It seems like there is no end to the rising costs of healthcare these days. Healthcare and prescription costs are rising faster than at any other time in history. The United States spends nearly $2 trillion on healthcare, a huge 15 percent of its gross domestic product, and we are currently spending over $200 billion on annual prescriptions.

We understand more about disease now than in any other time in history, and have more treatments available.  But, more money is being spent, and the rate of chronic and debilitating disease is rising! We are seeing more people in younger generations being afflicted with disease, in spite of the advances and new discoveries that are made daily in medicical science regarding new ways to treat disease more effectively with new surgical procedures and prescription medications.

The sad part is that there are even many Americans who no longer have healthcare insurance due to job downsizing or corporate backruptcies.  My family is one that was affected by this as a result of corporate backruptcy.  Several years ago, Visteon in Connersville, Indiana closed its doors putting many local people in my area out of work.  My husband was offered an early retirement, which he gladly took.  The retirement benefits weren't great, but at least he had decent healthcare coverage for himself and our family.  But that all changed in 2010, when Visteon, the company my husband had worked for, for over 20 years, filed backruptcy and discontinued the healthcare insurance for retirees.  So, like many other American families, we were faced with a situation.  We could pay a huge monthly premium of $1200 - $2000 and keep our insurance, or we could look elsewhere.  Now, I don't know if you have checked into the cost of insurance that is not a part of a group plan, but I will tell you, the rates are astronomical!  So, we had to settle for an insurance with a very high deductible and then pay a smaller monthly premium.  What does this mean?  It means that if we have a major hospital stay, we better have about $10,000 - $15,000 sitting around in the bank in case of emergency!  Now, I ask you, how many people in this economy, with rising food cost and gas costs can afford that?  Not many, would be my guess.  So how do you avoid this huge cost?  Stay healthy - it's much more cost effective! 

It's easier to maintain your health than regain it. ~ Dr. Ken Cooper

So what can we do to help ourselves? How can we achieve long-lasting health? According to Dr. Gordon Pederson (from the book "Addressing the 8 Causes of Disease"):

"One of the biggest problems with our traditional healthcare system is that it often seeks only to treat the symptoms of disease, not its cause or origin.  For instance, pain is one of the symptoms of arthritis  Some of the most commonly prescribed medications used to "treat" arthritis are pain-killers.  While they may take away the pain, they certainly don't take away the arthritis itself, and as soon as the effects of the drug wear off, the pain is still there.  It's a backward, short-sighted system.

Although the treatment of existing diseases certainly is important, those seeking true and lasting health and wellness must focus on preventing disease before it strikes.  This means looking at the top causes of disease, that is, a state or condition of abnomal health."

The 8 Causes:  A Closer Look

According to Dr. Pederson, several factors by be playing a part in developing abnormal health conditions.  For instance, when a person catches a cold, there is usually more to it than just being exposed to a virus; in order for the body to be susceptible to the virus, there are usually other factors involved such as, poor diet, environmental stress, lack of sleep, etc.  Dr. Perderson states that the research into the causes of disease point to eight things that may lead to abnormal health:

1. Deficiencies of Nutients
2. Immune Dysfunction
3. Injuries
4. Contagions
5. Genetics & Age
6. Toxins & Free Radicals
7. Abmormal Metabolism
8. Stress

He goes on to state, "It's important to remember that each cause promotes a specific health risk, and the more causes you suffer from, the higher your risk of disease.  In fact, your risk can increase exponentially in some cases.  On the other hand, your risk of serious disease significantly decreases as you address each individual cause.  And as you prevent multiple causes, your body's ability to prevent disease inproves dramatically."

Did You Know?

According to Dr. Pederson, the four leading disease causes of death can be prevented!

1. Heart Disease
2. Cancer
3. Stroke
4. Diabetes

"These account for about 83 percent of all deaths and are largely "lifestyle" diseases.  Heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women.  Cancer kills one in four.  Strokes kill more that 150,000 annually in the United States.  And approximately 7 percent of the population now suffers with type two diabetes." ~ Dr. Gordon Pederson

Most of us understand that a big deficiency in even one vitamin or mineral can lead to disease, for instance, vitamin C deficiency can lead to scurvy and calcium deficiency can lead to osteoporosis.  What many people don't understand, according to Dr. Pederson, is that even some minor deficiencies could be deadly  in the long run, and chances are, that your probably suffer from at least one nutrient deficiency.

