The Truth About IVF And Infertility - Part IIEstrogen Dominance

Following my posting "The Truth About IVF And Infertility" which you can read in its entirety here, I have received a few emails asking about the "Estrogen Dominance" I mentioned briefly a few times in that posting. So let me address that here...

What is Estrogen Dominance (ED) and how does it effect fertility?

At first this seems like a rather innocent question which should be quick and easy to answer. Ah, if it were only so. You see, it is a little complicated - even though the basics are, well, basic.

Anyway. First thing to know is that estrogen is a cell growth promoting hormone. Every month, this hormone naturally leads to the female's uterine lining coming into being. Without this hormone, the lining would not "grow."

At the time of ovulation, the release of estrogen stops and is replaced with progesterone. Progesterone STOPS the uterine lining growth and raises the body temperature. It is also the hormone which is present during the pregnancy - increasing body temperature and metabolism, which means quicker cell division and healthier body for mom due to better working immune system. (This is why ovulation is tracked with basal body temperature - the increased body temperature is the result of the release of progesterone, which only happens at ovulation.)

If there is too much estrogen in the system, then it will overpower the progesterone. Keeping the body temperature from increasing and keeping the uterine lining growing instead of stopping it. This is detrimental to the clump of cells which would become a baby. Pregnancy will NOT take place.

And, quite possibly, because the uterine lining has not ceased growing, it could be quite painful to have a period a week or two later. So it is very feasible that once you can stop ED, periods could be pain free! (I know women whose life long suffering disappeared within a month once they became free of ED!)

The estrogen in the body comes from many places - self-created, food, liquid, environment.

During the fertility cycle, estrogen is created and released by the body. At ovulation, estrogen release stops and is replaced by progesterone. This is the ideal. The egg gets fertilized and implants into a ready-and-waiting uterine lining (thanks to the progesterone which also readies the lining for implantation).

If estrogen is still present - from food, liquid, environment - then the lining is not ready to receive the clump of cells. Implantation might take place but it will be aborted by the body. And rightfully so as progesterone is needed for implantation to take hold and for the cells to begin growing into a baby. Better to abort now when there is too much estrogen and the cells are not too developed.

The liquid and food estrogen comes from many sources.

Soy products: ALL soy products and products with soy in them, contain phyto-estrogens. These act like estrogen in the body and trick the body into thinking and reacting as if real estrogen were present. I know the soy makers tell us this is good and it blocks the estrogen receptors, but consider the source - those who make the products and who would stand to lose lots of money if it were not good for us, tell us it is good for us.

Soy is in LOADS of things. Lecithin is a soy product. Soy sauce. Soy flour in bread (check the label - it is in every commercial brand-name bread I've seen). Soy proteins in other processed food stuffs. And so on. If the label says "vegetable protein" it is likely to be soy. Soy milk. Tofu. Etc.

Vegetable oils create estrogen effects. The only oil that doesn't is virgin olive oil. So to avoid ED, stop using general vegetable oils and use only virgin olive oil. This includes margarine as it is made with vegetable oils.

Flax oil and seeds (also known as linseed). Flax oil is hailed as a wonder product. And it may well be. BUT, if you are sensitive to ED, you need to avoid any and all flax. It is full of phyto-estrogens just like soy is. And besides, if it is so wonderful, why does it need refrigeration like milk does? Because if it doesn't it goes off (rancid). So this is obviously a highly unstable product. Which raises the question, how can you be sure it hasn't "gone off" before you buy it or even while you have it in your refrigerator? The answer is, you can't be sure. Best to avoid it.

Animal products. Estrogen in meat and dairy products (milk, cheese, butter, eggs) are ingested along with the animal's normal levels of estrogen. The hormone doesn't care which animal it is in and works just as effectively. So animal hormones in food products increase hormone levels in us.

That nearly covers the direct foods. But there are also indirect foods. Those foods are the ones high in copper! Yes we need naturally occurring copper from foods, but a food high in copper can stimulate estrogen release. This is bad news for estrogen sensitive people who could become ED easily.

