FitEyes.com

It Was a Bad Week for Modern Medicine

Dave — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:35:00 GMT

It Was a Bad Week for Modern Medicine
So National Institutes of Health Launches 'Inquisition' Into Use Of Dietary Supplements and Alternative Therapies

Read the full article here: http://www.lewrockwell.com/sardi/sardi98.html

Here is an excerpt:

Breast cancer cooking machines

The zinger was the report showing breast cancers just disappear if you leave them alone, stop clamping breasts in mammogram machines, stop zapping women’s breasts with radiation machinery (mammography) and stop lancing breasts with biopsy needles. (Archives Internal Medicine Nov. 24, ’08). Yep, the body’s immune system just engulfs these developing tumors.

But modern medicine is not going to live this one down easily. To be sure, the human immune system is not greater than the best oncologist. Women need an oncologist to care for their breasts with treatment that befits a torture chamber.

The women who chose to pass up bi-annual mammograms had 22% less breast cancer! But, with all this dose of reality, thousands of gullible American women, driven largely by the greater fear of cancer than the fear of treatment, will submit their breasts to the torture arena, over and over.

A Chicago Tribune blog space revealed this: "In four Norwegian countries, breast cancer rates increased significantly after women there began undergoing mammography every two years." (Chicago Trib Nov. 28, ’08) Do you think American medicine is covertly cooking breast cancer in those radiation machines and naïve women never figure this out? Ah, come on, the doctors wouldn’t do that, would they?

Acupuncture beats aspirin for chronic headache

Dave — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:32:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Acupuncture works better than drugs like aspirin to reduce the severity and frequency of chronic headaches, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

A review of studies involving nearly 4,000 patients with migraine, tension headache and other forms of chronic headache showed that that 62 percent of the acupuncture patients reported headache relief compared to 45 percent of people taking medications, the team at Duke University found.

"Acupuncture is becoming a favorable option for a variety of purposes, ranging from enhancing fertility to decreasing post-operative pain, because people experience significantly fewer side effects and it can be less expensive than other options," Dr. Tong Joo Gan, who led the study, said in a statement.

"This analysis reinforces that acupuncture also is a successful source of relief from chronic headaches."

Read the full article here: http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USTRE4B10V220081202

"One of the barriers to treatment with acupuncture is getting people to understand that while needles are used, it is not a painful experience," Gan said.

Other studies have shown that acupuncture helped alleviate pain in patients who had surgery for head and neck cancer, can relieve hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms and can reduce chemotherapy-induced nausea.

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE4B10V220081202?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&sp=true

FitEyes Needs Your Input Now!

Dave — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:45:00 GMT

We need to make some big decisions. And soon. I would like the FitEyes community -- you -- to get intimately involved in making these decisions. The issues before us are partly financial and technical, but they also extend to the core of what this community is about. So let me dive right in to the discussion and I look forward to your feedback and your support.

Please tell me what you think is the right future direction for FitEyes.

What does the FitEyes community mean to you?

What does FitEyes provide that you cannot obtain anywhere else?

Would you be willing to make a small donation to help us continue offering all this knowledge for free? You can donate immediately via PayPal using the email address in this link: donate to support FitEyes.com

What value do you personally receive from the community here? What do you contribute back?

What more would you like FitEyes to provide? In what ways could the website be improved?

How can we grow the community?

How can you help us create the kind of community that would fully meet your highest needs?

I have a vision for a much larger community with users taking much greater advantage of the website's technology. And I see self-tonometry growing exponentially until all ophthalmologists are educating every patient who is a a candidate for self-tonometry about its benefits and how to get started. Self-tonometry revolutionizes a glaucoma patient's health and vision care. I want to see everyone who currently practices self-tonometry speaking out more on this website, educating other glaucoma patients, and blogging about their own experiences.

Unlike any other patient-created community I know of, the FitEyes community has conducted valuable original research and has discovered important knowledge. I continuously receive emails from readers who have read information available only on FitEyes and have already received benefits in their lives from applying this knowledge. However, I would love to see more of those people become active in the community. When someone sends me an email, I learn from it and I appreciate it, but no one else in the community sees it. In contrast, when someone makes a blog post or a forum post, the entire community benefits. I want to see us spread our knowledge and help everyone.

This website currently represents about 1% of the knowledge we have accumulated. We have one member here who has invested over $50,000 of his own money in advanced medical equipment to conduct vision research. This person is an unbelievable resource. Are you aware of this? Do you realize how unique this is? We have many members who own their own tonometers (at significant investments) and conduct daily intraocular pressure measurements. We have many extremely dedicated, smart and motivated people here. There is no patient community in the world that can rival what we have here. The knowledge and resources are truly astounding. Yet I am disappointed that so little of that knowledge gets shared with the whole community. How can we do more? One idea is that I would like to see the FitEyes website take a more active role in the publication of new medical research. With a modest amount of funding, we could create truly profound results. I know because much of the foundational work has already been done.

Together with two other authors, I have recently published an article about self-tonometry in a leading medical journal. That's something we could do more of, but it isn't my highest priority. Sure, it is prestigious to have articles published in medical journals, but I am more motivated to publish truly leading-edge knowledge that is more advanced than what the typicallly conservative medical journals will (at this time) consider publishing. And I want to fast-track that knowledge right to the people who can benefit from it immediately -- to you. My self-tonometry journal article is already about a year old -- and it hasn't even hit the presses yet. And the article doesn't even include the most advanced self-tonometry knowledge that I have written about here on FitEyes. I want to move faster that that system allows. And I want to remain focused on the safe, natural, non-invasive and non-drug areas of medical care that over underserved by the mainstream. Would you support FitEyes to make more of this possible?

There are several ways you can support FitEyes and take this community in the direction we all decide we want it to go. If you can blog or otherwise contribute content, please do so right away. If you own a tonometer, your voice is important. Don't underestimate the importance of your voice if you are fortunate enough to be able to conduct rigorous self-tonometry research. However, I understand that not everyone has the time or the inclination to participate actively on the website or to be disciplined in their self-tonometry research. There are other options for supporting FitEyes, including making modest financial donations to help offset the expenses of operating this website.

Those of you who cannot afford tonometers could potentially sponsor small studies designed to answer specific questions of interest to you and to the community. Your contribution of just $25 to $100 could pave the way to original research involving medical equipment with a collective cost well in excess of $100,000. We could do amazing research on specific nutritional supplements and intraocular pressure, for example. I know this is a topic that interests a lot of people. Reliable research on certain supplements is completely non-existent. As a community, we are uniquely positioned to conduct research like this. If you do not own a tonometer, imagine how much value you could derive from being able to ask a group of people with tonometers to help find answers to the questions that main stream medicine refuses to pursue? We can do that here, but we need support from you to make it happen.

If the community want us to expand our research and to undertake direct publication of new knowledge here, we will need more substantial financial support. (And I don't expect this support will come from the industry. The support needs to come from the community, from you.) Over the years that this site has been running, one generous member has made a significant donation. I cannot expression my appreciation enough to this generous and supportive member. I am amazed by his generousity. But no successful community can reach its full potential and best serve all its members when only a single member provides financial support. In fact, as generous as that donation was, we have ongoing operating expenses that are not being covered.

The FitEyes website runs on a powerful technology platform, including both the software and the webserver. We made the decision to use this powerful platform in order to provide advanced technology to our user community -- to you. All these features have been made available to everyone in the FitEyes community for free. How is that possible? It is possible because I have been paying all these costs myself. Currently, web hosting costs well over $100/mo (for a VPS with 1GB RAM). The software license cost was almost $1000 (and the renewal/upgrade fee is $5000 now).

