Her symptoms, which also included memory loss, severe dizziness and depression, had all appeared within one week’s time.

After undergoing several expensive tests with no answers, her doctor finally asked Judy to keep a food and activity journal to see if it could provide any clues. On a hunch, he asked her to stop drinking a powdered tea mix she had recently purchased to see if that helped. Amazingly, it did.

The pain was completely gone within a week of stopping use of the aspartame-containing product. To confirm the diagnosis, her doctor instructed her to begin adding aspartame back into her diet for a challenge test.

After each of three challenges, says Judy, “my whole body ached from my toes to the neck. I felt as though I had arthritis in my whole body and it hurt to move an arm or even my hand….Since that time, I have not touched anything sweetened with aspartame, and have experienced no unusual aches, joint pain, memory loss or dizziness.”

Judy’s not alone. The artificial sweetener aspartame, consumed by Americans at the rate of about 20 million pounds a year, may well be the cause behind any number of painful and life-altering conditions, including joint
pain, headaches, severe drowsiness, extreme irritability, depression, and weight gain.

How Much Is Too Much?

It doesn’t take a tremendous amount of aspartame to cause trouble. In fact, just three or four 12-ounce diet drinks per day contain enough aspartame to harm us.

Don’t drink diet soda? You don’t have to. Aspartame is found in over 6,000 processed foods – from powdered drinks, gelatin, tea, coffee, cocoa, juices, frozen desserts, to chewing gums. It’s even in vitamins (including children’s) and medications.

This means the very source of your chronic pain could be in your kitchen cabinet or refrigerator right now.

Sweet Discovery

The introduction of aspartame as a sweetener started after chemist James Schlatter accidentally tasted the new anti-ulcer drug he was developing in 1965, not realizing he had discovered a goldmine. What he discovered was a product 200 times sweeter than sugar.

By the early 70s, aspartame spread quickly to tables in restaurants, diners, and the homes of Americans under the brand names Nutrasweet, Equal, Equal-Measure and Spoonful. Aspartame gained popularity quickly because it didn’t have the aftertaste that its predecessor, saccharine did.

What is Aspartame… exactly?

Aspartame has three components: phenylalanine (50 percent), aspartic acid (40 percent) and methanol, also termed wood alcohol (10 percent). It’s classified as an excitotoxic amino acid. What that means for you is it reacts with specialized receptors in your brain in a way that causes the destruction of certain types of brain cells.

Methanol itself is a poison to your body. The EPA defines a safe consumption limit of it as 7.8 milligrams per day. The problem is a small one-liter bottle of your favorite diet beverage sweetened with aspartame contains about 56 milligrams, or eight times the EPA’s own limit, of this poison!

Remember free radicals?

If you’ve read much about health related issues at all, you’ve likely heard of free radicals. In a nutshell, these are the unstable organic molecules floating around your body which promote aging and the general breakdown of your body.

They’re implicated in many degenerative illnesses including atherosclerosis, cancer, coronary artery disease and arthritis.

Once you realize excitotoxins like aspartame help generate free radicals, not to mention direct effects such as headaches, mental confusion, and balance problems, the long list of aspartame related illnesses and disorders becomes less surprising. Of course, the effects are subtle, cumulative and develop over a prolonged period of time which is why most people don’t immediately suspect aspartame in conditions like:

• Birth defects
• Migraines and severe headaches
• Seizures
• Insomnia
• Infections
• Hives and other allergic reactions
• Endocrine disorders
• Specific types of obesity
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Increasing severity and progression of diseases such as Alzheimer’s dementia, Parkinson’s disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Cancer Risk Higher Than Thought

Independent scientists have long suspected a link between aspartame and cancer. But a few years ago, a massive study conducted at the European Ramazzini Foundation in Italy conclusively documented the direct link.