Copper carries with it a double edge... high estrogen can also lead to a high copper toxicity. High copper toxicity can slow down the metabolism (effecting the thyroid and adrenals). A slow metabolism prevents copper from being dealt with, allowing it to build up more and slow the metabolism. Catch 22.

As copper also interferes with Zinc and vitamin B6 which help reduce period pain (PMS), it generally is not good for a woman's reproductive system.

Copper can get into you from the water pipes in your house. Most water pipes these days are copper pipes. Drinking tap water will see you drinking in extra copper. (The green discoloration you see around taps and drain holes is caused by the copper in the water.)

It can get into you from food. Foods high in copper and which should be avoided include: Lamb; pork; pheasant; quail; duck; goose; squid; salmon; all organ meats (liver, heart, kidney, brain), all shellfish (oysters, scallops, shrimp, lobster, clams, crab); meat gelatin; soy protein meat substitutes; tofu; all nuts and seeds; dried beans (soybeans, lima beans, baked beans, garbanzo beans, pinto beans); dried peas and lentils; soy milk; chocolate milk; cocoa; nectarines; commercially dried fruits; mushrooms; sweet potatoes; vegetable juice cocktail (E.g. V8); barley; bran breads and bran cereals; cereals with more than 0.2 mg of copper a serving (check label); millet; soy flour; soy grits; wheat germ; avocado; chocolate; desserts that contain significant amounts of any foods high in copper; instant breakfast beverages; mineral water; soy-based beverages; copper fortified formulas; brewer's yeast; copper-containing vitamin and mineral supplements. (These foods all have more than 0.2 milligrams (mg) of copper per portion.)

As you can see, this list is quite extensive and it might appear hard to remove these foods from your diet. But if you are having PMS and other fertility problems, then you MUST remove them.

Also note the presence of soy-based products. Not only is soy high in estrogen it is high in copper. Both substances which hinder fertility.

Besides the food and liquid sources of estrogen, there are also man-made sources. Such as The Pill - which is loaded with estrogen to prevent pregnancy. (So now you must ask yourself a question: If estrogen can prevent pregnancy when taken in pill form, it stands to reason it can also prevent pregnancy when ingested in foods and liquids as mentioned above, doesn't it? And, if The Morning After Pill is also a high dose of estrogen and it can abort a pregnancy, is stands to reason high levels of estrogen consumed can also cease early pregnancy, doesn't it?)

Some pesticides create estrogen like effects too. So avoid those like the plague.

As you can see, ED is no small matter. And it should be taken seriously because the fate of our species is at stake.

To sum up: Too much estrogen causes infertility in women. It disrupts the normal estrogen/progesterone hormone cycle. The estrogen can come from soy foods, flax/linseed, and animal products. High levels of estrogen go hand in hand with high levels of copper. Copper effects the thyroid and adrenals which slows down metabolism which lets copper build up to effect the thyroid and adrenals. Copper also interferes with the reproductive system in women. And it all is based around estrogen dominance which can easily be rectified by diet modification.

Of course, I am not a medical professional, which means I am not bound by dogma and adherence to a membership organization. As such, I can draw together information from many locations and deduce from it what others are unable to do with their narrow view of the world.

Note # 1: Because we are all individuals we will all have varying degrees of estrogen sensitivity. The level that effects one woman might not effect another. For some women, going off soy products alone could be all they need, while others need to avoid all estrogen and copper foods to get the same results.

Note # 2: Some doctors will prescribe synthetic progesterone if they think there is too much estrogen. The two problems with this are 1, the progesterone is synthetic and as far as the body is concerned, is only half a hormone (this is too detailed to get into here) and 2, it doesn't address the large amounts of estrogen in the system, it just tries to cover it up. In a hormonally balanced woman, estrogen STOPS being released when progesterone is. You cannot try and overwhelm the estrogen in the system by injecting more progesterone. Doing so does not address the problem of too much estrogen. To deal with that, you need to stop ingesting it.

Note # 3: A good doctor will know a low body temperature is a sign of thyroid malfunction. They might then prescribe drugs of some kind to activate the thyroid, or stimulate the adrenals (because they go hand in hand) and try a myriad of things. However, without addressing the reason for the thyroid problem, they are again trying to overwhelm one thing with another. As high copper levels can disrupt the thyroid/adrenal pair, getting rid of, and stopping all ingestion of, high copper foods, should be the first step. Take the load of the glands first. Then let the body fix them because only the body knows how.

