Never heard of “healthism”.

No neither have I.  I just made it up.  But it should be a word and we should all know about it.

There are many different approaches to health today.  Some stick strictly to the mainstream Western style medicine, whilst others prefer the alternative therapies and nutritional/herbal approaches.  I personally am a natural health advocate and like to keep chemicals (including pharmaceutical medicines) out of my body as much as I reasonably can.  I believe that good diet and health supplements can keep you healthy and isa good preventative strategy to many ailments.

Having said that, there are somethings that only Western medicine can deal with and it would be foolhardy to dismiss it when you need it.  Whatever your beliefs, you should have the choice.

However, it is not uncommon to see people who promote alternative health practices/products being denounced on the internet as liars or fools, or both.  The attacks are especially nasty if somebody makes there living (or supplementary income) from it promoting these practices/products. 

First of all, it the right of any patient to choose for themselves what treatment they want.  Secondly, nobody questions that a doctor or surgeon has the right to make money from their trade, so why should those involved in alternative health practices be different.

Now before anyone jumps, I know that there is a lot of room for abuse here, so I realise that there should be some sort of control and patients should look for evidence supporting the therapy/product they are considering.  I have discussed that elsewhere on this blog so I will not repeat it here.  But that aside, it is not acceptable to call people liars and fools because of their race, religion, gender or age; so why is it a free for all to attack people for they health beliefs?  That is healthism and there is a lot of it about.  

I have been personally attacked on one forum for promoting the advanced colloidal silver solution.  The starting point for some people was that they don’t agree so I must be lying.  That has no logic.  I’m not lying about all the trials conducted in many top US research institutes, I’m not lying about the claims made on the patent (independently validated by the US Patent Office), I’m not lying about the human trials conducted in Ghana and I’m not lying about the quotes from specialists in their field who have personally experimented with it.  These are all a matter of record, they are not my opinions or beliefs. 

Just as it is not right to attack people for race, religion, gender or age, it is also not right to attack people for their health beliefs either.

Many therapies are based on the Chinese idea of chi energy (life force energy) moving around the body.  Some, like acupuncture, have been around for thousands of years, but are now denounced by many as rubbish.  It would be reasonable to argue that modern methods are better, but it is not reasonable to dismiss the likes of acupuncture all together.  If it has been round for thousands of years, do you think that if it didn’t work it might of died out after maybe a few hundred years?  Do you think it is a few thousand years worth of placebo effect?  If so, then the placebo effect should be the next great health craze

Whether you agree with the idea of chi or not, some mechanism is at work and is getting results.  In ancient China families used to pay the doctor to keep them healthy.  If a family member became unwell, they would stop paying the doctor until that person got well again.  Do you think that those doctors would have kept using herbs and acupuncture if they didn’t work?  They would have surely lost a lot of money.

Many people will only consider taking a medicine approved by the FDA (or other countries equivalent).  That’s fair enough, I respect their choice.  However, getting a medicine or remedy approved by the FDA is enormously expensive and needs the resources of a huge company to do so.  That is why it is not possible to get most herbal/nutritional remedies tested as the cost is prohibitive, not necessarily because the effectiveness of the herbal/nutritional remedy is limited.

At the end of the day it is about choice.  Respect the other persons choice.

Douglas Robb runs a very successful blog called Health Habits, giving advice on health, diet and fitness. As well as being very informative, his writing style is relaxed and humorous which is why it is one of my favourite blogs and is on my Blogroll.

Health Habits is well subscribed to with many people contributing with comments and despite being less than a year old it has achieved a Google Page Rank of “5″, which I find incredible in that time frame. So I asked Douglas if he would consent to doing an interview for me, which he kindly consented to do.  So without any further ado, here is the interview:

CW: Douglas, can you tell me a bit about your background and experience in the health and fitness field? 

DR: Professionally, I have been a personal fitness trainer since 2000.