One immediate technology decision we need make relates to the webserver and software. I would like to see us convert to open source software. This eliminates the software licensing costs (although we should, in turn, donate something to the community supporting the open source software we choose). Furthermore, it allows us to scale back the hosting costs significantly. Monthly web hosting costs would drop by at least half. However, converting the existing FitEyes website to a new technology platform will cost several thousand dollars. (The current bids are as high as $4000, but we hope to find a competent team at a cost of not more than $2000. But first we need to raise $2000!)

The technology migration involves a complex database conversion and more. We need to start this right away because the current hosting agreement is paid only through January. Please consider making a donation now to help us hire the developers immediately so we can get the new open source version of FitEyes up and running before January. This is a big project and it has to be done with great care to avoid losing information from the current FitEyes website. Please help us ensure, through your donation, that we can transition to a more cost effective technology platform so that we can continue to provide everything we offer to the entire community for free.

Any donation amount will be very helpful. Please consider giving any amount you can afford. You can donate via PayPal using the email address in this link: donate now. And please jump into the conversation about the future of FitEyes! Thank you.

Melamine warning for Chinese-made supplements, protein powders and shakes

Dave — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 02:26:00 GMT

I hope you are not consuming protein supplements, but if you are, be aware of this news about melamine.

"China is one of the world’s biggest makers of supplements, and some protein powders and shakes are made largely with powdered milk."

"Unscrupulous food and feed dealers in China add melamine to their products because it increases nitrogen content to give the appearance in testing that protein levels are adequate. Because it dissolves poorly, melamine can block the body’s filtering system, potentially leading to kidney failure and death."

The Food and Drug Administration has issued an alert because of concern about such products being contaminated with the toxic chemical melamine. "Melamine was discovered in infant formula in September and it has sickened more than 50,000 infants in China and killed at least four."

"Since that time, melamine has been found in a wide range of other products, including milk, eggs and fish feed. As a result, companies in the United States have recalled several products generally sold in Asian specialty stores, including a nondairy creamer and Mr. Brown brands of instant coffee and tea."

See the full article here.

Glaucoma Related to Anxiety and Depression

Dave — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:41:00 GMT

Over the last several years, original research conducted by FitEyes.com has supported the observation that our internal state (which largely consists of our thoughts and emotions) is fundamentally related to the health of our eyes. Our physical health and our state of consciousness are intimately related and each can influence the other. However, in our model of health, consciousness is primary.

One interesting result of our original research is that we have collected a lot of data on the relationship between intraocular pressure and consciousness. We have found direct and immediate relationships between intraocular pressure and one's thoughts and emotions. This correlation has been observed over thousands of intraocular pressure measurements over a lengthy period of time. This is interesting research because it can really only be done via self-tonometry.

New research in the most recent issue of the Journal of Glaucoma caught my attention. This original research found "POAG [primary open angle glaucoma] was related to anxiety and depression." The conventional medical model assumes that the physical state (e.g., matter) is primary, which is in opposition to our model. However, ignoring the disagreement over whether matter or consciousness is primary, the research certainly found a relationship that strongly supports the message of FitEyes.com.

I want to share just a small section from this article with you.

Anxiety and depression are the two most common forms of psychologic disturbances, and some chronic physical diseases, such as angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, heart failure, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, gastrointestinal diseases, respiratory diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic pain, and cancer have previously been reported to cause these psychologic disturbances. Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) is one of the most common chronic eye diseases that can potentially result in bilateral blindness, and it may also be related to these psychologic disturbances. But to date, it is controversial whether POAG is related to them. Further studies with large sample size, using different instruments for identifying these psychologic disturbances, are desirable to understand more fully the relationship between POAG and these psychologic disturbances. The aim of this study was to assess anxiety and depression in patients w ith POAG. We also investigated whether [beta]-blocker eye-drops, which are commonly prescribed to glaucoma patients are responsible for the symptoms of depression.

In conclusion, POAG was related to psychologic disturbances. It is essential for physicians and their staff to be aware of the high prevalence of anxiety and depression in patients with POAG, and to provide patients with appropriate psychologic care as well as ophthalmologic care to improve the patient’s quality of life. No significant relationship between the use of [beta]-blocker eye-drops and depression was noted.

If you combine knowledge of the relationship reported by this article in The Journal of Glaucoma, together with the results observed in the FitEyes.com research that emotions have an immediate and profound influence on intraocular pressure, a very interesting picture of glaucoma begins to emerge.

Here is the abstract of the article:

High prevalence of anxiety and depression in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma.
Mabuchi F, Yoshimura K, Kashiwagi K, Shioe K, Yamagata Z, Kanba S, Iijima H, Tsukahara S.

Department of Ophthalmology, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi, Japan. fmabuchi@yamanashi.ac.jp

PURPOSE: To assess anxiety and depression in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG).

DESIGN: Multicenter prospective case-control study. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred thirty patients with POAG and 230 sex-matched and age-matched reference subjects with no chronic ocular conditions except cataracts. INTERVENTION: Anxiety and depression were evaluated using Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) questionnaire, which consists of 2 subscales with ranges of 0 to 21, representing anxiety (HADS-A) and depression (HADS-D).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The prevalence of POAG patients with anxiety (a score of more than 10 on the HADS-A) or depression (a score of more than 10 on the HADS-D) was compared with that in the reference subjects. The prevalence of patients with depression was compared between the POAG patients with and without current beta-blocker eye drops.

RESULTS: The prevalence (13.0%) of POAG patients with anxiety was significantly higher (P=0.030) than in the reference subjects (7.0%). The prevalence (10.9%) of POAG patients with depression was significantly higher (P=0.026) than in the reference subjects (5.2%). Between the POAG patients with and without beta-blocker eye-drops, no significant difference (P=0.93) in the prevalence of depression was noted.

CONCLUSIONS: POAG was related to anxiety and depression. No significant relationship between the use of beta-blocker eye-drops and depression was noted.

Experts Say Humans Can Live to 1,000 - Traditional Medical Systems Claim Humans Have in the Past Lived That Long

Dave — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:09:00 GMT

Cambridge University geneticist Aubrey de Grey has famously stated, “The first person to live to be 1,000 years old is certainly alive today …whether they realize it or not, barring accidents and suicide, most people now 40 years or younger can expect to live for centuries.”

Watch this talk at TED: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/aubrey_de_grey_says_we_can_avoid_aging.html

Notice the great similarity between Aubrey de Grey's ideas and those found in Ayurveda.

The Ayurvedic sages declared, "Ayurveda amritanam," which means Ayurveda is for immortality.

Non-medical Program to Reduce Intraocular Pressure

Dave — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:20:00 GMT

I teach a non-medical program to help people reduce their intraocular pressure through lifestyle modifications and mind-body techniques. I will take you by the hand hand and guide you through every step of what is, in my opinion, the most advanced non-medical program of vision care offered anywhere. I do not offer any medical advice (that's your ophthalmologist's job), but I can teach you techniques that we believe will complement traditional medical care. This program is fairly new, but we already have participants who are reporting impressive reductions in intraocular pressure. This program includes one hour of personal telephone consultation time with me as well as follow up via email during the week. I also offer advanced programs, so please inquire for more details.

Serene Impulse instruction is included as part of my consulting program.

By the way, if you own a tonometer, I can also help you get the most value from your tonometer as part of this program.

You can email me through this blog or directly using "dave" at this domain name.

