Vegetables and fruits are part of my healthy diets for the past years now. But I’ve never heard of a group of edible plants called nightshades vegetables.
The aches and pains on my back had gotten worse last year. So I thought to go get an X-ray. The sports doctor I saw said my spine is in good condition. He suggested to go get some physical therapy and was given exercises to do everyday. I even bought seat cushion and lumbar support for my back, lumbar support back braces, and exercise balls. I would do them daily. They helped temporarily but the aches and pains would come back in no time. I even went to see and got my back worked on by a chiropractor this year. It would help for a day or two, then I’m back with aches and pains on my back again. I was getting frustrated.
One thing good though, each time, I would feel good in the morning after a good sleep; but then I started feeling back pain towards the afternoon after I was done with my daily lunch. And it goes through the night and I barely can sit for long without using my back braces and I have to use a heating pad before I go to bed. I started getting very concerned. I tried to avoid over the counter medication for back pain, but I resorted to taking them to ease the pain three weeks ago. I tried not to take the doze that’s suggested on the label. I know there’s side effects in taking them everyday. I tried not to rely on medication if I can avoid them.
I read that homemade Ginger tea is good to ease aches and pains; and good for colds and flu and at the same time it helps lowering my blood pressure. I drink it every morning on an empty stomach and it does help. As long as I don’t drink too much of it. And it’s anti-inflammatory.
I started researching the internet to get answers to the continuous back pain, stiffness, achy and mostly a very cold sensation running through my upper back and; I got the answer! Through extensive research and links, I found out what’s causing the back pain and I was dumbfounded that some of the veggies and fruits I’ve been eating are the cause of my aches and pain! I was totally and intensely shocked, for I thought I was doing myself a favor by eating healthy foods!
The culprits are the veggies and fruits that have Solanine in them! Solanine is a poisonous compound that has pesticidal properties for plants natural defenses against bugs. The plants actually have drug-like substances called alkaloid drugs. Solanine is a natural pesticide, protecting the plants from insects that may harm them. It might be a protection for the plants, but have bad side effects for some humans and it includes me! And Solanine chemical compound can be found in a group of nightshades vegetables such as eggplants, tomatoes (all varieties including tomatillos, white potatoes, peppers (red, green, yellow, orange), jalapeño, chili, cayenne), paprika and ground cherries. Foods that contain Solanine that are not directly in the nightshades family are: apples, blueberries and huckleberries, okra and artichokes.
I found out that nightshades foods contain four types of alkaloid drugs which can be dangerous to those that are sensitive to Solanine and the other alkaloid drugs. Steroid alkaloids, which includes Solanine, propane alkaloids, pyrrolizidine alkaloids and indole alkaloids. These drugs including Solanine may cause paralytic-like muscle spasm, aches and pains, tenderness, inflammation and stiff body movements.Another health problem is soft tissue calcification around the joints.
The experts and doctors on these particular food toxins indicated that people’s body cannot metabolize (break down) a particular substance as Solanine. The Solanine then builds up in the major organs, including the thyroid gland and skeletal muscles and can cause all sorts of problems. This can result in an inflammatory response and different people have various levels of sensitivity, depending on genetics, nutritional status or other factors.
On a practical level Solanine can do the following in sensitive patients; act as an endocrine disruptor especially to the thyroid, 2) cause chronic joint pain, arthritis (all forms), joint inflammation- this is due to solanine’s ability to remove calcium from the bones and deposit it in any weak or genetically predisposed area of the body, for the same reason it can be a major contributor to osteoporosis (since it removes calcium from the bones) and arteriosclerosis (it can deposit the calcium in the blood vessels), “leaky gut” as well as IBS, appendicitis, birth defects including spina bifida, depression (correcting it in one patient stopped their strong suicidal tendencies), migraines, Solanine can greatly interfere with calcium and vitamin D absorption, despite supplementation.
Solanine may sneak in potato starch used to help shredded cheese to separate from each other. Paprika is in mustard, mayo and few other condiments. The majority of salad dressings and spices has some form of pepper in it to help the taste. Some of the pre-seasoned meat uses chili powder or cayenne powder. I have to be conscious and on the look out and read labels more closely.
I have incorporated since last year bell peppers (nightshade veggies)-red, yellow and orange, in my veggie salads. I ate apples maybe 3 times a week. I would make some eggplant parmesan and eggplant omelette. I’ve always have consumed blueberries. I’ve used some paprika in dishes I’ve made that calls for it. And of course, tomatoes are in most of my homemade cooking. I don’t eat much potatoes as it could screw up my diet, so not a problem to eliminate it. Thankfully, there are other varieties of veggies and fruits that safe to eat and there’s no Solanine in them.
I’ve started eliminating these nightshade veggies and fruits with Solanine, in my cooking and my raw veggie salads and fruit consumption. According to a clinical research on Solanine, it can take 6 months or more to clear these chemicals from the body so just eliminating them for a few weeks may not provide a clear enough indication. It suggested to keep a journal of symptoms while totally avoiding nightshades and foods with Solanine for a minimum of 6 months.
I have not eaten any nightshade veggies for two weeks now; so I can tell which foods would give me inflammation attacks that causes stiffness and cold sensation in my back. I ate an apple yesterday and sure enough, my back reacted to my ingesting the apple with skin, with aches and cold back sensation just after a few hours up through the night.
Today, I’ve had some ginger tea first thing in the morning; and had some oatmeal with milk. I had my daily veggie salad sans Solanine chemical compound and ate a sumptuous main course and red grapes for dessert. My immune system did not attack my body for an invader it hated- Solanine! I was pain free and no cold sensation on my back! I’ve started incorporating back my Vitamin Code Grow Bone System to heal my joints and bones.
Vegetables and fruits are not created equal! I’ve learned a big lesson and got familiarized with Nightshades foods. I prayed to God to give me wisdom about this health problem and He gave me discernment and led me to know about Nightshades foods and Solanine. God is good all the time! God is always to my rescue! I just have to always pay attention to what the Holy Spirit of God is placing in my heart and mind.
It is not a pain in the behind, but a continuous back pain!
I did not realize until I started researching the internet to the causes of back pain, I was having on and off back pain through the years. At first, just mild ones. When I iron clothes, I would get upper back pain, but the pain would go away when I take a rest. Last year I started having this cold sensation on my back, again on and off. I could understand the pain in my lower back if I sit too long watching TV, or sitting in front of the computer researching, reading, scrolling the sites I frequently visit.
The start of this year, the cold sensation on my back started to worsen, and it has become frequent as each day passed by. I found a remedy; and feel better when I put heating pad on my back, and when I wake up in the morning, the back pain and cold sensation on my back are relieved. However, in the middle of the day, I started having back pain and the cold sensation again. It’s started to bother me. I seek a chiropractor’s help and he did an x-ray and found out I have arthritis on my back. I went to have a bone density test, and it was confirmed I have a spinal arthritis. I was saddened but determined to find out the causes of arthritis.
I started researching the net, and was astonished that eating grain can cause back pain! I was taken aback because I have avoided fine grain. I seldom eat bread, or pastries or donuts or cakes, anything sugary, I have successfully avoided. Except of course during Christmas holidays I would splurge a little bit, but not to a point of eating too much of these sweet holiday offerings. I have thrown a lot of uneaten pastries that were in the fridge early this year which was a waste of money. As we say, Christmas holidays without sweet offerings is not the same. It’s just psychological, it’s just in peoples’ minds.