Did you know that there is a USDA report that states that approximately 92 percent of Americans don't get the proper amount of nutrients in their diets?  So what's the big deal?  The big deal is that there is increasing evidence that shows that the risk of many "lifestyle" diseases can be substantially reduced through proper diet and nutrition.

In "Addressing the Eight Causes of Disease", it states that, "poor diet and the associated nutritional deficiencies have been linked to the following short list of health conditions as well as dozens more not included here:

• Heart disease
• Stroke
• Diabetes
• Arthritis
• Irritable bowel disease
• Oseoporosis
• Cancer
• Premenstrual syndrome
• Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases
• Depression

Not convinced?  Consider this:  The American Cancer Society recently estimated that approximately one-third of cancer deaths annually in the United States can be linked to diet and nutrition.  A recent study linked a deficiency of folate, a B vitamin, to the developement of Parkinson's disease.  A deficiency was found to leave dopamine-producing brain cells vulnerable to damage and death.  And in a 2007 PBS series titled "Hidden Epidemic:  Heart Disease in America," nutrient deficiency was discussed as not only a factor in the development of heart disease, but also as the primary cause of cardiovascular disease."

Don't Be Deficient:  the Risks

On the left are some of today's most common nutrient deficiencies, and on the right are just some of the potential health conditions associated with those deficiencies, according to Dr. Pederson's book:

Folic Acid                    fatigue, anemia, neural tube defects
Vit. B12                      dysfunction of red blood cells, heart disease,
                                      anemia, fatigue
Vit. B6                        cardiovascular disease, carpal tunnel syndrome,
                                      premenstral syndrome, mood disorders
Calcium                      osteoporosis, muscle cramps, nerve dysfunction
Iron                            anemia, fatigue, impaired memory
Selenium                     increased cancer risk
Copper                       bone/teeth problems, aneurysms
Chromium                   diabetes, heart disease
Vit. C                         cardiovascular disease, impaied connective
                                     tissue growth, fatigue
Vit. E                        Alzheimer's disease, impaired immunity, nerve
                                    damage
Lycopene                 DNA damage, increased cancer risk
Vit. D                       osteoporosis, increased cancer risk
Magnesium              depression, insomnia, muscle cramping, irritability

Today we have looked at the eight know causes of disease, and specifically at nutrient deficiency.  For the next seven posts, I will be addressing the other seven causes of disease (immune dysfuction, injuries, contagions, genetics and age, toxins and free radicals, abnormal metabolism, and stress). 

You don't want to miss the important information in this series.  You can subscribe by email to this blog.  These posts will be delivered directly to your inbox email, or you can subscribe to the RSS feed.

To find out more about how you can use supplements to help, visit:

Here is an awesome website that has tons of research on everyday products that you and your family may be using.  Want to find out if there are dangerous chemicals are in your clothing, your children's toys, fido's dog toys?  They have a searchable database on chemicals and also on products containing lead.  When you begin to realize that toxic chemicals are all around us, even in everyday products, it starts to make sense why there are so many people who have health issues - the link between toxins and health issues is growing larger by the day. You will also find a widget at the bottom of this page where you can do a search on various products.

Using the Widget

Select your category from the drop-down list and enter your search terms in the text box. You may search on product name, UPC, brand, and level of concern. NONE, LOW, MED, and HIGH are reserved words and if added to the search will filter the results based on level of concern.

Query results are limited to 30 products. If your query returns more than 30 products we suggest narrowing your search. The query results show the product name, the level of concern, and an icon of the level of concern (green for none or low, yellow for medium, and red for high). If the product name is too long to fit in the Widget, you can move your mouse over the product to find out the entire name. For complete test results click on the listed product to go to its details page on HealthyStuff.org.