Eleuthero's Potential for Glaucoma Patients

tsingle999 — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 05:10:00 GMT

Eleuthero is an herb that is defined as an adaptogen. Which means it helps the body adapt to stresses. In this herbs case it works for both mental and physical stresses.
As an adaptogen it is said to help lower blood pressure in people with high blood pressure and raise blood pressure in people with low blood pressure. Christopher Hobbs a top herbalist writes in his book on Ginseng that Eleuthero is the model adaptogenic herb. He says that "studies show that Eleuthero extract, when taken on a regular basis, can improve visual and hearing acuity." He goes on to state that "People with hypotension and hypertension showed normalization of blood pressure after courses of eleuthero extract. Several other studies support these findings." He also says that the Russian studies on eleuthero show "an enhancement of the liver's ability to break down and rid the body of drugs" Something we should all be concerned about with the daily dosing of the eye drops.

David Winston's (the east coast's top herbalist IMHO plus Steven Maimes co-author) book ADAPTOGENS: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress Relief (2007) discusses the clinical research and one of the findings was improvements in hearing. Now this is not direct evidence for action on the eyes but the things that tend to improve hearing and the auditory nerve (like blood flow) also tend to help eyes. The studies also show increased oxygen uptake. This is another finding that is not direct evidence for the eyes but the more oxygen you take in the more ends up going to your optic nerve in general. Eleuthero is also classified as an antioxidant which also supports the optic nerve. They say this herb improves alertness and cognitive function. Again the better brain function and of course the optic nerve is part of the brain.
Winston highlights the study by Arushanian et al, 2003 that showed eleuthero improved short term memory and increased visual sensitivity and visual percepton. Unfortunately the study is in russian.

Some of its active compounds are terpenoids which are also found in ginkgo. These terpenoids seem to be responsible for the neuroprotective effects of these herbs.
When you search pub med for Eleuthero there are some studies looking at the herbs effect on neurons. They seem to have the ability to restore neurons that have been damaged in cell cultures. There are studies on its memory improvement, its role in decreasing inflammation and its ability to increase humans light and color perception. All of these point to its effects on the brain/neurons.

There is also documented evidence (from all of the sources i looked metioned here) of increased immune activity and decreased colds / sick days. This can't help but protect your eyes from high pressures as well.

I have read Allan Tillotson's (highly regarded herbalist who has shown some interest in glaucoma) monograph on Eleuthero (http://oneearthherbs.squarespace.com/important-herbs/siberian-eleuthero-
root-bark-eleutherococcus-senticosus.html) where he says there are no known safety issues except it might overstimulate some people or raise blood pressure slightly.
Christopher Hobbs describes eleuthero as more neutral than the other ginsengs, it can be taken for longer times and is generally not as stimulating.
David Winston says that "elethero is mild and is equally appropriate for for men or women, young people or the elderly." In rare cases it can cause overstimulation in sensitive people.
Both Hobbs and Winston stated that the use of Eleuthero with antibiotics increases the antibiotics effectiveness (based on studies).
Gaia Herbs (Scalzo and Cronin, Herbal Solutions for Healthy Living) safety information:
SAFETY EVALUATION/CONTRAINDICATIONS
Do not use during pregnancy or lactation. Do not take during an
acute infection or fever, or if you have a bleeding disorder. Side
effects are rare but may include insomnia, swollen breasts,
hypertension, irritability, anxiety, and/or a rapid heart rate. Use
with caution and seek the advise of a qualified healthcare
professional if you have hypertension.*

There is a randomized clinical trial by Cicero et al, 2004 that showed no herb - drug interactions between eleuthero and digoxin. The study was on elderly patients with high blood pressure. The study showed improvements in the patients mental status and energy over 4 weeks of use.

Clearly the evidence doesn't conclusively indicate that eleuthero will help glaucoma but all of the signs point in that direction. What we need is some good studies on eleuthero and visual parameters. In the meantime, I will err on the side of the safety of my eyesight and take eleuthero daily for its possible neuroprotective, blood pressure raising, liver protective & immune stimulating effects. I have been taking it for 3 months with no side effects. Currently it is possible to purchase eleuthero in the United States that is tested for purity, activity and heavy metals (Gaia Herbs).

Evolutionary Fitness vs Ayurveda

Dave — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 01:05:00 GMT

As you know, I am a fan of Ayurveda. One of the greatest living Ayurvedic physicians in the world, Dr. Brihaspati Dev Triguna, told me that going to bed regularly at 10:00 PM each night was the number one health promoting habit people could adopt. Many of the greatest minds from alternative medical systems echo similar advice: follow a regular schedule of eating, sleeping and exercise to build robust health.

I also enjoy statistics and recently I was reading The Black Swan author Nassim Nicholas Taleb's website. I came across his post on Ancestral Lifestyle. He espouses advice that is diametrically opposed to the time-tested advice I just described. I tend to trust advice from systems such as Ayurveda because it has the advantage of being tested over a greater period of time than things we have dreamed up in the last few years or decades. Nevertheless, I am intrigued by the concept of an Ancestral Lifestyle built around randomness of routine. Here is what Nassim Nicholas Taleb said about his own experiments in this area:

Skeptical-empirical lifestyle & ecological conservatism: try to replicate as much as feasible the type of randomness that prevailed in our natural, ancestral environment --even if it "does not make sense". Defer to nature, not to your intuition. It does not mean that the ancestral world is necessarily better --it is just a default assumption that what has been around for a long time is more robust and more stable than what is less seasoned. And mother nature's ecological intelligence is vastly superior to that of humans (particularly academic scientists).

It looks like we need randomness in both energy output and expenditure, with a negative correlation between the two. Just consider that we worked harder when hungry (thus compounding the deficit), and conserved energy during periods of feeding --exactly the opposite of the dictates of Platonic "equilibrium". The effect is to make our net energy "lumpier": large deficits followed by large excesses, followed of course by large deficits, etc.

I am discovering from the literature (under Art De Vany's guidance and based on his ideas on metabolic switches) that three meals a day is for morons --we need episodes of hunger punctuated brief by periods of replenishing. Hunger improves insulin sensitivity, brain function, etc. So it is a good idea to, counterintuitively, fast on days when we need the energy, rather than the opposite. Our Platonic "make sense" indicates that you need to "eat well" during a period of physical stress --the opposite holds true empirically: fasting chemo patients do much much better. Without actual testing, every cancer patient has been told to "eat well but not excessively".

The same applies to thirst.

Stochastic sleep: I have not seen anything on the subject in the literature, but I am also realizing that stochastic sleeping periods might be good for us. I have been traveling on red eye flights and went through such memorable experiences as a whole night standing at Mumbai airport (there were no seats available and I needed to stay near the gate). After a sleepless night. I always manage to catch up, as I design my own schedule. I am now discovering that sleep if vastly more enjoyable after periods of deprivation --much like the taste of water under extreme thirst.

So, by tinkering, I figured out that I fare best under the following conditions: no breakfast, working out randomly (but in a lumpy way: long walks & intense weight lifting without a scheduled time limit), "working" randomly, fasting when working out, avoiding modern carbs (and modernized fruits), avoiding contact with economists and finance idiots, taking red eye flights & fasting during episodes of jet lag and similar physical stressors.

I cannot say that I agree with everything Taleb says, but I do want to learn more about these ideas. I just wish he had been more exacting when it comes to his use of the words intellect and intuition when he said, "defer to nature, not to your intuition." If Taleb had said, "defer to your intuition, not your intellect" instead, his comments would have been more consistent with my use of these terms. He nails it when he says, "And mother nature's ecological intelligence is vastly superior to that of humans (particularly academic scientists)." That statement succintly describes why I have more trust in Ayurveda than I do in allopathic medicine. Taleb clearly understands the limitations of the left-brained intellect. He does understand the value of tapping into nature's intelligence. He may not, however, understand that nature's intelligence and human intuition have an intimate relationship. (Or maybe he is just referring to the type of intuition left-brained academic scientists possess - i.e., often not very well developed.)