The study fed groups of rats from 8 weeks old until their natural death a feed mix laced with varying concentrations of aspartame. A significant increase in lymphomas, leukemias and other cancers were found in rats that were fed aspartame, particularly those fed daily doses equal to 20 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. Compare this to the 50-milligram level currently deemed acceptable for humans in the United States. A year later, a second study confirmed the results.

Now what?

The best thing to do is stop using any form of aspartame immediately. While discontinuing use of aspartame can lead to the disappearance of many of the above symptoms, patients who develop full-grown tumors, diabetes, and other more serious diseases cannot usually be cured. Omitting aspartame from one’s diet, however, can sometimes potentially lessen the severity and ongoing degeneration associated with certain disorders. Exercising, improving your nutrition, and adding the appropriate supplements to reduce inflammation will also help. In other words, it’s never too late to start doing the right thing for your body.

Aspartame Alternatives

I really shouldn’t have to spell this out for you, but if you’re using any form of aspartame… stop, right now! Like Judy, you may quickly notice an improvement in pain symptoms. Or you may simply reduce the risk of dying of cancer or suffering from horrible degenerative diseases for the rest of your life. Either way, the change is worth it.

Clearly, adding a ton of sugar back into your diet isn’t great for your health, either. But if you must use sweeteners, honey, maple syrup, and even turbinado sugar (raw sugar) are all healthier alternatives to aspartame.

Another great alternative is stevia, produced from the leaves of a native South American shrub by the same name. The leaves themselves are at least 30 times sweeter than table sugar. Extracts can be ten times sweeter than the raw leaf, yet still have virtually no effect on blood glucose levels.

So, toss the aspartame-containing products you’ve been using and look for those using natural alternatives. Your body will thank you in the long run.

References

Olney JW, et al. Increasing brain tumor rates: is there a link to aspartame? Journal of neuropathology and experimental neurology. 1996 Nov;55(11):1115-23.

Roberts HJ. Aspartame as a cause of allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. Archives of internal medicine. 1996 May 13;156(9):1027-8.

Soffritti M, et al. First experimental demonstration of the multipotential carcinogenic effects of aspartame administered in the feed to Sprague-Dawley rats. Environmental health perspectives. 2006 Mar;114(3):379-85.

Trocho C, et al. Formaldehyde derived from dietary aspartame binds to tissue components in vivo. Life sciences. 1998;63(5):337-49.

Related posts:

1. Facet Joint Syndrome: Source of Your Back or Neck Pain?
2. 3 Ways to Eliminate Joint Pain
3. How to Reverse Diabetes

You’ve heard these all before, maybe even said it to your children, family or friends… but guess what, it’s all WRONG!

Yes, wrong and more and more research is finally exposing the “Calcium Lie”…

Download Too Much Calcium! (mp3 format)
(click here to download)

Listen to this special interview I did recently with Dr. Robert Thompson about the dangers and side effects of too much calcium. I think you are going to find this to be extremely informative… maybe some of it down right shocking!

This interview was just one of the many that subscribers to my monthly print newsletter “Get Healthy & Fit” received (though members get it mailed to them on CD along with the print copy of the newsletter).

Want to hear more great interviews like this one?
Sign up for a free trial to my “Get Healthy & Fit” monthly newsletter

Related posts:

1. The lies on TV are making people fat
2. Is Aspartame the Source of Your Joint Pain?
3. Electromagnetic Pain Relief for Knee Osteoarthritis

Acupuncture, rooted in Traditional Chinese medicine, is one of these largely ignored yet proven pain treatments. It seems that treatments whose workings remain a mystery cannot be accepted as good medicine in some circles.

As Dr. Maiken Nedergaard, co-director of the University of Rochester’s Center for Translational Neuromedicine explains, “acupuncture has been a mainstay of medical treatment in certain parts of the world for 4,000 years, but because it has not been understood completely, many people have remained skeptical.”

New research conducted at the University of Rochester appears to have uncovered one of the physical mechanisms through which acupuncture relieves pain in the body-finally providing solid scientific evidence supporting what proponents of acupuncture have known for millennia: it works.

