What Is the Meaning of Life?

When I was younger, and even still today, I sit in amazement at the miracle of life.  I often wonder why and how we see, hear, feel, or have any of sense that helps us to perceive the world.  Scientifically, I know how the body works, but that still does not explain why there is even a body to work.  We are surrounded by life.  From microorganisms that we cannot see with the naked eye, to animals in the air, land, and oceans, the miracle of living creation abounds everywhere.

     As humans, we have another spark that allows us to escape the innate program of instinct.  This spark is called free will.  Free will is the ability to do what we want t do according to our wants and desires.  We can mold and shape our world to fit our needs.

     This is the meaning of life for humans.  We have to understand that there are infinite possibilities of how we can experience life and the world.  From these infinite possibilities, we choose to act on a possibility.  But, the secret is that we have to choose something.  If we jump from possibility to possibility, nothing is ever done because there is not any momentum gained in any one direction.  Choosing a direction and cultivating it to grow gives life meaning.

     Because each person can choose their own direction, "the meaning of life" is different for each individual.  We experience problems when we think that someone elses "meaning of life" our own.  It is each of our own responsibility to find our own uniqueness in order to give life meaning.

Open House for New York Sports Acupuncture & Back to the Middle

 

New York Sports Acupuncture website

How to Reduce the Effects of Ionizing Radiation after Fukushima Nuclear Reactor Meltdown

Approximately two years ago an earthquake and tsunami caused a series of equipment failures and nuclear reactor breakdowns at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant in Fukushima, Japan.

 

The earthquake caused the effected nuclear reactors to shut down and the emergency generators to turn on to supply power to the electric coolant systems that continuously pump water to cool the nuclear reactors.

  A tsunami followed the earthquake and flooded the rooms that housed the emergency generators causing them to malfunction and fail.  The nuclear reactors quickly overheated due to high levels of heat produced from radioactive decay.  Subsequently, radioactive waste leaked into the surrounding land and water. 

One hundred tons of water has to be pumped into the nuclear reactors daily to cool the nuclear reactors.  This water is immediately contaminated from exposure to the radioactive material and then has to be stored in containers.  Since the nuclear meltdown, there has been over 340,000 tons of contaminated radioactive water that is now being stored in over 260 tanks at the site of the nuclear plant in Fukushima.  These storage containers are hastily built and the TOKYO ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY aka TEPCO does not have a viable solution to safely store or dispose of the contaminated radioactive water.

It has also been discovered that the radioactive waste has melted through the floor of the effected nuclear reactors and is now contaminating the groundwater and soil.

The past standard of radioactive material that can be discharged into the ocean in 200 billion becquerals  (bcq) yearly.  In the first two months after the nuclear meltdown, TEPCO estimated that 950 trillion bcq leaked into the ocean.  Since those first two months to the present, another 30 trillion bcq of radioactive material has leaked into the ocean.  This approximately 1 quadrillion bcq of radioactive waste that has been discharged into the ocean accumulates in the seabed and is consumed by fish and other sea creatures and plants.  

The ocean does not effectively dilute radiation.  There are possibly pockets and streams of highly concentrated radiation in the  (Pacific) ocean.  The radioactive isotope cesium-137 has been found in fish caught in California.

For the past 2 and a half Earth-years this nuclear reactor has been leaking radioactive waste.  These include cesium-137, strontium and tritium.  Cesium is the most abundant and effects the muscular system.  It mimics potassium as a micronutrient and is absorbed in the body as potassium is absorbed.  Exposure to cesium causes cancer, leukemia, genetic defects and birth defects.  It only takes 1/3 gram of cesium as microparticles to contaminate 1 square kilometer of land and make it uninhabitable. 

Strontium effects the bones and the bone marrow.  Tritium causes cancer and genetic defects.

Children are most effected by exposure to radioactive waste.  It increases the risk of thyroid cancer, other cancers, leukemia, breast cancer.  The risk of cancer for radiation exposure is higher in female children.  In Japan, an increase in childhood thyroid cancer since the nuclear meltdown has already been documented.  

Low levels of radiation exposure also known as Radiation Sickness can cause digestive imbalances, alteration in the blood structure, destruction of many cellular structures in the body’s key organ and tissue systems.

Signs and Symptoms of Radiation Sickness include headache, nausea, vomiting and fever.  With passing of time other symptoms may appear including weakness, dizziness, mental confusion, mood changes, reduced motor abilities, hair loss, skin lesions, bloody vomit and stools, low blood pressure and slow healing wounds.

Large amount of exposure to radiation include bloody vomit, hair loss, nerve damage, blood vessel destruction, seizures and even death.  Effects on the circulatory system include weakened lymphocytes. 