Anyway, to get back to the culprit of grain pain, my memory went back to last year’s diet. I have been eating plant based foods, fruits and vegetables, some meat, chicken, seafood, eating in moderation. And I have continued to do intermittent fasting. However, I had been having whole grain Kashi cereal for breakfast and would add strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries and sometimes bananas with milk. So as to have my daily calcium which I was not able to do supplementation, as I can’t find any good calcium supplements. The calcium regimen got complicated with adding Vitamin D and other minerals for the calcium to do its work with my bones, I found out.
After getting more information in regards to eating grain that causes pain, I thought that it does not apply to whole grain! There’s no way! But sadly it does! Grain is grain, all grain is created equal in torturing my bones! I was devastated. I love eating the best tasting whole grain cereals in Kashi. The thing is I’ve started eating more of it since last year for breakfast to start my day. I had to stop. Grain or pain?
I’ve chosen to be grain free. I am what I eat. Grain can cause acidic environment in my body; and my body becomes inflamed. Inflammation was overruling my entire microbiome community. The harder and dry the grain I eat, the havoc this grain is causing in my digestion, aside from the grain absorbing and grabbing the calcium I barely have. The grain steal the calcium and unfortunately my bones are not able to absorb any calcium. The back pain is a cry for help by my bones and joints. It was an overwhelming discovery that the grain, even whole grain was giving me back pain.
I stopped eating Kashi whole grain. I got back to doing moderate Zumba for weight bearing exercises, starting slow. And I’ve been doing neck and back exercise therapy. For the spinal Arthritis, I bought this supplement for pain relief for joint and muscle support; so far, it seems it’s working. My back pain and that cold sensation on my back are taking a back seat. As to this writing, I can sit and type this post without any back pain this evening and the past two days, I was back pain free!
As to my calcium supplement, I found and bought this bone growth regimen. A Vitamin Code Grow Bone made with Whole Foods, Strontium, Magnesium, K2 MK7, Vitamin D3 & C Plus Probiotics for Gut Health. This is so far the best one I’ve seen to help with my joints and bones.
What a big lesson learned. I’m staying away from grain!
“While different foods may trigger symptoms amongst different individuals, a common thread in most inflammatory conditions is excess intake of grains.
Refined grains in bread, cereals, pasta, pastries, etc. are the most problematic.
There are several mechanisms by which grains induce inflammation in the gut, which can then lead to body-wide inflammatory processes and pain.
Grains are Highly Pro-inflammatory
Once digested, grains reduce the pH of the body causing it to become more acidic and thereby increasing susceptibly to mineral deficiencies, chronic disease and inflammation.
That is why grains make you Osteoporotic.
Your body will leach nearly all the calcium out of your bones in an effort to maintain the correct acid/alkaline balance. Indeed it will almost convert the bones of your hips, spine, knees etc. to mush in an effort to maintain correct pH.
Grains are also high in omega 6 fats which, when eaten in excess as they often are in the standard Western diet, throws out the omega 6:omega 3 fatty acid balance in the body.”
Although the government’s daily food recommendations would have us believe exactly the opposite, grains are not a necessary part of the diet in order to achieve and maintain optimal health. In some cases, they can diminish your wellness. It’s much more important to include nutrient dense foods such as meat, vegetables, fruits, and saturated fats in your diet if you want to achieve better health.”
On October 12, 2018, one of the Bible verses that God wants me to remember and to always keep in my heart is Psalm 91. Little did I know then as to why He wants me to remember it. Fast forward to 2020, the Corona Sar Virus 19 would become the center of people’s everyday existence. A plague or pandemic that has gotten contagious in the form of a new variant named Omicron as we start year 2022. Just this month, there are many known people, vaccinated and boosted and all, that are infected. It is so contagious according to the news that Omicron surges so fast and seems unstoppable. Many stories of Covid cases that are coming out nowadays are those who got boosted, then got the symptoms of Omicron. There are no stories about the unvaccinated who are getting the Omicron and suffered severe infections. Both vaccinated and unvaccinated are getting mild symptoms, unless they have underlying health conditions. Very few death counts. But I hear more of those who get their booster shots and then developed the Omicron infection syndrome.
Psalm 91 has been my go to scripture verses since the start of the pandemic, every time I get anxious and fearful. Psalm 91 makes me remember what God said that He did not give a spirit of fear to those that follow Him and His commands and love Him with all of their hearts, mind and might. Instead He said He has given the followers of Jesus Christ power through the Holy Spirit to overcome all the trials, struggles in life, including this Covid 19 virus.
“Come, my people… into thy chambers. As when a storm comes, prudence counsels men to seek shelter (Exodus 9:19), so now the prophet advises his people to put themselves under cover during the coming tempest. His meaning, probably, is that they should retire into the privacy of communion with God, withdrawing from public affairs and the distractions of a worldly life. Shut thy doors about thee (comp. 2 Kings 4:33; Matthew 6:6). For a little moment (so in Isaiah 10:25; and again in Isaiah 54:7, 8). God’s estimate of time, we must remember, is not as man’s (Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8). Isaiah 26:20″
When I see the BLOOD, I will pass over you (Exodus 12:13), for the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross has saved and reconciled them with Father God, those that love Jesus and believe and accepted the indwelling of His Holy Spirit within themthat Jesus promised to His faithful followers.Those that believe His death and resurrection and accepted Him as their Lord and Savior and surrender their will and life to Him; and worship God.
Reference: “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt.I am the LORD.The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.” Exodus 12:12-13
History Repeats.
One of God’s promises to those that love Him through His Son, Jesus, is NO PLAGUE will touch you.
When God sees the Blood of Jesus covering you
I will continue to remember God’s promises. Many times in the Bible, He said “Do not fear, for I am with you.”
“Symptoms for this terrifying new Covid variant include a slight cough, sniffles, and a minor headache. Back in the 80’s, we called that “WINTER””
Fox News contributor Dr. Marty Makary warned against a new “wave of fear” taking hold over the omicron variant, warning it could fuel a “pandemic of lunacy” in the post COVID-19 era. The professor of health policy at Johns Hopkins University joined the “Brian Kilmeade Show” on Thursday to discuss the new variant, explaining it appears to be statistically milder than others.
DR. MARTY MAKARY: We’re seeing this massive new wave of fear that is fueling our second pandemic after COVID-19, which is a pandemic of lunacy, which is omicron. Now I call it omi-cold. If you look at the epidemiological data, the epicenter is now way down from omicron. The hospitals had some hospitalizations, not much. They were short. They averaged two and a half days instead of eight days. But a study just came out of the University of Hong Kong telling us that omicron does not invade the lung tissue that’s deep in the respiratory tract. It stays superficial in the nose and bronchus. So that’s why we’re seeing a common cold-like illness. This new scientific data from the lab explains the epidemiological data and the bedside observation of doctors that this is far more mild… and that’s why I call it omi-cold.
It depends what headline you want, what message you want to send, I can recast any respiratory virus as a potential bubonic plague that’s going to destroy the United States. It’s just how you present the statistics.
We’ve got to reduce testing in low-risk situations. If you test everyone in the United States, you will find a virus particle in the nose of some fraction of Americans forever. … We can’t go hunting for a problem that is a very mild or asymptomatic illness.
“According to the CDC, the symptoms of omicron include : congestion, runny nose, fatigue, and cough. This is the common cold. The symptoms are so mild, that the biggest fear is people won’t know they have it. This is nothing more than manufactured fear and hysteria. This is the best case scenario….the virus mutates to something so mild yet allows for mass infection and build up of natural antibodies.”
“When the Covid hysteria began in March 2020, I watched a video of a NYC doctor who was treating Covid patients and he said that after about a year the virus will mutate and weaken into a mild cold.
The video was over 60 minutes long and everything he said made a lot of sense, but he was ridiculed by the left and his video pulled after it received over a million views.