However, I have been designing training and nutrition programs for family, friends and friends of friends since 1988.

While at university, I designed training programs for the members of the wrestling, swimming, football and basketball teams.

After university, I continued helping others strictly as a hobby. During that time, I helped young athletes trying to earn university sports scholarships, amateur bodybuilders get ready for competitions and lots and lots of people trying to drop 20 pounds of excess weight.

As we approached the year 2000, I became more and more dissatisfied with the work I was doing and found myself spending more and more of my spare time helping others transform their bodies.  I was also spending more time researching more effective ways to help people make those changes.

After a few months of soul searching, I retired from the 9 to 5 world, became a certified personal trainer and went to work in a gym.

Over the next few years, I moved from gym to gym, trying to find a place where personal trainers were encouraged to actually make a difference in their clients’ lives.  This was not an easy task.

As an example, in my last position, clients were paying $140 per session to work with me.  I was being paid $45 per session and the health club was keeping $95 per session. It was all about making money.  In fact, personal training is by far the biggest money maker for health club industry.

The final straw came when the original gym owner decided to sell the business and bounce my last 2 pay checks.  And the new owners had no intention to honour this debt.  So, I left the gym to start my own personal training company…along with 9 of my favourite clients.

Fast forward to 2008…I am running a in-home personal training company with 4 of the best personal trainers that I have ever seen. My business is based purely on word of mouth and we are growing every day.

Earlier this year, I decided to give back to the universe (Sorry if that sounds a little too Oprah-like) by starting a health / fitness blog.

Health Habits

Health Habits is my attempt to teach others how to transform their bodies without spending thousands of dollars on books, videos, gym memberships and personal trainers.

Even though I still believe that a good personal trainer can be worth their weight in gold.

CW: I was interested that in your “About” page you not only deal with physical fitness and nutrition, but you also deal with mental and emotional health.  Is mental and emotional health a very big part of your service, or just occasionally when required? 

DR: The mental / emotional side of the equation is much more important than the physical / nutrition side. Everybody that comes to me “wants” to make some sort of change.  Lose 20 pounds, get stronger, get faster, increase their energy or simply to increase their fitness.  However, most of them want to do this without having to make any significant changes in their lives.

Getting them to commit to making significant life changes requires a little bit of mental manipulation.  I need to find the button that needs pushing.  But when I do, the client becomes extremely self motivated, my job becomes much easier and changes start to happen.

CW: What kind of emotional and mental health support/treatment do you provide (or recommend)? 

DR: Keeping in mind, that I am not a psychiatrist/psychologist, I employ a variety of techniques.  Most of these are based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

CW: One of the things that I have always enjoyed about your blog is that you use a lot of humour.  Do you find that humour helps to motivate and inspire your clients? 

DR: Most definitely.

Let’s face it, most of my clients don’t exercise because they want to, but because they need to.  They are paying me to push their bodies much, much harder than they ever would.  Most of them find exercise boring.

Humour is one of the tools I use to keep their minds off of the boredom, the sweat, the pain, etc…

CW: When it comes to nutrition, do you believe in taking supplements, or do you feel that a well balanced diet will suffice? 

DR: If you are in decent physical fitness, get adequate exercise, sunlight, rest and eat a healthy diet, supplements are not necessary.

However, I don’t know anyone who does all of these things.

As a result, most people need to supplement their diet with a ‘good’ multivitamin / multimineral supplement.  Some people need to go a little further than this.  For these people, I have them get some blood tests done to look for deficiencies.

I also recommend that people try to eat more organic/free range produce and protein.

My athletes get a little more involved in the supplement side of the equation.  All of them supplement with creatine.

CW: Your blog gives a lot of advice on losing weight.  Obviously there are a number of factors involved, but what do you believe is the most important factor of all? 

DR: The type of food that they eat.

Obviously, the amount of food is important, but my experience tells me that calorie counting becomes irrelevant when the right food choices are made.

