Anti-Aging Supplements: Do They Work?

The amount of recent information about anti-aging supplements is staggering. Suddenly, everywhere you look there is a new way to turn back the clock and preserve your young skin. Previous products being offered usually came from a lab and included ingredients that you could hardly pronounce let alone relate to. Now, not only are there topical solutions to aging being offered, but there is also relief in the form of vitamin and mineral supplement. It is being strongly suggested that you drink, eat, and...

topically treat yourself to a more youthful appearance.

A great number of exciting discoveries have been made with regard to how we age, and how we can best prevent it from appearing in our skin. Obviously, we cannot stop the aging process, but we can certainly slow it down and prevent it from making such a marked difference in our appearance. One of the best and most critical ways to do this is to protect ourselves from the sun, which is the ultimate aging factor for most people, especially if you are fair-skinned. However, there are a number of great supplements to take in order to help keep our skin looking young, supple, and beautiful even longer.

A group of molecules called antioxidants are the key to keeping our skin in shape. While antioxidants have been used in the medical and health industries for quite a long time for situations regarding heart health, cardiovascular support, and other physical longevity reasons, they are a relatively new find for the field of skin health. There are a few very beneficial antioxidants that stand out as being the most critical for skin renewal and rejuvenation including Alpha Lipoic Acid, Vitamin C and Vitamin E.

Alpha Lipoic Acid is highly touted as the new addition suggested to use with vitamins C and E because it appears to prevent the deficiency of those vitamins. In other words, by combining alpha lipoic acid with vitamin C and E, the two vitamins are used more efficiently and effectively in the body. Many people take alpha lipoic acid orally in supplement form daily, but you can also find many high-grade cosmetics and skin care products that include it in their formulas if you prefer topical use.

Vitamin C is essential to one’s heath, and is important for everything from skin health to heart health to cellular growth. Also known as ascorbic acid, it is an essential nutrient and cannot be manufactured alone in the body. Therefore, it must be ingested it in order to reap its benefits. The benefits of vitamin C as an antioxidant cannot be overstated; it helps to synthesize collagen in the body, which is all-important for youthful skin and skin elasticity. It also helps in the synthesis of carnitine, an amino acid that transports fatty acids which are also crucial for optimal skin health. Since vitamin C has a very low toxicity level, one cannot easily ‘overdose’ on vitamin C. It is excreted by the body via urine and excessive intake will not damage any organs. Time-release capsules of vitamin C are also available so that the benefits can be gradually accepted by the body throughout the day. While many people get vitamin C through their consumption of fruits and vegetables, supplementing with it is a great idea. As a powerful antioxidant, it protects your body , including your skin, from free radicals which are damaging and aging. As with alpha lipoic acid, some manufacturers of this supplement also make an elixir or topical form to use on the skin. You can experiment with both oral ingestion and topical application and see which combination works best for you.

Vitamin E is another great supplement that should be incorporated into your regimen of anti-aging skin care. It is in a class called tocopherols, and it is a fat-soluble vitamin with strong anti-oxidant properties. This vitamin also protects against free radicals, much like vitamin C. However, whereas vitamin C is water soluble, vitamin E will stay in the fats of the body and be absorbed differently. Vitamin E is wonderful in its role as a beneficial supplement to help reduce the risk of cancer, and in reducing cholesterol. It is also considered a wonderful salve for the skin as well as a good moisturizer. When taken internally, it can help turn back the hands of time with its anti-aging properties. Many people use a topical supplement form that combines both C and E. You can find them in your local health food or vitamin shop, or look at some of the finer cosmetic companies for them.

The skin is the largest organ in the body, so it is important to treat it right! Give your skin the proper nourishment and it will reward you by looking nourished and healthy.
by: Megan Hazel


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Stop Drugging Our Kids

A New Solution for the ADD to Autism Problem
There’s a new affordable alternative to dangerous drugs for the ADD-Autism continuum!
Unlike drugs, there are NO harmful side effects. Unlike Neurofeedback (AKA EEG
Biofeedback, long proved the best therapy), it’s affordable for even low income families.
For about 40 years, EEG Biofeedback (now called Neurofeedback or NeuroTherapy) has proved to be the most effective for “training” kids out of the ADD/ADHD/Autism symptoms. It takes between 50-60 half hour sessions to get an ADD/ADHD child that sits still in class, concentrating...

and learning (and who doesn’t freak out the class with his hyperactivity). It can take up to 200 or more sessions to improve an autistic child close to this same ideal.