I wish I had written down his name so I can see what he’s saying now. But he predicted this at the very beginning that Covid would turn into a mere cold and was nothing to worry about. And he was right.”
“South Africa ministers announced the country is moving to stop contact tracing and quarantining of Omicron contacts. Healthcare experts discovered the Omicron is so weak that they do not need to trace the Omicron variant among the people.
This is good news for those who believe that the Omicron will help with herd immunity. It’s bad news for Fauci and his political operatives pushing vaccinations.
The Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) on Covid-19 has written to Health Minister Joe Phaahla, recommending that the quarantining of contacts be stopped as it is no longer viable in the current social and economic climate.
Furthermore, the committee said contact tracing was no longer necessary and should also be halted with immediate effect…
…With only a small number of contacts identified from a proportionally small Covid-19 cases, quarantining was no longer effective for containing the spread of the disease, MAC said.
The committee said testing was highly skewed toward detecting symptomatic cases, while the vast majority of cases are asymptomatic and go undetected.
“In addition, among the small proportion of symptomatic cases, testing is far from universal, since patients may not seek testing when their symptoms are mild and when testing would be burdensome and expensive. Furthermore, the SARS-CoV-2 test sensitivity is suboptimal, sometimes leading to false negative results.”
… determines where you will spend eternity in the afterlife.
“=
“Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” To glorify God– that’s worship! To enjoy Him forever–that’s the all-encompassing reward! Whatever life brings, whatever the outcome of our daily journey on earth, having a personal relationship with God will give us joy, peace and contentment.
Let’s glorify Him for our Creator deserves worship for the wonderful things He has done for us; countless awesome goodness and love for us, sacrificing the death of His Son, Jesus, to save us. And there are benefits to worshiping Him here on earth and we will carry it through when we step in to the afterlife spending forever with Him, when we make Jesus our Savior and Lord. To worship Him is to give Him honor, respect and devotion.
Benefits of Worshiping God:
FORGIVENESS** True worshipers recognize God’s holiness and accept His forgiveness. Thru worship they are purified.
GUIDANCE** Those who honor God will be given wisdom and will receive His guidance day by day.
PROVISION** Jesus said that God will meet our material needs if we give Him first place in our lives.
LOVE** The love of God is experienced in the hearts of all of those who are true worshipers of God.
POWER** To all who give God the glory He deserves, He gives the enablement to do the things He requires of them.
PROTECTION** He faithfully watches over all who acknowledge Him, and He keeps them in all of life’s changing circumstances.
GLORY** All true worshipers will one day be glorified. They’ll inherit a new heaven and a new earth and join a company of believers and angels in perfect, uninterrupted worship.
I read an amazing article that caught my attention about Aspirin and Covid 19 Virus. It gives a lot of hope for our world struggling with the unprecedented crises we have all been dealing with for more than a year now. This type of news are hidden from our eyes by mainstream media who are gung ho for all of the earth population to be covid vaxed regardless whether most people are not comfortable and against the idea of vaccine mandates. In one recent news I’ve read, 97% of unvaccinated population is now protected from Covid 19 virus infection due to those relatives and friends who are vaccinated and Covid infected survivors. This would make sense if these relatives and friends are also still following mask wearing and social distancing aside from sanitizing and washing their hands more often than not. We can only hope that the light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer in sight.
Anyway, here is the article about the miracle drug called aspirin and it’s connection with Covid 19 brouhaha we have all been enduring for months now.
In a recent study from George Washington University, over-the-the-counter aspirin was shown to stabilize the lungs of COVID-19 patients, reducing the need for mechanical ventilation.
According to The Jerusalem Post, the study looked at over 400 COVID patients from hospitals across the country who took aspirin for reasons unrelated to their COVID disease. The team of researchers found that aspirin reduced the likelihood of many endpoints, including mechanical ventilation, ICU hospitalizations, and total in-hospital deaths.
“As we learned about the connection between blood clots and COVID-19, we knew that aspirin – used to prevent stroke and heart attack – could be important for COVID-19 patients,” said research team member Dr. Jonathan Chow. “Our research found an association between low-dose aspirin and decreased severity of COVID-19 and death.”
Low-dose aspirin is often given to people who have had a heart attack or a myocardial infarction to treat blood clotting issues or reduce their stroke risk, the report said. ARDS, or acute respiratory distress syndrome, is caused by blockages in the pulmonary blood system caused by the coronavirus, which targets the respiratory system.
“Aspirin is low cost, easily accessible and millions are already using it to treat their health conditions,” explained Chow. “Finding this association is a huge win for those looking to reduce risk from some of the most devastating effects of COVID-19.”
Israeli researchers from the Barzilai Medical Center in March conducted a pilot study where they found comparable outcomes. Apart from preventing blood clots, they discovered that aspirin had immunological advantages and that those who took it had a 29% lower risk of contracting the virus.
Between the first of February and the last day of June of 2020, researchers at the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) examined data from around 10,000 Israelis who had their COVID-19 levels checked.
To find out whether a modest dosage of aspirin may help prevent or treat cardiovascular disease, the researchers looked at people who consistently take it vs those who don’t take it.
They observed that the first group had a 29% lower risk of contracting the virus than the other.
“This observation of the possible beneficial effect of low doses of aspirin on COVID-19 infection is preliminary but seems very promising,” the study’s lead author, Prof. Eli Magen of the Barzilai Medical Center, stated in a press statement.
Knowing its well-documented ability to boost the immune system’s ability to combat certain viral infections, the researchers chose to test its potential against COVID-19.
According to their findings, those who took aspirin and then became sick recovered quicker than those who didn’t, on average, by two or three days. Furthermore, these same individuals tested negative for the virus in a shorter period of time after first testing positive.
Thus, the doctors said that they want to pursue this matter further.
In this research, Dr. Milana Frenkel-Morgenstern of the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine at Bar-Ilan University aimed to better understand the possible beneficial benefits of aspirin in helping the human immune system’s fight against COVID-19.
“We intend to investigate a larger cohort of patients and in randomized clinical trials,” she said.
Medicines based on acetylsalicylic acid – the active ingredient in aspirin – have been used for years to relieve a variety of symptoms, including pain, fever, and inflammation. The pharmaceutical firm Bayer came up with the term in the late 1800s. Hence, Aspirin became a widely prescribed medication all over the world.
In addition to these two studies, The Blaze claimed that another comparable study has been conducted.
Medical Express reported earlier this month that experts from the University of Minnesota and Basel University in Switzerland had reached the same result.
The results, published in The Lancet’s Open Access eClinical Medicine, showed that patients taking blood thinners prior to contracting COVID had lower hospitalization rates despite being older and having more chronic illnesses. Blood thinners, whether taken before or after COVID-19 infection, decreased mortality by almost half.
Six years and counting with Intermittent Fasting! I am so used to IF now that I forgot sometimes that I am doing it regularly. Do I see improvement in my body? I sure do! For one thing, I don’t worry about gaining weight again. I’ve maintained a normal weight for 6 years now. It gives me good sleep, as long as I don’t mess up with my body clock by sleeping the same time at night, and waking up at the same time in the morning. The only time I will mess it up if I allowed myself to extend my waking hours to accommodate some personal chats with friends and relatives especially this time of pandemic. People need people, but sometimes, we overdo it and for all you know, it is past our bedtime. It’s hard to go back to scheduled sleeping especially when you are wired up from prolonged conversations and you seemed like you cannot relax. Thank goodness it does not resort to raiding the refrigerator for something to eat just so my mind can relax. It’s totally something that I don’t want to practice– the wee hours of chatting to help the other person with their personal, emotional and mental issues and vice-verse.