Specifically, the researchers discovered that the insertion and rotation of acupuncture needles in mice greatly stimulated their body’s
production of adenosine-finding an increase of 2400% in tissues near the site of insertion. Besides helping regulate sleep and acting as an anti-inflammatory, adenosine serves as a natural painkiller similar to the localanesthetic lidocaine.

The researchers were further able to prove that acupuncture had no effect on specially prepared mice without an adenosine receptor, but tripled its effectiveness on regular mice when a cancer drug known to make the elimination of adenosine from tissue more difficult was administered. And since the study was conducted on mice, researchers were also able to eliminate any concerns about a “placebo effect.”

Here’s the bottom line. Acupuncture works even if we do not completely understand every aspect of how it relieves pain. More importantly, it reduces pain without nearly the risk of pharmaceutical drugs and most other modern interventions. If you’re suffering from any kind of pain, acupuncture is worth considering.

Related references

Goldman N, et al. Adenosine A1 receptors mediate local anti-nociceptive effects of acupuncture. Nature Neuroscience. 2010 May 30; doi:10.1038/nn.2562.

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2. Acupuncture for Pain?
3. Healing Herbs: Lemongrass

One of the primary culprits behind the stiffness is a buildup of calcium in the bones and soft tissues surrounding the joint. But medical researchers have been studying simple and inexpensive ways to stimulate calcium found inside cartilage cells to actually relieve osteoarthritic pain for years.

Dr. Fred Nelson, associate program director of the Osteoarthritis Center at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, presented the early results of a promising new study on this topic at the Orthopaedic Research Society’s annual meeting in New Orleans a few weeks ago. In the study, fully 40% of patients reported pain relief on day one. More importantly, not a single patient reported negative side effects from the treatment.

In the double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled study lead by Dr. Nelson, patients with osteoarthritic knee pain were given a lightweight battery operated device to strap around their knee for 15 minutes twice a day. The device would send a short rapid pulse of a specific electromagnetic frequency into the knee – about 3 milliseconds long at the rate of once per second.

According to Dr. Nelson, the 6.8MHz electromagnetic frequency (EMF) used by the device easily penetrates the knee and causes a reduction in the amount of calcium found inside the patients’ cartilage cells. While he pointed out the device does not actually repair knee cartilage, the impact of this EMF on intracellular calcium causes a biochemical response which relieves pain felt from inflammation. In fact, 91% of those with elevated levels of Substance P, a neurotransmitter associated with inflammation and pain, reported noticeable pain relief using the device.

When asked about concerns with the relationship between EMF and cancer, Dr. Nelson readily conceded that high intensity EMF has been associated with cancer – perhaps as many as 8,000 to 16,000 cases per year. But the type of EMF used in the tested device is extremely low intensity at only 1/10th the power of the earth’s own geomagnetic field we are surrounded by every day. No evidence has been found at all that clinical level EMF has any cancerous effects because of its very low intensity.

Larger studies using the device are planned for the coming year. While not everyone is helped, the immediate pain relief for a significant number of users at a relatively low long-term cost with no harmful side effects makes EMF for osteoarthritis pain a promising area to keep an eye on.

Related references:

Fuerst M, et al. Calcification of articular cartilage in human osteoarthritis. Arthritis and rheumatism. 2009 Sep;60(9):2694-703.
Nicolakis P, et al. Pulsed magnetic field therapy for osteoarthritis of the knee–a double-blind sham-controlled trial. Wiener klinische Wochenschrift. 2002 Aug 30;114(15-16):678-84.
Nelson F, Zvirbulis R, Pilla A. The use of a specific pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) in treating early osteoarthritis. Paper 1034. Presented at the 56th Annual Orthopaedic Research Society. March 6-9, 2010. New Orleans.

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1. Osteoarthritis Joint Pain Relief Breakthrough?
2. Say Goodbye to Osteoarthritis… The All-Natural Way!
3. Glucosamine and Chondroitin: Miracle Joint Cure?

