Global Warming Myths & Facts

As global warming continues to receive more exposure on the internet, the television, and the radio, you may start to pay more attention.  If global warming is an issue that you are concerned about or if it is an issue that you would like to explore more, you will want to continue reading on.  A few interesting and occasionally devastating global warming facts are outlined below, as well as some common myths about global warming.

Temperature predictions from some climate models assuming the SRES A2 emissions scenario. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Fact: Global Warming Is Real.  Although there is a lot of opposition and debate that surrounds global warming, scientific proof shows that global warming is real.  This is something that cannot be ignored much longer, even by those who oppose global warming or claim it is a sham.  The earth’s temperature is rising.  With that in mind, this aspect of global warming isn’t always debated as much as the affects of global warming are. (This recent article highlights some of the impending dangers of the warming of our planet - the effects of which are becoming frighteningly evident lately: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719)

Myth:  Humans Are the Sole Cause of Global Warming
While humans do have a significant impact on global warming, as well as the emission of greenhouse gases, we are not the only cause.  Many scientists claim that the earth’s temperature has always been on the rise, albeit a slight rise.  Although the exact cause of global warming or is under debate, there is absolutely no proof that humans are the sole cause of it.

Ha ha - cute! (Photo credit: mirjoran)

Myth:  Global Warming Isn’t True, As It Is Cold Outside
If you live in the north, you are likely to experience cold and chilly winters.  In fact, even during the summertime, you may experiences a slight decrease in temperature.  This decrease in temperature is what often leads people to believe that global warming is just an untrue theory.  Despite opposition, many scientists do believe that global warming does exist and that it will have a serious impact on the future.  As for the temperature, global warming summarizes planetary weather patterns, not just individual events; therefore, you will likely experience a wide range of temperatures and other weather patterns, regardless of where you live.

Fact: Glaciers and Polar Icecaps Are Melting.  This is another fact of global warming that we should all be well aware of.  While there is debate that surrounds this fact, this melting is occurring.  Generally speaking, the debate surrounding the melting of glaciers concerns the causes of it.  Global warming is causing glaciers and icecaps to melt at a faster rate of speed, but it is not the sole cause. 

Myth:  Global Warming is the Sole Reason for Glaciers Melting
Many global warming activists, including Al Gore, claim that global warming is what is causing the glaciers and ice masses in the north and in the extreme south to melt.  Yes, it is true that global warming does have an impact on glaciers melting, but it is not the only cause.  There are a number of scientific studies that show that the melting and shifting of glaciers and other ice masses has been happening for years now.  This means that global warming is not the only cause of ice melt and the possible rise in sea level because of it.

Decline in thickness of glaciers worldwide over the past half-century (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Fact: In keeping with the melting of glaciers, icecaps, and snowcaps, this melting is having a profound affect on sea and wildlife.  For starters, polar bears are the animals experts are most concerned about.  Polar bears rely on glaciers and icecaps as a way to travel and find food.  As these important masses continue to disappear, polar bears are likely to find it more difficult to travel and find food.  In fact, many will die because of this difficulty. 

In addition to melting ice and snow, the increase in the earth’s temperature will also have an impact on water. This is most commonly the case with coral reefs. Coral reefs are suffering due to the steady rise in water temperature.  This change with coral reefs is commonly referred to as bleaching.  This when coral reefs lose their beautiful, vibrant colors.  Unfortunately, this can have a negative impact other sea life, as many rely on coral reefs for food, shelter, and protection.

Fact: The melting of glaciers and icecaps will also have an impact on coastal flooding in the future.  This fact is supported by much independent research and many computer generated models.  As for the impact this important global warming fact can have on the coastal areas, it can and will be devastating.  Many coastal residents will be displaced.  Those in the United States who are most like to be impacted by this flooding are those who reside in low-lying coastal regions such as Louisiana and Texas, as well as some parts of California, but potentially all coastlines could be impacted.