 

It is necessary to treat folks who are exposed to radiation quickly and over the long term.  Chemical compounds that have been developed to treat the effects of radiation exposure have been shown to be extremely toxic in dosages that are effective for effective treatment.  The non-toxic option is to have natural compounds extracts from plants and minerals.

The following plant and mineral based substances have been shown to protect and reduce the effects of radiation poisoning on the body:

Activated Charcoal

• Removes heavy metals from the body
• Removes toxins and poisons from the body
• Helps lower cholesterol

Baking Soda and Sea Salt

• Bath in half cup of baking soda and half a cup of sea salt for at least 20-30 minutes daily for three weeks or every other day for six weeks.
• Sea salt draws radiation from the body

Bee Pollen

• Strengthen red and white blood cells
• Lowers effects of radiation
• Helps neutralize radiation

Beets

• Reduces levels of Cesium-137 in the body
• Boosts blood production by increasing and rebuilding blood hemoglobin

Bentonite Clay/ Red Clay/ Green Clay/ Fuller’s Earth-

• Removes heavy metals from the body
• Can absorb twenty-five times it’s weight

Bladderwrack

• Sea vegetable that contains iodine and other naturally occurring minerals that remove heavy metals

Blue-green Algae

• Contains Oxygen, chlorophyll, vitamins and minerals
• Detoxifies the liver and helps remove heavy metals from the body

Burdock Root

• Purifies the blood
• Removes heavy metals
• Cleans the liver

Cilantro

• Removes heavy metals
• High in essential oil compounds
• Anti-inflammatory

Field Mint

• Helps protect against and recover from radiation sickness

Garlic and Onions

• Cleans the Liver
• Blood thinner
• Decreases blood pressure and lowers cholesterol

Ginger

• Protects from radiation sickness
• Strengthens and protects the digestive system
• Scavenges for free radical throughout the body

Ginseng

• Boost production of Red and white blood cells
• Protects reproductive organs from effects of radiation

Gotu Kola

• Reduces effects of radiation exposure
• Protects against radiation induced weight loss

Holy Basil

• Strengthens red and white blood cells
• Helps repair DNA

Long Pepper

• Protects body from radiation-induced decline in white blood cells and bone marrow cells

Papain

• Digestive enzyme from papaya
• Scientific studies show that rats who consumed papain were able to withstand higher levels of radiation than those who did not consume papain.

Rosemary

• Protects against radiation

Sea Buckthorn

• Protects against radiation poisoning
• Normalizes body function after exposure to radiation

Selenium

• Removes heavy metals from the body
• Anti-Cancer

Zeolites

• Made from volcanic ash
• Has honeycomb structure that traps heavy metals inside it
• Benefits in Cancer treatment

Why I Don't Like Health Food...

I have a problem with health food. I don't have a problem with healthy food, but with the term "health food".  It is ridiculous that there has to even be a term called "health food".  If food isn't healthy then it has to be unhealthy by default.

All food is supposed to be healthy.  This means that after you put food into your body, you should feel energetic and strong.  If a meal causes you to get tired and lazy, that meal is robbing nutrients from your body's resources.  This then weakens your immune system, leaving you open and susceptible to all sorts of illnesses and diseases.

In fact, the opposite of health food is junk food.  Junk foods are often thought of as cookies, cakes, candies, sweets, chips and greasy, salty foods.  These are some of the obvious junk foods.  It may surprise you, but many of everyday foods like bread, juice drinks, and even fresh fruits and vegetables are almost devoid of nutrients.  This is why many foods are "enriched" with vitamins and minerals.  The chemical fertilizers, pesticides and processing of natural products causes otherwise nutrient dense foods to become a shell of what they naturally should be.   Poor farming practices and the commercialization of food to increase corporate profits has devitalized food and made it into something that is almost foreign to the body.

A few suggestions to increase the likelihood that you are getting the best food are:

1.  Decide to Be Healthy- Once you make a conscious decision to be healthy, you will begin to attract you those things that hep to make that healthy lifestyle possible.  You will start to notice health tips and articles on websites, healthy restaurants, health food stores, classes, tv and radio programs etc. that all support your choice to be healthy.

2.  Eat Organic Foods- Organic foods are grown and processed without the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers.  They are also higher in nutrient content than their non-organic counterparts.  Yes, organic foods do cost more, but it is an investment in your health.

3.  Eat Fresh Fruits and Vegetables- Fresh fruits and vegetables have the vitamins and minerals, enzymes, other nutrients and vitality that is necessary for your optimal body function.  They are packed with  disease fighting immune boosters, antioxidants and age reversing natural substances that are perfectly balanced inside each fruit or vegetable.