CW: When creating a nutritional plan for a client, how different would it be for somebody who is aiming to be very fit compared with somebody simply aiming to lose weight? 

DR: Not much different. I recommend the highest quality fuel for all of my clients.

On this diet, an overweight & unfit client will lose fat, build muscle and improve the functioning of their internal environment.

A fit client will not see the same drastic outward changes as they are already closer to their genetic potential.
 

CW: What different generic types of exercises do you prescribe to support weight loss as opposed to maximum fitness?  

DR: I prefer to have my clients focus on movements rather than bodyparts. This goes for my Average Joe clients and my Athlete clients.

Their are certain movements that we all perform in our day to day activities. These movements require different muscles to work together as a team. When we break our bodies into separate parts in our exercise programs, we are re-training our bodies to move. This can be good or bad.

If I am helping someone re-hab an injury or am trying to correct an existing muscle imbalance, I will use specific exercises. However, once I have those issues addressed, I prefer to improve the functioning of my clients’ bodies by improving their ability to perform the movements that they need to do every day.

CW: Many people as they get old mature, get problems with their joints.  Having Creaky Knee Syndrome myself, what do you recommend (either exercise or supplements) for people with this problem? 

DR: Look for muscular / structural imbalances in your body.  Get someone to take some polaroids of you standing still – from the front, rear and both sides (sorry, but the less clothing, the better).  Then look at how you stand. Is one shoulder higher than the other?  Are your toes turned out? What about your arms? From the side, look at your lower back and pelvis. Look at the curves in your back.

Imbalances result in pain.  Pain causes your body to adapt.  It adapts by shifting the load and creating new imbalances. It’s quite a vicious circle.
 

CW: I find when I have been off training for a long time, my knee swells up when I restart.  However, with persistence and not pushing too hard, it normally gets better after a while as the knee get used to it again.  Do you think it is a good idea to “work through” these weaknesses or is it likely to cause long term damage?   

DR: Look for the imbalance.  Why is the pain there?

A lot of runners have issues with swelling on the lateral / outside of their knees. If this is the case, you may want to look at some soft tissue therapy on your IT band. I would need to have you do a few tests to be sure, but it is a pretty typical problem.

If you can fix it, fix it. If not, you have to decide if it’s worth it to push through the pain. Are you going to make things worse?

I have bad knees. Both have been completely re-built.

I used to love to run. But, if I go running today, I can guarantee that my knees will be swollen for the next 2 days. However, I can exercise my heart by skiing, cycling, rollerblading, etc…without killing my knees.

So, as much as I love to run, I have made the decision to hang up my runners and hop on the bike.
   

CW: How would you advise people with serious illnesses like cancer or heart disease, who still want to be very active in exercising?  And do you find that they need more emotional support than most other people? 

DR: Unless your health is going to suffer from an exercise, people NEED to get out an move.  Our bodies were not built to sit and stare at a computer monitor.  We are physical.

They will need to design their fitness program in a way that helps them reduce the symptoms of their specific condition if possible.

When it comes to emotional support, my experience tells me that people struggling with an illness need to know that they can do it. I know it sounds like a Nike ad, but hopelessness in the face of illness is a very real thing. If they believe that they are doomed, they are. If they believe that they can turn things around, they just may be able to.

CW: So you think that people with serious illnesses should exercise (assuming that they are capable). What kinds of benefits do you think they will get from it?

DR: Yes…They can expect to receive physical benefits like improved cardio-vascular fitness, reduced body-fat, improved strength and co-ordination. But more importantly, they can improve their mental outlook. As their body strengthens or resists the assault of their disease, they should feel better about themselves and their chances of beating their illness.

CW: Douglas, thank you very much for taking the time to do this interview and for your insightful answers.

It has come to my attention that there has been a problem ordering the advanced Silver Solution this month (October).  Although I own and update the main www.AdvancedSilverSolution.com website, when you place an order you transfer to the Nutronix system to place that order (as I am an independent representative for Nutronix).