Note # 4: Nature wants you to have a baby. If there are problems, there are symptoms and signs there is a problem. There are apparent causes. And then there are the real underlying causes. E.g. Low body temp is a sign/symptom. It is apparently caused by low thyroid activity. But the real cause is the thing causing the thyroid to have low activity. Because copper and estrogen play such huge roles in the glands of reproduction, the level of estrogen ingested must be greatly reduced to practically zero (so the body can balance itself out). And the amount of copper ingested must also be reduced (so the body can fix itself up). Nature, if given a chance, will fix everything that's wrong with the reproductive system - as long as you stop doing the things which cause it to go haywire in the first place.

Note # 5: PMS, period pain, mood swings, irregular periods, etc., are NOT normal conditions. They are a sign that something is not right. Normal is a regular pain free cycle with stable moods.

Women have gotten rid of a lifetime of PMS by avoiding estrogen containing foods. Others have removed PMS pain by ceasing all high-copper food ingestion. Period cycles have regulated instead of being yo-yo from month to month. All WITHOUT drugs and by just avoiding the estrogen/copper foods.

As I said in my original IVF Fertility post, if I was going to get pregnant I would fix up estrogen dominance - even if I didn't think I was a sufferer of it - and take HCL supplementation. Together, the body's hormone system will be allowed to balance itself out and the body will absorb more nutrients creating an inner environment conducive to reproducing.

And to begin with, I would first analyze my current diet to see which foods were likely ED facilitators and which were high in copper. I would then remove those foods entirely from my diet. Then, I would keep a journal. Noting WHAT I eat - the basic ingredients (tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, etc.) not "dish" names - and noting how my body reacts. This way, any sudden change - such as being period pain free and suddenly having pain - could be cross-linked with any changes in the diet. By keeping such a journal one women discovered mushrooms caused her to have period pain (and as you now know, they are high in copper, and copper toxicity leads to period pain). When she removed mushrooms from her diet, she was back to pain free periods. As simple as that.

I understand some of the diet changes you need to make seem hard. Like "What do you mean no more chocolate. I'm a woman. We can't live without chocolate." Well, YOU need to make a choice. You either give up chocolate or have painful periods every month while finding it difficult to get pregnant. It's chocolate or a baby. You decide. If it is any consolation, after a month off the "banned" list, if you eat items like chocolate you will feel ill - trust me, I know this from experience.

Because the diet changes can be so radical compared to what most people eat, cold turkey might be too tough to handle. So do it in steps. Get rid of all Soy-contaminated foods first. No bread, or anything with lecithin or vegetable protein in it. Once you get used to that, get rid of the next thing, like maybe all flax/linseed. And keep going. One item at a time. Of course, faster results will be had if you dump the lot in one go. Which is actually easy. It's just excuses made that it is hard. It's also easy if your husband joins you on this diet change. Together it is easy.

Anyway. I leave you now to begin your ED free life. And to enjoy the new unburdened feelings you will experience once you rid yourself of ED and copper toxicity. And do please write to let me know how you are going or if you have any questions. Send email to contact@michaelrossonline.com.

Analysis Of A Propaganda Piece

Propaganda is the dissemination of ideas, information or rumor for the purpose of injuring or helping an institution, a cause or a person. And it is usually seen in the political arena - and most often from the left.

It comes mostly from the left because the left are about "control". And the more control the better. They, therefore, must use propaganda to convince people to their way of thinking, because people have a natural tendency to want to be free unless convinced otherwise.

Anyway. Today I got a flyer from the Democrats in my mail box. Let me now break it down to expose the rampant use of propaganda throughout it.

First, the party is called "Australian Democrats". The word "Democrats" implies a sense of freedom and righteousness. However, it is a misleading tool commonly used by the left and far left. For there is no totally democratic country with the word Democrat or Democracy or Democratic in its name. Only countries thoroughly controlled by the state use those words in their name. The GDR (German Democratic Republic) was Communist Germany. The Democratic People's Republic of China is likewise NOT a democracy.

