already begun developing its own internal and self-sustaining system of training in evidence-based treatments for PTSD. This initiative is described in detail in a commentary by Madhulika Agarwal, the VA's Deputy Undersecretary for Health for Policy and Services, and Bradley Karlin, the department's National Mental Health Director for Psychotherapy and Psychogeriatrics, in a just-published PTSD issue of the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest.

Clinical scientists can also influence funding policies, in part by serving on committees that help the mission of government agencies (e.g., review committees of the National Institutes of Health).

Lastly, using information provided by clinical researchers, government agencies, professional organizations, and health-care systems, the media can release information to help consumers understand and seek out scientifically-supported treatments.

The personal distress and the public health burden caused by PTSD render the dissemination of efficacious and efficient interventions critical. The people of Boston, West Texas, and Newtown deserve no less.

For more by Alan G. Kraut, click here.

For more on mental health, click here.

Brad Yates: WATCH: Needing to Be Comforted

2013-05-17T21:39:42Z

Life has its ups and downs, and it's not unusual that we should feel a need to be comforted when we are more aware of the downs. Because of past programming, though, too often our ways of comforting ourselves are less than ideal, especially in terms of our health (both physical and emotional). Tapping can provide a healthier solution, and I hope this video will help clear the discomfort that might otherwise take you down unhealthy paths.

If you are new to tapping, it will be beneficial to also watch the first episode in the "Tap Out Your Fears" series -- which explains the basics of EFT -- click here.

As with any of my tapping videos, this is an abbreviated process for releasing uncomfortable feelings and enhancing good ones. Some folks may find their fear dissolve after just one tapping session, but for others, it will take some repetition, bringing the discomfort down little by little each time. (Still others may uncover specific issues that are best addressed directly with a wellness practitioner.) In any event, this brief video should help at least take the edge off the discomfort, freeing you up to enjoy life much more. Let us know how it helped you!

For a picture of the tapping points -- and more info on EFT -- click here.

Tapping can sometimes bring up long-buried emotions, which is why I state that, before tapping along, folks must take full responsibility for their own well-being. For more information about that, please read this disclaimer.

Until next time, feel free to tap along with any of the many videos I have on YouTube or the many recordings I have at www.TapToFeelGood.com.

For EFT with kids, please visit: www.TheWizardsWish.com.

For more by Brad Yates, click here.

Liane Kupferberg Carter: Autism and Empathy

2013-05-17T21:24:30Z

When I first heard that autistic people didn't have empathy, I assumed my son Mickey must be an exception.

He was not yet 2 when the developmental specialist told us all the things our child would never do. Pretend play. Eye contact. Empathy. I remember sitting on the floor of his bedroom days later, hugging my knees to my chest and watching Mickey build block towers, thinking, who was this child? Had he suddenly become a stranger?

At the sound of my sobbing, Mickey looked up. He put down the block in his hand. Stood. Toddled toward me. Bent down to peer searchingly at my face. Then he spread his arms wide and wrapped himself tight around me in a full hug. At that moment I realized he was exactly the same child I'd had before the diagnosis -- an affectionate, playful little boy who was not yet speaking but already knew how to offer sympathy.

So why does this myth that autistic people lack empathy persist?

The reasons are complicated -- a convergence of media, popular culture, and ignorance. But if you want to lay blame, you might start with the British cognitive psychologists Simon Baron-Cohen and Uta Frith, who in the 1980s coined the much-loathed term "mind-blindness" for what they considered the core deficit in autism: the autistic person's inability to employ a "theory of mind." Meaning, essentially, that autistic people are incapable of imagining anyone else's thoughts and feelings.

But empathy is a complicated construct. There is cognitive empathy, the ability to read other people's feelings, but there is also affective empathy, the ability to share other people's feelings. Just because you don't have the social/cognitive skill to read someone else's feelings doesn't mean you can't feel someone else's pain. While it's true that autistic people often have a harder time reading social cues, it is quite a leap -- and a dangerous one -- to assume that a person's inability to interpret nonverbal cues means he doesn't care and has no empathy.

Empathy is the trait that makes us human. So to say that autistics lack empathy is saying that they are less than human. And once you dehumanize others it becomes "permissible" to do things to them. To taunt and bully and abuse. Consider places like the Judge Rotenberg Center in Massachusetts, a so-called treatment center for people with autism that uses painful electrical shocks to the skin to punish self-injurious behavior. That's not treatment. That's torture.

And if you still don't think this kind of thinking is dangerous, consider this.

In the wake of the Sandy Hook school massacre, as some people speculated that the shooter Adam Lanza might have been on the autism spectrum, hate groups began showing up on Facebook. One group calling itself "Asperger's Prevention Campaign" posted this: "When we reach 50 likes, we will find an autistic kid and set it on fire." (Facebook has since removed the group.)

Everyone in the autism community knows the saying, "If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism." Some people on the spectrum may struggle with empathy; others can feel overwhelmed by other people's feelings. Then there is everyone in between. You know what? That's why we call it a spectrum.

Twenty years on, I have ample evidence that my son can read other people's moods and react appropriately. He'll frequently ask us such questions as "Are you tired?" "Are you feeling frustrated?" "Can I give you a hug to cheer you up?"

As journalist Steve Silberman, author of the forthcoming book NeuroTribes: Thinking Smarter About People Who Think Differently, says, "Calling autistics mind-blind may turn out to be as apt as calling those who don't speak English deaf."