The pandemic surely changed many things you have not done before for just having so much time on your hand being on a never ending lockdowns; unable to have regular travel plans, going to restaurants on special occasions or every weekend; or just going to the mall to just enjoy a day away from home. We cannot do that for fear of getting infected with Covid.
Thankfully, the pandemic did not change my intermittent fasting habits. It helps with taking care of the immune system which is very important in so many ways in these unprecedented times of pandemic crisis.
The technique, called “intermittent fasting” (IF) involves eating during a six-hour period of the day and then abstaining for the remaining 18 hours as a way to change the way the body burns food and stores energy.
Researchers are touting a diet that involves fasting for 18 hours each day as a way to stop getting overweight and reducing the chances of contracting everything from cancer to diabetes and heart disease.
A study of past animal and human studies in The New England Journal of Medicine, called Effects of Intermittent Fasting on Health, Aging, and Disease, says the diet effectively hacks the human metabolism.
“Evidence is accumulating that eating in a six-hour period and fasting for 18 hours can trigger a metabolic switch from glucose-based to ketone-based energy, with increased stress resistance, increased longevity, and a decreased incidence of diseases,” says the study.
In the report, authors Mark Mattson and Rafael de Cabo analyze two types of intermittent fasting to help physicians prescribe dieting as a way patients can tackle obesity and prevent a range of killer diseases.
One format, daily time-restricted feeding, involves eating 6-8 hours daily and fasting for the remaining 16-18 hours. The other, intermittent fasting, involves eating normally for five days of the week and consuming no more than 500 calories on the remaining two days.
It is not the first time that researchers have touted intermittent fasting as a panacea, including by Kate Harrison in her 2013 book called The 5:2 Diet: Feast for 5 Days, Fast for 2 Days to Lose Weight and Revitalize Your Health.
In a Harvard Medical School blog post last year, contributing editor Monique Tello noted intermittent fasting is “safe and incredibly effective” but added that it is “really no more effective than any other diet”.
“But a growing body of research suggests that the timing of the fast is key, and can make IF a more realistic, sustainable, and effective approach for weight loss, as well as for diabetes prevention,” wrote Tello.
What Are The Minimum Number Of Hours You Can Intermittent Fast & Still Get Benefits?
Intermittent fasting (IF) is one of the trendiest eating styles of the moment—and for good reason. This eating approach can yield a number of impressive results: weight loss, increased fat burn, improved cognitive functioning, reduced inflammation, and potentially even increased longevity.
But all that said, one big question still remains: How long do you have to fast to reap these potentially life-changing rewards? Is there a minimum number of hours you need to restrict food to get the perks?
We asked some leading intermittent fasting experts to weigh in on the topic so you can better tailor your intermittent fasting plan according to your specific goals.
The benefits of fasting don’t kick in at the same time for every person.
Experts agree that your personal habits will play a role in when exactly certain health benefits will kick in. “There are very few definites here,” says Vincent Pedre, M.D., an integrative physician and gut health expert who frequently recommends intermittent fasting diets to his patients. “Where you start seeing those benefits depends on what you eat, how healthy your gut health is, what kind of physical activity you’re doing, etc.”
For example, letting calories slip into your fasting window, overeating calorie-dense foods like pizza during your eating window, not prioritizing sleep or physical activity, or making one of these intermittent-fasting mistakes could all delay or counteract the benefits of intermittent fasting.
Even if you’re formulating the rest of your diet and lifestyle perfectly, it’s important to understand that the different health benefits associated with intermittent fasting will likely kick in at different durations of fasting. For example, weight loss may be triggered by a relatively short fasting window, while entering ketosis or triggering autophagy—that “self-cleaning” cellular process that boosts brain functioning and maybe even longevity—may take significantly longer.
Unfortunately, not enough research has been conducted on all the different forms of intermittent fasting to provide any hard-and-fast rules. Based on personal and patient experiences, however, the doctors and researchers we spoke with were able to offer a general idea of how long you may need to fast to reap certain benefits, which we’ll dive into below.
So, how long do you need to fast for the different benefits?
The benefits of a 12-hour fast.
Most of the experts we spoke with agreed, less than a 12-hour fast doesn’t really do anything. “Twelve hours [per day] is the minimum in my experience,” says integrative physician Amy Shah, M.D. “There’s research showing a 34% reduction in breast cancer recurrence with approximately 13 hours of fasting per day.” This may be thanks in part to the improved blood sugar regulation that occurs with this level of fasting.
Shorter fasts like this will also reduce your exposure to gut-associated toxins, like endotoxin, says Pedre, which is a harmful byproduct of bacterial death that contributes to metabolic syndrome, obesity, and inflammatory diseases. A daily 12-hour fast can also be beneficial for weight loss, adds Shah, but it would likely take a longer fasting period to enter ketosis or trigger autophagy.
The benefits of a 14- to 18-hour fast.
For many people, somewhere between 14 and 18 hours of fasting per day is the ideal range, providing more significant weight loss benefits than a 12-hour fast, while still being attainable, says functional practitioner B.J. Hardick, D.C. “For most people, this seems to be the sweet spot; others will need slightly longer to get those weight loss and other benefits,” he says.
Shifting into the fat-burning state known as ketosis can also occur during this range. While the specific point at which you enter ketosis will depend on a number of factors, including what you ate during your last meal, this typically happens within 12 to 22 hours of a meal—once you’ve burned through your glycogen stores (i.e., the carbs stored in your muscles and liver).
The benefits of an extended fast.
Pedre agrees that around 16 hours is a good daily fasting window for many (i.e., confining your eating to an eight-hour time frame and known as 16:8 fasting), but, he says, “You might not start seeing bigger benefits like autophagy until you reach 24 hours.” Autophagy is the natural process by which cells disassemble and clean out or recycle unnecessary or dysfunctional components so you can create new healthy cells. Autophagy reduces oxidative stress and inflammation, and taking steps to enhance autophagy may help reduce the risk of getting a number of chronic illnesses.
Obviously, you can’t fast for 24 hours every day because, you know, food is essential for life. So if you do want to experiment with these longer autophagy-inducing fasts, you’ll have to strategically space them out. “My opinion is that a longer [24-hour] episode without any caloric intake done a few times per month over decades is likely the best approach for preventing chronic diseases because it is feasible to do consistently over a lifetime—the period of time that chronic diseases like coronary artery disease and diabetes develop,” says Benjamin Horne, Ph.D., a genetic epidemiologist who is currently conducting a trial evaluating the effectiveness of a once-per-week 24-hour water-only fast.
Fasts up to 36 hours have also shown promise for people with type 2 diabetes, says Pedre, but these would absolutely need to be done under the supervision of a medical professional.
So, how long should you fast for?
Whew, that’s a lot to take in! Bottom line, though, is that the ideal fasting window will vary depending on the individual. “What matters more, I think, is the duration of fasting that works for you,” says Pedre. “If you can’t stick with it or it isn’t working for whatever reason—say, you can’t concentrate—that’s a sign benefits are starting to drop off and you may need to scale back.”
Switching up your fasting plan may be beneficial as well.
Some experts find that people’s fasting results eventually stall, in which case it helps to switch things up. “Increase your fasting time to a few days a week or do a longer fast one day a week,” suggests Pedre. “In the end, what works best is mixing it up for your body and keeping it guessing when food is coming.”
The answer may be in the antibodies, a new study suggests.
Are the antibodies we produce to fight COVID-19 infection causing severe disease?
A new paper—so new in fact that it hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed—from scientists in Hangzhou, China, appears to indicate just that.
