The What’s and Why’s of Health

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I read and write about health every day. It’s my love. And I never stop thinking about the marvels of the human body. My research takes me into every conceivable subject revolving around health, which basically means everything. I see health all around me at all times, and I see the entire universe in the world of health. But my basic message regarding health is always the same: Health is a natural state inherent in all of us; it is directly related to the choices we make, and to our lifestyles. Our relationship to our health is as much a state of mind as a state of being; and how we think about health shapes our very expression of it.

What is Health?

What does health mean to you? Is it something grand, like a feeling of omnipotence? Does it look like, feel like or allow you to do something in particular? How do you define it? I think defining what health means to you is an important first-step in mastering your health and well being. It’s knowing the what’s and the why’s of attaining and maintaining great health that will take you the farthest.

I’ve posed the question to hundreds of people—what is health? I love the variety of responses that comes pouring out, but the answer is much simpler than most people realize: Health is the body doing what it was meant to. That’s it—nothing grander. It’s not super-humanness, or godliness or even better-than-averageness—it’s simply a properly-functioning body. That means the kidneys do what they are supposed to (eliminate wastes), the liver does what it’s supposed to (detoxify and aid digestion), and the nervous system functions the way it’s supposed to—in perfection. Now that’s health!

It’s not so much different from that of a car, even though we are not machines. We are instead moving, breathing, organic life-forms, yet the exact same principles apply to both: if you take care of your car, it will function beautifully—it will run well, burn fuel efficiently and look good in the process. But neglect it, and…well, you know what happens when you don’t change the oil…

How should you measure health, then?

I guess that comes down to what you want. Very few strive for health simply for health’s sake—many, instead, use their health as a means to an end. Whatever you decide is the why that drives you toward great health, it can be used as inspiration to push you toward the what—your health goals. Why’s can encompass anything from improved performance at a sport, to the desire to play with, or simply keep up with, your children. The why’s will be important only to the individual—no right or wrong exists.

I will say that ‘the why’ I seem to observe the most is the desire to look “hot.” Nothing wrong with that—I just find that very few people remain driven by this motivator alone. The reason is two-fold: First, not everyone really values their looks as much as they say they do. What I mean is that people who value their physical appearance more than anything else will usually make sacrifices and endure hardships—like giving up foods, bypassing snacking or even restricting partying—to maintain a certain look. Generally, nobody has to motivate these people to exercise. They don’t have to think too hard about it, because their sights are set on the prize—they value their looks above all else.

The second reason is that everybody values something, and people will always gravitate (over time) toward the things they value the most. So if they value business, they’ll eventually focus their efforts on business. If they value family, then they’ll focus there. Be it art, music, sports, cars or anything else, people are driven by what they love and value. For most people, their dominant values end up overriding their drive to look hot.

A better strategy then, when determining the why’s to achieving great health, is to see how caring for your health will allow you to partake in, achieve or excel at your most dominant values—the things that you love. If you love business, then see how being in your best physical health will support you in your work. If you love entertaining, then how can your health make you a better performer, hostess or socialite? How can your health help you earn more money or care for your family? By making these connections to your values, I am certain that you will seek and choose health to help you fulfill whatever tops your list.

Understand…the why’s have to be big enough. As things change, and this includes your health, you will need big why’s to keep you going. If you say you want to be “hot,” but just can’t give up that Saturday night six-pack…or those late-night cookies…or that gym laziness, you probably don’t want it as badly as you think. That’s okay—just see how your health can help you achieve the things that you would sacrifice for, and make sure that attending to your health is a part of that sacrifice. Great health will get you where you want to go most effectively, and you’ll also look good in the process.

Life’s Path Revealed by Heart’s Illumination

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Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

A few years ago I was interviewed for a documentary project on life and its winding road of intricacies, when a question came around to choosing one’s life path. The interviewer asked if I had always known my chosen path. My answer came quickly and emphatically: No! My life’s path has been one of evolution; in fact, I am certain that I had no way to define it, or even to label it, as I do not believe it has ever been experienced before. Let me explain:

Some people are just born knowing their life’s mission. Have you ever heard someone say, “I just knew I would be a doctor—it’s what I’ve wanted my whole life.”? Or maybe you have seen the video footage of a two-year-old Tiger Woods on the Mike Douglas show hitting a golf ball (check YouTube)? Without a doubt, some people feel the fire burning inside them from day one, while still others simply figure it out quicker than most. But the majority of us have to search for our life’s calling, like a treasure to be found in a quest of the soul; the search as much a part of the path as the calling itself.

And then some of us must create a path where once there was none, innovators of the most magnificent kind, because that which has been paved before doesn’t really lead to where we wish to go. So it may be several years before you fully comprehend your direction, as I was well into my thirties before I saw the big picture. It is thus important to not get discouraged during those hazy days, when you can’t quite see beyond the fog of youth, but instead simply follow your heart, because this is where the light of your soul shines, to guide you down your inspired path even when your conscious mind is still in the dark.

For those of us pioneering our own pathway, then, it might pay to consider a few things along the way. First, as I’ve already said, your heart is the beacon of your soul—it knows exactly where you are going, so just focus on the things that you love the most. Yes, we all have activities and obligations that we do not necessarily care to do, but must do anyway. However, I am talking about what you wish to prioritize, whether that be music, or sports, or dancing, or watching birds…do it every chance you get. If you find yourself developing an interest in another area, then investigate it—that is your heart speaking to you. In my own life, I find that my interests have progressed every few years, such that the work I do today is an integrated synthesis of all my life’s loves, and I never cease to be amazed at the order of it all.

Next, do not get discouraged because you haven’t figured it out yet. Pressures of these sorts tend to lead people to seek guidance outside themselves, to follow paths not truly of their own hearts, and to give up when the going gets tough, because nobody sticks it out for something they are not really driven by.

Finally, don’t be afraid to innovate. Who says that a love of computers and salsa dancing don’t go together? You never know what you might create. Consider all the great innovations throughout history, and understand how it takes a different kind of thinking to change the world. It certainly wasn’t lost on Hooters to figure out the value of amalgamating interests.

The interviewer wrapped things up by asking what advice I would give kids who are uncertain about what they would love to do in their lives. My answer was simple: Just do what you love. Nurture every one of your interests—give them time, and do them well—believe me, it’ll all come together before you know it. Trust in the process, because the heart never lies. We are all born with an inner inspiration and calling, our life’s path just waiting to express itself uniquely through its carrier. Let your heart shine and it will show you the way. Uncovering your path is a process of evolution for the most part, so enjoy every step along the way. It is your path after all, and nobody is going to love it unless you do.