In the case of the Australian Democrats, they are as left as you get. A vote for them is like a vote for the leftist Labor party. BUT the majority of Australians do not know the political leaning of the Democrats. If they did, if the Australian people knew how left the Democrats were, they wouldn't get the votes they currently do.

So their first tool is to use a misleading name.

Second, the flyer, which is like a letter, has a line which goes, "The other will be for the Senate to choose who will watch over the Government and hold them to account."

Unless I am mistaken, the Senate doesn't "watch over" the government at all. All they do is get passed bills which the government wants to make law and they either approve it, or send it back for rewording. There is no "watching over" as the line implies. But it is a necessary line for it is followed up with, "The Democrats, with the balance of power in the Senate, make a powerful watchdog on Government." So the first bit was designed to credentialize the second bit.

Third, the claims technique. The letter now has a series of bullets, some of which I'll reveal and analyze to show you their manipulations...

Bullet # 1: When the Government lied about asylum seekers throwing their children overboard prior to the last election, a Senate Committee eventually exposed the truth.

If anyone had actually bothered listening to the reports of this, the Government NEVER said asylum seekers threw their children overboard. The govt said IF they did, it was blah blah blah. So first thing is a blatant lie about what the govt is supposed to have said.

Also, some were calling those people "asylum seekers" while they were no asylum seekers at all. They were illegals trying to sneak into Australia. So we now have misleading labels used - much like they mislead with their own name.

Next comes the bit about the Senate Committee. This was called into existence by the govt. The Senate does not have the power to just up and create their own committees and inquiries as it sees fit. They can only create a committee if given the mandate by the govt. So the fact a Senate Committee existed at all is because the govt called it into being.

Then we have this committee "eventually exposing the truth" which sounds like they discovered the govt lied. After all, the way the bullet is worded you would think the govt was trying to pull a shifty. But the flyer never actually tells you what that truth was, just that it was "exposed", eventually.

It is interesting to note that the use of the word "exposed" also implies something was trying to be hidden.

Bullet # 3: When the Government claimed that Telstra's services to the bush were 'up to scratch', a Senate Inquiry exposed the truth.

Again we have the line "exposed the truth" which implies that the truth is different to what was claimed, even if the truth is that the truth was the same as what was claimed.

E.g. Say I made a curry for dinner, then their bullet could read: "When Michael claimed he made a curry for dinner, a Senate Inquiry exposed the truth."

As you can see with this wording, it appears that I did not make a curry for dinner, even if I did.

Also note the use of the word "claimed" at the beginning of the bullet. The use of that word implies the govt said something it knew wasn't true. And it implies that because the word has a kind of sarcastic tonation to it. An inbuilt disbelief factor, if you will. Because only dishonest people make "claims," don't they? Such as, "he claimed he didn't do it."

Anyway. There are four other bullets just like that... the govt 'claimed'... Senate exposed the truth. Never once do we find out in this flyer if the "truth" is the same as what was "claimed". From this I can surmise that the truth was the same, otherwise they would have printed otherwise which would have made their argument all the stronger.

The bullets are followed by "The Democrats are Australia's specialist Senate party." As if somehow they have chosen to not get into representative politics and want to be the "specialists" as they claim. The fact is, they are continually trying to get into representative politics. It is just that no-one will vote for them. Even when their leader - with all her media coverage and the like - ran for a "seat", she still could not get in. And she wasn't going up against an incumbent!

This sentence is immediately followed by "We review every piece of legislation that comes to the parliament and expose adverse effects." Well, it is the Senate's job to either approve the legislation or send it back to the representatives for rewording and changes. To claim that this is all thanks to the Democrats is a little on the hype side. Whomever is in the Senate does this, be they Democrats, Liberals, Labor, Greens, or what have you.

And this is followed up with, "We have moved more amendments to improve Australia's laws, than any other non-government party, with 174 amendments to 50 bills passed in 2002-2003."

Considering an amendment can be a different word choice, this is no big deal. And even less of a big deal when you see that they are talking about "non-government" parties. If they were so good as they make out, they would show THEIR record and compare it to records from the Senators of both major parties. The fact they have not, indicates that those other parties put forth more changes than anyone else in the Senate. Again, while they may be stating a truth, it is a carefully worded propaganda truth which leaves out vital information we need to know if they are as good as they claim.