The researchers’ data suggests that at least two antibodies that target the spike protein that enables the COVID-19 virus to enter human cells are “pathogenic”—meaning these antibodies create illness all by themselves.
It’s hard to think of antibodies—one of the body’s best infection fighters—as “pathogenic,” but that’s exactly what happens in autoimmune disease. Antibodies that the body develops in response to foreign invaders attach to body tissues instead, sometimes causing catastrophic damage.
In early 2020, Japanese researchers discovered that many COVID-19 deaths were caused by part of the body’s immune reaction. In a peer-reviewed article published in Inflammation and Regeneration, the scientists argued that it was a “cytokine storm” that overwhelmed the body and was implicated in the high death rates from the virus.
This new Chinese study shows that yet another component of the immune system may be a danger as well.
The fact that antibodies that target COVID-19’s spike protein are harmful is disturbing enough, but it’s especially disturbing knowing that these same antibodies are likely to be triggered by COVID-19 vaccines as well as the virus.
The Chinese researchers suspected that some antibodies triggered by a pathogenic virus could attack body tissues. To test the hypothesis, they identified seven different COVID-19 antibodies. They then analyzed how well each of these antibodies bound to human lung cells, both healthy and damaged ones. Antibodies binding to your own tissue cells can cause autoimmune damage.
As the researchers expected, two of the antibodies bound strongly to damaged lung cells—and one of those bound strongly to healthy cells as well.
The researchers then injected the antibodies, as well as some combinations, into the bodies of healthy pregnant mice at three-day intervals. They wanted to see what, if any, damage the antibodies would do to the mice and their pups.
Again as expected, the same two antibodies that had bound well to the human lung cells did extensive damage to the mouse pups’ tissues.
In fact, the antibody that could bind to healthy human lung cells, REGN10987, killed nearly half the pups.
“This is a very troubling finding,” says Zoey O’Toole, a vaccine safety advocate who has a background in physics and engineering and who reviewed the study carefully. “It should give anyone pause, especially pregnant women.”
How Does SARS-CoV-2 Kill?
One of the big questions about SARS-CoV-2, also known as COVID-19, is exactly how it causes serious illness in those who have died as well as in others who develop long-term symptoms.
Most viruses cause short-term illness that resolves once the body has had time to develop antibodies, which appears to be the case for the majority of people who contract COVID-19.
Why is it, then, that some people die after two to three weeks of illness, when their immune systems have already cleared the virus from their bodies?
And why do some people—known as “long haulers”—have long-term multi-organ damage that seems to have nothing to do with the virus itself?
We know that no two people have identical immune responses. With COVID-19, we’ve also seen that those who get severely ill have higher levels of inflammatory cytokines in their blood. This is the “cytokine storm” that the media latched onto as an explanation for severe infectious disease.
How Antibodies Create Severe Disease
But elevated cytokines are only part of the picture. Researchers have long suspected an autoimmune aspect to severe COVID-19 disease as well.
An article in Nature in January noted that surprisingly high percentages of people with severe disease from COVID-19 had auto-immune antibodies. These antibodies targeted the immune system itself, as well as the blood vessels, heart, and brain.
Since COVID-19 was first identified, we have seen auto-immune responses worsening the effect of the disease, increasing inflammation and immune dysregulation, and sometimes increasing the activity of the virus itself.
The Chinese researchers don’t suggest how the antibodies damage tissues, but autoimmunity researchers have long understood that the particular proteins our antibodies lock on to when they target a virus are sometimes found in our own cells.
This “molecular mimicry” might be only a partial match, but even that can be enough to cause otherwise helpful antibodies to attack our own healthy cells.
COVID-19 Vaccine Design
The findings from this pre-print have profound implications for vaccine design. In order for a vaccine to be as safe and effective as possible, it would have to be one that stimulates antibodies that neutralize the pathogen but don’t bind to any body tissues, so that people who got it would be safe from autoimmune effects.
Unfortunately, it seems that industry scientists didn’t take molecular mimicry into consideration when designing the COVID-19 vaccines.
The spike protein that makes SARS-CoV-2 so infectious to humans was the target the vaccine makers focused on when designing their vaccines. They believed that the spike protein itself, apart from the rest of the virus, was harmless. If the isolated protein wasn’t the disease agent, getting the body to make the protein for a short time would be safe.
But, as the new research from China underscores, there may be at least three problems with this approach.
Potential Problems with COVID-19 Spike Protein Vaccines
Firstly, the spike protein itself isn’t harmless, as has since been found. In fact, according to science published by an international team of researchers in March in the journal Circulation Research, the spike protein can damage lung endothelial cells, just like the ones that bound to the antibodies in the Chinese study, as well as the endothelial cells that line blood vessels throughout the body.
“If you remove the replicating capabilities of the virus, it still has a major damaging effect on the vascular cells,” Dr. Uri Manor, co-author of the study and a researcher at the Salk Institute of Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, said in an interview for Salk.edu.
In the first paragraph of the press release, Salk.edu asserts in parentheses that spike proteins “behave very differently from those safely encoded in the vaccines.” However, neither the study itself or the press release offer any evidence to justify this claim. At the same time, we have seen that many adverse effects reported after vaccination, including blood clots and strokes, are vascular events similar to those associated with the disease itself.
Secondly, as this new research shows, antibodies generated to neutralize the spike protein may be particularly toxic to human cells, especially if the cells have already been damaged.
Finally, the Hangzhou researchers’ data suggested that the one thing that could prevent the ill effects of the pathogenic antibodies is when there are also non-pathogenic antibodies alongside them, doing their job normally. But whether the vaccines as they’ve been formulated can actually trigger production of healthy, non-pathogenic antibodies remains an open question.
“This study suggests that antibodies to other parts of the virus can counteract the potential harm of anti-spike antibodies,” explains O’Toole. “That’s an important finding. But there’s no virus in the mRNA vaccines. So, it’s very unlikely that these vaccines can produce enough beneficial antibodies to help.”
The Upshot
As we learn more about SARS-CoV-2’s ability to harm human beings, there is a growing body of evidence that suggests the vaccines can also cause harm.
In our rush to find a way to prevent severe COVID-19, we may unwittingly be doing more harm than good. It may be years before we know the full extent of the damage.
Which was worse, the disease or its preventive? Only time will tell.
What’s the connection? From the very beginning of God’s creation, God has provided foods for us to eat. He has in His mind foods that are good for our health. When He created plants which are vegetables to us now, He knows they will be good for our body.
How many times we have read that vegetables, fruits, whole grains and all the plant based foods that originated from seeds were touted by researchers and functional doctors as life saving foods for our guts or microbiome. They’re the community of good bacteria that live and thrive in our immune system that fight virus, germs and toxins that inflame and could cause us to get sick and unhealthy.
On Exodus 16:31, God provided Manna a supernatural food, a special kind of food that God gave to the Israelites during their 40-year wandering in the desert. “The people of Israel called the bread Manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.”
Psalm 78:24 said that “God rained down Manna for them to eat. God gave them the grain of heaven, a miracle grain; the Bread of Life.”
“The Israelites went around gathering the Manna, they ground it in a handmill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into cakes. And it tasted like something made with olive oil. When the dew settled in the camp at night, the Manna also came down.” (Numbers 11:8-9)
God knows that green plants are good for us, or else He will provide meat from the very beginning as the Israelites journeyed to the promised land. God eventually did provide quail meat, when the Israelites started complaining and started craving for other food: fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic; which are still good nourishing food.