Myth:  Computer Models that Predict Global Warming Are UnreliableOne of the many debates that surround global warming is the use of computer generated weather models.  It is no secret that scientists and meteorologists use computer models to predict the weather.  Although these weather models are not right all of the time, they do have a pretty high success rate.  In fact, numerous weather predicating computer models basically show that global warming is real and that it does have the probability to become a huge problem in the future.

If you are still unsure as to whether or not global warming is a real problem, now is the time to do some research.  Many individuals think that global warming prevention steps are just a waste of time and energy if global warming does not exist.  That is why researching the facts that surround global warming are important.  In fact, you may also want to encourage your friends, family members, neighbors, and coworkers to do the same. See the article referenced above to get you started, and be sure to check back for other helpful resources as well.

Global Warming: Fact or Fiction?

When it comes to global warming, you will find no shortage of information.  Whether you look online, turn the television on, or pick up a newspaper, you are likely to see something on global warming.

Global warming is a topic that is becoming “hot”  (pun intended).  :-)   Most of the information that you will read or see on television concerns the negative affects that global warming will have on our planet, such as coastal flooding, erratic weather, and the faster spread of diseases. Another popular global warming topic is prevention.  You are also likely often presented with ways that you can help to stop or at least lessen the impact of global warming.  These ways often include purchasing energy efficient appliances, cars, and light bulbs.

The Great Global Warming Swindle (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Although much attention and focus is placed on what global warming is and what we can do to stop it, you will also find opposition.  In recent years, we have learned just how much opposition the global warming theory has.  Global warming is no longer a cause for environmentalists; it is also a big cause for debate.  This debate circles around a number of different viewpoints, such as the one that global warming is just a scam to collect money for environmental organizations and the view that the changes we are seeing aren’t directly related to global warming, as they have been anticipated for years now.

So what does all this debate mean for you and other Americans?  It often means uncertainty.  Do you believe in global warming?  If you are uncertain, do you at least feel that it is an issue that needs to be discussed more?  If so, you are not alone.  Many Americans would like to see more information and proof on global warming.  The good news is that you can easily find this proof online or with television and movie documentaries, such as An Inconvenient Truth.  The internet is another tool that you may want to use, when giving global warming a closer look.  In fact, you may want to take the time to research both sides of the global warming debate. 

Even if you do not officially believe in global warming, you may still be concerned with the environment.  As outlined above, some opposition believes that the earth’s temperature would rise anyways, as it has been doing so for years now.  The same can be said with sea level, as a rise has always been anticipated.  Even if global warming isn’t the cause of these changes, they can still cause alarm.  The one thing that many experts agree on, whether or not they can agree on global warming, is that some of the prevention tips suggested are ones that can do no harm.  These tips include carpooling when possible and reducing as much energy in your home as possible, such as by turning off all unused lights and appliances. For more tips on saving energy, be sure to keep your eye on this blog, and browse through the archives as well.

Video - The Price-Pottenger Story

If you haven't heard of Dr. Weston A. Price, his book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, will blow your mind, and make you look at health, and food, in a completely different way. This quick video gives a brief overview of Price's research, but I strongly recommend you pick up his book and learn more. Price's work demonstrates and embodies all of the health truths I have been discovering and piecing together from various other sources for the past several years - all of it comes together in his extensively researched book. This video also describes the very interesting research done by Dr. Pottenger on cats which also supports Price's philosophy.

If you're not familiar with either of these two individuals, watch this quick video, and you'll start to catch a glimpse of a new paradigm of health and wellness (see resources below video to learn more):

The Price-Pottenger Story
You've discovered one of the most unique health resources in the world! This is the astonishing and amazing story of the great nutrition pioneers: Weston A. Price, DDS and Francis M. Pottenger, Jr., MD The Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation (PPNF) ...


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Coconut Oil - A Healthy Alternative

Coconut oil has long been touted as a natural health remedy as well as a healthy addition to any diet.  In recent history, we have been trained that unsaturated fats are good for us and saturated fats are bad, but more and more studies are showing this just isn't true.  While saturated fats may be harder to burn and should not make up a majority of your diet, they are more natural and better for your body than many of the polyunsaturated vegetable oils that have saturated the market in recent years.