 

Life’s Purpose is the Light That Guides

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 What’s your life’s purpose? Have you ever really thought about it? Have you defined it? One very distinct advantage people have when they actually define their life’s purpose is that they become remarkably adaptable to change. Stress is the failure of an organism to adequately respond to changes; and in the case of humans, it could hamper the health and the quality of one’s life.

Being in touch with your life’s purpose gives you a foundation from which to base your decisions, and it allows you to keep things in perspective when the inevitable happens…like when life changes. Changes in work, changes in income, and changes in lifestyle can all cause enormous stress if you are not prepared for them. But by knowing a few principles, you can turn those stressful moments into transition points that simply lead you into the next phase of your divine life.

Some people mistakenly believe that only purposes of a grand nature are valuable. If it isn’t feeding the homeless, or adopting babies from war-torn countries, or advocating world peace, then somehow it mustn’t be good enough to focus on. It’s as if one’s life purpose needs to be lofty, with the more mundane missions left unspoken or under wraps.

But any purpose is valid. Whether talking of providing a service to the world, or being the loving matriarch of stable and nurturing family, no person’s inspired mission lacks value or deserves to be discounted.

By writing your purpose down, you can invest the time and energy into thinking about it, and periodically refining it, until you shape it to fit your unique life. And for people who think they don’t know their life’s purpose, just understand that you are living it every day. Everything that drives you, that interests you, and which you love are all a part of your life’s purpose. By writing these things down, you will attune more closely to the mission that you are meant to fulfill.

The secret, then, is to connect all your decisions and any of your life’s changes to your purpose. If your purpose is to teach others, then see how your new job, or new residence, or new life’s circumstance allows you to do so. If your purpose is to be a loving, nurturing parent, then see how the current changes in your life will allow you to be, and do, just that. Do this no matter what your life’s mission might be. Don’t get caught in the trap of comparisons, where you weigh your previous circumstances against the current or new ones to be—this is a game in futility; it will get you nowhere and can quickly lead to depression.

Instead focus on your purpose. For example, “My work transition will allow me provide food and shelter for my children, which permits me to continue fulfilling my purpose as a provider, and nurturer, for my family.” By focusing on the things that you actually have, the things which allow you to fulfill your purpose, opens the doors for even more blessing to come, as our ability to attract is directly related to our state of gratitude.

Changes in life are inevitable. How we adapt to those changes determines the amount of stress we experience, and the degree to which it affects our health. So you can make any life transition a smooth one by connecting all you do, and all your decisions, to your life’s purpose. Defining your purpose means looking within, as you are living it every day. And by writing it down, and refining it periodically, you will surely have a guide that helps you adapt to any and all life transitions. Success and fulfillment come from living on purpose. Knowing what that is, and directing your life by it, is more than half the battle.

How Changing Responsibilities Impact Your Health

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rec-center-work-out-031 (Copy)Ah…time, the great humbler of egos and shatterer of illusions of human immortality. As we age, we often come to certain realizations about our beliefs, ideals, and expectations that perhaps don’t fall in line with the reality of the ticking clock. Not a bad thing, just a reminder that the activities we might have been putting off for so long are not going to just happen on their own, without our taking purposeful action to make those dreams a reality.

Responsibilities also change with time. We go from self-serving, newly independent young women and men, to contributing members of a workforce and community, to matriarchs and patriarchs of families, to grandparents and leaders of community organizations and institutions—our various responsibilities changing repeatedly along the way. It has been said that nothing in life is permanent except change, and this is never more true than in our evolving responsibilities throughout our lifetime.

The Power of Practicing Good Habits while Healthy

I am a sports chiropractor. Part of my job is to help people recover from chronic pain and injury. I also work very closely with people on an educational level. It is my inspired mission to help people understand the magnificence of their bodies, and how, by nurturing the greatest gift that nature has bestowed upon them, they can do the most to ensure that they will have the time and energy to complete the dreams and goals they have set as their legacy.

My observation is that many people neglect health-nurturing until they actually start to experience physical symptoms. Although it is never too late to begin loving and caring for one’s body, waiting to do so has some distinct disadvantages.

To begin with, waiting for physical symptoms to arise before attending to your health makes it much more difficult to maintain wellbeing than by practicing good habits while healthy. This is just a fact I wish to point out here. Next, some symptoms are late in their expression, which means that damage to your body can already be done by the time symptoms arise (think heart attack, as one extreme example), and sometimes that damage is irreversible. Finally, habits can be tough to break, so the earlier you begin, the easier they are to maintain. My point here is that it is fairly common for people to drift from one health challenge to the next, attending to each malady as it comes along, by treating symptoms and not the cause, in a cyclical pattern, until the overall health and function of the body collapses. Not a good strategy in my opinion.

The Impact of Changing Responsibilities

That brings me to changing responsibilities. When we are young, in that age when the probability of developing disease is quite low (usually between our 20s-40s), it is easy to ignore our health with very little consequence. You know what I mean—frequent pizza dinners, regular and (sometimes) heavy drinking, lack of exercise, lack of sleep, and so on—we often treat our bodies as if we can handle any insult, and that we might just live forever; which is not so grave to our minds, since, for the most part, we only have ourselves to think about.

That is, until our bodies tell us otherwise. This usually happens as people reach their forties. The bad foods we eat start to catch up to us then, digestive discomforts telling us of our indiscretions. Having even one drink (at least for me) can lead to a day of mental sluggishness and fatigue not conducive to carrying out one’s responsibilities. And getting inadequate rest?…ugh, forget about it…It can lead to poor performance at work, unnecessary accidents and poor relations with family members, friends and co-workers. Many of us (not all unfortunately) eventually come to the awareness that our health and wellbeing actually affect everybody we come into contact with; which becomes an especially weighty realization if we have children.

When it hits us that we have more to think about than just ourselves, many people make the commitment to change their relationship to their bodies. They decide to finally start that exercise program they have been putting off; they visit the doctor more often; they might even take up meditation, and watch what they eat; and this is a good thing. It is never too late to start adopting healthy habits. In fact, studies show that people who pick up healthy habits in middle age, and do it consistently, can reach the same levels of health as people who have done so their entire lives. Pretty inspiring, isn’t it?

My question to you, however, is…why wait?

It is much more difficult, although not impossible, to create new health habits the older we get. Let’s face it—we get set in our ways! So by starting now, no matter what your age, it will be much easier to make healthy behaviors a part of your lifestyle than if you begin a decade from now. Hate to say it, but you might not even have another decade if you neglect your health for long enough. Sorry to be the grim voice of reality here.

