Dr. Dy Liacco's natural cure for Dengue (and Cancer?)

During his talk on the Power of Natural Healing held at Goodwill Bldg last Oct 3, Dr. Jaime Dy-Liacco discussed the best natural cure for Dengue so far. He said that Tawa Tawa has been on news as the newest cure for this dreaded illness, however he performed muscle testing on some Papaya leaves and found this to be an effective cure for Dengue.

He pounded a few leaves of their papaya tree, bought empty capsules in a drug store and placed the pounded leaves inside.  He gave it to their gardener who contracted the disease and his platelet improved a lot and got well.  Later on he also dispensed this to his 2 yr old grandchild who also got afflicted with the illness with the same amazing result. He recovered and got well!

As an alternative, he also juiced the pounded papaya leaves and asked his patient to drink it.

After the seminar I tried to google about this and also found out from this article  that the juice of the papaya leaves were found to cure cancer in some people living in the Gold Coast area of Autralia. Fortunately, this tree is abundant in our country.

If only more people will be aware of how our abundant natural resource can cure various illness at the least cost, then they will no longer rely on the expensive drugs flooding the market.

I Am a Practical Real Food Person

Ever since my post last week I have been thinking about defining myself as a Practical Real Food Person. Since I can't say that I belong to any one existing food group. I just thought I would make my own. Oh well, if you can't join 'em, beat 'em. Just kidding, this isn't about beating anyone, I just don't always fit in. This ain't the first time...

I am a Practical Real Food Person.


I believe in real food, food with no additives, foods with only one ingredient, food in which every ingredient is food. I believe in food that goes bad in it's normal time cycle. I believe in food that is made with good nutrition in mind instead of shelf stability, a company's bottom line or sellability.


I believe in farmer's markets, CSA's, direct from farm sales, U-Pick farms, home gardens, friend's gardens, family members' gardens. I like buying things from the hand that made them, or from someone who knows the hand that made them. I prefer to buy things that have no packaging. I don't mind buying food that has been hand-wrapped in saran-wrap.


I believe in traditional foods, from scratch foods, fermented vegetables, homemade cheese, home canning, seasonal eating. I believe that natural bacterial cultures are very good for our tummies.


I believe in cooking.

I believe in baking, sauteing, frying, braising, broiling. I believe that if we, as Americans, don't start cooking more we will eat ourselves to death.


I believe in vegetables, meat and nuts and seeds. I also (but less emphatically) believe in fresh lightly pasteurized dairy and whole grains. I believe in traditional fats, butter, olive oil, beef tallow, coconut oil, lard. I believe that meats should be pastured. I believe that vegetables and grains should be organically grown, whether they are certified or not.


I believe in healthy food for kids. I believe that the government should be supplying healthful foods to anyone receiving food from a governmental program, or they are complicit in the obesity problem. I believe in bringing kids into the kitchen whenever we are able and allowing them to do more than mixing or pouring batter into muffin cups.

I am a modern eater. I love buying from farms, etc (see point #2) but I still need to shop from grocery stores to purchase all the things that I need to live. So I believe in high quality grocery stores that offer a wide variety of product at various prices so that I may make the best selection for my family. I value grocery stores that cook high quality whole foods additive free for their customers. I believe in grocery stores that ethically treat the vendors from which they purchase.

I will not sweat the small stuff. I will guide my children toward health food, not force them. I will allow my children to eat conventional cupcakes and pizza at birthday parties. I will not stress that the roll in the restaurant is white flour. I will allow my child to eat the snack that is shared with them, and not worry about what it contains. I will not worry about the foods that we come in contact with outside the home, however I will not choose ridiculously unhealthy foods when we are out and about just because we CAN.

I will make sure that the food in my home is up to my own high standard and that 90% of the time we are eating food that has been prepared in or brought from the home.

I will accept others for where they are in their food journey. I believe that we all have something to improve upon, and it does not help anyone to judge. I will not disregard someone else's personal food rules just because they don't jive with my own. If you just can't give up American cheese, but strive for natural in all other aspects of your food life, who am I to judge? I will not deride anyone for not being absolutely perfect. None of us truly are.