Here are a number of ways coconut oil can benefit you:

Coconut Oil (Photo credit: Ennor)

Skin - Coconut oil is a great multipurpose skin care item.  Like many other oils, it is great to use for massages, but also provides moisture for your skin.  It can also be used to treat certain skin infections like acne and eczema.  It contains antioxidants that help neutralize skin-damaging free radicals and has even been shown to help prevent wrinkles! Coconut oil is also great for sunburns - I got a pretty bad one earlier this summer, and used coconut oil on it for several days - I didn't peel at all.

Hair - Massage coconut oil gently into the scalp or even use it as a conditioner.  Not only is this oil treatment good for your hair, it also has essential nutrients to keep your hair strong and healthy.  It will help stimulate hair growth, moisturize your hair and scalp, and leave your hair looking beautifully shiny.  It can even help get rid of lice and their eggs.

Stress Relief - To help ease fatigue and regenerate yourself, apply coconut oil to the head and then gently massage.  You’ll feel better and ready to go.

Heart Health - While it does contain saturated fats, coconut oil also contains quite a bit of lauric acid, which helps to lower cholesterol and blood pressure - contrary to popular opinion.  Coconut oil can also help prevent other heart issues.

Weight Loss - Sure, coconut oil contains fat (all oils do), but coconut oil actually has less fat than many commonly used cooking oils.  And the fats in coconut oil are more easily converted into energy rather than being stored.  It also helps your body absorb more essential nutrients from other foods to keep your body in tip-top shape. (Interesting Note: Before grain became a staple for livestock feed, many livestock owners - especially in South and Central America - used to feed their cattle with coconut husks, which contain a good amount of oil. The cattle were very healthy, but not very fat, which meant it took longer to get them ready to sell, and they were smaller. Then they discovered that if they fed the cows corn instead, they gained a LOT more weight - much faster. The rest is history. But this does have interesting implications if you look at the rate of obesity in this country....)

Coconut oil in solid state (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Immunity - Coconut oil contains antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal compounds that help fight diseases before they can take hold so you stay healthy and get sick less often.

Infection - The same properties in coconut oil that keep you from getting sick can also help heal or slow illnesses once you get them.  Coconut oil not only has antibacterial properties to help fight normal infections, it has also been shown to help viral infections including HIV.  It helps when taken internally, but it can also be applied to cuts and bruises to speed healing and form a protective barrier to prevent infection and other irritants from getting in.

Digestion - The antibacterial properties of coconut oil also help soothe irritable bowel syndrome and other digestive disorders.

These are just a few of the health benefits of coconut oil that have been discovered.  Coconut oil has been shown to have a lot more benefits as well, and is believed by some to do everything from preventing liver disease to strengthening your teeth. Try replacing your cooking oils with coconut oil. Be sure to choose extra-virgin, and organic is best. Fresh coconut oil should have a light, coconutty scent. If it has no scent it's probably old, and won't be as effective. It's also great for baking - however, I've found it tends to make baked goods light and fluffy, rather than chewy, so keep this in mind depending on what you are baking. Coconut oil keeps at room temperature for many months if well sealed, but you may also refrigerate it if you like.

Why We Need A New Definition of Healthy

Okay, rant time!  :-)   I know I haven't ranted in a while, but this morning's outing to the local Kroger got me all fired up....

After picking up some strawberries and organic butter (on sale for under $4 - yay!), I headed for the other side of the store, and found myself behind a fellow shopping with (presumably) his two sons. One was small - riding in the cart - the other was maybe 4 or 5 years old - cute little blond-headed boy. He apparently had been asking his dad if he could get a little treat (I didn't see what it was). All I heard was his dad's response:
"No, you can't have that - it's not good for you."  Followed by - almost as an after-thought:

"Most things that taste good aren't good for you."