So how about initiating a change in responsibility today? Your responsibility to your health, your loved ones, and those who rely on you, all depend on your conscious decision to change things now! Most importantly, your responsibility to accomplishing your dreams, what you’ve set out to do, can only be realized if you have the health to do so. So take responsibility for your health today, and you’ll have the greatest chance of making your dreams come true.

Planning To Go With the Flow

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I’ve recently been asked about whether it’s best to be driven and act on one’s desires, or to just “go with the flow.” In my contemplations of this outstanding thought-question I have come to some realizations, both from investigating my own life, as well as being a student of other peoples’ lives through my work as a dream designer, and as an avid reader of biographies.

I love learning about peoples’ lives, and above all about human behavior. I especially love seeing the unique challenges every individual faces as they make their way through their destiny, and particularly how they overcome their perceived obstacles. One observation I have had is that we all go through repeating cycles of comfort-discomfort in any and all endeavors. These cycles then lead us to enter adjacent and interconnected push-relax cycles, necessary to expand us into the next level of our growth.

When we take on any new endeavor, whether we are simply at the starting point of conceptualization, or in full swing of acting on it, we must by necessity have a definition and goal of what we are attempting to achieve. Take, for instance, a new business: before anything is launched, a blueprint or map must be created, ‘the how’ to ‘the what’ of the entity…in other words, the means to the end.

But even before this stage, a purpose must be established—‘the why’ of the entire undertaking. Without a reason for existing—a void to be filled, a need to be attended to, or a problem to be solved—no business will get off the ground, let alone survive. Aristotle called these two aspects the final cause—the purpose for which a thing exists or is done, and the blueprint, or master plan, to doing it. Without these important factors, it is unlikely that any endeavor will successfully manifest.

So in every one of our endeavors—whether that be creating a business or starting a family—a final cause or purpose, and a planning stage, are necessary. Although these periods are usually filled with some knowns—like what we wish to create, and why; as well as some of the how’s—it is also filled with many unknowns, like how everything will play out. The details, in other words, remain a mystery.

During this stage, it is wholly appropriate to work hard, push, affect, influence, gather information, study, research, and so on. We would call this the ‘pushing’ phase, and it is clearly essential to get things moving. No action = no creation—it’s as simple as that. We have some control here, and it is wise to exert it. Very important is the need to plan, document, blue print and refine the plans, until even the most minute detail is accounted for. Anybody who has ever created anything can attest to the fact that planning, in detail, can save you from a heck of a lot of chaos in the future. Further, anybody who has ever failed to plan can attest to the disorder they soon find themselves in by skipping this important step. So my advice is to take control of this stage—the planning—and then push to get it off the ground.

Once your plan is in place, then letting go and letting it all unfold is the wisest thing to do. We can’t control every single detail, and why would we want to? Could you imagine how boring life would be if we could have command over how everything plays out in its entirety? No, this is a period of unknowing and discomfort, where details just unfold as they will. This is where we encounter the spice of life, the things that makes life interesting; the little curve balls that we don’t expect, and which lead us into areas of our greatest growth. I personally love it—most of my greatest adventures have come as a result of being open to these moments in the great unknown.

During this stage, you will probably find yourself in fight-or-flight, wondering what the heck you’ve gotten yourself into. You’ll question your abilities and what you thought you knew, but hang in there, because it’s usually where miracles happen. It’s highly imperative to be flexible in this phase—in other words, to just go with the flow—because trying to control too much here can make the challenge even worse; and really, you’ll only be holding yourself back, blocking your own success, and maybe even having a hard time learning the associated lessons (don’t worry, you’ll learn eventually anyway) if you push too hard. Further, even if it does all work out for you, the stress you cause by trying to control the uncontrollable will age you unnecessarily.

So, yes, going with the flow is important…but so is pushing. The reality is that an equal balance of the two will provide you with the greatest growth. So be diligent and plan ahead; work on your final cause before undertaking any endeavor. You will take care of all the things you can control that way, and anticipate a few of problems you will encounter along the way. But when it comes time for stepping back and getting flexible—then sway with the wind. You will keep your sanity that way, while very likely discovering some cool things you just hadn’t expected; and you’ll grow in character, too. Not a bad way to approach life in general: Planning…and then going with the flow.

Love Relationships

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Everything in life is cyclical, even romantic relationships. We may have few of these, or many, during our lifetime, but there’s no doubt that they can be our biggest catalysts to growth. Our mates both support and challenge us more than anybody outside of ourselves, such that nobody else knows how to comfort us so capably, yet so effectively push our buttons. Our mates, then, along with our children, are our greatest teachers.

The things that become issues within our relationships tend to be parts of ourselves that we deny we have, and so we project our perceptions onto our partners. What we see in them are simply parts of us we haven’t loved yet, and so whatever karmic lessons we have to learn then become imprinted on our minds as our significant other’s problem. At certain stages of our lives we may try to change that other person, but this is futile, because people just are who they are. It is our imposed perceptions that we have the real problem with, and it’s important to remember that whatever we fail to love in its entirety will come back around, often in a different form or another person, yet with the lessons remaining the same.*

Earliest Relationships Teach Us to Love Ourselves

We start having romantic-like relationships during our preadolescence. This period is characterized by our simply learning the basics—doing things alone together, kissing, touching and other forms of intimacy, and even fighting and conflict resolution. And, of course, the inevitable…breaking up. Yes we learn very early the lesson of non-permanence. All these aspects of our first romantic relationships are important introductions into the intricacies of love, or infatuation, whatever the case may be.

As we get older, then, we take each new relationship into a new level of awareness and understanding. The things that we have learned in previous ones make us a bit savvier for the next, but our earliest relationships are really just platforms for us to learn about ourselves. Let me qualify this statement, because surely we never stop learning, and as I said earlier, our significant others’ tend to be our greatest teachers:

I believe that we do not, and cannot, truly appreciate another person until we appreciate ourselves first. As we move through successive romantic relationships, ideally anyway, we learn to love more about ourselves. My greatest periods of personal growth have resulted from the discomforts of major breakups. Now I certainly realize that this isn’t the case for everybody, but the principle remains the same: Our romantic relationships force us to look at ourselves, and resolve any problems we may have with our own egos.

Thus we may find that some character traits don’t really serve us well—like perhaps pushing aside the things we enjoy or not living within our highest values to accommodate the other person’s values. Or maybe we find that our values aren’t really compatible—that we just want different things in life. This can be a worthy discovery, especially if we come to know our own values better. But we may simply learn about the areas in which we wish to empower ourselves, be it physically, financially, socially, or other. I’ve had every one of these experiences, and depending on your age you may have as well, but there is an even deeper self-understanding that can occur through our love relationships.