Following this, and beginning with the next paragraph is, "We have initiated many Senate Inquiries, including child protection, Telstra, refugees, university and schools funding, politicians' superannuation, a Republic, and the US Free Trade Agreement."

As mentioned previously, only the govt can get a Senate Inquiry going. This is why there has been no Senate Inquiry into the quality of Australia's intelligence prior to going into Iraq - the govt refuses to have one. The Senate is not in any position and has no power to initiate things on their own and carry them through to conclusion. Their job is to make sure certain laws do not get passed which would be detrimental to the citizens. However, even in this they fall down because the main power in the Senate is currently leftist leaning. As the left is about gathering power under the guise of helping, while simultaneously bring impoverishment, their claim of "exposing adverse effects" are blatantly false. They are as populist driven as any politician is.

This is followed by a series of bullets which claim to be major policy wins achieved by the Democrats. ALL of these supposed wins are all welfare based. Which is to say... welfare people get more at the expense of the value-producing population. And this is supposed to be a "win". With wins like that, I hope we get less of them.

After the bullet list of "wins" is a rather out of place sentence. It reads: "In this election, the Government will be calling its opponents weak on border protection, weak on defense and weak on National Security. But when a democratic government is weak on facts, its strengths count for little."

This party says they are looking out for us, but the above is clearly an attempt to create doubts about our current govt. What is interesting to note is, what the sentence above anticipates the current govt calling the opposition, is all true. They are weak in all those areas. Yet, the flyer doesn't mention this.

Every election I have participated in in the past, has seen the Democrats preferences go to the Labor party. If they were truly looking out for us as they say, wouldn't they encourage us to vote for the best party, instead of trying to undermine the right wing party in favor of the left wing party - which they always do. And it is interesting to see that on the other side of the flyer they have "Democrats, The Lie Detectors."

Also interesting to note, on the website of The Green Left Weekly, you will see endorsements from the Democrats. The GLW is a socialist magazine with strong ties to The Socialist Alliance. With such links, I doubt the Democrats are looking out for me and exposing lies. More like, trying to trick me into putting socialists into power.

And if you call the Democrats out on their propaganda, they will respond that they never accused the govt of lying and whatnot. They will tell you that the truth they exposed was in agreement with the govt, they just didn't put that bit in. Which is terribly convenient of course.

Hmm. Me thinks I need to create a special report "How To Spot Propaganda And Stop Politicians Tricking You" or some such thing. But seeing as the electorate are dumb, and don't want to break free of their dumbness, I'd be wasting my time.

When the next propaganda piece arrives in the mail, I'll break it down for you. It is interesting to see which tricks they use.

Smart Food?

A reader asks, "Do you know if there is such a thing as smart foods. A friend of mine swears that becoming a vegan 2 weeks before exams switches him on before exams. Do you think there may be any credence in the idea that certain foods assist your ability to study. Or is it simply a case of the placebo effect?"

First, what your friend experiences is very real and is not the placebo effect in action. But to fully appreciate what your friend experiences what he does, you need to know why. So let me elaborate...

Being a vegan means eating no animal products whatsoever - no dairy either.

What this does to the body is multi-fold...

1: It ceases the constant influx of anti-biotics which are in the animal products. This gives your body a chance to get rid of the anti-biotics and to detox. See. Your body's immune system needs to get rid of anti-biotics in any amount, because anti-biotics are anti-life and are also an invading substance. So going vegan relieves the body of this.

2: It ceases the constant influx of animal bacteria and parasites. As previously written on this blog, meat has a tendency to go off because it is loaded with bacteria and parasites (same applies to milk). Even cooking doesn't kill it all as cooked meat also goes off rapidly. When eating these animal products, you eat these bacteria and parasites as well. This similarly puts a load on your immune system. Weighing your immune system down so it is constantly fighting other things too - which wouldn't have gotten a hold if your immune system hadn't been hampered. So going vegan relieves the body of this and allows the immune system to deal with the other items is needs to deal with. And the result can be a "lifting" feeling.