For one who has a modest degree of mastery (or just sufficient experience) with sustained higher states of consciouness, nature's intelligence and your intuition will, by definition, be in close agreement. And your heart (traditionally, the true seat of intelligence) will be integrated with your mind. On that basis I can say, defer to your intuition and your true intelligence, not your intellect. (I don't think this restatement fundamentally differ's from Taleb's intent - it is just a matter of semantics.)

To break free of the limitations of the "facts" that have been stuffed into our intellects over the course of our lives and of our habit of left-brain, egocentric thinking, it does help to experiment with unconventional approaches, exactly as Taleb is doing. I admire his courage to find his own truth. He clearly knows that it is unwise to trust left-brained academic scientists when it comes to our health (or to finance/economics). In addition to that, I believe it is wise to trust time-tested systems like Ayurveda. While respecting the traditional knowledge, one can verify what works for one's self through careful observations - what Taleb calls "tinkering". Keep in mind that Taleb is a highly trained scientist, so tinkering to him most assuredly involves careful observation and probably represents what I would call subjective research.

Even when it comes to my reliance on time-tested traditional systems of knowledge like Ayurveda, there is a lot of similarity with Taleb's thinking. His approach is based on going back tens of thousands of years in human history and trying to understand what worked best for early humans with a genetic makeup like our own. Where we differ is that I do not believe the limited knowledge we have of the evolution and lifestyle of early Homo sapiens tens of thousands of years ago rivals the knowledge that is preserved today in ancient systems like Ayurveda. My approach might be to apply the ideas of playful randomness within the Ayurvedic framework rather than on the basis of our very limited understanding of the early Homo sapiens lifestyle.

Taleb says he is working under the guidance of Art De Vany. I want to share the following information from De Vany's publication about Evolutionary Fitness (which is where Taleb's ideas originate), available on De Vany's website (linked above).

This is a sketch of the ideas that are developed more fully in the book. The health
and fitness strategies developed fully in the book are based on a few key ideas:
   1. The human mind and body are non-linear dynamic systems poised in a far-
      from-equilibrium attractor. Health, fitness and diet are dynamic concepts.
      Linear, static thinking (counting calories consumed and expended) is com-
      pletely inadequate for devising effective strategies for health and fitness.
   2. Human form and energy metabolism are adaptations to the evolutionary
      environment. Virtually all of our human and prehuman ancestors lived as
      hunter-gatherers in an environment dominated by Ice Ages.
   3. Insulin resistance spares glucose for the brain and was an essential adaptation
      to the glucose scarcity during the Ice Ages. In a modern world abundant
      in cheap and readily available carbohydrate, insulin resistance sets us up
      for hyperinsulemia (chronically elevated insulin) which is a major factor in
      almost all modern diseases.
   4. Hyperinsulemia and hypoexertion (wasting away of the lean mass of the
      body through inactivity) are the most important health risks (the National
      Institutes of Health) in Western cultures.
   5. A conservative and effective strategy for attaining superior health and fitness
      is to counter hyperinsulemia and hypoexertion by incorporating diet and ac-
      tivity patterns from our evolutionary past.
   6. An evolutionary diet is not a "diet". In the conventional meaning, being
      on a "diet" implies that you are restricting calories (as in a prescription)
      and eating in a habitual manner. Evolutionary eating is not a diet, but a
      natural way of eating. Properly considered, the purpose of a diet is to provide
      nutrition and maintain health, not to lose weight.
   7. In the Evolutionary Fitness Diet you consume abundant simple, fresh plant
      foods rich in minerals, flavonoids, phenols, and phytochemicals, substances
      that coevolved over millenia with humans and that no manufactured drugs or
      substances could reproduce with present technology. The low carbohydrate
      and near zero raw glucose content of the diet, combined with the natural
      antioxidants provide protection from glucose-mediated oxidative damage to
      body proteins; the advanced glycation end products that accelerate aging and
      the stiffness caused by cross-linked proteins in connective tissues.
8. You do not eat in a habitual and highly regulated way; indeed, variation in
    foods and caloric intake is an essential element of natural eating. Your food
    is high in protein (by modern standards, but moderate in terms of the protein
    intakes of hunter-gatherers), moderate in fat (but balanced in Omega 3 and
    6 composition), and low in carbohydrate. It contains no grains, milk, beans
    or processed foods. There is no caloric restriction because you eat only
    nutritionally dense, low calorie food and your appetite is reset to become a
    healthy guide to your nutritional needs.
9. An evolutionary activity pattern is mixed and varied. It contains brief, in-
    termittent episodes of highly intense physical action mixed with languid pe-
    riods and play. Healthy activities mimic the patterns of wild animals and
    contain elements of chaos and order. Power laws that are typical of self-
    organized, far-from-equilibrium, dynamic systems, describe such patterns.
10. Power law training, which is developed in the book, mimics the ancestral
    activity pattern and promotes hormone drives that counter hyperinsulemia
    and build lean body mass.
11. Most fitness programs, whether aerobics or weight training, are too unvaried
    and routine; they result in overtraining, depletion of the body's antioxidant
    stores, compromised immunity, and are a chronic load on the body. They
    take too much time and are ineffective. Dieting has a 95% failure rate wastes
    lean body mass, and is unhealthful.
12. The evolutionary fitness diet and exercise program is very effective, takes
    little time, and is fun. It is the right way to feed and care for your hunter-
    gatherer body and mind.

And finally, I will end by pasting some information I found in an article to which I have lost the link to the original source. The whole article wasn't that good anyway, but the follow section, which I saved, is somewhat similar to the conclusions supported by the well-researched work of Dr. Campbell in The China Study and Dr. Fuhrman in Eat to Live.

Ancestral Foods: Plants

The vegetable foods available to prehistoric foragers grew naturally, without cultivation, and included nuts, leafy vegetables, beans, fruits, flowers, gums, fungi, stems, and other similar items. These had been primate staples for tens of millions of years, but at some point along the hominid (human-like) evolutionary track, the digging stick came into use. This simple implement widened dietary breadth by providing access to roots, bulbs, and tubers, which were plentiful but previously inaccessible sources of food energy. The nutrient values of such foods vary naturally, but if one pools the several hundred representative vegetable foods that hunter-gatherers utilized during the twentieth century and then compared their averaged nutrient content with the mean values of vegetable foods commonly consumed in Western nations, several noteworthy differences emerge. For example, wild-plant foods provide less energy per unit weight. A 3.5-ounce (100 gram) portion of the fruits and vegetables that our ancestors ate would yield, on average, only about one-third the calories that 3.5 ounces of contemporary vegetable food provide. This is primarily because so much of our current plant-food intake is derived from high-energy cereal grains--rice, corn, wheat, and the like. Stone Age humans knew that grains were a potential food source. However, given the technology available to them, the work required to process wild cereals into digestible form was generally excessive compared with the work needed to gather and process other types of wild plants. Foragers generally viewed grains as emergency goods to be used during times of shortage. It was only "late" in the human career, perhaps thirty thousand years ago in Australia and between ten an fifteen thousand years ago elsewhere (for example, the Near East), that evidence of routine cereal-grain use became common.

