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The Other Shoe: Obama Removes The Word ‘Free’ From Obamacare Site On Eve Of Rollout
Even as President Obama and his administration are making a last minute push to encourage enrollment in Obamacare, a quiet change was made on the Healthcare.gov website regarding those who will still not be able to afford coverage after the program kicks in. From at least June 26, 2013 to as recently as September 15, under the topic, "Where can I get free or low-cost care in my community?" the following statement appeared: "If you can't afford any health plan, you can get free or low-cost health and dental care at a nearby community health center." Here is how the page in question appeared: Watch the birdie, people However, sometime between September 16 and September 23, the reference to "free" care was dropped. The title of the topic was changed as well, and now reads: "Where can I get low-cost care in my community?" Here is how the page currently appears: The page in question is not a new one, as the webpage's Internet address remains the same, still containing the word "free": www.healthcare.gov/where-can-i-get-free-or-low-cost-care/. However, there is no notation anywhere on the page that it was revised; the change just appeared unannounced.
Other changes include dropping references to "dental" care and the availability of "prescription drugs," as well as exchanging the phrase "specialized care for more serious conditions" for the milder "referrals to specialized care."
Since President Obama has been emphasizing of late how inexpensive Obamacare will be for many Americans, advertising the availability of "free" health care might have been viewed as a deterrent to purchasing even the least expensive option from the government-run exchanges. Since the "bronze" and "silver" level plans that the president has recently been touting as equaling "the cost of your cable bill" and "less than your cell phone bill" will still entail significant out-of-pocket costs for medical care, "free" might still look more attractive to many on the lower end of the income scale. It may be that community health centers will still offer free care to some, but visitors to Healthcare.gov will no longer be made aware of the option. source - Weekly Standard
The post THE OTHER SHOE: Obama Removes The Word ‘Free’ From Obamacare Site On Eve Of Rollout appeared first on Now The End Begins.
11 Crucial Tips For Better Digestive Health
By Jack Adam Weber L.Ac., Dipl. C.H.
Contributing Writer for Wake Up World
The following tips are helpful for everyone, especially those with digestive issues. They are culled from years of personal and clinical experience, as well as from the annals of both Eastern and Western medicine. Many of these tips have conflicting research and opinions. The suggestions I offer, therefore, are ones that I have seen work.
These are guidelines; try them and notice what works for you.
Remember too, however, that future imbalance may develop from poor habits, even if they feel okay in the present. If you suffer from poor digestion, or want to optimize your health, I recommend you give these a try. These tips are not meant to diagnose or to treat any specific disease. Please consult with a physician if symptoms are severe or persist.
Tip #1: Do not drink liquids just before, during or just after your meal — especially not cold ones.
Explanation: This can dilute your digestive enzymes (conflicting research on this) and weakens digestive fire. If you do drink, a cup of warm tea or water is usually okay, and will likely not affect enzyme activity. Meals high in salt are doubly injurious because they promote imbalance of excessive thirst and water intake. Pay attention; notice what works.
In TCM terms, drinking excessively (and any cold drinks at all) while eating injures the Stomach and Spleen Qi, the two organs systems most important for digestive health.
Tip #2: Try squatting while you eat.
Explanation: The rest of the world does it for good reason, not just for the absence of chairs. Squatting is helpful especially if you have been sitting or doing sedentary, intellectual work, where energy stagnates in the upper body (e.g., computer work). Squatting stimulates digestion by encouraging energy to flow downward, helping to relax breathing and the diaphragm, as well as activating the “middle and lower burners,” the areas of the torso corresponding with digestion.
The Spleen and Stomach meridians/channels on the leg are activated by squatting; these are the primary channels and organ systems responsible for digestive health in Chinese medicine.
Tip #3: Talk minimally while eating, if at all, and chew your food really well.
Explanation: Talking impairs chewing, allows excess air into digestive tract, and often creates tension, which hampers good digestion. Excessive talking while eating distracts one from body-awareness and leads easily to over-eating. On the other hand, if you are upset/stressed and you have to eat, talking might help you alleviate your upset, in which case it is beneficial. This highlights the importance of listening to your body for what feels good.
Chewing well increases the surface area of your food, making it easier for digestive enzymes to further break it down. Chewing well allows digestive enzymes in your saliva, HCL in your stomach, and pancreatic enzymes in your intestines to mix thoroughly with food to further the digestive process. Remember also, you want your food to be as liquefied as possible by the time you swallow your food.
Tip #4: Do not eat when stressed or emotionally upset.
Explanation
Coconut Oil Cures Alzheimer’s Disease: Truth or Wishful Thinking?
By Deane Alban
Guest Writer for Wake Up World
In the 1950s, research wrongly speculated that hydrogenated fat was the cause of heart disease and that butter, lard, coconut oil, and palm oil were the culprits.
Tariffs were even placed on coconut oil to encourage people to buy new partially hydrogenated oils like margarine and Crisco instead. Now it’s known that these highly processed vegetable oils contain dangerous trans fats that are so unhealthy they are banned in some places like New York City, and even in entire forward-thinking countries like Iceland, Sweden, and Austria.
Up until very recently, coconut oil was vilified as an artery-clogging, cholesterol-raising food that had no place in a healthy diet. But now the pendulum has swung the other way. So many people have turned onto the health benefits of coconut oil that demand has soared, threatening to raise prices or even cause shortages!
The Many Benefits of Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is one of the best oils for cooking. It’s high content of saturated fat (around 90%) makes it very stable. While monounsaturated vegetable oils like extra virgin olive oil are healthy to use “as is”, they become unstable at relatively low temperatures and burn easily. And unlike typical vegetable oils like canola, soy, and safflower, coconut oil doesn’t contain high levels of omega-6 fatty acids which encourage inflammation.
Coconut oil is 50% lauric acid which is antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal. It lowers risk of heart disease by increasing good cholesterol and boosts the immune system. Lauric acid naturally occurs in breast milk. Coconut is the only way to get it in your diet.
Coconut oil has a growing legion of enthusiastic fans who claim it can cure everything from tooth decay to cancer. (One website I visited listed 1,001 conditions it could treat!)
But one of the most intriguing claims is that it can be used to cure the most dreaded disease of our time – Alzheimer’s. But is this true or merely wishful thinking?
Where the Coconut Oil Cure Originated
The woman who popularized this idea was no quack. As a neonatal physician, Dr. Mary Newport was familiar with the use of medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), the kind found in coconut oil, for feeding newborns. MCTs are administered to premature babies because they are easily utilized even before they have developed digestive enzymes. MCTs naturally occur in mother’s milk and are added to all infant formulas.
Because of her background, Dr. Newport understood how MCTs could supply energy to the brain. Her husband was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s and was getting rapidly worse so she decided to add coconut oil to his diet to see if it would help.
The initial results were quite amazing. His mental decline not only halted but measurably reversed much improving his quality of life.
In her book Alzheimer’s Disease: What If There Was a Cure? she details her husband’s progress, the science behind using coconut oil, and her frustration in trying to get her peers to consider her theories. Coconut oil not only halted but reversed the progression of her husband’s symptoms.
How MCTs Uniquely Feed the Brain
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