Hello, my name is Michael Murray. Back in the summer of 2002, there wasn’t one day where I didn’t ask myself, “Can I ever stop feeling so sick and tired?”

That was how I felt pretty much every morning at age 32!

Every joint and muscle in my body hurt as I spent hours in the gym sweating. Sure, I lost a few pounds and felt a little better… But it wouldn’t last very long. And I still felt tired every morning and afternoon, and couldn’t get myself to do anything at all when I got home from work.

I had tried everything to get back into shape. I had made drastic changes to my lifestyle to feel better and to lose weight. And I had nothing to show for it other than the emotional pain and financial waste of yo-yo dieting.

Then I went to a Tony Robbins seminar. It turns out I was not alone with how I was feeling. A serious problem common to so many people…

Most People Don’t Feel Anywhere Near As Good As They’d Like To

In fact, the vast majority of people feel that their lack of health and energy is just part of the aging process.

The Dangerous Myth That’s Eating Away At Your Life

The funny thing is, so many people I know have nagging health problems. They’re baffled why they no longer feel as good as they did when they were a child.

In fact, they haven’t got a clue. And that really makes sense when you consider the types of foods they’re eating day-to-day, and the dangerous, often toxic, medications they’ve used throughout life.

But let me ask you something: Do you think medication is the answer to health problems?

Of course not. If medication or a magic pill was the real answer, then you’d already feel as good as you want to be.

The Secret To Abundant Energy and Vibrant Health

Although for many years mainstream medicine ignored the role that diet can play in both health and disease, more recently it, too, began emphasizing the need to eat healthfully for keeping illness at bay.

In truth, the light came over the horizon more than a hundred years ago. But the radical work of some great pioneering scientists has been overlooked by a mainstream model so deeply involved in it’s own myths that is was blind to larger truths. Until now.

Recently, one of the most exciting discoveries has been the effect some foods have on the body’s acid-alkaline pH levels when digested.

A Slightly Alkaline Body Is Crucial For Good Health

Regardless of how much you work out and try to eat right, if you can’t balance the acids in your body, you’ll never feel as good as you’d like to be.

The problem is, on a whole, the average western diet is acid-producing. And when acidic wastes accumulate, they can cause organs to malfunction and break down.

We are forcing our bodies to work with less than optimal inner terrain. This creates a fertile breeding ground for various forms of chronic illness that are now experienced by more than half the population. An alkaline diet delivers so many benefits… less aches and pains, lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, more energy and on and on and on…

If you often feel tired, it’s a safe bet that you are overly acidic. The simple fact is, most people are.

Click here to learn more about how an alkaline diet can dramatically improve your health

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1. Do You Suffer from Adrenal Fatigue?
2. Unbalanced Blood pH . . . Is It Keeping You in Pain?
3. How to Stick With an Exercise Program or Diet

Natural Pain Relievers for Back Pain…
13 Ways You Can Reduce Pain Quickly

If you suffer from any type of back, neck or sciatic pain (any pain for that matter), you should find this video very helpful… in it we share with you thirteen different ways you can reduce pain quickly.

And here are some safe yet effective, all-natural products you can use to reduce pain and promote healing:

Rub-on-Relief – Natural Pain Relief Cream
Heal-n-Soothe – Proteolytic Systemic Enzyme
Super Joint Support – Joint Pain Relief

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1. 7 Little Known Natural Pain Relievers, for Arthritis, Back Pain or Fibromyalgia
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Most cortisone injections are conducted in a doctor office and may take as little as a 10 minute visit. The site of injection is cleaned and may be sprayed with a local anesthetic. Then the needle is inserted directly into the painfully inflamed joint for medicine delivery.

After receiving the shot, one might be advised to minimize use of the joint for 24-48 hours. For example, in the case of a shoulder injection immediate heavy lifting should be avoided. Sometimes a cortisone flare occurs when the cortisone crystallizes which can cause intense pain for up to 48 hours even worse than before the shot.

