People hate Big Pharma.
That's a pretty strong statement but I'm sure there are a large number of people out there who would agree.
Sure, the pharmaceutical companies have given us some important drugs; however the good majority of drugs on the market are not particularly helpful to us, the end-user. In fact, a lot of side-effects and serious adverse event potential often outweighs the benefits of the new drugs, which apparently are not that much more, if at all, effective than something currently on the market.
It costs a pharmaceutical company over a billion dollars to get one drug all the way to "near acceptance" by the governmental body that controls drugs (FDA in USA, PMDA in Japan, SFDA in China, etc.) The majority of drugs are rejected, leading the makers to have huge losses that deeply affect their shareholder value. This causes added pressure to make up for the losses, so the spiral continues to spin downward and downward. They have to make up the loss so they do their best to market the drugs and make back as much money as they can. Often, to do this, they misrepresent the drugs by downplaying the side effects when the salesforce explains it to doctors. Then doctors who are too busy to do their own research take that info, believe it ("silly rabbi, kicks are for trids!"), and further misrepresent the drugs to us, making us believe that we can benefit from them. (The drugs used for the pappiloma virus these days is one such drug; it is touted as a cervical cancer prevention when that is absolutely NOT the case - research that on the net if you like).
"An analysis by Donald Light of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, [shows evidence] that about 85 percent of new drugs offer few if any new benefits, according to independent reviewers. Furthermore, the side effects or misuse of meds make prescription drugs a significant cause of death in the U.S."
Here is a refreshing report in Science Daily, that brought about this thought today:
"Pharmaceuticals: A Market for Producing 'Lemons' and Serious Harm, Analysis Finds"
http://tinyurl.com/22ohtza
Have a great day!
I stopped At the usual McDonald's for lunch and lots of fluids because it is hot in Shinjuku today. I got the set and one more strap (Megumi gave me her FryStrap to complete my set so I begged for fries today to give them back to her) and the french fries.
On the way up the stairs I saw three high school boys and offered them my fries but they all got that suspicious look and declined. Unfortunately that age starts to pick up the bad habits that many adults have, one of them being distrust of unknown people. Their loss. I sat down next to a (gorgeous) mother-daughter team and started chatting the mom up. Her daughter loves fries so I gave them to her daughter. We sat and talked, laughed and shared stories about life and experiences for half an hour (being able to carry on a natural conversation goes a long way). Gorgeous Mom asked me about my life and time here, work etc. I talked about my divorce and best friend Mayu, we discussed carbohydrates and food and how Japanese faces are getting narrower and narrower so that many kids need braces to straighten teeth these days (daughter's example) and so on. I spent another fantastic 30 minutes in McDonald's sharing the gift of happiness and creating memories for three people. This morning I got my breakfast and lunch done. I did the dishes, cleaned the kitchen, folded laundry, ironed my shirts, did some work, wrote a few emails, surfed the blogs, got some suntanning in, took half of my dress pants to the cleaners, read the newspaper, had a second shower and headed off to work. It is a perfectly ... nice day! Have a great one, wherever you are! I love you!
Hi again! Here are the McDonalds Food Straps that I've been busily collecting before the summer campaign ends. I really wanted to collect all six and today's lunch (as I mentioned in my previous blog) and today The Universe provided!
"Is that to eat in? Or would you prefer take-out?" Life is what you make of it. No matter how difficult things may seem... If you look for the little (and big!) pleasures in every single thing you do, even in the most unusual of circumstances (like McDonalds), your life will be full of love and happiness with no regrets, I love you!
You never know what goes int a McBurger... but even if it isn't all that good, having the opportunity to share a laugh like this makes it all worth while! Wouldn't you agree, Sis?
They have a campaign for the summer where if you order an L Set you get a McStrap. Do they have that campaign where you live, Dear Reader? If they do, then you'll know why I'm doing my best to collect them. I always confuse the poor cashiers by telling them I want the L Set but not the fries. They have to ask a managerif it's OK. Of course it is as the company saves money! So in the end I get what I want. The great thing is that here we can have Japanese Sogenbicha tea instead of a soft drink so there is no sugar in the drink to kill me. Sogenbicha is a great tea made from wheat, rye (not the alcoholic version). And it is L and cold and icy so perfect for lunches on the way to Kobuchizawa. The campaign is ending soon so I came for lunch. I needed two more straps to get all six... and I got them both today! How did I get two? Well... they made a couple of mistakes with my order but I gues my smiling friendly attitude did the trick. I now have a BigMac, Double Quarter Pounder w/Cheese, Filet-o-Fish, French Fries, Coffee, and a Hot Apple Pie! Today I accepted the fries... I don't know why but I did. And I really am glad I did because after taking this photo of a Jr High School student "studying" with his friend, I decided to give them my fries! And they were very happy to take them (being ravenous teenagers) and devoured them wholeheartedly. When I was young I went downtown by myself on a weekend. In the basement of The Bay (Eatons?) there was a hot dog malt stand that I liked. I ate and drank and was just sitting on the floor. A man came and ordered two hot dogs. As he was eating one, he looked down and saw me watching him eat. ... and he gave me one of his hot dogs. That place is no longer there but the feeling of gratitude and appreciation has never left me. To this day I continue to sharew that loving, giving heart with as many people I can, whether I know them or not. You never know when you will have the opportunity to make someone's NOW moment. But when it comes (like giving your umbrella to someone in the rain so they stay dry) around, jump on it. Share the love, appreciation, and gratitude for all the goodness you received while growing up and you will be really doing your part to make this a better, more loving world. One Person At A Time. Even at McDonalds good things can happen! I love you. Have a fantastic weekend!! Cam
I dont but tonight Ihad the sudden desire to experience Turkish dining for the first time in my life. So I did!