Loving Self Opens Doors to Loving Others

As we evolve, we may start to discover things about ourselves that we have always thought were “other-issues,” or at least things we have attracted, but which we come to realize are perceptual constructs that we have about the world in general, and our earliest love interests more specifically. Sigmund Freud called it the Oedipus complex , and Jung added Electra complex to the lexicon, to denote the psycho-sexual development of men and women respectively in relation to their opposite sex parents. I think it’s important to not fixate on the sexual aspect of the theory, and just to consider that our parental relationships affect every romantic relationship thereafter, by being the source of the misperceptions we project onto our mates.

Once we start to see how what we are projecting onto our significant other is really the result of early childhood experiences that have created viewpoints, or emotional charges, and that these have been directing our behaviors and perceptual experiences within our relationships ever since, then we can begin to resolve them, and move closer to transcending these imagined other-issues.

This is a deeper level of self-awareness that comes from being involved in love relationships, and frankly, some people never get there. But if you can, it’s worth the inevitable struggle and pain, particularly when you first make the discovery. The farther you can delve into this fascinating world of self-exploration, the more you will begin to see that your problems with your significant other have not only been cyclical occurrences, but had nothing to do at all with the people you have been involved with. Instead your perceptions are based on childhood events that you initially misperceived to begin with.

And before you think there is no method to the madness, let me assure you that these misperceptions have been necessary to your development and destiny fulfillment. You couldn’t escape them even if you wanted to, as we come into this life with our karmic debt, or necessary lessons to learn. And it wouldn’t have mattered, anyway, who your parents were, or your subsequent love interests, as you would have (and will) project your perceptions onto whomever you decide to get involved with regardless.

True Love

As you move through this stage of self-awareness, the greater your capacity to truly appreciate your romantic partner becomes—and the closer you get to true love. Because when you can see your partner as a reflection of yourself, you are better able to understand who they actually are, and even what they might be going through at any given time, because they are doing with you exactly the same as you have been doing with them.

True love constitutes all parts of others and complete experiences—not just the “good” or “pleasureful”, but everything in its entirety. Being able to see that our perceptions are the real determinants in what we consider to be problems is the key to making these quantum transitions. When we enter this phase of self-awareness, our ability to see the love all around us begins to expand, and we can more fully appreciate the person we have chosen to walk through the next leg of our journey with.

Admittedly, not everybody makes it to this stage, and that’s okay—every path is one of learning, which is something none of us can escape. But if you can reach this step, you will surely find your romantic love relationships more rewarding, and the growth within, for the both of you, exponential; you will find that you attract the right partner at the right moment (could be your current spouse, as people can, and often do, grow together) for you to truly experience love in its fullest glory—not just the stuff that makes you feel good, but all of it. And best of all you will come to know yourself more completely, which is the true meaning of life, if you ask me.

~ Dr. Nick Campos June 11, 2012

*If you would love to know how to strengthen your current love relationship or how to attract your perfect mate, I am available for consultations: contact drnick@drnickcampos.com

Whatever You See, There You Are

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Reflective
I found a
weed
that had a

mirror in it
and that
mirror

looked in at
a mirror
in

me that
had a
weed in it ~ A.R. Ammons

nickcampos.comYou can’t escape yourself, have you heard? I’ve tried plenty of times, only to find that I was still lingering after the dust, or smoke, or booze had settled. Whatever we see in the world, whatever we perceive about others, is just that…a perception. It doesn’t really capture the true essence of a thing, unless you see all sides to that thing.

So people have all character traits, whether we like them or not. Just because we have the tendency to see others as one-sided doesn’t make it so. Everybody has everything—mean, nice, selfish, selfless, ego-centered and altruistic—nothing is missing. But when we judge another person—and it doesn’t matter if we are resenting them, or placing them on a pedestal—we are really just seeing them through our own perceptions.

Perception is an interesting thing, as it reflects our beliefs, drives (values), experiences, expectations, emotional charges, and karmic lessons. But believe me when I say it’s almost always wrong. Unless you see a person, thing, or event in its full capacity—both the “good” and the “bad”—and you love it for what it is, as it is, then you are not seeing that thing in its full capacity—its truth.

When we judge others, we are really judging that thing we deny in ourselves. We are so put off by traits and behaviors that we refuse to believe we have or do. In fact, we despise them so much in ourselves, that we will kick another person for showing us exactly how we are—an interesting form of blindness. But we certainly wouldn’t be able to see them if we were not so familiar, ourselves, with the trait.

And our common reactions to this person, trait or behavior tell us even more about who we are. Are you a runner? A fighter? A foot-stomper? Is it your way or the highway? It’s okay—it’s all good. Just know that whatever you fail to love today will come back around tomorrow, and you’ll get another chance to learn to love it. That’s life.

So remember that the weed you see in another is really the weed in you. See how it has benefited you and others, and see how this other person’s expression of it is benefiting you now—and love it! That’s the answer.

~ Nick Campos 6/8/2012

Legionnaires in Scotland

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Look out Edinburgh, Legionnaire’s disease is on the loose. Sixty one are said to be infected, and although authorities reassure the public that the health risk is low, they do expect numbers to climb.

The number of confirmed cases has increased to 24, while 37 more are suspected to be infected. One 56-year-old man has died. Officials have said that industrial cooling towers have been identified as a possible source of the infection, and that cooling systems at four facilities have been chemically treated. Scotland’s Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon told parliament that testing and analysis was still taking place but conceded that the source of the outbreak might never be known.

Legionnaire’s disease, also known as Legion Fever, is caused by the bacteria Legionella pneumophila, a ubiquitous aquatic organism that infects the respiratory tract on the inhalation of aerosol from the contaminated water source. The name of the disease was coined in 1976 when an outbreak of pneumonia occurred among people attending a convention of the American Legion at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia.

Sources of contamination include cooling towers (some 40% to 60% of ones tested) used in industrial cooling water systems as well as in large central air conditioning systems, evaporative coolers, nebulizers, humidifiers, whirlpools, hot water systems, showers, windshield washers, whirlpool spas, architectural fountains, room-air humidifiers, ice making machines, misting equipment, and similar disseminators that draw upon a public water supply. ~ Wikipedia

Although the disease can be transmitted by any contaminated water source, hotels, fountains, cruise ships and hospitals with complex potable water systems and cooling systems are especially susceptible; and even respiratory devices can be contaminated if sterile water isn’t used.

Legionnaire’s disease is characterized by fever, chills, and cough, which may be dry or may produce sputum. Some patients will also have muscle aches, headache, tiredness, loss of appetite, loss of coordination (ataxia), and occasionally diarrhea and vomiting. Confusion and impaired cognition may also occur, as well as so-called ‘relative bradycardia‘–a slowed heart rate.

