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April 2007 vol. 12 no. 4

When you wish to instruct, be brief; that men’s minds take in quickly what you say, learn its lesson, and retain it faithfully. Every word that is unnecessary only pours over the side of a brimming mind. - Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)


Table of Contents:


AFPA Re-launches all New Website

AFPA Re-launches our award winning website with more information, articles, members area, and more.

www.afpafitness.com


AFPA Fitness Conferences for Spring 2007

April 27-29 Beach Jam XIII Fitness, Trainer, Sports & Mind Body Conference, Ocean City, MD.

May 10-12 Myrtle Beach Fitness, Trainer, Sports & Mind Body Conference, Kingston Plantation, Myrtle Beach, SC.

http://www.afpafitness.com


God Does Answer Your Prayers

According to a new, comprehensive analysis of 17 major studies on the effects of intercessory prayer — prayer that is offered for the benefit of another person — there is a positive effect for people with both medical and psychological problems.

Some individual studies have found positive results, while others have shown no effect. A meta-analysis of all studies allowed researchers to take into account the entire body of research.

When the effects of prayer were averaged across all 17 studies, controlling for differences in sample sizes, there was a net positive effect on the group being prayed for.

Research on Social Work Practice, Vol. 17, No. 2, March 2007: 174-187

Science Blog March 14, 2007


Cancer Rates Continue to Worsen

America’s aging population will increase the number of cancer patients 55 percent by 2020, and doctors may not be able to cope with the additional burden.

Today, 11.7 million people, or one in 26, have been diagnosed with the illness.

Analyses predict that the number of Americans who are diagnosed with cancer will grow to 18.2 million by 2020, about one in 19 Americans. There may not be enough doctors to care for so many sick people; if current trends continue, the country could face a shortage of up to 4,000 cancer specialists.

Increases in cancer have paralleled the increase in the number of Americans over 65. The country can also expect to see increases in heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease as the population ages.

Journal of Oncology Practice, Vol. 3, No. 2, March 2007: 79-86

USA Today March 14, 2007

The following are some excellent recommendations:

  1. Control your insulin levels: Make certain that you limit your intake of processed foods and sugars as much as possible.
  2. Get appropriate amounts of animal-based omega-3 fats and make sure you use cod liver oil if you don’t have regular access to sun exposure.
  3. Get appropriate exercise. One of the primary reasons exercise works is that it drives your insulin levels down. Controlling insulin levels is one of the most powerful ways to reduce your cancer risks.
  4. Normalize your vitamin D levels with safe amounts of sun exposure (addressed in my video). This works primarily by optimizing your vitamin D level. If you have regular access to sun exposure then you should use fish oil, not cod liver oil, as your primary source of omega-3 fats. Ideally, it would be best to monitor your vitamin D levels.
  5. Have a tool to permanently erase the neurological short-circuiting that can activate cancer genes. Even the CDC states that 85 percent of disease is caused by emotions. It is likely that this factor may be more important than all the other physical ones listed here, so make sure this is addressed. Energy psychology seems to be one of the best approaches and my particular favorite tool, as you may know, is the Emotional Freedom Technique.
  6. Only 25 percent of people eat enough vegetables, so by all means eat as many vegetables as you are comfortable with. Ideally, they should be fresh and organic. However, please understand that, frequently, fresh conventionally grown vegetables are healthier than organic ones that are older and wilted in the grocery store. They are certainly better than no vegetables at all, so don’t use that as an excuse.
  7. Make sure you are not in the two-thirds of the population who are overweight and maintain an ideal body weight.
  8. Get enough high-quality sleep.
  9. Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins like pesticides, household chemical cleaners, synthetic air fresheners and air pollution.
  10. Boil, poach or steam your foods, rather than frying or charbroiling them.

Are You Eating Enough Fruits and Vegetables?

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fewer than a third of American adults eat the amount of fruits and vegetables recommended by the government.

This trend has remained steady for more than a decade, and is well below the benchmark for the national goal of getting the majority of Americans to eat two servings of fruits and three servings of vegetables each day by 2010.

The information comes from a massive diet survey of more than 300,000 adults in 2005. It showed that only 27 percent of adults ate vegetables three times a day, and only about 33 percent ate fruit twice a day.

Senior citizens were more likely to eat more fruits and vegetables. Adults aged 18 to 24 ate the fewest vegetables, and those aged 35 to 44 ate the least fruit.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Vol. 56, No. 10, March 16, 2007: 213-217 Free Full-Text Report

San Francisco Chronicle March 15, 2007


Calcium Supplements Fail to Improve Children’s Bone Health

A new analysis shows little benefit to using calcium supplements to improve bone health in children. Nineteen randomized controlled trials were reviewed to determine the effectiveness of calcium supplementation for improving bone mineral density in children. Supplementation had no effect on the bone mineral density in the neck or spine and caused only a small increase in the density of the upper limb, equivalent to a 1.7 percentage increase in the supplemented group compared with the control. No lasting effect of supplementation was seen in the one study that reported total body density after supplementation stopped.

Winzenberg T, Shaw K, Fryer J, Jones G. Effects of calcium supplementation on bone density in healthy children: meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. BMJ. 2006;333:775


Selected segments are reproduced from:Dr. Mercola’s excellent website: http://www.mercola.com/index.htm

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine http://www.pcrm.org