3: It ceases the constant influx of animal and artificial hormones. All livestock (including milk cows) is injected with hormones and/or has it added to their feed. This makes the animal grow faster with less food. So the livestock farmers get more meat for their buck. These hormones are assimilated by your body and overload your body. The main added artificial hormone being an estrogen replica - a cell growth hormone. This leads to estrogen dominance which can cause havoc with the body. By going vegan, your body has the chance to get its hormone balance to normal - but because you are normally so overwhelmed with hormones (both artificial and the ones which are naturally in the animal) you interpret this normal feeling as "lifting".

4: Much meat and meat products have preservatives in them of some kind. Going vegan sees these chemicals NOT get consumed in the amounts they previously were. This, once again, eases the load on the immune system. The feeling you feel, while you think of it as lifting, is actually how a normal un-chemicalised person should feel. It's just that you are in a constant "down" while eating these animal foods you determine this down state as normal.

5: To equal the same amount of food consumed when on a meat diet, more fruit and vegetables need to be consumed. As these foods are living foods (they can actually all be eaten raw, as is natures way), they have more nutrients than the dead, nutrient-void processed meat-based foods. So now your body is getting higher doses of nutrients. (Some also add spirulina to their diet for extra nutrients and readily absorbable proteins - same with wheatgrass and chlorella. And some report increased alertness and better overall brain function on such natural powdered supplements - so if there is a smart food then these would be it. Some also juice to get high nutrient doses in single drinks.)

6: When going off meat, it is also automatic to go off all meat condiments. As these contain preservatives and other nasties, no meat means no consumption of those preservatives and nasties. The body is less loaded down with crap and a feeling of "lifting" could result.

7: Less metal is consumed on a vegan diet. When eating meat, the meat is usually sizzling right on metal - be it a frypan or whatnot. Metal particles attach to the meat and the body must deal with these. And if it is not metal then it is Teflon bits. Either case is not the best situation to put your body into. Going off meat, greatly reduces the metal/Teflon bits that enter your body putting a "load" on it, because food generally doesn't come into prolonged direct contact with the surface. Thus your body has more resources to deal with other things. (Cook with glass or ceramic pots.)

8: No meat eases the digestive system. Meat is incredibly hard to digest. You can prove this for yourself easily. Take a bite of meat and see if you can chew it until it is liquid in your mouth. You will find, you cannot. It just breaks down into smaller "strands". Next, take a bite of any fruit or vegetable and chew it until it is liquid in your mouth. This you can do. Now, if you cannot turn meat into liquid with the aid of teeth, imagine the difficulty your stomach has trying to dissolve it without the benefit of strong stomach acid, as is found in all carnivores. As we also have a much longer digestive tract than carnivores, the decaying, putrefying meat stays in our system longer. Our body has to deal with this decaying stuff. By being a vegan, the digestive system is not put through this ordeal and a better overall feeling should result.

9: By going off animal products and eating vegan, the total calories consumed is usually reduced. This is also beneficial for the body as a lot of resources are used when digesting food. These resources can now be redirected towards rebuilding bits that need rebuilding and fighting invading things that need fighting.

10: If they are doing the totally right thing, they will also be avoiding carbonated beverages. Besides the avoidance of the brain neuro-toxin Nutrasweet (Aspartame), they will not be consuming a waste product. That is, they won't be drinking in carbon dioxide which is a bodily waste product - our body turns carbonic acid into carbon dioxide to get rid of it. This alone can also lift the mental fog away because you aren't filling your blood with carbon dioxide. Your blood can be free to transport oxygen as it is designed to do. And oxygen to the brain is a good thing.

About this time, you probably have some questions with the main ones being "Where do I get protein from?" and "What about iron from meat and calcium from milk?"

Most people think they need to eat protein because they have muscles and muscles are protein.

Let me ask you a question... the majority of animals on this planet do NOT eat meat. They eat plant-based foods. Where do their muscles come from then, if muscles can only be fed with protein derived from meat, as has been claimed?

And if we were to follow that logic, then we should also be eating eyeballs because we have eyes, brains because we have a brain, drink blood because we have blood, and so on.