After the flood on Noah’s biblical time, God added meat for mankind to eat. But He has a caveat, a warning of specific stipulations, conditions, or limitations about eating meat. “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.” (Genesis 9:4) “God sees blood as a sacred thing. The humane treatment of animals may have been another reason why God told Noah not to eat meat with the blood still in it. God did not want mankind to act like the carnivorous animals, who caught their prey and began eating it immediately. Instead, they were to drain the blood from the carcass and thus ensure the animal was dead before it was consumed.” (from: Why did God prohibit eating meat with blood in it (Genesis 9:4)? | GotQuestions.org )
Daniel 1:15 reads: “At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.” Daniel and the three Israelites with him fasted by eating plant based food and drinking water.
God knows when He instructed and commanded to eat plants on Genesis 1:29 that there are tremendous health benefits in consuming them daily. He created and designed our body so He knows what is good for our body systems for long life.
Plant based foods support your immune system. Plants have essential nutrients that you cannot get from other foods. The vitamins and minerals, phytochemicals and antioxidants in plants help keep your cells healthy and your body in balance so that your immune system can function at its best.
“Plants give your body what it needs to help fight off infection,” says Andrea Murray, MD Anderson health education specialist. “A plant-based diet strengthens your immune system to protect you against germs and microorganisms.”
Plants’ essential nutrients work to resolve inflammation in your body. The same tiny phytochemicals and antioxidants that boost your immune system also go around your body neutralizing toxins from pollution, processed food, bacteria, viruses and more.
“Antioxidants in plants grab all these so-called free radicals that can throw your body off balance,” says Murray. “To reduce inflammation, it’s important to eat plant-based and to listen to your body’s signals for how foods work for you.”
Plants are high in fiber. Fiber is present in all unprocessed plant foods. It is what makes up the structure of the plant, and if you eat more of it you access a whole host of benefits.
Eating a plant-based diet improves the health of your gut so you are better able to absorb the nutrients from food that support your immune system and reduce inflammation. Fiber can lower cholesterol and stabilize blood sugar and it’s great for good bowel management.
Eating plant-based does not mean you can’t eat meat. It means your meals are mostly plants: vegetables, whole grains and fruits. Beans, seeds and nuts are also included.
Fill two-thirds of your plate with these plant-based foods. The remaining one-third should be a lean protein like chicken or fish, or a plant protein like tofu or beans.
Another benefit in eating plant based is it lowers your blood pressure. Studies show that consuming fresh fruits and vegetables, low-sodium foods, and lean cuts of meat can not only lower high counts of blood pressure, but can also prevent complications such as stroke and heart disease.
When I added Red Beets and Arugula on my daily veggie salad intake, my BP readings make me happy!
Deuteronomy 30:15-16: “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to Him, and to keep His commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase…”
Opinions I certainly agreed on, a trial run, a clinical test, an experiment, I think I would not put my precious life at risk. Read on, very good read. We need to know the other side of the fence that is being suppressed and censored. There are always two sides to a story.
Editor’s Note: We are not opposed to vaccines. They have done much good. But there are risks and this article describes them masterfully, especially in regards to those for COVID. There are varying definitions of what a “vaccine ” is and we are not sure these even meet the more rigorous definitions. Modifying RNA for immunity is an ingenious idea, but we don’t know if it was done right and if all the ramifications were considered. Certainly not thoroughly tested/questioned.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal
By Christian Elliot
A few friends have asked my thoughts on the covid jab(s) so I thought it was time to write an article on the topic.
All my friends had not heard most of the details I shared, so I figured you might appreciate hearing some of what I told them.
Knowing how contentious this issue is, part of me would rather just write about something else, but I feel like the discussion/news is so one-sided that I should speak up.
As I always strive to do, I promise to do my best to be level-headed and non-hysterical.
I’m not here to pick a fight with anyone, just to walk you through some of what I’ve read, my lingering questions, and explain why I can’t make sense of these covid vaccines.
THREE GROUND RULES FOR DISCUSSION
If you care to engage on this topic with me, excellent.
Here are the rules…
I am more than happy to correspond with you if…
You are respectful and treat me the way you would want to be treated.
You ask genuinely thoughtful questions about what makes sense to you.
You make your points using sound logic and don’t hide behind links or the word “science.”
If you do respond, and you break any of those rules, your comments will be ignored/deleted.
With that out of the way, let me say this…
I don’t know everything, but so far no one has been able to answer the objections below.
So here are the reasons I’m opting out of the covid vaccine.
#1: VACCINE MAKERS ARE IMMUNE FROM LIABILITY
The only industry in the world that bears no liability for injuries or deaths resulting from their products, are vaccine makers.
First established in 1986 with the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, and reinforced by the PREP Act, vaccine makers cannot be sued, even if they are shown to be negligent.
The covid-vaccine makers are allowed to create a one-size-fits-all product, with no testing on sub-populations (i.e. people with specific health conditions), and yet they are unwilling to accept any responsibility for any adverse events or deaths their products cause.
If a company is not willing to stand behind their product as safe, especially one they rushed to market and skipped animal trials on, I am not willing to take a chance on their product.
No liability. No trust.
Here’s why…
#2: THE CHECKERED PAST OF THE VACCINE COMPANIES
The four major companies who are making these covid vaccines are/have either:
Never brought a vaccine to market before covid (Moderna and Johnson & Johnson).
Are serial felons (Pfizer, and Astra Zeneca).
Are both (Johnson & Johnson).
Moderna had been trying to “Modernize our RNA” (thus the company name)–for years, but had never successfully brought ANY product to market–how nice for them to get a major cash infusion from the government to keep trying.
In fact, all major vaccine makers (save Moderna) have paid out tens of billions of dollars in damages for other products they brought to market when they knew those products would cause injuries and death–see Vioxx, Bextra, Celebrex, Thalidomide, and Opioids as a few examples.
If drug companies willfully choose to put harmful products in the market, when they can be sued, why would we trust any product where they have NO liability?
In case it hasn’t sunk in, let me reiterate…3 of the 4 covid vaccine makers have been sued for products they brought to market even though they knew injuries and deaths would result.
Astra Zeneca has similarly lost so many lawsuits it’s hard to count. Here’s one. Here’s another…you get the point. And in case you missed it, the company had their covid vaccine suspended in at least 18 countries over concerns of blood clots, and they completely botched their meeting with the FDA with numbers from their study that didn’t match.
Oh, and apparently J&J (whose vaccine is approved for “Emergency Use” in the US) and Astrazenca (whose vaccine is not approved for “Emergency Use” in the US), had a little mix up in their ingredients…in 15 million doses. Oops.
Let me reiterate this point:
Given the free pass from liability, and the checkered past of these companies, why would we assume that all their vaccines are safe and made completely above board?
Where else in life would we trust someone with that kind of reputation?
To me that makes as much sense as expecting a remorseless, abusive, unfaithful lover to become a different person because a judge said deep down they are a good person.
No. I don’t trust them.
No liability. No trust.
Here’s another reason why I don’t trust them.
#3: THE UGLY HISTORY OF ATTEMPTS TO MAKE CORONAVIRUS VACCINES
There have been many attempts to make viral vaccines in the past that ended in utter failure, which is why we did not have a coronavirus vaccine in 2020.
In the 1960’s, scientists attempted to make an RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) vaccine for infants.
In that study, they skipped animal trials because they weren’t necessary back then.
In the end, the vaccinated infants got much sicker than the unvaccinated infants when exposed to the virus in nature, with 80% of the vaccinated infants requiring hospitalization, and two of them died.
After 2000, scientists made many attempts to create coronavirus vaccines.
For the past 20 years, all ended in failure because the animals in the clinical trials got very sick and many died, just like the children in the 1960’s.
You can read a summary of this history/science here.