While rare, severe side effects such as joint infection, nerve damage, and weakening of nearby tendons and bones are possible. More shots increase the risk of severe side effects so many doctors limit the number of injections to three or less. Since cortisone shots offer pain relief for only several weeks and work for only about half of those receiving a shot, they should be considered a treatment aid at best, not a cure.

One approach to avoid using cortisone injections is to systemically minimize inflammation in the body and focus on treating underlying causes of pain and inflammation. That’s one reason cortisone shots don’t work for everyone — sometimes they are attempting to treat the wrong kind of pain.

There are two types of pain, muscular or tissue based pain and nerve based pain. Treating the wrong type of pain may result in no impact on levels of pain. That’s why a proper diagnosis of the underlying conditions leading to inflammation is critical for long-term pain relief.

Pros for cortisone injections:

• Can reduce inflammation in localized areas
• May relieve pain related to inflammation
• May be helpful as part of a broader treatment program

Cons for cortisone injections:

• Provides pain relief for only about half of shot recipients
• May cause more pain in short term
• Can cause severe permanent side effects

Related posts:

1. What You Can Learn About Pain Relief From Olympic Level Athletes
2. Glucosamine and Chondroitin: Miracle Joint Cure?
3. Osteoarthritis Joint Pain Relief Breakthrough?

Unlike many joint formulas which only mask the pain, these three ingredients go to work at the source of the problem — the eroding cartilage and resulting inflammation. Rebuilding and protecting cartilage and synovial fluid — all critical to healthy joint function — along with controlling inflammation, are key to providing long-lasting comfort and ease of movement.

The first of these three ‘power’ ingredients — Glucosamine — is one of the main building blocks of cartilage and is naturally found in joint structures.

Glucosamine …

• Enhances your body’s ability to make collagen and proteoglycans — substances essential for rebuilding joints
• Helps your body make synovial fluid, which lubricates your joints.
• Protects your cartilage from the destructive actions of NSAIDs.

The purest and most stable form, glucosamine HCL, is readily absorbed by the body and contains no added sodium or potassium salts.
The addition of Chondroitin Sulfate adds to glucosamine HCL’s cartilage-building abilities.
Chondroitin Sulfate also plays a major role in the production of cartilage:

• Helps create cartilage tissue by attaching to collagen and elastin
• Maintains healthy joint cartilage by attracting and retaining water
• Protects cartilage against destructive enzymes
• Facilitates the passage of essential nutrients for cartilage repair

The landmark double-blind National Institute of Health’s (NIH) Arthritis Intervention Trial (GAIT) studied the effects of glucosamine HCL and chondroitin together on 1583 subjects. The combination of the two surpassed a popular prescription drug for effectively relieving moderate to severe pain!

The third ‘power’ ingredient, MSM, sometimes referred to as the ‘miracle molecule’, contains that one element critical to the functioning of every cell — sulfur.

When your cells are low in sulfur, your body can’t repair damaged tissue fast enough. In fact, research shows that joint problems tend to be associated with low levels of sulfur in the body.

With today’s diets, it’s difficult to get enough sulfur from your food as cooking and processing quickly destroy sulfur. The only way to ensure high enough levels of sulfur is to take supplemental MSM.

So how does MSM support healthy joint function?

• Supports and strengthens cartilage.
• Supplies the sulfur needed to build healthy new cells.
• Promotes normal physical functioning by helping to fight inflammation.
• Helps soothe muscle and joint pain and reduces muscle spasms.
• Inhibits the transmission of pain impulses along nerve fibers.
• Promotes healthy blood supply, supplying oxygen and nutrients to cartilage and removing toxic wastes.

Naturally, you want a fast, effective solution to your stiffness, aches, and pains.
And, if you’re like many folks, you don’t want the harmful and uncomfortable side effects that accompany so many products. Most solutions provide only temporary relief at best and do nothing to tackle the root of the problem.