And you know what? Every single dish in the course I chose had flavours that I have never experienced in my entire life. Delicious!Governments, health industries, nutritionists, around the world have been focusing relentlessly on reducing the obesity epidemic. Now that "metabolic syndrome" has become a "medical condition", the drug companies are dipping into the pot and selling potentially extremely harmful drugs designed to alter the body mechanisms regarding how we put on weight. This is frightening, because the body responds the way it is supposed to respond: converting carbohydrates and sugars into bodyfat. To counteract that natural response is just asking for trouble. But they (drug makers) know a "good thing" when they see it, so they are capitalizing on our obesity.
You DON'T NEED DRUGS to control this. You need KNOWLEDGE. An understanding of how the body works, how it responds to the foods you eat, and what to do to have your body react NATURALLY so that it burns your own bodyfat, rather than storing the huge amount of carbohydrates we consume AS bodyfat.
Obesity is connected with so many illnesses it ain't funny, gang. We NEED to understand this stuff, because if we continue to listen to the advice of the "professionals", we are going to get exceedingly sicker. This is going to be a big problem for Canadians because the costs for healthcare are going to exceed the amount the government brings in in taxes, etc. What does this mean? It means there will be an overload on "our free healthcare", which will lead the government to move toward a system similar to that in the USA and allow competition, and "the markets" to take care of the problem. But as we can see from the example of the USA, the markets do not solve this problem; the "markets" make people more obese and poorer at the same time the pharmaceutical companies, and private healthcare companies balloon in profit and the executives get billions of dollars of bonuses all based upon how sick we continue to be.
Read www.brianpeskin.com. Read everything he has to offer on his site. Download all of his papers and read them. Learn. Be a scientist for a bit, and understand how your body REALLY reacts to the food you put in your mouth.
Read http://scienceofhealthindex.com/ .
There is a huge amount of research results posted here that likely most have never heard of. Read it. Read it all.
LEARN about this stuff.
And then put it into effect.
If you want to know where to get the right supplements of Parent Essential Oils go to www.yes-supplements.com. Read about the stuff there, and learn. Then make educated decisions.
I also recommend you get Brian Peskin's two books: "The Hidden Story of Cancer", and "The 24-Hour Diet". You can get them at www.pinnacle-press.com. Now if you buy both books you can get the second one at half price, and you can't complain about that.
This morning I read the following article... which led to my evangelism above.
PLEASE. LEARN. THIS. STUFF. Because your doctors, your governments, your nutritionists, your healthcare professionals, your healthcare providers, your personal trainers.... they don't understand. And if you follow their advice which is based upon the current "trendy advice", you will be following in the footprints of millions and millions of people who are heading for disaster...
From Reuters Health Information
More Than 70 Million US Adults Obese: US CDC
WASHINGTON (Reuters) Aug 03 - More than 72 million U.S. adults, or 26.7%, are obese, up 1 percentage point in two years, the U.S. government reported on Tuesday.
Obesity has become "a major public health threat" and is steadily worsening, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
"We need intensive, comprehensive and ongoing efforts to address obesity," CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden said in a statement.
"If we don't more people will get sick and die from obesity-related conditions such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer, some of the leading causes of death."
The CDC examined data from the national Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which surveys 400,000 people and asks about height and weight, among other things.
Looking state-by-state, the CDC found that 30% of adults in nine states are now obese. In 2000, no states reported obesity rates of 30% or more.
The survey found 2.4 million more people admitted to being obese (based on their body mass index) in 2009 than in 2007, a 1.1 percentage point increase. And the CDC said this is almost certainly an underestimate, as people often say they are taller and weigh less than they actually do.
"Recent estimates of the annual medical costs of obesity are as high as $147 billion. On average, persons who are obese have medical costs that are $1,429 more than persons of normal weight," the report reads.
Blacks were the most likely to be obese, with 36.8% of U.S. black adults having a BMI of 30 or more - and more than 41% of black women.
More than 30% of Hispanic adults were obese.
As in previous surveys, Mississippi had the most obese people and Colorado the fewest.
The federal government and some states have been moving toward using legislation to help people to exercise and eat healthier foods.
New York and California have been considering a tax on sweetened soft drinks to defray the cost of treating obesity-related diseases. President Barack Obama has made reducing obesity a priority, assigning his wife Michelle Obama and cabinet secretaries to tackle childhood obesity in particular.
"People in all communities should be able to make healthy choices, but in order to make those choices there must be healthy choices to make," the CDC's Dr. William Dietz said.
"We need to change our communities into places where healthy eating and active living are the easiest path."
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/726262?sssdmh=dm1.630872&src=nldne&uac=143390MN (subscription required)