The Scottish Health Secretary says that an increased number of infected people is expected. She stated, “We hope that they will begin to provide more specific answers about the source of the infection over the next few days. It is not always possible to conclusively determine the precise source of an outbreak. The key message within southwest Edinburgh is that the risk to public health is low,” but she added, “We expect to see further cases over the next week.”

Stay tuned.

Low Dietary Vit D Stroke Risk for Japanese-American Men

By On · Add Comment · In direct sunlight, japanese american males, rickets, stroke prevention, vitamin D, vitamin D deficiency

Whoa, check it: Japanese-American men with diets low in vitamin D had greater risk of stroke later in life. This according to recent long-term study looking at 7,400 Japanese-American men living in Hawaii. Just another confirmation that the sun nutrient, vitamin D, is paramount in maintaining health and wellness.

The study, which began in the mid-to-late-1960s, looked at Japanese-American men between the ages of 45 and 68, and examined and interviewed them about their dietary habits at that time. The men were then followed up with 34 years later, whereby 960 were found to have died of stroke. The men with the lowest vitamin D in their diets had a 22% greater risk of stroke, and a 27% greater risk of ischemic stroke (blood-clot type). No difference existed for hemorrhagic (bleeding) stroke, however.

“Our study confirms that eating foods rich in vitamin D might be beneficial for stroke prevention,” said study author Dr. Gotaro Kojima, a geriatric medicine fellow at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. He also stated that it is unknown at this time whether these results could be extrapolated to women or other ethnic groups.

So here I present just another study showing the importance of vitamin D supplementation, and again I ask how there can still be so many “authorities” unconvinced of the need to supplement. True, vitamin D can be found in foods like fortified milk, breakfast cereals, fatty fish and egg yolks, which are all good sources. And, of course, nothing beats the vitamin D production of our skin from the exposure to direct sunlight.

The good doctor Kojima does point out that synthesizing vitamin D from the sun becomes more difficult as people age, so older people especially should increase their dietary intake, and in my opinion take a good D supplement.

Once again, I’d like to point out that many experts, myself included, believe that the recommended blood D levels are too low; and while they may prevent some diseases, like rickets, optimum levels are almost 2-3 times more than the medical and dietary standards.

So Japanese-American men (and all people for that matter) need to get adequate sunlight (15-20 minutes sans sunscreen daily), eat vitamin D rich foods, and supplement. Hey, you can follow the authoritarian naysayers and skip supplementation, OR you can just freakin’ supplement. Which do you think comes with a heavier price to pay if wrong? Well then…nuff said.

West Hollywood Chiropractic: Icing Exercises for Biceps

By On · Add Comment · In biceps tendon, icing, inflammation, shoulder impingement syndrome, sports injury, subacromial bursa, West Hollywood sports chiropractor

For twelve years I’ve been sports chiropractic in West Hollywood. I’ve seen my fair share of shoulder injuries and conditions. The one I see most is shoulder impingement syndrome, and I find the element most forgotten in this common sports injury is the biceps tendon.

Now you might think, “Wait…my doctor told me I have biceps tendinitis, but it just never got better.” Right–because biceps tendinitis is only 33% correct when it comes to impingement syndrome. Two other elements play a major role in this sports injury–the supraspinatus tendon and the subacromial bursa–and so solely focusing on the biceps will not solve the problem.

However…when a shoulder impingement is properly diagnosed, and all instructions are followed, as far as treatment and icing is concerned, then the element I find most responsible for any stubbornness to healing and persistence of pain is the biceps tendon.

The final solution is two-fold. First is icing and cooling down that inflamed tendon. In the video below, I show the best way to ice the biceps tendon. It’s important to get the long head tendon out to the surface–you’ll get the most complete icing that way. To do this you will need to externally rotate the arm. I instruct my clients to do this seated in a chair or couch, or anywhere in which the arm can be help up and rotated outward. This movement brings the long head of the biceps from the deep interior of the axilla (arm pit) out to the exterior, and the back rest can be used to hold the arm in place, because remember icing should be done for fifteen minutes, no more, no less.

Watch the video to see how to best ice your biceps-persistent shoulder impingement syndrome, and we’ll discuss the second step in a future post.

Got Gaydar?

By On · Add Comment · In configural face processing, featural face processing, gay, gaydar, phenotype, sexual orientation, straight, Thatcher effect

Got Gaydar? I do. At least I think I do. And here’s something…you might also. In fact, it looks like many of us have the ability to tell gay from straight; it’s an evolution thing. You’ll have to admit the neurological benefits to NOT having to think too hard about whether someone is a potential sex partner or not, right? I mean…it’s just biology.

Well, a recent study gives evidence that humans not only have a pretty good capability of telling another’s sexual orientation, but there may even be phenotypic markers that give it all away. Whoa! In other words, genetics may play an even bigger part than some of us have thought: How you look, and what you see, can get you laid…in the right way.

A study coming out of the University of Washington, Seattle sought to find out how we read faces to determine sexual orientation. Previous studies have shown that we possess the ability greater than what would be expected by sheer chance, so the UW team wanted to understand the mechanism.

What we know: People can pick out with relatively high accuracy both men’s and women’s sexual orientation relying on no more than grossly impoverished facial photographs (i.e., grayscale, hair-removed) presented for as few as 40–50 ms.

What we don’t know: Do people use featural face processing–relying on individual facial features, like eye and mouth cues–or do they use configural face processing, the relationship among facial features, like distance between eyes and such, or some combination of the two?

To study this, researchers took profile pictures of self-reported hetero- and homosexual men and women off Facebook, and doctored them with Photoshop, removing hair and ears, and essentially just leaving the face. They then showed the photos to 129 college students, some right side up, and others upside down. Previous studies have shown that an above-chance accuracy exists for determining sexual orientation through individual facial cues, and these cues are accurately assessed when viewed either right side up or upside down. In men, for instance, cues around the eyes alone or mouth alone led to high sex orientation accuracy.

But for configural processing–which include a) ordinal spatial relationships among individual features (e.g., eyes appear above noses), b) cardinal spatial relationships among individual features (e.g., the amount of space between the eyes), or processing the face in a holistic or gestalt manner (i.e., the general shape of the face)–things get a bit tougher. While people are able to determine categorical features, like gender or race, from primarily individual cues, and thus whether the view is right side up or upside down, other identity-based features, like familiarity or celebrity, which rely more on configural cues, are lost when the image is viewed upside down (called the Thatcher effect).

The researchers found that although participants were able to read men’s sex preference with above-chance accuracy, they were much better at reading women’s. And “false alarms” were less common in women, too–so with the gals, it appears…when we know, we know. But most surprisingly was that sexual orientation was picked out with above-chance accuracy in the upside down position, albeit not as precisely as when right-side up, thus the scientist concluded that both featural and configural processes are at work when assessing sexual orientation.