WHAT??  I almost interrupted right there, but I thought better of it. What good could come of confronting a well-meaning dad trying to educate his children?  I really couldn't think of anything to say at that moment that would have made a positive difference, so I held my tongue, but inside I was stewing all the way home.

What a horrible thing to teach your children!

First of all, you're teaching your kids from a young age to feel guilty about eating things they enjoy (way to plant the seeds for a future eating disorder, dad!)

But even worse, you're predisposing them to dislike (probably before even tasting) anything they would think of as "healthy."

"The Healthy Eating Pyramid" (Yes, believe it or not, that IS a can of pop at the top right...) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Basically that one statement will install a belief in those children that could very well lead to a short and unhealthy life - unless they are able to later overcome this early programming and learn to make choices based on reality on their own.  (Which many do, and I think, hopefully, more and more lately.)

In my mind, I was less timid, and confronted the guy with a simple, "That's not true!" Then I would have held up the package of butter - "Look at this organic butter - it's 10 times healthier than the regular stuff, AND it tastes better too!" Then I envisioned an argument ensuing about whether or not butter itself is healthy. (Which it can be - in case you were wondering, in reasonable amounts, as long as it's from properly fed and cared for animals that eat what they're designed to eat (grass), and aren't pumped full of hormones, chemicals, and junk. Clean animal fat is a natural substance which supports a number of functions in the human body, and is the most compatible type of fat with the human body - after all - it's the closest thing to our own fat - which makes up most of our brains, the marrow of our bones, and the walls of every cell in our bodies).

But what good would that have done? The dad's own programming (probably from his own parents, not to mention the non-stop media garbage) would most likely have prevented him from even comprehending the truth of my argument.

I find it incredibly sad and frustrating that all the mainstream (and mostly well-intentioned) efforts out there towards "health" are heading in completely the wrong direction. And it's REALLY easy to see this! If all it took to be healthy was to strip the fat out of everything, we would be the healthiest nation in the world! Instead, after 20-30 years of "low-fat," "low-sodium," "reduced-everything", we find ourselves with the highest rate of cancers, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, (the list goes on) than ever before in history.

At some point, don't we have to take a step back and say, "Okay, obviously this isn't working...."???   Maybe we were wrong?  Maybe eggs aren't evil, and processed (and sugared) grain isn't the actual basis of a healthy diet??

And back to the dad's comment for a moment - as I've mentioned before, REAL healthy food is the best-tasting food there is!!!  In fact, if you really think about it, the junk "foods" that are out there are packed full of artificial flavors - just to make us think they taste good!  Because in actuality, the processed, washed, bleached, dried, ground, separated, cooked, and re-formed into patties/nuggets/flakes/puffs "food" that we think of as "good-tasting-not-healthy food" really tastes like crap! Which is why they add all the artificial flavorings, colors, coatings, etc. - to trick our bodies into thinking this tastes good - therefore it must be good for me!

Guess what? There's a reason that stuff tastes good.... God made us that way - so that our bodies would know what is good for them, and what they need. Our taste buds recognize when something is ripe (it's sweet) - meaning at the peak of nutrients, vitamins, antioxidants, etc., rich - meaning containing fats that naturally help sustain our bodies and brains, or simply good-tasting - meaning it's something that's okay to eat, and not poisonous (things that are naturally poisonous to us usually taste bitter, or simply "off", to our taste buds). Natural, whole, real foods that God made for us to eat are the tastiest stuff on earth!

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The problem is, we stripped everything out of these real, good, whole foods, for the sake of convenience and profit, and now they taste like crap, so we add chemical additives to them that taste sort of like an imitation of what the actual food would taste like, so that we'll eat them....

HOW DOES THIS MAKE SENSE????!

Is it any wonder that we ended up where we are now? That of all the mammals on earth, we are the only species who live an average of 6 1/2 times our age at puberty (every other mammal lives 11-20 times)? We're also the only species that messes with its food.... go figure.