Another difference between the vegetable foods of the hunter-gatherers and those of Western nations is illustrated as follows. The nutrient content of wild-plant foods is high, especially when one considers the ratio of nutrients to calories. While there is, of course, considerable individual variation among these foods, a mixed grocery bag of the fruits and vegetables available to ancestral humans would provide substantially more vitamins, minerals, and fiber than would a comparably representative collection of contemporary plant foods. In many cases, vitamins and some minerals are artificially added to current foods, making them "enriched." This enrichment process is less successful for adding fiber and is not yet feasible for phytochemicals, which are plant constituents that influence the body's metabolic reactions. Phytochemicals can be considered semi-vitamins, but their total number (at least dozens, perhaps hundreds) is unknown and their mode of action is poorly understood. However, the importance of phytochemicals for optimal health is becoming increasingly well established. Ancestral human biology became genetically adapted to the phytochemicals provided by fruits and vegetables over hundreds to thousands of millennia. The phytochemicals of modern-day cereal grains, in contrast, are relative newcomers to the human metabolism. It is perhaps for this reason that fruit and vegetable intake appears to reduce cancer susceptibility and consumption of cereal grain products has little or no such effect.

Lastly, the plant foods available to ancestral humans afforded a fairly balanced ratio of essential polyunsaturated fatty acids. Like essential amino acids, the body does not synthesize these fatty acids--humans must obtain them from their diet. Polyunsaturated fatty acids are necessary for cell membrane fabrication, especially in the brain, and they are also the basic molecules from which eicosanoids, a large class of important locally acting hormones, are made. Essential fatty acids are divided into two families: omega 6's and omega 3's. Both types are required in mammalian physiology, but they produce opposing biochemical effects, so roughly equal amounts in the diet are desirable. Their effects on blood clotting provide a good example. If there is too much omega 6 in a person's system, their blood clots too easily, which increases the likelihood of coronary thrombosis (heart attack). An overabundance of omega 3 in a person's system reduces blood clotting excessively and increases the risk of cerebral hemorrhage (one kind of stroke). Roughly equal dietary intake of each type of these polyunsaturated fatty acids avoids both undesirable consequences. Unfortunately, in recent decades the use of safflower, corn, sunflower, and cottonseed for spreads and cooking oils has distorted the ratio. These materials contain fifty to one hundred times more omega 6 than omega 3 and, overall, Americans now consume ten to fifteen times more omega 6's than omega 3's.

Left Eye Visual Field Test during Microacupuncture

tsingle999 — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:35:00 GMT

Visual Field Improvement Related to Diet and Acupuncture

Dave — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 04:16:00 GMT

I just read a very informative report on Taran's blog about his visual field and visual accuity improvements. Taran posted three visual field test results in this blog post. I highly recommend everyone take a look at Taran's results. Here's the link to his blog post, "Octopus Visual Field Scans Before, During and After Micro-Acupuncture & Diet Discussion". It is a great post.

Octopus Visual Field Scans Before, During and After Micro-Acupuncture & Diet Discussion

tsingle999 — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:36:00 GMT

Attached is a chart of Visual field tests done on my right (not as good) eye while I did the 3x a day 2 week Microacupuncture (meaning hands and feet) treatment with Andy Rosenfarb. The left picture is before the treatment, the middle one is after 4 days or 12 treatments. The right one is after 30 treatments over 12 days. The lighter color the better and if you look at the numbers below, the lower the number the better. It is quite clear to me that my visual field improved. As well my visual acuity improved 2 levels with each eye after treatments. In fact every time I go there now (weekly) when I drive home I could swear I see better or more clearly.

The acupuncturist told me the first day after reviewing my blood work and examining me (in a traditional chinese medicine type of way) that my liver digesting fats was one of the main problems I was having. He said that it was like a drain that got backed up. And it backed up right into the eyes. I said that I didn't eat much fried food but having been to the 2nd person who told me to stop eating fried food I started to really examine what I ate. Well ok I had a potato chip addiction but I was down to 1 small bag a day? And I had switched over to regular (fried) corn chips from the baked ones as my weight was doing well. And chips and salsa is a staple food for me:) And really when I go out I eat the healthy vegetarian stir fry at the Thai place but it is also loaded with coconut milk (high fat). So during the treatments I decided to eliminate these foods and eat a low fat but right fat diet and take liver supporting herbs. So I felt really good when fridays first eye test rolled around (after 12 treatments). And you can see the visual field opened up in spots on that test.

The next week I continued with the diet and felt really good and felt i could see better. But Thursday night I had an omega oil truffle (high fat but good fat). Well I was still hungry so I had the whole bag of 4 of them. Well when I woke up I couldn't believe how I saw. It seemed like I did not see as well. And the test confirmed that. My visual field opened up nicely on the outside of my eye but the lower left corner that had been opening up was again shut down? I confirmed this effect for myself that weekend when I went out to the Thai place Sunday night and had spring rolls (fried) and stir fry. The next day my vision seemed worse.

So I spoke to my nutritional optometrist and he said that when the body rebuilds its membranes that if you aren't eating raw protein or not properly digesting cooked protein that these can be rebuilt leaky. And so the fat can be leaking into the eye from the blood through things like the Brucht's membrane (essentially a blood-eye barrier). His prescription for me will be another blog post. Suffice it to say it was nice to have 2 people telling me the same thing. I have been following their advice and feel my vision is stable. I also did a visual field test at my glaucoma specialist after day 8 of the acupuncture treatments and from what I could tell it looked like my best visual field scan of that type over the past year (I have only been doing them for a year). I will post that up too after i see him as he runs a regression formula on them to see a change in pattern based on multiple tests.

Fighting For My Sight

Dora1 — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 09:48:00 GMT

When I was first told I had glaucoma, I didn't believe it and preferred to think of it as ocular hypertension. I did all the research, read every bit of information I could , armed myself with all the relevant questions I was to ask the specialists and tried to put it in the back of my mind, I was only thirty and there was no way I was going to believe I had glaucoma, I couldn't even say the word. This worked for about ten years. I was always quite active but I started working out almost every day. I took my drops, went to my six monthly checkups, pressures were around 20-22, sometimes lower, fields were good, I was happy. Then I turned forty and I began to worry that maybe things could change. I was right , pressure went up to 30 on one of my checkups and the specialist suggested SLT. He had once suggested surgery but after getting a second opinion thankfully it never happened.

It was the first time I thought that maybe I did have glaucoma . I was nervous about SLT and much to the doctors' frustration tried to convince him that I had no need for it. I went home and didn't know what to do. I couldn't sleep and cried till my pressures skyrocketed and my sight went all fuzzy and the halos were so bright. I ran to my Optometrist who I know for many years and who always gives me hope and a shoulder to cry on. My pressures were definitely high in the thirties so I made an appointment with another specialist. I was prescribed a different combination of drops, had endless tests, photos and IOP checks. All of which was costing me alot of money as the were private specialists so I decided to go to the Eye and Ear Hospital.

I ended up having SLT but it didn't have that much of an effect. I am now on timolol and Azopt in the morning and Lumigan and Azopt in the evening. When I get my IOP checked at my Optometrist where I am relaxed its around 15, but when I get it checked at the hospital its 20. My field test is still pretty good considering how cupped my left eye especially, is. Every conversation I have with a specialist and I am now seeing many, I challenge them and ask every question I need to ask . One of the specialists upset me so much that I don't want to go back. He said that I needed aggresive treatment and that the drops were only temporary. Everyone knows that all glaucoma treatment is temporary and there are many factors that influence its progression. Age, health, stress, yet no doctor seems to ever take these factors into consideration. They want us to sit there passively and accept our fate in their hands. I have nothing against doctors and maybe I will eventually need surgery, but today my pressures are ok, I know that they fluctuate but hopefully I can keep the surgeons knife away for a long time yet.