The major drawback to Neurofeedback Training is that a half hour session in a Neurofeedback clinic costs between $75 and $250. The computer and the EEG BF unit are expensive, and “doctor time” is always expensive. (One psychiatrist is reputed to actually charge $350 per half hour - and without a gun!).

How many families can really afford $5000 or more in a year? How many families that can afford this high amount want to spend this much? How many families are persuaded by convincing drug ads and the schools (with subsidies from the drug makers) that drugs are the way to go? (After all, drugs are covered under most health insurance and are “free” in effect - money, a strong motive).

The higher income families may be willing to afford this, “knowing” that these drugs are all dangerous. But mid and low income families have no real choice except Ritalin and the rest of these drugs. All such drugs have side effects of addiction (Ritalin and most others contain methylphenidate and are basically the same as the illegal street drug called “Speed”). All can be addictive, and some have even caused deaths. Not a good solution at all!

Now there’s Dr Bate’s Neuroliminal Brain Wave Training. By the use of a complex subliminal messaging underneath a soothing surf sound, the same brain waves that are changed in amplitude by Neurofeedback are similarly changed by Neuroliminal Training. Neuroliminal does the same things that Neurofeedback does - namely change brain wave amplitudes!

Most often it’s done by “sleep therapy”. Simply turn on a CD player at a comfortable volume and let the soothing sound of surf help you sleep. You may hear a faint “mumble” of a voice in the distance, but it’s only a faint mumble, and doesn’t bother you. (Yes, Neuroliminal Training also solves Insomnia problems!)

Some people use it only this way and others have used it during the day while doing other things, such as housework, or computer work, or simply reading or relaxing.

There have been 4 volunteer tests starting in 2004. The first two simply increased the amplitude of one particular brain wave (called SMR). 21 persons sent in weekly data (with comments) for four weeks in the first test. This data clearly showed two of Dr Bate’s theories were “probably” correct:

1. Subliminal messaging does work and is analogous to EEG Biofeedback /NFB training.

2. Raising the amplitude of the SMR brain wave somehow changes the particular affect on the brain from various allergens. (Yes, Virginia, unknown allergy can cause virtually every known “mental disease).

Of interest in this first test, three ADHD kids who had failed with EEG Biofeedback also failed here. While disappointing at the time, it’s another illustration of the similarity between Neuroliminal Training and EEG Biofeedback Training.

The second test was similar and the results were even better after a few small changes were made. In addition, a few of the volunteers lost their depression, and several solved their Insomnia problem. (One woman psychologist not only lost her depression, but didn’t get it back when she was diagnosed with breast cancer soon after.)

The next volunteer test in 2005 cost $100 deposit to join (to ensure that they sent back data for 8 weeks). It was designed specially for ADD/ADHD. NASA research clearly showed that lowering the amplitude of the Theta brain wave increased concentration (attention). Neurofeedback Training uses both raising SMR and lowering Theta. So, that was the Neuroliminal design for this test.

23 persons sent in data - either for the full 8 weeks, or until they felt they had “solved their problem”. Of this 23, ALL improved. Only one person asked for their $100 deposit back. The weekly comments showed clearly that Neuroliminal was very similar to Neurofeedback in results. (There were two autistic kids in this test, and they also improved and continued to train. Autism requires much more time of course).

The last volunteer test was designed for Autism and other difficult cases. In addition to raising SMR and lowering Theta, an increase in brain blood flow was added. (This is analogous to HEG biofeedback which is often a part of Neurofeedback used for Autism, Brain Damage, and Stroke).

The 9 autistic kids ranged in age from 3.5 years old to 11. All improved! Some dramatically - some slowly - as would be expected - and again typically in the same manner as is usually experienced with EEG Biofeedback! None of these families asked for their deposit back!

Neither Neuroliminal nor Neurofeedback can claim 100% success. Obviously, there are other factors that may contribute to these “diseases”, particularly Autism. However, the success rate for ADD/ADHD is the same for both - about 85%.

The success rate for Depression is probably somewhat less (not enough data as yet), and the success rate for Insomnia shows about 90+% to date. (11 out of 12 reporting).

There’s now an affordable substitute for those dangerous drugs. Let’s stop drugging our kids!
by: Dr. Phil Bate

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Is Alcoholics Anonymous Effective? Get the Facts Here First Before You Make Any Decisions Regarding Your Drug or Alcohol Treatment Plan

“Keep coming back, it works if you work it!”