Or if you want to read the individual studies you can check out these links:
In 2005 mice and civets became sick and more susceptible to coronaviruses after being vaccinated
In 2012 the ferrets became sick and died. And in this study mice and ferrets developed lung disease.
In 2016 this study also produce lung disease in mice.
The typical pattern in the studies mentioned above is that the children and the animals produced beautiful antibody responses after being vaccinated.
The manufacturers thought they hit the jackpot.
The problem came when the children and animals were exposed to the wild version of the virus.
When that happened, an unexplained phenomenon called Antibody Dependent Enhancement (ADE) also known as Vaccine Enhanced Disease (VED) occurred where the immune system produced a “cytokine storm” (i.e. overwhelmingly attacked the body), and the children/animals died.
Here’s the lingering issue…
The vaccine makers have no data to suggest their rushed vaccines have overcome that problem.
In other words, never before has any attempt to make a coronavirus vaccine been successful, nor has the gene-therapy technology that is mRNA “vaccines” been safely brought to market, but hey, since they had billions of dollars in government funding, I’m sure they figured that out.
Except they don’t know if they have…
#4: THE “DATA GAPS” SUBMITTED TO THE FDA BY THE VACCINE MAKERS
When vaccine makers submitted their papers to the FDA for the Emergency Use Authorization (Note: An EUA is not the same as a full FDA approval), among the many “Data Gaps” they reported was that they have nothing in their trials to suggest they overcame that pesky problem of Vaccine Enhanced Disease.
They simply don’t know–i.e. they have no idea if the vaccines they’ve made will also produce the same cytokine storm (and deaths) as previous attempts at such products.
As Joseph Mercola points out…
“Previous attempts to develop an mRNA-based drug using lipid nanoparticles failed and had to be abandoned because when the dose was too low, the drug had no effect, and when dosed too high, the drug became too toxic. An obvious question is: What has changed that now makes this technology safe enough for mass use?”
If that’s not alarming enough, here are other gaps in the data–i.e. there is no data to suggest safety or efficacy regarding:
Anyone younger than age 18 or older than age 55
Pregnant or lactating mothers
Auto-immune conditions
Immunocompromised individuals
No data on transmission of covid
No data on preventing mortality from covid
No data on duration of protection from covid
Hard to believe right?
In case you think I’m making this up, or want to see the actual documents sent to the FDA by Pfizer and Moderna for their Emergency Use Authorization, you can check out this, or this respectively. The data gaps can be found starting with page 46 and 48 respectively.
For now let’s turn our eyes to the raw data the vaccine makers used to submit for emergency use authorization.
#5: NO ACCESS TO THE RAW DATA FROM THE TRIALS
Would you like to see the raw data that produced the “90% and 95% effective” claims touted in the news?
Me too…
But they won’t let us see that data.
As pointed out in the BMJ, something about the Pfizer and Moderna efficacy claims smells really funny.
There were “3,410 total cases of suspected, but unconfirmed covid-19 in the overall study population, 1,594 occurred in the vaccine group vs. 1,816 in the placebo group.”
Wait…what?
Did they fail to do science in their scientific study by not verifying a major variable?
Could they not test those “suspected but unconfirmed” cases to find out if they had covid?
Apparently not.
Why not test all 3,410 participants for the sake of accuracy?
Can we only guess they didn’t test because it would mess up their “90-95% effective” claims?
Where’s the FDA?
Would it not be prudent for the FDA, to expect (demand) that the vaccine makers test people who have “covid-like symptoms,” and release their raw data so outside, third-parties could examine how the manufacturers justified the numbers?
I mean it’s only every citizen of the world we’re trying to get to take these experimental products…
Why did the FDA not require that? Isn’t that the entire purpose of the FDA anyway?
Good question.
Foxes guarding the hen house?
Seems like it.
No liability. No trust.
#6: NO LONG-TERM SAFETY TESTING
Obviously, with products that have only been on the market a few months, we have no long-term safety data.
In other words, we have no idea what this product will do in the body months or years from now–for ANY population.
Given all the risks above (risks that ALL pharmaceutical products have), would it not be prudent to wait to see if the worst-case scenarios have indeed been avoided?
Would it not make sense to want to fill those pesky “data gaps” before we try to give this to every man, woman, and child on the planet?
Well…that would make sense, but to have that data, they need to test it on people, which leads me to my next point…
#7: NO INFORMED CONSENT
What most who are taking the vaccine don’t know is that because these products are still in clinical trials, anyone who gets the shot is now part of the clinical trial.
They are part of the experiment.
Those (like me) who do not take it, are part of the control group.
Time will tell how this experiment works out.
But, you may be asking, if the vaccines are causing harm, wouldn’t we be seeing that all over the news?
Surely the FDA would step in and pause the distribution?
Well, if the adverse events reporting system was working, maybe things would be different.
#8: UNDER-REPORTING OF ADVERSE REACTIONS AND DEATH
According to a study done by Harvard (at the commission of our own government), less than 1% of all adverse reactions to vaccines are actually submitted to the National Vaccine Adverse Events Reports System (VAERS) – read page 6 at the link above.
While the problems with VAERS have not been fixed (as you can read about in this letter to the CDC), at the time of this writing VAERS reports over 2,200 deaths from the current covid vaccines, as well as close to 60,000 adverse reactions.
“VAERS data released today showed 50,861 reports of adverse events following COVID vaccines, including 2,249 deaths and 7,726 serious injuries between Dec. 14, 2020 and March 26, 2021.”
If those numbers are still only 1% of the total adverse reactions (or .8 to 2% of what this study published recently in the JAMA found), you can do the math, but that equates to somewhere around 110,00 to 220,000 deaths from the vaccines to date, and a ridiculous number of adverse reactions.
Bet you didn’t see that on the news.
That death number would currently still be lower than the 424,000 deaths from medical errors that happen every year (which you probably also don’t hear about), but we are not even six months into the rollout of these vaccines yet.
If you want a deeper dive into the problems with the VAERS reporting system, you can check this out, or check this out.
But then there’s my next point, which could be argued makes these covid vaccines seem pointless…
#9: THE VACCINES DO NOT STOP TRANSMISSION OR INFECTION
Wait, what?
Aren’t these vaccines supposed to be what we’ve been waiting for to “go back to normal”?
Nope.
Why do you think we’re getting all these conflicting messages about needing to practice social distancing and wear masks AFTER we get a vaccine?
The reason is because these vaccines were never designed to stop transmission OR infection.
If you don’t believe me, I refer you again to the papers submitted to the FDA I linked to above.
The primary endpoint (what the vaccines are meant to accomplish) is to lower your symptoms.
Sounds like just about every other drug on the market right?
That’s it…lowering your symptoms is the big payoff we’ve been waiting for.
Does that seem completely pointless to anyone but me?
It can’t stop us from spreading the virus.
It can’t stop the virus from infecting us once we have it.
To get the vaccine is to accept all the risk of these experimental products and the best it might do is lower symptoms?
Heck, there are plenty of other things I can do to lower my symptoms that don’t involve taking what appears to be a really risky product.
Now for the next logical question:
If we’re worried about asymptomatic spreaders, would the vaccine not make it more likely that we are creating asymptomatic spread?
If it indeed reduces symptoms, anyone who gets it might not even know they are sick and thus they are more likely to spread the virus, right?
For what it’s worth, I’ve heard many people say the side effects of the vaccine (especially the second dose) are worse than catching covid.
I can’t make sense of that either.
Take the risk.
Get no protection.
Suffer through the vaccine side-effects.
Keep wearing your mask and social distancing…
And continue to be able to spread the virus.
What?
It gets worse.