4.  Prepare you Own Meals-  The only way to really know what is in your food is to prepare it yourself "from scratch".  You can regulate levels of salt, sweeteners and oil to suit your taste buds.  You are also able to put your own energy and intention in the food.

5.  Have Fun- A healthy lifestyle is one full of self discovery.  Health looks and feels great.  Abundant energy, flawless skin, a fit body and peace of mind are some of the benefits received from having a healthy lifestyle.

Remember that the road to fantastic health is a journey, not a destination.

Check Out My Interview on Todd's Health Zone radio show

Todd Cheek, personal trainer and host of Todd's Health Zone internet radio recently interviewed me on the "What and How's" of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine.  Listen to the show on archive at the link below:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/todds-health-zone/2012/12/18/bishara-wilson-new-york-sports-acupunture

Enjoy!

Bishara Wilson, L.Ac.
www.NewYorkSportsAcupuncture.com

Five Easy Ways to Have A Healthy Mindset

By Bishara Wilson, L.Ac., MSTOM

www.NewYorkSportsAcupuncture.com

You cannot be healthy thinking like a sick person.  In modern times that are ruled by the almighty dollar, we are inundated with companies looking to sell us their various products.  Unfortunately, most companies are looking to maximize their profits by giving the lowest possible quality that they can and still make a sale.  As a consumer, both physically and financially, we have to navigate through the mountains of empty calorie, poor quality, nutritionally deficient junk posing as food.  Having the mind to do this is vital for health, strength and vitality.

Here are the Top Five Ways to Have A Healthy Mindset by picking the healthiest food possible.

1)      Read Labels

When you look at the ingredients of a food product, those ingredients should look like something that you would actually eat!  The list of ingredients should close to what it would look like if you made it yourself.

For example, fresh homemade bread at home has flour, salt, yeast, and water.  Fresh homemade bread also lasts about a day before it gets dry and stale.  Store bought bread has lines of ingredients, most of which you cannot even pronounce.  These chemicals in bread are used as dough conditioners and preservatives that prevent the dough from hardening and increases the shelf life.  They are not digestible by your body and are stored in the body’s fat.  Accumulation of chemicals in the fat is slowly released into your bloodstream and is a cause of premature aging, diseases like cancer and heart disease, fatigue, weakening of the immune system and allergies.

2)      Make Your Food from Scratch

Instead of eating out at restaurants all of the time, or cooking commercially prepared foods from the box, try cooking from scratch.  Yes, this means actually putting on the apron and doing it all yourself. 

If you are a novice, there are tons of great cookbooks and free recipes online that suit every palate.  Recipes are easy to follow and you will find your way around the kitchen in a snap.

Cooking from scratch is great because you know exactly what goes into each meal.  You can control how much salt and oil is used.  This is a added benefit if you are on a special low sodium or low fat lifestyle change.  I say lifestyle change because “dieting” is usually a temporary change in the way you eat, while lifestyle change is a more permanent goal.

If you have known food allergies, you will obviously not have any worries with food that you prepared yourself.

Best of all, you save money.  For the price of dinner at a restaurant, you can get three or four full meals when you buy and make food from scratch.

3)      Avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup

When you read labels, high fructose corn syrup seems to be in everything.  It is in sodas and juice drinks, bread and crackers, soup and breakfast cereal, cookies, candy and chips.

About three decades ago, food manufacturers began using high fructose corn syrup to sweeten foods because it is a cheap alternative to sugar.  White sugar was already bad for your health and has been linked to diabetes, obesity, rotten teeth and other health issues, but high fructose corn syrup is even worse.

On a societal level, the increased rate of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and fatty liver has been linked to the over consumption of high fructose syrup.  New York City has even banned the sale of beverages of soft drinks larger than 16 fl.oz at restaurants, street carts and movie theaters to combat obesity and diseases linked to soft drink consumption.

My suggestion is to avoid high fructose syrup like the plague.  You have to be diligent because it is in a lot of mass produced products on the shelves that you may be used to eating.  Expect a complete overhaul on the brands you buy.

Your best bet is to just go to the health food store.  For snacks, I will usually try what is on sale for the week to save money at the health food store. 

4)      Avoid GMO Foods

GMO’s are genetically-modified-organisms.  Also known as Frankenfoods!  They are foods that would normally grow in nature, but have been manipulated in a laboratory to have certain effects. 

Some have been manipulated to resist plant diseases and insects, to grow faster or even to produce nutrients.  Sounds good at face value, but we do not know the long term effects of how genetically modified foods may genetically modify people who consume these foods.

Foods that are predominantly produced in GMO form on the market are corn, soybeans, canola, and cottonseed.  These GMO vegetables are usually sold to food corporations and appear in food stores as vegetable oil, corn oil, soybean oil, canola oil, cottonseed oil. If you look at most chips on the market, the ingredients will say that it contains one or more of those specific oils.  Other  GMO vegetable products on the shelves includes high fructose corn syrup, corn starch, and the flour used to make corn syrup, breakfast cereal and other products.