Sample Queries

Select the Toys category. You can search for products by name (such as Barbie, Hannah, or Football), a brand name (such as Fisher-Price, Hasbro or Maggie), a product UPC code (a number, like 678634798268), or the overall level of detection in a product (High, Medium, Low, or None). These searches can be combined, e.g. (Barbie Medium or Hasbro Low).

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"Did you know that there is a 33-year old law that was supposed to ensure that Americans know what chemicals are in use around them, and what health and safety hazards they might pose, has produced awww.ewg.org/files/secret-chemicals.pdf

• In Germany, a shot of cognac is a popular flu remedy, as it is believed that it will ease  flu symptoms and help the body cleanse itself of the virus.
• Garlic is known to help clear up mucus, as well as many other amazing known healing properties that are beneficial.

Garlic & Cognac Remedy Recipe

1/2 pound of fresh garlic (organic is best)
1 quart 90-proof cognac

Peel 1/2 pound of fresh garlic and dice. Add the garlic to one quart of 90-proof cognac.  Seal this mixture in an airtight bottle and store in a cool dark place for two weeks.  After two weeks, strain the garlic out of the liqud and reseal the bottle.  The remedy will stay good for approximately one year.  A new new batch should be prepared every year.

For flu: Add 20 drops to eight ounces of water. Drink three glasses a day, one before each meal. For prevention: Use 10 to 15 drops in eight ounces of water during flu season, three times a day, one before each meal.

The question now is, why might this remedy have worked? The answer is quite simple.  The recipe uses a half pound of garlic and a quart of cognac. The alcohol base of the cognac acts as a tincture, and extracts the powerful antiviral compounds from the garlic.  Those compounds are now trapped in the alcohol base and are a very, very potent and concentrated source, much more so than just eatting raw garlic.  Add to this the belief that there is also a component in cognac that works to rid the body of impurities, and it is understandable how this combination could work.

During World War I, it is a fact that garlic was used to prevent infection and help the wounded on the battlefields and in the hospitals.  But, there is also an interesting story about cognac from Joanne Beck, about her Great-Grandfather Dr. Joseph Beck, who was an accomplished medical doctor and wrote a book called"Applied Pathology in Diseases of the Nose, Throat and Ear" by Joseph C. Beck, MD, FACS (C.V. Mosby, 1923, St. Louis). When this book was written, he was Associate Professor in ENT at University of Illinois College of Medicine.

Joanne Beck recounted this story from her great grandfather's writtings:  "During WW1 my great-grandfather ended up running the American Red Cross Hospital in Cognac, France as a doctor for the Czechoslovakian army. During his stay there he had to deal with an outbreak of the influenza epidemic (the “Spanish” flu). Not having enough room for his patients he appealed to the Martelle and Hennessey Cognac Manufacturing and Bottling Company (2). Mr Hennessey offered him the top floor of one of his warehouses in which a makeshift hospital was set up. However milk, the mainstay during the influenza epidemic, became scarce and as Joe says his patients had a mortality rate of 42% and were “dying like flies”. In spite of an ordinance forbidding alcohol in American hospitals, Joe accepted Mr Martelle’s offer of as much cognac as he wanted and made up a solution of cognac and water that was given to the patients “ad libitum”. Joe describes the situation the very next day; “perhaps coincidently”, he says, ” the death rate dropped to 27% and never did it rise above that.” In fact, after five weeks of this treatment the terrific epidemic came to an almost complete end."

I and my family, many friends, and many of my clients have tried this garlic and cognac recipe over the past several years, and it does seem to have much merit as a valid folk remedy.  I must caution you however, that you may want to do something to freshen your breath after using it, especially if you are going out in public.  My husband was using this remedy several years ago, and he decided to go to a history program at our local library.  He still laughs when he tells the story:  "I went to the library and saw our mail lady sitting at one of the tables, so I went over and sat down next to her. I started talking to her, and it didn't take long before I noticed that she had a funny look on her face.  Then she turned her chair completely sideways with her back to me.  I thought, 'well that's strange', and then it hit me - I remembered that I had taken the garlic and cognac remedy before I left!  She must have really gotten a good wiff of it when I was talking.  I didn't have any breath mints or anything, so I just smiled, and enjoyed the rest program."

For more great tips and natural remedies visit www.HippieHerbalist.com.