Also, humans are the ONLY animal on the planet that drinks the milk of another species and the only one to drink milk past childhood. (For information about milk and why we really should not be drinking it, visit http://www.notmilk.com/ and http://www.nomilk.com/ - both sites are a real eye-opener.)

And as to the calcium question... let me ask you another question... where does a cow gets all the calcium from that it puts into milk?

See the silly logic of all of this?

We evolved without fire and without milk cows at our beck and call. And we got by quite fine for 100,000 years thank you very much. To suggest we need to drink the milk of another species to live, is ludicrous. And to say we need to so we get the calcium, is likewise ludicrous.

If we applied that logic to other animals, we would be seeing elephants eating ivory so they could have tusks. Yet elephants only eat trees.

See it. Cows eat grass. That is all. They seem to get enough protein for muscles (which we later eat) and calcium for their bones, teeth and milk (which we later drink) from just the grass.

Elephants get all they need for their ivory, fat, leather-like skin, and so on, from eating nothing but trees.

Gorillas seem to get all the protein, calcium, etc., they need from the plant-based foods they eat. And they are strong bastards and our closest physiological link.

So based on this, you really need to ask yourself WHY we appear to be the only animal on the planet that can only get the various body elements (calcium, protein, iron, etc.) from eating only those elements of other animals. And why we appear to be the only animal not capable of getting these things from non-animal sources.

Of course, the answer is, we aren't the only species on the planet to which this applies. There are NO animals this applies to. Those who continually say we do, have an agenda to say as much.

The beef industry has run a good marketing campaign to convince people they need to eat meat to get iron and protein. The milk industry has done a good marketing job to convince people they need to drink milk for calcium. (The govt then buys into what these industries say.)

If you eat fruit and vegetables only - in their natural state - and do not eat filler (such as bread, pasta and other flour derived products) or soy-based products (see http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz/ for information about the health Dangers of soy), you too will get all the nutrients and vitamins and minerals you need. If you cook your vegetables, you will destroy some of the vitamins so will need to eat more vegetables to compensate, or supplement with a Natural supplement such as spirulina (NOT a tablet in a plastic jar supplement). And when cooking vegetables, do NOT throw away the cooking water. Keep it. Use it in some way in the dish you make - such as putting a bunch of vegetables in a pot, covering with water and cooking to make a stew/casserole.

Anyway. As you can see, rejecting animal products and embracing veganism isn't so much about lifting up mentally and physically, as it is about throwing off the shackles which have kept you in a kind of malaise. The "switching on" your friend talks about is actually a normal state of being. Eating animal products numbs us. And because we are numbed all the time, we think this state of numbness is normal.

WARNING: Becoming a vegan will also show you how "loaded" other food is. If, after a month or so of being a true vegan, you decide to eat a Big Mac or some such food, be warned you will not feel well after eating it. Your body will tell you very quickly how much it doesn't like this thing you have just eaten. You will feel "not right" and "contaminated" probably for the rest of the day. This is how you body would react all the time to such food, if you hadn't numbed it to the food's effects. This negative but true reaction will also mean, you won't ever eat such food again. So be warned.

Analysis Of A Terrorist Threat

Australia received a direct terrorist threat the other day. It went something like, "Get your troops out of Iraq or we will set off car bombs continually - turning your cities into pools of blood."

So far a few politicians have responded to the threat saying "Get stuffed" in a nice round-about political way. And ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organization - Australia's version of the CIA) is investigating the group closer.

This is all nice and well. And maybe the Australian people should be told about it - even though the govt is NOT upgrading their terror threat level. BUT, I have a question. A nagging question.

You see. HOW are these threats discovered?

This latest threat is written in Arabic on an Arabic website.

Now pardon me for not being up to date with international espionage and that kind of stuff, but it seems to me, if you are going to threaten someone, you threaten them directly. You don't threaten them in another language somewhere else. You threaten them in a language they understand right at their door step, don't you?

Think about it. If you are in the U.S. and your neighbor pisses you off, you go to a lawyer, give the lawyer $50 and have them send a letter directly to your neighbor. You do not, write a note in a foreign language and pin it to a notice board in another city.