I am still driving , I can still see, I notice alot more than I would have without glaucoma. I named this blog " Fighting For My Sight" because that's how I feel .I feel I am fighting to stay positive and healthy and fighting with the doctors to listen to me. I tell myself every day that I will be ok .

“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” ( Epictetus, Ancient Greek Philosopher )

World Epidemic of Blindness to Reality Because of Myopic Perceptions

Dave — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 02:35:00 GMT

Considering current events, including the health care crisis and the global financial crisis, I found Dr. Roberto Kaplan's talk from a few years ago to be very relevant. Here is a summary of his talk I found somewhere (and I have since lost the source). I love the quote because I think it says a lot about how many world leaders are approaching solutions to our current problems -- very short sighted.

"Dr. Roberto Kaplan was invited to talk about his integrated approach to vision therapy at the Vienna International Center at the U.N. in Vienna, Austria. Along with New York, Geneva and Nairobi, Vienna is one of the four Headquarters Duty Stations of the United Nations. More than 4,000 employees from over 100 countries work for the Vienna International Center (VIC) - based organizations.

Dr. Kaplan shared his ideas of the causes and development of nearsightedness and its implication on the consciousness of the citizens of the world. "We are fast approaching a world epidemic of blindness to reality because of myopic perceptions," Kaplan asserted, quoting the series of papers titled: Seeing Beyond the Obvious, published in the Journal of College of Optometrists in Vision Development."

"It is time for conventional medicine to recognize the power of vision therapy as being a vital part of complimentary medicine," urged Dr. Kaplan. The talk focused on his two books: "The Power Behind Your Eyes" and "Conscious Seeing." To be a conscious person, one needs a healthy visual system. Vision therapy is an established scientific discipline within Optometry that has a vital role to play in helping persons recognize when they are seeing accurately or misperceiving. Undetected vision problems, especially a lack of coordination of the two eyes, can cause persons of all ages to see inaccurately how they are behaving.

"Those who heard Dr. Kaplan applauded how the lecture illuminated a new dimension to the role of vision in being an instrument for enhancing consciousness. Kaplan sees his role in having vision therapy be more recognized as a powerful healing discipline in helping accomplish happier family relationships, less aggression and world peace."

As reader of FitEyes.com may recognize, the relationship between vision and consciousness goes two ways. Our state of consciousness influences our vision. A settled mind established in the state of inner peace reduces elevated intraocular pressure and helps expand the visual field. This is one example of how our state of consciousness influences our physiology.

Consiousness is the foundation of our physical body. Consciousness structures the physical body. Therefore, I believe it is of primary importance to address the influence of consciousness on vision.

In addition to physiology, we can see a psychological relationship. Expanding one's consciousness also helps one perceive reality more accurately. One way this occurs is through a reduction in the ego's influence over our thinking. The ego inserts itself between our sensory motor nervous system and our intellect. The ego filters everything we perceive through all our senses. The ego, as it normally operates in us, causes misperception, misunderstanding. A settled mind, where the ego is not in control, perceives more accurately.

Acupunture for the Eyes Video

tsingle999 — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:07:00 GMT

http://uk.video.yahoo.com/watch/3573719/9878850

This is a video made by a member of our group called the pincushions that went through a 2 week intensive acupuncture experience.

I have some good results (improved visual acuity and visual field) from that treatment that i will share later.

New Experiments With Inverted Yoga Postures and Eye Pressure

Dave — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:49:00 GMT

I stopped doing all inverted yoga postures a couple years ago. The plow (plough, halasana) posture used to be one of my favorites. When I first started self-tonometry some years ago I did the plow posture for just a few minutes, then sat up and took some intraocular pressure measurements. My intraocular pressure after the plow was significantly elevated compared to before the posture and the elevated pressure was high enough to be a concern (above 30). That was the last time I did any inverted yoga postures -- until just a couple days ago.

With the excellent results I'm getting from Serene Impulse (especially while lying in bed/sleeping), I got brave. I decided to see what would happen to my eye pressure with the plow posture.

And now that I have the iCare tonometer, I can test things like this more accurately. I do not have to stand up, walk to the tonometer, sit down and wait while the tonometer measures my eye pressure. With the iCare, I can remain lying on the floor and take an intraocular pressure measurement very quickly. I get measurements within seconds rather than minutes.

I cannot yet actually do self-tonometry in an inverted yoga posture, but I can do it within seconds of transitioning to a supine position. This is much, much better than my original testing situation. I should see higher values when testing in the supine position with this new testing procedure because IOP will drop as soon as one sits up and it will usually drop even more by the time one stands up and walks even a few steps.

I did a first brief test of the yoga plow posture a couple days ago. I stayed inverted for only about 2 minutes. Afterwards my IOP was 13 mmHg. (Each IOP test was the average of 6 individual readings with the iCare tonometer.)

I tested a few more times over the next few days and each time my eye pressure remained in a very good range after the inverted yoga postures.

Today I did a brutal test of a long series of inverted yoga postures that I was sure would elevate my intraocular pressure further. It did elevate my IOP all the way up to 18 mmHg. However, this is a far cry from the IOP values in the 30's that I used to see after inverted yoga postures. (And those old values in the 30's were less than the true peak because I had to sit up to take a measurement, as mentioned above.) Many normal people (non glaucoma patients) will see intraocular pressure values at 18 mmHg or higher after inverted yoga postures. I was extremely pleased with the results of todays tests. I know that my anticipated approach to inverted yoga postures will not elevate my IOP as much as this extreme test, so I should be well within the safe IOP zone.

Going forward, I believe I can resume limited amounts of inverted yoga postures on a regular basis. (My body will be happy about that!) My plan is to limit the inverted time and the postures I perform to things I can do without my IOP going above about 15 mmHg.

Here's one tip: I have found that if I do Serene Impulse followed by moderate exercise followed by yoga, the eye pressure elevation of inverted yoga postures is very, very mild. Based upon my tests so far, I can easily keep my IOP under my target after doing the plow posture if I take this approach.

I am reporting this for educational purposes only. My own curiosity motivated me to do the tests. I also feel I need to do more yoga to regain the flexibility I have lost since I stopped doing it. But I am not advising any glaucoma patients to start or resume inverted yoga postures. In short, my disclaimer is: "don't try this at home" unless you can take the same safety precautions I am taking.

My SLT Laser Surgery Experience

dsaito — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 23:17:00 GMT

Thought I'd share today's Laser (SLT Surgery experience and the results)

First my eyes were given a few drops to lower the pressure (Alphagan) and a drop to constrict the pupils which also was used according to my doctor to lower pressure at one time. However, the constriction drops cause headaches, so I was advised to take 2 extra strength tylenols 2 hours before arriving. I took them one hour before arriving and I was glad I did. After I took them, I could feel pressure in my head which I'm sure would have been a severe headache.

The constriction drops also made my vision blurry and I felt drugged (sleepy).

Then began the procedure. The doctor put additional Alphagan drops and also some numbing drops in. The doctor did my left eye first and put a device over the eyeball which directs the laser. She fired 101 shots in the left eye. The first shot stung a bit and I flinched and the device came out. She turned the power down and continued to fire. I concentrated on breathing and relaxing a much as possible. The shots have a flash of light and there is a sensation of pain although it is very slight. Once, I got used to it, I no longer flinched.

The same was done with the right eye.

When I got home, I tested my pressure with my AT555 and I got 13 in my right (it was 13 before I left for the appointment), My left tested about 15-16 and readings were a bit inconsistent in the left (as it usually is). My left eye is worse off as well.

Well, I went out to eat and had a haircut and came back 4 hours later and tested my pressure after working on my laptop for a bit.