So we have facial features that conform to our sexual orientation individually and in their relation to one another, spatially and holistically. No doubt, these features tell our potential mates which way we swing. Some things we still don’t know is do the facial features and sexual orientation express together, or do our sexual orientation experiences shape phenotype (our looks)? Either way, you’ve got to admit this is an interesting study. I mean, most everybody thinks they’re equipped with gaydar. Truth is, we probably all are to a degree.

Effective Smoking Deterrent

By On · Add Comment · In CDC video, Centers of Disease Control (CDC), kids, quit smoking, smoking, smoking deterrent, Tips From Former Smokers

I don’t usually care for commercials, but they got me on one today. I usually get pissed when I have to wait five seconds to skip an ad…and those sly marketers did it. The simple headline, “Tips From Former Smokers,” grabbed me. What? And from the opening line–it’s genius!

“When you got a hole in your neck, don’t face the shower head.”

Bam! Powerful. And it keeps getting better. If this ain’t a deterrent for smoking, man, nothing’s gonna stop ya. Yeah, it worked for me.

Listen up, school boards…play this CDC video for every kindergarten, grammar school and high school in the world if you want to deter smoking. Make them in different languages. Don’t hold back, show the kids–you’ll probably decrease new smokers by fifty percent. G’head–dare ya. And tell ’em Campos told ya.

Sodas Make Ya Dumb!

By On · Add Comment · In diabetes, high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), insulin resistance, omega-3 fatty acids, soda, soft drinks, sugar dysregulation

Duhhhhh….does soda make you fat? Don’t know…but it might make you dumb. So says a recent study out of the University of California, Los Angeles, which observed what happened when rats were fed a steady diet of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), the principle constituent of soft drinks.

Researchers trained 24 rats over a five day period to complete a complicated maze (Barnes maze test, feeding them standard rat chow. They then randomly assigned the rats into four dietary groups: half receiving HFCS as their main beverage source, and half receiving water. Each group was then split into two, those with added omega-3 fatty acids to their diet (rat chow) and those without, so that the four groups looked like this:

  1. high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) only
  2. high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS)  + omega-3s
  3. water only
  4. water only  + omega-3s
All four groups continued receiving powdered rat chow throughout (with or without the omega-3s). The results showed a few interesting things. First, although there was no difference in final weight or size of the rats, the HFCS groups preferred eating the sugar to the rat chow–they must have been American–although caloric intake stayed consistent among all the groups.

Second, although the rats were found to be in the same initial cognitive condition prior to their special diets, after six weeks the rats that were deficient in omega-3s showed a decline in memory, and thus a reduced ability to complete the maze. Hmmm…. And the results were even worse for the rats deficient in omega-3s and high in HFCS.

But even more interestingly is that the cognitive deficiencies (memory loss) were ameliorated by adding omega-3s to the diet. Whoa!… The researchers conclude that omega-3 deficiency led to a vulnerability of the rats’ brains to the high fructose corn syrup. Fascinating.
“The DHA-deprived animals were slower, and their brains showed a decline in synaptic activity,” said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “Their brain cells had trouble signaling each other, disrupting the rats’ ability to think clearly and recall the route they’d learned six weeks earlier.”

The researchers believe that the lack of omega-3s caused the brain to become insulin resistant, which would increase the sugar concentration in the blood. This sugar dysregulation then, they think, disrupts the brain’s ability to process sugar, a necessary food source for the brain to process thoughts and emotions.

“Insulin is important in the body for controlling blood sugar, but it may play a different role in the brain, where insulin appears to disturb memory and learning,” Gomez-Pinilla said.

High-fructose corn syrup is commonly found in soda, condiments, applesauce, baby food and other processed snacks. The average American consumes more than 40 pounds (18 kilograms) of high-fructose corn syrup per year, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

“Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think,” said Gomez-Pinilla.

“Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain’s ability to learn and remember information. But adding omega-3 fatty acids to your meals can help minimize the damage.”

So the take home lesson here is two-fold: One, and for me the most important, is to make sure you are getting sufficient omega-3s in your diet. Because the typical western diet is high in omega-6s and low in omega-3s, then supplementing, in my opinion, is the best bet.

And two…HFCS is garbage! I’ve been saying it for over a decade, and nothing’s come along to alter my opinion. The typical American is both omega-3 deficient AND consumes too much HFCS. Think about that if you still can…

Los Angeles Chiropractic: Beginners Exercise to Strengthen Muscle in Lower Back

By On · Add Comment · In abdominal core, functional exercises, low back exercises, low back pain, pain relief, pelvic tilts, plank pose

Was recently asked by a Twitter follower what the best exercise for the low back would be. My unsatisfying answer: “Well, what do you need a strong back for?” Taken at face value it might seem that I am denying the need for a strong back, but nothing could be farther from the truth, although I do think the pelvic and leg muscles are more likely to be in need of strengthening.

Nevertheless, I think the wisest approach to determining which exercises should be carried out is to think functionally–that is, what are you attempting to improve? Do you need power for a sport, endurance, or is it to alleviate low back pain? Really, the end result matters.

So this particular gentleman disclosed to me that he was having pain and difficulty getting up and out of a chair. Okay…I’ve got an answer for this. The best exercise to reduce pain and difficulty getting in and out of a chair, then…is to get in and out of a chair. Forget back extensions, or superman, or anything like that–be functional: Reproduce the activity you need to do. Doesn’t that make sense? Don’t do biceps curls so that you may jump higher…

Watch the video below to get the gist of what I mean. You’ll want to observe some basics, like…keeping your back straight, and tightening your abdominal core. If you are uncertain of how to do that, please watch the video on abdominal hollowing and plank pose. While you’re at it, watch the video on pelvic tilting as well. Gaining control of the abdominal core is essential to strengthening the low back.

So, again, before looking to strengthen a particular area, ask yourself for what purpose, because this will dictate the exercise you need to do. Then do a functional exercise–one that simulates the movement–and you should be cool. Enjoy the vid and the exercise. Thank you, Ricardo.

Simple Math

By On · Add Comment · In healthcare costs, healthy lifestyle habits, retirement

If your good looks, vitality and ability to interact with your loved ones ain’t enough to keep you focusing on your health, then how ’bout this: Newly retired couples may need $240,000 throughout their retirement  for health care costs alone! Got that saved, boomers? No?… then try something different…like caring for your health now!