However, due to a Nutronix system upgrade, the main buying page that I transfer you to is not completely operative at the moment.  This is only temporary.  Therefore if you want to buy the advanced Silver Solution, you will need to CLICK HERE to go the the main Nutronix website.

Then click on “PRODUCTS” near the top center.

In the next page that opens you will see a number of links in a column on the left.  Click on “SILVER SOLUTION” to order single bottles of Silver, the Silver Gel and/or the spray bottles.  Alternatively, click on “AUTOMATIC BUILDER SPECIALS” to take advantage of the 3 for the price of 2 offer.

I apologise for the inconvenience and hopefully normal service will be resumed shortly.

If you like your coffee (or caffine supplements) you might like to look at a very informative article on Dr Buttar’s Blog, Caffine - Friend or Foe?.  This outlines both the negative and positive effects of caffine, from both an athele’s and an ordinaray person’s perspective.  It quotes research debunking some common myths.

I like Dr Buttar’s Blog as he is an exerienced medically trained professional, who is open to challenging mainstream ideas and applying methods that whilst still having their basis in science, are usually in the reserve of alternative therapies.  A wholesome approach.

I remember hearing years ago on a radio show that as caffine is addictive, it does not actually give us the boost that we associate with having a cup of coffee.  What is does is to relieve the withdrawal symptons from not having had a cup of coffee for while.  The arguement was that it is this relief from the withdrawal symptoms that makes us feel better, rather than the coffee waking us up and stimulating us.

Being on a radio show years ago, I can’t offer any authenticity to this claim.  I include it here simply as a point of discussion or for consideration. 

As the Dr Buttar’s Blog article gives quite the technicalities of the chemical effects of caffine in our bodies, then I suspect that the truth is maybe a bit of both.

One of the main concerns that people have when it comes to taking a broad spectrum pathogen killer like the advanced colloidal silver solution is that if it can kill so many harmful bacteria, what does it do to the helpful probiotic bacteria that we need for digestion.  It is a very valid question. 

One of the main pathogen kill mechanisms of the advanced colloidal silver solution is that its atoms have a +2 positive charge which rips electrons of the pathogenic bacteria’s thin cell membrane, rupturing it. 

      MRSA Dividing                           MRSA Ruptured by Silver

So what is to stop it doing the same to the probiotic bacteria? 

The probiotic bacteria and healthy cells have thicker cell membranes which do not rupture so easily.  Furthermore, they have a better balanced electrical charge, with a positive nucleus and negative membrane.  Being electrically balanced, they do not shed electrons as easily as the thin walled pathogenic bacteria do.  Probiotic bacteria are therefore immune to the effects of the advanced colloidal silver solution. 

This has been substantiated by major studies at the Brigham Young University (Jessica K. Pate 08/04 Probiotic Bacteria Study) and Viridis BioPharma (Probiotic Bacteria Study).  For further information you can see a 5 minute video excert on the safety of the advanced colloidal silver solution by Keith Moeller of American Biotech Labs.

Note:  The above studies only relate to the advanced colloidal silver made by American Biotech Labs to the 2006 Patent.  It does not refer to other colloidal silvers made to the 1924 patent.

The question of whether one should take vitamin & mineral supplements is an old debate, with many arguing that we all need a bit extra in this day and age whilst others argue that a good well balanced diet is enough.

But how many of us, even if we have good intentions, actually do have a well balanced diet all the time.  How many of us will grab a quick and easy snack when we are busy, or have to attend a meeting or run round after the kids.  Most of us take short cuts with out diet because of our commitments and if we are honest, not many of stick to complete balanced diet all of the time.

There are far more toxins in our diet and environment than ever before and having a good supply of vitamins and minerals which help us to detox is probably more important now than ever before as our bodies struggle under the greater toxic load. 