The results were 11-12 in both eyes. Now this is good! The doctor said the pressure will be low when the eyes are inflamed. Currently, they are not, but are supposed to be for the next three days or so. After 6 weeks, she says we will know if it worked.

I am staying positive here! I will keep you all informed of my progress.

What I liked about the procedure:

1) relatively quick (5 minutes each eye). more waiting time than anything else

2) fairly non-invasive. Laser does not cut, but penetrates and causes inflammation which causes immune system to clean up the trabucular meshwork and increases fluid outflow. .

3) pretty much painless. a bit of a sting at first.

Performer is risking glaucoma and circulatory failure in order to prepare for his next act

Dave — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:45:00 GMT

I have enjoyed watching David Blaine perform. However, this story about his upcoming trick caught my attention because of the risk to his eyes.

"He has already spent a week in a glass coffin, 64 hours in a block of ice and fasted for 44 days in a box in London. For his next trick, he'll live on two burning high wires in Central Park for three days, followed by a mysterious 'Dive of Death'. Is there anything this seemingly fearless magician is afraid of? Yes, actually... By Michael Joseph Gross"

In this Central Park high wire trick, David Blaine will be haning upside down a lot. "When he sleeps, he will sleep hanging upside down - 'like a bat,' he says - at the convergence of those wires, which will be on fire, and there will also be a fire pit on the ground beneath him."

While practicing, evidence of the strain on his eyes was quickly apparent. "The magician's face is fat with blood. So much so, that the little scar between his eyes, from a failed attempt to do a flip from a park bench at age five, is momentarily invisible. His eyes are bulging. The whites are pink. 'Are blood vessels popping?' he asks."

The article acknowledges the risk of glaucoma, so I presume David Blaine is well aware of this risk. "The magician, whose idea of magic encompasses natural feats of endurance less redolent of Las Vegas than of Lives of the Saints, is risking glaucoma and circulatory failure in order to prepare for his next trick."

You can read the whole story at the following link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml;jsessionid=BVBJPIUH3S0B5QFIQMFSFF4AVCBQ0IV0?xml=/arts/2008/09/14/sv_davidblaine.xml&site=6&page=0

Healthy Pasta Recipe

Dave — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:50:00 GMT

Here is another healthy recipe featuring foods that health the eyes. This is a pasta dish with healthy vegetables in lieu of tomato sauce. (You can actually add some tomato sauce to it if you wish and the taste is good. I prefer it without tomatoes myself.)

Vegetables (all organic):

2 large leaves of collard greens
4 pc lacinto kale
1 large leaf of red swiss chard
2 leaves of red cabbage
3-4 "bunches" of fresh cilantro
1 sprig of parsley
1 bunch of dandelion greens
half inch thick slice of yellow onion
4 cloves of garlic
half inch thick slice of yellow ginger
1 or 2 carrots
1 stalk of broccoli
1 bunch fresh basil (if available)

Chop the vegetables into approx 1/4 inch pieces, using a food processor if you desire. (Do not chop until it becomes mushy.) Mash the garlic separately.

Spices for topping (all organic):

This mixture has slightly more spices than I have used in the past and it was a subtle improvement.

3/8 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp fenugreek
1/4 tsp (or less) coriander
1/8 tsp fennel
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp rosemary
1/4 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup (maybe more) dried basil
2 tbsp Ancient Organics ghee
1 tsp olive oil

Heat the ghee and olive in a medium pot to about 290 degrees F. The ghee will be thinly spread, so be very careful not to overheat it. Sautee the spices in the ghee for a minute. Don't burn the spices. Add the garlic and sautee another minute (the ghee temperature will drop - probably to about 200 degrees F).

After spices are sauteed, add the finely chopped vegetables and stir well so the ghee-spice mixture coats all veggies. Add a very small amount of water (about 1 tbsp) and steam the veggies for about 5 to 10 minutes. (I cooked them 10 minutes today and it turned out great.)

3/4 tsp natural salt

Add the salt to the veggies while they are cooking.

Pasta:

I usually use an organic 100% whole wheat pasta. Sometimes I use spinach pasta. Cook according to directions. I usually add a little olive oil and salt to the water.

When the pasta and veggies are cooked, mix them together and serve.

You can add cheese and/or tomato sauce, but I usually do not. I like it best without these extras.

If you want to get deeper into Ayurveda, you could customize the spice mixture for your Ayurvedic body type. You could also choose vegetables based on your body type. I think this selection of ingredients will suit anyone who wants to improve their vision and general health..

Stop Thinking And Your Eye Pressure Will Decrease

Dave — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:17:00 GMT

I'm copying part of a report from http://www.livescience.com/health/080902-zen-meditation.html. Please see the original link for the full article.

There is a very strong relationship between thoughts and intraocular pressure. I have been writing about it here on FitEyes.com for several years. One's state of mind is one of the most important factors in managing intraocular pressure. Serene Impulse is the best technique I have found for putting my mind and body into the state of restful alertness that promotes efficient activity and low eye pressure. Even a few seconds of Serene Impulse practice can often immediately reduce my eye pressure. However, it is most useful to me due to its ability to reduce my supine IOP at the peak time of day (early morning) when I practice Serene Impulse the prior day.

Serene Impulse is a mind-body skill that promotes health and inner peace. Serene Impulse works strongly at the level of the physical body, including the heart. Meditation is different in that it usually works more at the level of the mind (to make a generalization).

Although I have not tested all meditation techniques, of those I have tested, none were effective in reducing my intraocular pressure.

However, understanding Zen meditation is useful background for understanding the research I'm doing on consciousness and intraocular pressure. Therefore, I want to share part of the following article with readers of FitEyes.com. (I have edited this version.)

In particular I like the discussion of thoughts in this article. Anyone with POAG should be aware of the relationship between thoughts and IOP. Even without using any formal meditation technique, if one effortlessly allows thoughts to settle down or temporarily cease, one will have succeeded in reducing one's IOP in my experience. The catch is that most people without meditation training cannot allow thoughts to stop effortlessly. Most of us can't go for even 60 seconds without thinknig. And when we try, we strain. Such trying will only raise IOP. Without further comment, here is the article on Zen Meditation research.

Study: Zen Meditation Really Does Clear the Mind

By Charles Q. Choi, Special to LiveScience [Edited for FitEyes.com by David]

Zen meditation discourages mental withdrawal from the world and dreaminess, and instead asks one to keep fully aware with a [easy, watchful] attitude. Typically one focuses on breathing and posture and [witnesses thoughts as they arise without engaging in the thoughts]. Brain scans now show that Zen training leads to different activity in a set of brain regions known as the "default network," which is linked with spontaneous bursts of thought and wandering minds. [Image credit: Dreamstime] var related_images = new related_module();

The seemingly nonsensical Zen practice of "thinking about not thinking" could help free the mind of distractions, new brain scans reveal. [It might be more correct to say the practice involves allowing thoughts to occur without engaging in them. One witnesses thoughts. It is not an effort to stop thinking.]

This suggests Zen meditation could help treat attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (so-called ADD or ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorder, major depression and other disorders marked by distracting thoughts.

In the last decade, there has been a resurgence of scientific research into meditation, due in part to the wide availability and increasing sophistication of brain-scanning techniques. For instance, scientists recently found that months of intense training in meditation can sharpen a person's brain enough to help them notice details they might otherwise miss.

"It is important that this type of research be conducted with high scientific standards because it carries a long-standing stigma — perhaps well-deserved? — of being wishy-washy," said researcher Giuseppe Pagnoni, a neuroscientist at Emory University in Atlanta. "Constructive skepticism should always be welcomed as a great sparring partner."