Yet, this is the equivalent of what the so-called terrorists have done - written a threat in another language and placed it where the person being threatened cannot see it.

And so we get back to my question... HOW are these threats discovered?

The terrorists can't rely on intelligence organizations reading their websites, for they don't know if those organizations even know of the existence of those websites.

That leaves two possibilities, in my mind.

One is the media. The terrorists make a threat then tell the media about it. The media being the good little "propaganda lapdogs of the terrorists" that they are, quickly tell the govt and then immediately ask the govt questions about the threat.

The govt does the usual dance - we take all threats seriously, but there is no reason to be alarmed. Blah blah blah, Al Qaeda links, blah blah blah, troops are staying, blah blah blah.

Two is the conspiracy theory "govt involvement" angle. That is, the threats are phony, but passed off as legit, to which the govt can then justify taking some more of our liberties and freedoms away.

Take the Bali bombing for example. It seems that Jamal Isla-mia was fingered pretty darn quick as the guys who did it. Yet I had heard nothing of this group ever before.

So how can ASIO finger a group so quick after an event but have no clue the event is going to take place? Something just doesn't add up.

The Truth The Media Is Keeping Quite About, Which The Government Doesn't Want You To Know For Fear Of Revolt

Apparently we live in a modern progressive country. Where the wellbeing of the citizens is paramount - or so say our leaders. I have doubts.

Readers of this blog will know of my 10% flat tax idea - although no income tax would be better - and of my flat consumption tax idea. And how putting such taxes into action and abolishing the current draconian progressive tax system we currently have, would stimulate the economy no end and we might see perpetual economic growth - instead of the cycles we currently have which are caused by government monetary manipulations.

Well. It seems there is a country which is doing just this. And it is not some tiny country with only 50,000 or so population. It is a very large country with hundreds of millions of people. The country is

Russia!

Yep. Russia. The former bastion of communism in Europe, has, under President Vladimir Putin (former head of the KGB), instituted an across the board flat income rate of 13%.

As I and others have said, when you reduce the income tax level you get economic growth and actually more tax back into the government as more money is spent. And that is exactly what has happened in Russia.

Since putting this into effect in January 2001 the economy has grown at 5% per year while the rest of Europe languishes in a recession.

On top of this, there is no double tax. Which is to say, when you invest your after-tax money, the money you make from that investment (such as capital gain on stocks, houses, etc.) is not taxed. And there is no double taxing on bank deposits either.

This is a true equal tax, where everyone pays the same percentage. And where big money earners get to use more of their money to create values for others - thus stimulating the economy further, which ultimately leads to more tax revenues for the government as well (28% more in Russia's case).

Russia has shown the lead. A country of over 300 million people prospering has PROVEN that such a tax is the best kind of tax for a country. And that it works in large countries as well as small ones. (Of course, Hong Kong has been proving this for over 50 years.)

So WHY have the media been quiet about this?

After all, this is BIG BIG stuff. If a former communist country can have a better, fairer tax system than a supposedly free western country, we need to be asking WHY? (Could it be the media have been "encouraged" to keep quiet about it?)

Imagine if word got out about this into the general population? Can you imagine the impact if half of Australia (or the US, or whatever country you live in) started questioning WHY we cannot also have such a wonderfully simple tax system like Russia?

If Russia can do it why can't we, people would ask. Too many questions would start coming the way of the elected representatives. And they would be forced to buckle under the strain and implement it. Of course, the left would be opposed. But their arguments would be mute because it is proven more tax is actually taken in under such a system. So what excuse would they have left?

No. The government does not want the people to be better off. They want the people under the thumb. Because under the thumb means under control.

Doubt it? Then call your local member of federal parliament and ASK them why we can't have a flat tax system like Russia? In fact, don't just phone them and ask, write a letter and ask for a letter in response.

It's really dumb of the politicians. They fail to grasp simple concepts. Such as, "treat people like crap and they will vote with their feet" - and - "Give them tremendous opportunity and freedom to do well, and they won't want to leave."

Instead, they want to chain everyone to one place and suck the values out of them under threat of punishment. How ludicrous.

If you would like to read more about Russia's tax miracle, there are two articles by the same author here and here.