Even if you do have a balanced diet, it is still likely to be mineral deficient in some areas due to the intensive farming methods used today.  Back in medieval times, they used to rotate the crops that they grew as they realised that growing the same crop in the same soil year after year would depreciate the amount of minerals in the soil.  As different crops take out different minerals, rotating crops would give the mineral content in soil chance to recover, by planting a different crop that took out something else instead.

Do we use this wisdom today?  Do we heck.  We grow the same crop in the same piece of soil, decade after decade.  We do however try to fertilise using chemical products that add toxins into our diet.  This problem is especially bad in densely populated countries like the United Kingdom where there is a lot of people to feed and not so much farmland to do it with.  So in fairness to our agriculture, we don’t really have the luxury of being able to rotate crops like our ancestors did.  The situation is exacerbated in the UK be experiences in the Second World War, when German U-Boats tried to starve us out by attacking our supply lines from the USA and the Empire.  This has left the UK with the philosophy of maximising yield from every acre of land (to reduce risk of starvation if cut off).  This is definitely quantity over quality and I doubt that the UK is alone in this.  Why?  Because it is also good business sense, to maximise your yield, and whose going to know that it is mineral deficient compared to what it should be.

The best crops are found at the foot of glaciers, where the ice melts each year bringing down floods and silt which fertilises the farmland at the foot of the mountains.  Crops grown in these areas absorb natural minerals that are deposited each year and the people there live longer healthy lives than those of us in the West.

The argument has been put forward that if people take supplements, then they probably won’t bother about a having a well balanced diet.  I don’t believe this to be the case, because people that go to bother of seeking out supplements are more health conscious than those that do not.  Vitamin and mineral supplements should not replace a balanced diet, but the key word here is “supplement”.  That means to support, not replace.

Some people may not agree with me here, but I believe that the best vitamin and mineral supplements are those supplied by Multi Level Marketing (Network Marketing) companies (no I’m not going to try to sell you some).  The reason for this is that MLM products have to survive the word or mouth referral and most people will not refer a second rate product to their family and friends and risk damaging relationships. 

The mediocre or rubbish products can be sold in the High Street stores or supermarkets, where they will be carried by the name of the store that sells them.  These supplements do not need to survive word of mouth referral.
Just my opinion.

I only found out about this by chance, but today (15th October) is Blog Action Day.  The aim is to get thousands of bloggers to unite and all talk about the same subject, which this year is poverty.    The aim is “to raise awareness, initiate action and to shake the web”.  As most bloggers have different areas of interest, they should write about how poverty encroaches on those interests.

My main area of interest is health, so I would like to talk about it from 2 angles.  First of all from a First World perspective, then from a Third World Perspective.

A serious health issue in the developed First World can cause a lot of hardship.  Not only for the sick person who is unable to work, but also if they require a full time carer (who is usually a family member), then the carer cannot work either.  Having been a carer to my partner, Michele, who sadly passed away after a very long fight with cancer, I can vouch as the financial strain. 

The UK government gives a carers allowance, but it is a pittance and you have to qualify for it.  The public policy states that the government supports carers to look after loved ones at home.  Of course they do, it is a very cheap option for the government, keeps the hospital beds free and the family bare the brunt of the cost.  Add to this, Michele was following mainly alternative therapies which cost an arm and a leg and the government will not help with this either.  When you are in that position of having to reduce your income because you can’t work, yet your expenses are rising due to the costs of treatment, you are facing a nightmare situation. 

There must be hundreds of thousands or even millions of people in this trap of just having to keep spending, borrowing, spending, borrowing and being completely hamstrung as to being able to do anything about it.  Many will lose their homes.  This can be an extremely lonely place to be as few people will help you.  Some will even stop coming to visit you as they feel uncomfortable around illness.  Many people end up isolated and feeling very alone (both patient and carer).