I will be a skeptic. I will not believe everything I hear, even if it is from a trusted source. I will take the time to investigate claims that I hear on the Internet or in a book and especially if someone has told me without being able to cite where they heard it. I will draw my own conclusions from a study or a bit of raw data. I will share what I find.

And I think that pretty much sums it up. Did I miss anything?

I am a Practical Real Food Person.

Consider this: Mainstream Medicine May Not Work

Some years ago the Harvard School of Public Health published studies that established a 20 per cent effectiveness rate for methods and treatments used in medical care.

In the UK the Health Technology Assessment programme (HTA) is part of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). It produces independent research information about the effectiveness, costs and broader impact of healthcare treatments and tests for those who plan, provide or receive care.

The British Medical Journal (BMJ) says the following, from its Clinical Evidence project -

Clinical Evidence aims to help people make informed decisions about which treatments to use. It can also show where more research is needed. For clinicians and patients we wish to highlight treatments that work and for which the benefits outweigh the harms, especially those treatments that may currently be underused. We also wish to highlight treatments that do not work or for which the harms outweigh the benefits. For the research community our intention is to highlight gaps in the evidence, where there are currently no good RCTs or no RCTs that look at groups of people or at important patient outcomes.

So what can Clinical Evidence tell us about the state of our current knowledge? Figure 1 illustrates the percentage of treatments falling into each category. Dividing treatments into categories is never easy hence our reliance on our large team of experienced information specialists, editors, peer reviewers and expert authors. Categorisation always involves a degree of subjective judgement and is sometimes controversial. We do it because users tell us it is helpful, but judged by its own rules the categorisation is certainly of unknown effectiveness and may well have trade offs between benefits and harms. However, the figures above suggest that the research community has a large task ahead and that most decisions about treatments still rest on the individual judgements of clinicians and patients.

We are continuing to make use of what is ‘unknown’ in Clinical Evidence by feeding back to the UK NHS Health Technology Assessment Programme (HTA) with a view to help inform the commissioning of primary research. Every six months we evaluate Clinical Evidence interventions categorised as ‘unknown effectiveness’ and submit those fitting the appropriate criteria to the HTA.

BMJ Clinical Evidence published this report, with intervention effectiveness shown to be quite a concern because of the high level of ineffectiveness and unknowns. Source:   http://clinicalevidence.bmj.com/ceweb/about/knowledge.jsp

Background, 2006:

For those of you unfortunate enough to read any articles or see any television reports featuring Professor Jonathan Waxman, a natural products-hating oncologist from Imperial College, London, indulge yourself in some soothing words from Dr Damien Downing.

On seeing Professor Waxman's 'personal view' issued in the pages of the British Medical Journal yesterday (BMJ 2006; 333:1129), Damien immediately responded via the BMJ's Rapid Response pages and posted the following response:

Professor Waxman employs and perpetuates a crucial medical myth - that, in contrast to complementary therapies, conventional therapies are all evidence-based, on sound science. But the BMJ's website Clinical Evidence reports that, of the 2404 treatments they have surveyed, only 15% are rated as beneficial, while 47% are of unknown effectiveness1. In his own speciality, indeed, chemotherapy for cancer was found in a 2004 systematic review of studies in the USA and Australia2 to improve overall 5-year survival chances by less than 2.5%. Interestingly, the review of dietary interventions he cites3 derived an odds ratio for the effect of a healthy diet, with or without dietary supplements, of 0.90 - which appears to make them probably 4 times as effective as chemotherapy. Different end-points, granted, and a big confidence interval, but nevertheless "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence". 

Talk of "vile and cynical exploitation" could with equal justification be applied to the cancer industry, into which billions has been poured in recent decades, to very little effect. Surely Professor Waxman should be careful not to become, as discussed in the same issue of BMJ, "a lapdog to drug firms"?