Pagnoni and his colleagues investigated Zen meditation, which Pagnoni himself has practiced while studying for his doctorate in Italy.

The Zen of Zen

[Over time, with regular daily practice, the mind settles down and one] becomes aware of otherwise unconscious behaviors and preconceived notions and hopefully gain insights into oneself, others and the world.

To see what effects Zen meditation might have on the brain, scientists compared 12 people from the Atlanta area with more than three years of daily practice in Zen meditation with 12 novices who had never practiced meditation.

The researchers "had to screen — and discard — a number of colorful characters who during the interview declared that they were meditating regularly by screaming in a towel while stomping their feet on the ground, or that they were communicating frequently with beings of other planets," Pagnoni recalled. "Such are the unexpected joys of this research!"

As the volunteers had their brains scanned, they were asked to focus on their breathing. Every once in a while, they had to distinguish a real word from a nonsense word displayed at random times on a computer screen and, having done that, promptly try and focus on their breathing again.

Their scans revealed that Zen training led to different activity in a set of brain regions known as the "default network," which is linked with spontaneous bursts of thought and wandering minds. After volunteers experienced in Zen were distracted by the computer, their brains returned faster to how they were before the interruption than novice brains did. This effect was especially striking in the angular gyrus, a brain region important for processing language.

"The regular practice of meditation may enhance the capacity to limit the influence of distracting thoughts," Pagnoni said.

The research, funded by a National Institutes of Health grant, is detailed online Sept. 3 in the journal PLoS ONE.

Byron Katie on Oprah's Soul Series

Dave — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:51:00 GMT

After the phenomenal succcess of Oprah's "A New Earth" webcasts with Eckhart Tolle, Oprah decided to continue the webcast series (Soul Series) with additional authors. I was excited to see Byron Katie featured recently on the Soul Series. At FitEyes.com we have mentioned Byron Katie several times. Learning and using Byron Katie's process ("The Work") has helped me better manage my intraocular pressure.

Where does Byron Katie's Work fit into my program of vision care? My daily program includes:

Serene Impulse twice a day (morning and evening)
One hour walk each evening (also using Serene Impulse)
Bryon Katie's Four Questions and Turnaround whenever I encounter stressful thoughts
General healthy lifestyle

On this program, my eye pressure is nearly perfect! And I feel extremely healthy and happy. I have gotten a lot of personal benefit from Byron Katie's Work, and I encourage you to learn about it and try it. Watch the webcasts on Oprah's site. Here's more info.

Author, speaker and spiritual teacher Byron Katie, known to most as Katie, was a mother and real estate broker in the 1980s who found herself spiraling into a severe depression. In 1986, after nearly a decade of struggling with depression, alcoholism, suicidal thoughts and eating disorders, Katie checked herself into a halfway house and rehabilitation center for women. It was there that Katie had an awakening and became filled with happiness, clarity and calmness that changed her life forever. She says she realized the cause of her intense suffering and depression "was not the world around her, but the beliefs she'd had about the world."

Soon, Katie started to share her realization with others and developed a process of self-inquiry called, "The Work." Through The Work—which includes answering and evaluating four key questions—Katie helps people transform their lives and end their suffering by changing their thoughts about themselves and the world around them.

Aside from workshops, public speaking events and audio tapes that share her method, Katie is the author of three best-selling books: Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life (with Stephen Mitchell), I Need Your Love—Is That True? How to Stop Seeking Love, Approval, and Appreciation and Start Finding Them Instead (with Michael Katz) and A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are (with Stephen Mitchell).

Katie is married to poet and translator Stephen Mitchell, the co-author of two of her books.

Do low cholesterol levels cause cancer?

Dave — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:30:00 GMT

This just arrived from Dr. Fuhrman. You may have been reading news reports about recent Canadian Medical Association Journal article on this topic. However, most news reports are only adding to the confusion. I want to share Dr. Fuhrman's update because he brings some clarity to this issue. Here it is:

Do low cholesterol levels cause cancer?

A recent medical study reported that both high cholesterol and low cholesterol were associated with higher cancer rates. I felt compelled to construct a public reply to this because too many people are still confused about it, including the scientific research community. This is because so few people have performed a comprehensive, in-depth review of the scientific research on nutrition and cancer, and they base their decisions on a narrow and incorrect interpretation of the literature. This recent article and the comments by the media and even by physicians and scientists illustrate pervasive ignorance and confusion about human nutrition.

The study in question was published in the August 28^th issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ).¹ It showed that people whose LDL cholesterol was below 2.8 mmol/L (109) had a higher risk of certain cancers (primarily lymphatic and blood cancers) and people whose LDL cholesterol was above 3.9 mmol/L (152) had a higher risk of certain cancers (primarily breast and digestive tract) as well.

My book, Cholesterol Protection For Life, covered this issue in more depth. In it, I explained that certain illnesses, especially cancer, lower cholesterol levels by decreasing the liver's ability to produce cholesterol and that having a low cholesterol in spite of an unhealthy (high) cholesterol-promoting diet could be an early sign of an undiagnosed cancer. The types of cancers that have been reported to cause low cholesterol levels include lung, liver, lymphatic and hematopoietic cancer,² the same cancers associated with low cholesterol in this study.

My book, Disease-Proof Your Child, reviews the science and explains that cancer is predominantly caused many, many years before it first appears (over 40 years) and that cancerous cells are present in the body for over 10 years prior to diagnosis, when the clump of cancerous cells eventually become large enough to be viewed by the human eye or when the first signs or symptoms appear. This study only followed people for less than 5 years. They recorded the cancers that occurred in the last 2 ½ years of the study.

The findings were not surprising, but consistent with the main body of literature on this subject. We would expect people who are eating a diet that promotes high cholesterol would have higher cancer rates, because the same diet-style that promotes high cholesterol and heart disease also promotes cancer. We would also expect to find that very low cholesterol was also associated with more cancers occurring because some people in the cohort would have undiagnosed (occult, early stage) cancer that would eventually become diagnosed in the last 2 ½ years of the study. Their low cholesterol was a sign of early (undiagnosed) cancer, not a cause of their cancer. These people have low cholesterol in spite of not earning low cholesterol with nutritional excellence. Their cancer caused the low cholesterol, not the other way around.

What I stated in Cholesterol Protection For Life is that a low cholesterol that is earned through adherence to a diet rich in vegetables, beans, seeds, nuts and other health-promoting foods will protect you against heart attacks and cancers, however if you have a very low cholesterol that you did not earn via healthy living and a healthy diet, it might be a sign that a disease is present that lowers cholesterol, such as cancer.

To conclude, don't be alarmed if your cholesterol is low, if you have earned it. Low cholesterol earned through high vegetable consumption and a micronutrient rich diet is linked to protection against all cancers, and populations eating a vegetable-centered-diet earn low cholesterol levels and have dramatically lower rates of cancers along with lower heart disease rates.³ People need not be confused about what constitutes the healthiest diet-style to prevent disease and promote longevity.

Joel Fuhrman, M.D. is a board-certified family physician, specializing in nutritional medicine. Dr. Fuhrman has established a comprehensive online resource for medical and nutritional advice for those who want to take control of their health.

Wishing you and your loved ones the best of health!

Yang X, WingYee S,Ko GT. Independent associations between low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and cancer among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. CMAJ 2008;179(5):427-437.
Abbott C, Meadows AB, Lier K. Low cholesterol and non-cardiovascular mortality. Mil Med 2000;165(6):466-9.
Campbell TC. Parpia B. Chen J. Diet, Lifestyle and the etiology of coronary artery disease: The Cornell China Study; Am J Cardiol. 1998. 82(10B): 18T-21T.

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