If you want to help poverty but you don’t feel that you have any spare money to donate, then maybe you can just give some time instead.  Go and visit a sick friend.  Take them out for a few hours and give their carer a break too, as that is the person who has to carry the burden of everything in that household.

However, bad it is in developed World, it has to be even worse in the Third World, where often the medical supplies are simply just not there.  Many people die of diseases that can be easily cured in the West because they (or their government) can not afford the medicines.   

Pharmaceutical companies are not about making medicines to cure people, they are all about making medicines to make money.  They can only make money if they can patent something.  I have pointed out before that in the days of the sailing ships, it was discovered that oranges and limes (Vitamin C) could cure scurvy, one the most feared diseases of the day.  Hence the nickname of “Limeys” for Brits.  However, if that were to be discovered today, Vitamin C could never be promoted as a cure for scurvy because nobody can patent oranges and limes.  Hence nobody would pay the enormous sum of money to complete the FDA (or other countries equivalent) testing. 

This means that many very cheap herbal and nutritional cures (like limes for scurvy) cannot be used in the West and the West will not supply “unproven” medicines to the Third World.  It all protects the interests of the Pharmaceutical companies.  I believe that some international body (maybe the UN World Health Organisation) should pay for and oversee the testing of herbal and nutritional remedies by the FDA, so that they too can be accepted as cures and medicines.  Funding for this testing should be divided between the governments of the richer countries, this way no firm or corporation is out of pocket, yet many cheap herbal and nutritional remedies/medicines could be made available to the poorest countries of the world who suffer the worst diseases, but can afford the least medicines.  It would also reduce the costs of health care in the West too.  Somewhere a campaign has to be set up to lobby for this.

Finally, Nutronix International market an advanced colloidal silver solution, that has been proven in African trials to cure malaria.  However, it has yet to be sanctioned by the FDA, so the West will not be supplying this cheap cure to the worst hit African countries.  Nutronix however have taken their own initiative and are asking customer to purchase bottles of the colloidal silver solution at a special low price to donate to African malaria clinics.  For every bottle donated by a customer, Nutronix will be donate another bottle of colloidal silver solution for free. 

For just $10, you could save a child’s life from Malaria.

As with Part 1 and 2 of this posting, the Budwig Oil-Protein diet which has applications for cancer sufferers to athletes, is very versatile.  Another important component is Oleolox (don’t ask me how to pronounce it, I have enough trouble spelling it).

Oleolox is very simple to make.

Ingredients:
     250g coconut oil/fat
     125cc Flax Seed Oil
     1 onion
     10 garlic cloves

Put the Flax Seed Oil in the freezer to chill for half an hour.  Slice onion and brown it slightly in the coconut oil for about 15 minutes.  Then add 10 garlic cloves and heat for another 3 minutes.  Strain the coconut oil through a sieve into the chilled Flax Seed Oil, mix in and store in the fridge. 

When it cools down it becomes solid (though soft) and is ready to use.  It can be used as a spread just like butter though it is a matter of taste.  I like it, some don’t.  It can be used as a salad dressing and to flavour stews or casseroles.  But as with the Flax oil/quark/milk mix in Part 2 of this posting, warm by all means but don’t boil it or you damage the electron field of the Flax Seed Oil.  It is this electron field that gives Flax Seed Oil its health giving properties.

Many uses for Oleolox are given in Dr Budwig’s recipe book.  Although I have been advised that the Flax Seed Oil will negate the effects of a dairy allergy (Part 2) when using it with quark and milk, the advantage of Oleolox is that there is no dairy at all.

There has been much discussion about the “Law Of Attraction”, especially over the last couple of years since the release of the cult DVD “The Secret“.

So what is the Law Of Attraction and how does it work.  Well basically, it says that the more you focus on something, the more of it you get.  In The Secret it talks of how the rich elite have passed down “the secret” to each other for thousands of years, which only now is being passed on to the masses.  That secret is that the more you focus on something, you send out brainwaves and thought energy into the universe, which in turn will attract more of the same energy back into your life.