This post isn’t just for people entering retirement, it’s for young folk, because the time to care for your health is now, today…not when you get sick. Check it: What you do today, determines how you live tomorrow. That’s right, your current lifestyle habits–and let me emphasize habits, because that occasional drink isn’t hurting you, nor is that occasional walk around the block really exercise–believe it or not, are cumulatively affecting your body for better or for worse. Eat an occasional Big Mac? Big deal. Live off take-out, however, and it’s $240K and counting.


According to a study conducted by Fidelity Investments, a Boston-based consulting firm, the estimated $240,000 that a newly retired couple will need to cover health care expenses reflects the typical pattern of projected annual increases. They cite President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul as the reason for the increase.

“As long as health care cost trends exceed personal income growth and economic growth, health care will still be a growing burden for the country as a whole and for individuals,” says Sunit Patel, a senior vice president for benefits consulting at Fidelity, and an actuary who helped calculate the estimate.
So let’s read between the lines. The average American doesn’t think too much about their health until it goes awry. Then they run to the doctor to get “cured.” The average American drinks more soda than water. The average American over 65 does not exercise. The average American eats a high processed food diet; recent reports even have 42% of all Americans obese by 2030 (not that far off, folks). So yeah, $240,000 for health care actually sounds cheap to me.
But let’s look at things this way: Cut the processed foods and start eating whole, natural foods. Exercise 3-5 times per week, even if that just means walking around the block after dinner (it’s something…). Get regualr bodywork to decrease the need for “arthritis meds.” Rest and recuperate regularly. Try something outside of lifetime antidepressants. Listen to your body and change what isn’t working so you don’t have to be on lifestyle drugs. In other words…DON’T BE AVERAGE…and guess what? < $240,000. (Cheers!)
Simple math, folks…oh yeah, with a little health and wellness wisdom to boot. So it’s up to you: Pick up some healthy lifestyle behaviors and practice them regularly…or start saving.

Say Bye Too-Skinny…Vogue-Style

By On · Add Comment · In body mass index (BMI), British Fashion Council, eating disorders, London Fashion Week, New York Fashion Week, too-skinny models, Vogue magazine

Bravo to Vogue magazine…bravo. I have been saying for over a decade that if we want to make a dent in the perpetuation of eating disorders, it has to start with the images we choose to look at regularly, the ones we choose to deem “beautiful.” Well, Vogue mag is doing its part by banning the images of “too-skinny” models. Duh! And Bravo.

Not only is the mega-fashion mag doing away with too-skinny, but too-young is being flung, too. The 19 Vogue magazine editors around the world made a pact to project healthy, not ultra-thin. They agreed to “not knowingly work with models under the age of 16 or who appear to have an eating disorder,” and said they will ask casting directors to check IDs at photo shoots and fashion shows and for ad campaigns.

Most editions of Vogue made it common practice to hire girls under 16–a sure road to a future eating disorder. I mean think about it–which model isn’t going to psych-out when comparing herself to her immature, underdeveloped 14-year-old self?

“I want my prepubescent figure back…” Duh!

But, of course, not just models: Every young adult, teen, and heck…many women of all ages look to fashion magazines like Vogue for ideas on the latest looks, and these unfortunately…and probably subconsciously…include body types. I cannot tell you how many women I have heard say, “But clothes just hang better when you’re thin.”

My retort, “No…you just have set the convoluted images in fashion and celebrity magazines as your relative point…the standard,” if you will.

Seems that Vogue, however, is just following a healthy trend. The Council of Fashion Designers of America adopted a voluntary initiative in 2007, which emphasizes age minimums and healthy working environments during New York Fashion Week, and London Fashion Week designers sign a contract with the British Fashion Council to use models who are at least 16.

The primary fashion organizations in Italy and Spain banned catwalk models who fall below a certain body mass index (BMI) level, and earlier this year, Israel’s government passed an anti-skinny-model law. This all on the heels of the deaths of two young models in 2006-2007 following complications from eating disorders.

But up until now, the focus has been solely on runway models. This push by one of the worlds biggest fashion magazines, however, is a giant leap. As Vogue goes, so goes…well, everybody. The “Vogue pact” says the magazines will help “structure mentoring programs” for younger models and raise awareness of the problem of model health. They said they would encourage healthy working conditions backstage and encourage designers “to consider the consequences of unrealistically small sample sizes of their clothing, which limits the range of women who can be photographed in their clothes, and encourages the use of extremely thin models.”

So bravo, again, to Vogue and the entire fashion industry for taking the bulimics by the horns–it’s about time! Healthy bodies need to be celebrated in their full glory; and the health and safety of both models and the young women idolizing them will get a big boost from this move. What can I say, Vogue? You made this health advocate proud.

West Hollywood Chiropractic: Advanced Hamstring Workouts and Stretches for Pain Relief

By On · Add Comment · In hamstring injury, hamstring stretches, hamstring workouts, pain relief, sports chiropractor, tight hamstrings, tight muscles
No, no, no, no NO! All wrong–watch the vid below

So I’ve now given you two great hamstring stretches–one that is the most basic, and where I would recommend everybody to start. Remember, it’s using a wall to brace yourself as you bend forward. Why do you need the object on which to brace? Simple…maintaining an arch while bending forward is probably a very different movement for you, so the wall will help you do the position easier. Truth be told, as you get more comfortable, you will probably not need the wall anymore; but I encourage you to master using the wall before getting cocky and going without, as you want to avoid causing injury (and thus spending the next several months to years getting treated by your friendly neighborhood sports chiropractor)

The first advanced hamstring stretch, then, was a lunge stretch to hit the upper hamstrings. It’s advanced because if you are very tight, you are susceptible to injury–pulls, tears, and possibly not getting back up without the help of the fire department. So you can try it if you are not sure, but go sloooowly. And if you are severely challenged…then back to the door for you.

The advanced hamstring stretch I demonstrate in the video now uses a prop such as a chair, a weight bench, or even a railing at the gym (or anywhere for that matter). However, the same principles as in the beginners hamstring stretch still apply, primarily that it is imperative that the arch in the low back must be maintained throughout. This is your limiting factor–so once you lose the arch, that’s where you stop. How far forward you bend is of least importance after the arch, the alignment of the hips, foot position and a good dorsiflexion of the foot.

You will see that as your hamstrings open, this stretch will become easier, and more rewarding. Watch the video to see the proper biomechanics in doing the advanced hamstring workouts and stretches for pain relief. Once you’ve got them down, you are on your way to getting good length into these back thigh workhorses. Have fun, and don’t forget the arch.

The Evolution of Health Science

By On · Add Comment · In American Cancer Society, cancer prevention, exercise, healthy diet, healthy lifestyle behaviors, medical science, self-healing, The Six Keys to Optimal Health, vitamin supplements

Happy that medical science is entering the new age; a little slowly perhaps, but I can appreciate the evolution. New recommendations from the American Cancer Society stress healthy lifestyle behaviors, not just as a preventative  to cancer, but also as a way to boost survival for those that currently have cancer. Bravo, ACS—welcome to the amazing world of human self-healing.