#10: PEOPLE ARE CATCHING COVID AFTER BEING FULLY VACCINATED
In reality, this phenomenon is probably happening everywhere, but those are the ones making the news now.
Given the reasons above (and what’s below), maybe this doesn’t surprise you, but bummer if you thought the vaccine was a shield to keep you safe.
It’s not.
That was never the point.
If 66% of healthcare workers in L.A. are going to delay or skip the vaccine…maybe they aren’t wowed by the rushed science either.
Maybe they are watching the shady way deaths and cases are being reported…
#11: THE OVERALL DEATH RATE FROM COVID
According to the CDC’s own numbers, covid has a 99.74% survival rate.
Why would I take a risk on a product, that doesn’t stop infection or transmission, to help me overcome a cold that has a .26% chance of killing me–actually in my age range is has about a .1% chance of killing me (and .01% chance of killing my kids), but let’s not split hairs here.
With a bar (death rate) that low, we will be in lockdown every year…i.e. forever.
But wait, what about the 500,000 plus deaths, that’s alarming right?
I’m glad you asked.
#12: THE BLOATED COVID DEATH NUMBERS
Something smells really funny about this one.
Never before in the history of death certificates has our own government changed how deaths are reported.
Why now, are we reporting everyone who dies with covid in their body, as having died of covid, rather than the co-morbidities that actually took their life?
Until covid, all coronaviruses (common colds) were never listed as the primary cause of death when someone died of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, auto-immune conditions, or any other major co-morbidity.
The disease was listed as the cause of death, and a confounding factor like flu or pneumonia was listed on a separate line.
To bloat the number even more, both the W.H.O. and the C.D.C. changed their guidelines such that those who are suspected or probable (but were never confirmed) of having died of covid, are also included in the death numbers.
Seriously?
If we are going to do that then should we not go back and change the numbers of all past cold and flu seasons so we can compare apples to apples when it comes to death rates?
According to the CDCs own numbers, (scroll down to the section “Comorbidities and other conditions”) only 6% of the deaths being attributed to covid are instances where covid seems to be the only issue at hand.
In other words, reduce the death numbers you see on the news by 94% and you have what is likely the real numbers of deaths from just covid.
Even if the former CDC director is correct and covid-19 was a lab-enhanced virus (see Reason #14 below), a .26% death rate is still in line with the viral death rate that circles the planet ever year.
Then there’s this Fauci guy.
I’d really love to trust him, but besides the fact that he hasn’t treated one covid patient…you should probably know…
#13: FAUCI AND SIX OTHERS AT NIAID OWN PATENTS IN THE MODERNA VACCINE
Thanks to the Bayh-Dole Act, government workers are allowed to file patents on any research they do using tax payer funding.
Tony Fauci owns over 1,000 patents (see this video for more details), including patents being used on the Moderna vaccine…which he approved government funding for.
Mr. Fauci, you have some explaining to do…and I hope the cameras are recording when you have to defend your actions.
For now, let’s turn our attention back to the virus…
#15: THE VIRUS CONTINUES TO MUTATE
Not only does the virus (like all viruses) continue to mutate, but according to world-renowned vaccine developer Geert Vanden Bossche (who you’ll meet below if you don’t know him) it’s mutating about every 10 hours.
How in the world are we going to keep creating vaccines to keep up with that level of mutation?
We’re not.
Might that also explain why fully vaccinated people are continuing to catch covid?
Why, given that natural immunity has never ultimately failed humanity, do we suddenly not trust it?
Why, if I ask questions like the above, or post links like what you find above, will my thoughts be deleted from all major social media platforms?
That brings me to the next troubling problem I have with these vaccines.
#16: CENSORSHIP…AND THE COMPLETE ABSENCE OF SCIENTIFIC DEBATE
I can’t help but get snarky here, so humor me.
How did you enjoy all those nationally and globally-televised, robust debates put on by public health officials, and broadcast simultaneously on every major news station?
Wasn’t it great hearing from the best minds in medicine, virology, epidemiology, economics, and vaccinology from all over the world as they vigorously and respectfully debated things like:
Lockdowns
Mask wearing
Social-distancing
Vaccine efficacy and safety trials
How to screen for susceptibility to vaccine injury
Wasn’t it great seeing public health officials (who never treated anyone with covid) have their “science” questioned.
Wasn’t it great seeing the FDA panel publicly grill the vaccine makers in prime time as they stood in the hot-seat of tough questions about products of which they have no liability?
Oh, wait…you didn’t see those debates?
No, you didn’t…because they never happened.
What happened instead was heavy-handed censorship of all but one narrative.
It’s the FIRST amendment Mark–the one our founders thought was most important.
With so much at stake, why are we fed only one narrative…shouldn’t many perspectives be heard and professionally debated?
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO SCIENCE?
What has happened to the scientific method of always challenging our assumptions?
What happened to lively debate in this country, or at least in Western society?
Why did anyone who disagrees with the WHO, or the CDC get censored so heavily?
Is the science of public health a religion now, or is science supposed to be about debate?
If someone says “the science is settled” that’s how I know I’m dealing with someone who is closed minded.
By definition science (especially biological science) is never settled.
If it was, it would be dogma, not science.
OK, before I get too worked up, let me say this…
I WANT TO BE A GOOD CITIZEN
I really do.
If lockdowns work, I want to do my part and stay home.
If masks work, I want to wear them.
If social distancing is effective, I want to comply.
But, if there is evidence they don’t (masks for example), I want to hear that evidence too.
If highly-credentialed scientists have different opinions, I want to know what they think.
I want a chance to hear their arguments and make up my own mind.
I don’t think I’m the smartest person in the world, but I think I can think.
Maybe I’m weird, but if someone is censored, then I REALLY want to hear what they think.
Don’t you?
To all my friends who don’t have a problem with censorship, will you have the same opinion when what you think is censored?
Is censorship not the technique of dictators, tyrants, and greedy, power-hungry people?
Is it not a sign that those who are doing the censoring know it’s the only way they can win?
What if a man who spent his entire life developing vaccines was willing to put his entire reputation on the line and call on all global leaders to immediately stop the covid vaccines because of problems with the science?
What if he pleaded for an open-scientific debate on a global stage?
Would you want to hear what he has to say?
Would you want to see the debate he’s asking for?
#17: THE WORLD’S LEADING VACCINOLOGIST IS SOUNDING THE ALARM…
Here is what may be the biggest reason this covid vaccine doesn’t make sense to me.
When someone who is very pro-vaccine, who has spent his entire professional career overseeing the development of vaccines, is shouting from the mountaintops that we have a major problem, I think the man should be heard.
The above are just my reasons for not wanting the vaccine.
Maybe my reasons make sense to you, maybe they don’t.
Whatever does makes sense to you, hopefully we can still be friends.
I for one think there’s a lot more that we have in common than what separates us.
We all want to live in a world of freedom.
We all want to do our part to help others and to live well.
We all want the right to express our opinions without fearing we’ll be censored or viciously attacked.
We all deserve to have the access to the facts so we can make informed decisions.
Agree or disagree with me; I’ll treat you no differently.
You’re a human just as worthy of love and respect as anyone else.
For that I salute you, and I truly wish you all the best.
I hope you found this helpful.
If so, feel free to share.
If not, feel free to (kindly) let me know what didn’t make sense to you and I’d be happy to hear your thoughts too.
Stay curious and stay humble.
PS. If you think I studied this topic well, think about how much thought I would put into helping you with your health. Helping people with their health is what I do all day, every day.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens JournalVisit Christian Elliot at his blog True Whole Human
Why is China not part of the daily World Corona Virus Statistics? Inquiring minds want to know.
Greatest GIFT - Naomi Jeremiah 