I will admit that I have some trouble with that explanation of the Law Of Attraction.  However, I did read that in one big city an experiment was conducted with a big group of experience meditators.  They meditated and focused on peace and (allegedly) the crime rate went down in that city.  I’m not convinced, but I’ll keep an open mind!

However, in Nuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), practitioners have been applying the practice of focusing on what you want for decades.  Lets say you want to “give up smoking”.  Your unconscious mind does not recognise negatives (”give up”, “stop”, “quit”) and will simply focus on “smoking”.  That is why it can be so hard to give something up (because you keep focusing on it).

If my daughter is sullen, I sometimes tell her, “whatever you do, don’t smile”.  The brain does not recognise the negative and she just can’t help but having to smile (which makes her even more cross with me).

If you were to go to an NLP practitioner, they try to help you to find the answer for yourself rather than to tell you (human nature is to take it more seriously if you feel it is your idea).  So the conversation would probably go something like this:

You:            I want to give up smoking.
NLP guy:     Good, what do you REALLY want.
You:            To give up smoking.
NLP guy:     But why do you want to give up smoking.
You:           Well, to be healthier.
NLP guy:    And how would you know that you were healthier.
You:           Well if I had more stamina and energy.
NLP guy:    So your real goal is to have more stamina and energy?
You:           Errrrr.  Yes.

That is very simplified, but you can see how a negative focus of quitting smoking and been turned around to be a positive focus of having more stamina and well-being.  If you focus on the stamina and well-being you will not be thinking so much about the smoking, so it will be easier to give it up. 

You can apply this to many things:

I want to lose weight . . . . . I want to look goood in my new clothes.
I want to get out of debt . . . . . I want to be rich/well off.
I don’t want to mess up the interview . . . . . I want to impress them.
I really don’t want look silly . . . . . I want to excel (or, I want to fit in).
I don’t want to fail that exam . . . . . I want to do well at that exam.

Many people experience ideas “just popping out of nowhere”.  Not true, they pop out of the unconscious mind.  So how do you get the unconscious mind to produce the results you want?  By focusing the conscious mind on WHAT YOU DO WANT (not what you don’t want).  When you focus the conscious mind on the WHAT, the unconscious mind will work on the HOW.

This is why visualisation is a very important tool.  Visualisation is simply one method of focusing the conscious mind.   If you have money problems it is difficult not to worry, but if you focus on debt, that is what you unconscious mind will work on.  If you focus on being rich (or at least better off), then your unconscious mind will pop up ideas (hopefully legal) of how you might be able to earn a bit more money (either by being better at your job, or some little enterprise on the side).

This is the true secret and the true Law Of Attraction and it is not new.  However, if you accept the teaching of the DVD The Secret (sending out thought energy) as a metaphor and focus the conscious mind, then I think it is probably the best presentation of how to apply this concept that I have seen.  I don’t agree with the explanation of how it works, but it is great for showing the principle of the Law of Attraction (focusing on what you want).

Famous motivational speakers and authors like Paul McKenna and Anthony Robins (both of whom I’d recommend) are high level NLP practitioners, so if you have followed any of their works then you may recognise some of what I have said above in their teachings.

An interesting article from The Independent (UK):

Drinking water supplies are to be tested for the presence of prescription drugs amid fears that rivers are being contaminated by the growing quantity of pharmaceuticals flushed unwittingly down the drain.

The Government has commissioned scientists to test river water at intake points where it is abstracted for human consumption, The Independent can reveal. They will also test drinking water after it has been through the water-treatment cycle.

Under a pilot project to begin next year, supplies will be examined for about five of the most common and potentially dangerous prescription drugs. The experts will meet over the next few weeks to decide which drugs to look for and where testing should be carried out. However, an insider said this was likely to be at selected sites on the river Thames because its water-catchment area covered the most densely populated part of the country.

Click here to read the rest of the article