This is what is chanted at the end of every meeting, but what if you have “worked it” and you still keep going back and getting drunk or loaded?

Now, most people in the program will say things like, “Well, you must not have really done the steps right,” or “You didn’t go to enough meetings,” or “You didn’t pray to your Higher Power,” or “You know you did something wrong or else you would still be sober!”
But what if the truth was that...

you did nothing “wrong,” that in reality you did not fail the Program, but rather the Program was just not a right fit for you, and in fact, it fails for most people? Hopefully even this little bit of knowledge would start to alleviate some of the guilt and shame that many carry around with them due to numerous relapses and going in and out 12-step programs for many years.

Since what you are told from your very first 12-step meeting is, “Your only options are to get sober using our Program, or it’s jails, institutions or death,” you tend to stop thinking for yourself, (since it was your “best thinking that got you here“), stop questioning, and just follow what other’s tell you to do.
This would be fine if this is what worked… but unfortunately, evidence is proving otherwise.

The 12-step success rate is showing to be approximately 3 percent. Yes, that’s right… only 3 percent! (Brown,Treatment Doesn’t Work, 1991). Here are some more startling statistics (Based on Alcoholics Anonymous World Services' own statistics):

“Only 5% of those who seek AA for help remain in the program after one year,” says Solomon, citing an internal AA document that contains data from five surveys conducted from 1977 to 1989. The numbers also show:
• 81% of AA attendees are gone after one month
• 90% are gone after three months
• 93% leave by six months
• 95% abandoned the program after one year

In fact, 45% of those who attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings never return after their first meeting.

Yet even with all of this research, “93-97% of conventional drug rehab and alcohol treatment centers are 12-step or AA-based, so those who have left AA to look elsewhere for help, are essentially rejoining AA,” notes Solomon.

“Alcoholics Anonymous hardly sounds like a ‘proven method,’” says Melanie Solomon, author of a new book showing alternatives to AA for treating alcohol and substance abuse. “In fact, it doesn’t work for most people.”

A recovered pill addict who found AA morally defeating, Solomon wrote her newly released 2nd Edition of “AA Not the Only Way,” to shed light on alternative methods and treatment programs that work as well or better than AA.

Solomon is quick to acknowledge the contribution AA has made to those it has helped but suggests the numbers are just too staggering not to explore alternatives for those not being served well by 12-step approaches. So when asking the question, “is alcoholics anonymous effective,” the answer depends on what your definition of “effective” is.

She found herself seeking help from AA while attending law school, attending the required 90 meetings in 90 days and found that saying she is an alcoholic over and over is a negative affirmation bringing about only negative consequences.

“They sought to convince me I was the victim of an incurable, progressive and fatal disease, that there was no way out, and that I must give up my own thinking to a higher power,” she adds. “But the result was that it made me feel weaker, sicker, and out of control.”

She went through twelve years of the vicious cycle of rehab, sober living, AA meetings, and relapses. She has found alternative treatments to AA, and now, at age 36, she finally feels free. She now devotes her life to researching recovery options, and then sharing these findings with others through her seminars, website, and most currently through the newly released 2nd Edition of her book, “AA Not the Only Way; Your One Stop Resource Guide to 12-Step Alternatives.”

Some surveys and studies show the most effective way to recover is actually through self-treatment, rather than a program. Although a Harvard study shows only 20% of all alcoholics kick the habit for good, of those that do recover as many as 77-82% did it on their own without the use of a formal program.

“One-size-fits-all treatment is not possible,” Solomon says. “Treatments must be as diverse as the people seeking it. But that said, AA works for some people--maybe 5%. Certainly it is not for everyone.”

The National Institute on Drug Abuse seems to agree, stating “No single treatment program is right for everybody. Matching the treatment program to each individual’s needs is critical to success.”

Leading U.S. addiction expert Dr. Marc Kern states, “I have long awaited this directory of addiction treatment alternatives. It represents what I believe to be the future of the field. It is a pioneering effort to organize this unique body of knowledge. A directory of this type was never available before.”

Dr. Frederick Rotgers, another leading addiction expert explains, “The problem is finding treatment providers who provide these alternative, evidence-based approaches. Melanie Solomon has taken a wonderful step toward making that process, of identifying alternatives to traditional treatments, easier.”

“It is finally time to stop living in the dark ages of recovery, educate people about all of their choices and alternatives that are out there. Maybe we will start making a dent in the alcohol and drug use problem that millions are facing each day instead of continuing to perpetuate it,” says Solomon.
by: Melanie Solomon

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