It's time to take a look at where we are, and how we got here, and realize that to survive as a species we need to change direction (not just when it comes to health, but also our care for the environment, our management of our resources, etc. - but these are for another blog post! :-)  Or visit our website for some ideas and solutions in these areas as well: www.newholisticliving.com.).

We need a new definition of healthy that doesn't rely on the USDA food pyramid (aka USDA pile of crap - pardon my French). We need to get back to basics, and back to eating the food that God gave us to eat - and stop pretending to be God ourselves and trying to make His food "better" - it can't be done!! Our bodies were designed by Him, and He created what these bodies are meant to eat.

Real Food = Whole Food = Natural Food = Fresh Food = Real Health.

What do you think? Agree? Disagree?  Got ideas of your own?  Feel free to share below, and if you liked this rant, you may also find these posts of interest:

Why Healthy Food Tastes Good
How to Get Healthy By Shopping Local
Organic Foods for Improved Health?
All About Aspartame
Raw Food Diet Series (1st post)

Video - Introduction to the Total Wellness Cleanse

This quick video gives a 3-minute overview of what is, in my opinion, one of the best detox cleanse programs out there. It works with real, whole, natural foods to enhance and support your body's natural detoxification processes. This is more effective and puts a lot less stress on your bodily systems than a lot of the juice cleanse or supplement "detoxes" out there, and it's also easier to maintain and help eliminate cravings along the way.

Watch the short video below, and click the link below the video if you are interested in learning more.

Detox Diet: Total Wellness Cleanse
Yuri Elkaim, BPHE, CK, RHN & Amy Coates, RHN, BSc. Cleansing your body does not require fancy pills or s...
 

Click Here to Learn More About The Total Wellness Cleanse...

 

Why Water Is Important To Your Detoxification Goals

When undertaking a detox plan, regardless of the method you choose, water will play a very important role in your success. Water will help you detoxify more quickly. It will also reduce or alleviate detoxification side effects.

Here are three compelling reasons why water is important to detoxification.

Alpine water fountain. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

#1 Water helps you eliminate toxins more quickly. Water helps accomplish several things in your body. It keeps your vital organs hydrated and functioning properly. We’re talking about your kidney, liver, bladder and digestive tract. These organs are an important part of the detox process. When they’re functioning optimally you’ll detox faster.

Additionally, water helps you flush the toxins from your body. Sweating and urination both help remove the toxins from your body. The more you drink, the more you’ll urinate thus sweeping the toxins from your body quickly and easily.

#2 Water helps you lose weight. Water helps you lose weight in a number of ways. First and perhaps foremost, it helps your metabolism function optimally. The better your metabolism the easier it is for you to lose weight and keep it off. Secondly, water helps you feel full. In fact, many health and fitness experts recommend drinking a glass of water a few minutes before you eat any snack or meal. Studies have shown people consume fewer calories when they drink a glass of water first.

#3 Manage side effects better. When you detox you’re going to inevitably have a few side effects. These include dehydration, headaches, diarrhea, insomnia and mood swings. You may also experience a bit of mental fogginess during the first few days of detoxing. Drinking water helps reduce many of these symptoms.

Not only will you experience them for a much shorter time period, they’ll also be less severe. Of the symptoms, dehydration is the most serious and potentially risky side effect. It’s absolutely vital to your health and well being to stay hydrated.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You may also experience a few cravings when you’re detoxing. Drinking a glass of water, or a glass of water with lemon or a dash of fruit juice, will help you manage those cravings.

Detoxing is a wonderful way to achieve a number of health benefits. Drinking water when you detox is absolutely essential for success. Consider creating a checklist to make sure you drink enough during your detox. Try to drink a glass of water every three hours or so – when you’d normally be having a meal or snack. If you're at work, keep a glass or bottle of water beside you on your desk - you'll be surprised how much you'll drink without even thinking about it.

You may be juicing or drinking tea during your detox. Drink a glass of water with each glass of juice or tea. If you notice your urine is yellow, you’re not drinking enough. Drink water and stay healthy during your detoxification process.

For More Helpful Detoxification Tips, Visit www.totalwellnesscleanse.com.