Because medical science believes strongly in evidence, yet prefers to follow the money when choosing which evidence to gather, it can take a little while to uncover what some in the healing professions (we charlatans) have known for decades through simple observation. But I’m a scientist at heart, so I appreciate. Check it:

According to the Powers That Be, healthy lifestyle behaviors—like the ones I discuss in detail in my book, The Six Keys to Optimal Health—could keep cancer from recurring, or can prevent cancer survivors from getting a new type of cancer. Yes! So healthy diet, exercise, and keeping the weight under control go a long way in enhancing and preserving health. Nice…

About 1 in 25 Americans are cancer survivors, according to Colleen Doyle, the cancer society’s director of nutrition and physical activity. Although earlier research showed healthy lifestyle behaviors to prevent cancer, no studies had looked at the benefits for current cancer patients or survivors. And remember: no evidence, no medical acknowledgement…sometimes even ridicule and accusations of quackery. But well that’s early hominid thinking, and the times they are a-changing.

“The last time we published recommendations for survivors in 2006, we didn’t feel there was enough evidence to say clearly that watching your weight, being active and eating a healthy diet can reduce risk of recurrence,” said Doyle, a co-author of the guidelines. “Since that time, 100 studies have looked at the impact of weight, diet or a combination of those things, and those studies have clearly formed a foundation for us being able to make these very solid recommendations that adopting a healthy lifestyle is one of the most important things cancer survivors can do for themselves.”

That’s wonderful…don’t you just love seeing natural selection right up close and personal?

But the guidelines still warn of supplementation. Say the elders of the tribe:

De-Evolution Anyone?

No evidence shows that supplements benefit cancer survivors, and there is some evidence that certain supplements may cause harm.

Well, they can’t get it all right too soon…that wouldn’t follow the principles of evolution being a time process. Let’s face it, though: the silly studies currently done on vitamin supplementation try to answer questions from a pharmaceutical frame of reference, like how vitamins might cure disease.

But the principles of self-healing to those of disease-curing are like comparing apples to colostomy bags—both edible but really depends on one’s tastes.

Applause to the machine, nonetheless; healthy behaviors do very much more than prevent disease—they give life. An incredibly profound concept that medical science has yet to grasp…let alone study.

Mad Cow Disease in California

By On · Add Comment · In bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), California, mad cow's disease, meat and bone meal (MBM), new variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD or nvCJD), prions, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Prick up your ears, folks–a case of mad cow disease has been found in a dairy cow in California yesterday. Although authorities have stated that there is nothing to fear since no part of the cow entered the food chain (nor is the agent responsible for the disease transmissible through cow’s milk), this could have a major impact on beef exporters, as previous cases in the United States, Canada, Israel, Europe and Japan have caused disruptions to the global food trade worth billions of dollars.

According to the U.S Department of Agriculture, this is the fourth-ever case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), otherwise known as mad cow disease–a disease fatal to cows and which can cause a deadly human brain disease in people who eat tainted meat–to be reported in the U.S. The last U.S. case of mad cow was in 2006, and the first in 2003 led to a $3 billion backlash against American beef exports. That episode led to a South Korean boycott of U.S. beef for the next five years. Mexico, South Korea and Japan are among the main export markets for U.S. Beef, with S. Korea alone importing107,000 tonnes of US beef last year, 37% of total imports of the meat, according to the agriculture ministry.

Experts claim that this case is atypical in that the infected cow contracted  the disease spontaneously, and not through the feed supply. Past cases are thought to have developed through the mixing of remains of other cattle in the form of meat and bone meal (MBM), which caused the infectious agent–prions–to spread.

In humans, the disease is contracted by eating the contaminated parts of an infected cow. The disease causing agent–a protein known as a prion–is lethal to neurological tissue. As it kills the nerve cells (neurons), empty spaces develop in the brain, causing a sponge-like appearance, and thus the name bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). However, this is the name of the disease in cows. In humans it’s known as new variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD or nvCJD), and it does cause the same neuro-degeneration and eventually death.

One real challenge of mad cow disease is that there is a long incubation time. Thus, cattle can become infected long before they show signs of the disease. This makes it easier for infected meat to enter the human food supply. Although the disease is contactable from eating muscle tissue–the typical beef products consumed in the U.S.–it is in higher concentration in nervous tissue such as the brain and spinal cord, as well as the digestive system, which are consumed more often in some other cultures.

This recent case is not thought to be a danger to humans as the USDA has assured the public that it has been contained. Some unknowns about the current case is whether the animal died of the disease and whether other cattle in its herd are similarly infected. The infected cow was identified through an Agriculture Department surveillance program that tests about 40,000 cows a year for the fatal brain disease. The name of the dairy where the cow died hasn’t been released, and officials haven’t said where the cow was born.

So it looks, for now, that the U.S. surveillance system for food safety has worked this time. Bravo to that! I don’t suggest getting alarmed, although if you are worried you can avoid eating beef for the time being. We should know more over the next couple of days, so keep your eyes and ears peeled.

*Great fact sheet on mad cow disease here.

Phew! Starbucks to Stop Using Crushed Beetles

By On · Add Comment · In artificial drinks, cochineal beetles, ovo-lacto vegetarian, Starbucks Strawberry Frappuccino, vegan

Don’t you just love a good Starbucks Strawberry Frappuccino? Mmm…delicious strawberry coloring and taste, the crushed beetles are so authentic. Crushed beetles? Yes–I mean how did you think they manufactured that pink strawberry-like coloring? Oh…ha ha ha…you thought fresh strawberries? Oh heavens, and did you think Chicken McNuggets were chicken?…

Well it looks like hordes of non-discerning consumers–oddly many vegans–are upset that Starbucks uses crushed-up beetles to make their unusually pink drinks pink. I guess being vegetarian doesn’t require any complex understanding of food–you know, like the natural coloring of fruit is not maintained once its structure is disrupted (it’s kind of observational…apple turns brown when you bite it…). Consequently, they gotta use something artificial to make artificial drinks.

“Natural” Cochineal Beetles

Soooo….since Starbucks relies so heavily on its non-discriminating customers, and it wouldn’t think of continuing to offend such pure dietary champions as its vegetarian base, it has decided to stop its practice of using crushed up cochineal beetles. Bravo! Now they can use chemicals like everybody else!

And Starbucks’ vegan customers can continue to fool themselves into believing that they are actually drinking strawberries–yay! Ha ha ha…human folly.

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