Research is still being done on the effects of gmo foods on the body, but it is best to avoid these foods if possible.

5)      Eat Organic

As stated earlier in this article, food corporations are looking to produce as much crop or livestock that they can to maximize profit.  This can often be at the cost of the health of the consumer.  In fact, many money saving processes for the corporations has a negative effect on your body.  These processes include herbicides and pesticides on crops, and antibiotics and growth hormones in animals. 

Residue from chemical fertilizers and herbicide in food have been linked to ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and lower IQ in children.  Other dangers include increased risk of cancer.  Herbicides also contaminates the soil and eventually ends up in the ground water that we drink.  Organic foods are grown without chemical fertilizer, whose harmful nitrates can end up in conventionally grown foods. 

Organic foods tend to have a higher Vitamin C and mineral content than conventionally grown foods. But, recent studies have shown that this is not a hard rule that all organic foods are always more nutritionally dense than conventionally grown foods.

I eat organic or locally grown as much as possible to avoid chemical residue from pesticides and herbicides in my food, and also to support and promote a chemical free environment.  In my opinion, many organic foods look richer and tastes better than their conventional counterpart too.

These are just a few tips to get you on the health track.  I hope it sparked some thoughts and you do some further research to cultivate a health conscious mindset.

References

Effects on uric acid, body mass index and blood pressure in adolescents of consuming beverages sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup.Lin WT, Huang HL, Huang MC, Chan TF, Ciou SY, Lee CY, Chiu YW, Duh TH, Lin PL, Wang TN, Liu TY, Lee CH. Int J Obes (Lond). 2012 Aug 14

Consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity.Bray GA, Nielsen SJ, Popkin BM. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Apr;79(4):537-43.

Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize.

Séralini GE, Clair E, Mesnage R, Gress S, Defarge N, Malatesta M, Hennequin D, de Vendômois JS.  Food Chem Toxicol. 2012 Nov;50(11):4221-31

Ethical acceptability, health policy and foods biotechnology based foods: is there a third way between the precaution principle and an overly enthusiastic dissemination of GMO?

Meningaud JP, Moutel G, Hervé C.  Med Law. 2001;20(1):133-41.

Organic food: buying more safety or just peace of mind? A critical review of the literature.

Magkos F, Arvaniti F, Zampelas A.  Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2006;46(1):23-56.

Organic food: nutritious food or food for thought? A review of the evidence.

Magkos F, Arvaniti F, Zampelas A.  Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2003 Sep;54(5):357-71

Pesticide exposure and child neurodevelopment: summary and implications.

Liu J, Schelar E.  Workplace Health Saf. 2012 May;60(5):235-42

The influence of organic and conventional cultivation systems on the nutritional value and content of bioactive compounds in selected tomato types.  Hallmann E.  J Sci Food Agric. 2012 Nov;92(14):2840-8.

Top Five Ways to Stay Healthy in the Autumn Season

1)      Drink Ginger Tea

Ginger is a very warming to the lungs and regulates the digestive system.  The unexpected cold wind invades the body the head and neck causing headaches, chills, cough, runny nose and leading to the common cold.

A hot cup of ginger tea causes the body to heat up and sweat the wind and cold out through the skin.  This supplements the immune system for common cold and flu protection.

2)      Drink Miso Soup

Miso soup is delicious traditional Chinese food remedy that is loved in this country.  It is made of fermented soybeans (miso), scallions and a little tofu.  Similar to the effects of ginger, miso also warms body and skin, releasing wind and cold invasion of the body.

Miso paste can be purchased from most supermarkets and you can add this tasty soup as a daily part of your diet.

3)      Wear a Hat and Scarf

Since you were a child, you heard that 30% of your body heat escapes through your head.  You may hate to admit it, but your mother knew what she was talking about.  Wearing a hat and a light scarf this time of the year will save you from the sniffles and needless suffering of being sick. 

4)      Eat plenty of Pears and Apples 

There is a time and season for everything.  In the Autumn, pears and apples are beneficial to the care of the Lungs.  They stop cough, get rid of phlegm and build the immune system.

5)      Dress Consistently

One day it is 62 degrees and sunny, the next day is 45 degrees and overcast.  This rollercoaster on the thermometer and barometer can wreak havoc on your health.  Dress consistently daily to avoid being prepared for dramatic shifts in the climate. 

Take advantage of these simple tips to stay healthy and in step with nature. 

Bishara Wilson, L.Ac., MSTOM

www.NewYorkSportsAcupuncture.com