This powerful trio — Glucosamine HCL, Chondroitin Sulfate, and MSM — bring long-lasting pain relief and comfort by working deep at the source to ease inflammation, swelling, and breakdown of cartilage.

And these three substances form the basis for our fast-acting, liquid joint pain relief formula, Super Joint Support™. If you suffer from any type of aches or pains, especially joint-related, I encourage you to see how effective this formula is.

Related posts:

1. Glucosamine and Chondroitin: Miracle Joint Cure?
2. 5 Simple Ways To ELIMINATE Neck, Shoulder and Upper Back Pain
3. Natural Pain Relief for Dogs

What are glucosamine and chondroitin?

Glucosamine is a compound found naturally in the body. It’s needed to produce a special molecule called glycosaminoglycan which forms and repairs body tissues, particularly cartilage.

Chondroitin is a significant component of cartilage which gives joints their strength and elasticity for absorbing shock. It also absorbs fluid into nearby connective tissue and helps in the construction of new cartilage.

Do we need glucosamine and chondroitin supplements?

Articular cartilage lines all of our moving joints, cushioning bones and providing for their fluid motion. This cartilage is quite tough but also very thin — about 1/8 of an inch. As a result even small defects can make articular cartilage vulnerable to wear and tear. This degeneration of cartilage is called osteoarthritis and is very common in older adults, typically in the joints of the knees, hips and hands.

As we age, glucosamine production slows. This in turn slows the repair of damaged cartilage. Supplementing with glucosamine reintroduces this vital compound to the body.

Many studies have shown that glucosamine is effective in treating osteoarthritis. One impressive three year study of patients with knee osteoarthritis treated with 1500mg of glucosamine sulfate per day experienced a significant reduction in pain and stiffness. X-rays of the same individuals after 3 years found no further narrowing of joint spaces while those taking a placebo did.

Studies of the use of chondroitin show mixed results, but the most promising studies show chondroitin taken with glucosamine can magnify the positive effects of glucosamine supplementation, reducing pain and inflammation from osteoarthritis.

An interesting side note to glucosamine and chondroitin they can take weeks to begin having a noticeable effect on pain and stiffness, but continue to provide relief up to 3 months after treatment is stopped. They are much safer than non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) commonly taken for osteoarthritis. Taking glucosamine and chondroitin can lessen dependence on NSAIDs.

Who should not use glucosamine and chondroitin?

Most glucosamine in commercial supplements are derived chitin, a substance harvested from the actual shells of shellfish (shrimp, crab, lobster). Those with shellfish allergies should use glucosamine supplements from non-shellfish sources.

Glucosamine and chondroitin supplements are not recommended for pregnant or nursing women or for children as they have not been studied for safety in these groups. Speak with your doctor before taking chondroitin if you are taking any blood thinning medication as chondroitin can enhance the effects of blood thinners. Of course, you should always talk to your doctor before taking any supplements if you are taking prescribed drugs.

Summary

Glucosamine and chondroitin have some detractors, but most studies find them benign at worst and tremendously helpful to osteoarthritis sufferers at best. Glucosamine and chondroitin may not work for everyone but is well worth considering as a natural healing option when dealing with joint pain or stiffness.

Related posts:

1. 3 Ways to Eliminate Joint Pain
2. Osteoarthritis Joint Pain Relief Breakthrough?
3. Say Goodbye to Osteoarthritis… The All-Natural Way!

Conventional wisdom says if you’re not having symptoms, your blood sugar problems are not such a big deal. THEY’RE WRONG!

Conventional wisdom says low-fat dieting can control your blood sugar. THEY’RE WRONG!

Conventional wisdom says natural solutions won’t work for blood sugar. THEY’RE WRONG!

Free Report reveals a powerful new natural breakthrough for
balancing your blood sugar, Click here to read it online now!

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