1 http://www.clinical evidence. com/ceweb/ about/knowledge. jsp
2 Morgan G, Ward R, Barton M. The contribution of cytotoxic chemotherapy to 5-year survival in adult malignancies. Clin Oncol (R Coll Radiol), 2004; 16(8): 549-60.
3 Davies AA, Davey Smith G, et al.. Nutritional interventions and outcome in patients with cancer or preinvasive lesions: systematic review. J Natl Cancer Inst 2006; 14: 961-73.

It's clear from Professor Waxman's response that a threat is perceived not only from dietary/food supplements used by millions to support their health, he has also taken a sideswipe at organic food, produced by a branch of agriculture supported by increasing numbers of consumers that is threatening Big Food and agri-business. The irony, of course, is that those most interested in reducing the burden on the healthcare system and spending time in doctor's waiting rooms are those that will be more likely to consume both organic foods and high quality food supplements. Market research has demonstrated that most users of food supplements do not use these products to counter poor diet, but rather use them to add nutrients that they believe are missing as a result of modern agriculture and food products. 

The increasingly vocal hatred expressed by key opinion leaders within the orthodox medical community has to be an expression of the threat that they perceive from the millions of people around the world who continue to use products derived from nature as key components of their healthcare regime.
You'll appreciate that this is no time for anyone to put their head in the sand!

Please feel free to forward this as widely as you can to anyone who you feel may be interested.

How's My Third Child Doing?

So last week I mentioned my new third child (no not DH!), my All Clad pots and pans. And Agrigirl (so psyched you read my blog!) asked how they are helping my cooking. I have been giving this alot of thought this week and I have come up with a few things....

1-They are all the right size. I have another set of less expensive pots and pans that were a gift when I went to college and was living in an apartment dorm at NYU. I have been moving them from apartment to apartment all these years. But they are good for single person and couple quantities. The dutch oven is about 6 quarts, the pots are 2 quart and maybe 1.5 quarts. And I will keep using these. But the new set is bigger. The Dutch oven is 8 quarts, the saucepans are 3 quarts and 2 quarts. They work a little better for the quantities that I am cooking now that I am feeding a skinny three year old and a very fat baby.

2-The shapes are well thought out. This is true particularly for the saucepans. As you know water boils faster when it is in a wide shallow pan than it will in a tall column shaped pan. The 2 quart saucepan is tall and thin, which means I can make soup without all the water boiling away, which means less work. I like less work.The saucepan is less tall than it is wide, so it is easy to boil things like potatoes for mashing. I just like it when things work.

3-They are wicked cool looking. Need more depth to that answer? I didn't think so.

4-Nice aluminum core heats evenly. It really does. I had some concerns about aluminum leaching into the food though. So a couple months ago I ran into an All Clad company rep at Macy's who assured me that the aluminum core was well encapsulated inside the stainless exterior, and no leaching would occur. No aluminum comes in contact with food. But the heat is very even which allows for even browning.

5-Food doesn't stick to these pans. Amazingly enough, food doesn't stick so much that you have to scrub, unless you burn it. They are not non stick pans, but I have had amazing luck with eggs, oatmeal and other things. After cooking I have just let the pan soak and then a few hours later they are as gorgeous as ever. I like less work. Have I mentioned that before??

This really sounds like a sales pitch no? Well, consider it one. I have no issue spending good money for something that is really good and will last. I plan on never buying pots and pans again for the rest of my life. And after I am gone, I will let the Things decide who gets what pan. This cookware will still be around and kicking then. How is that for investment dollars?

Antioxidants Extend Longevity, Protect Your Health

What really amazes me is the ignorance and stupidity that rules at agencies like FDA and FTC.

With this in mind, just how can you believe what they tell you when the science refutes their position, especially on their new attack on pomegranate juice.

At the same time the attacks go against real food, the nutritional status of food is decreasing rapidly and the need for more antioxidant intake comes from the mouths of FDA paid pundits who really seem never to read the plethora of available science.

You have to guess that they do not think the science is good if they are always on the attack, or that they only want certain sources to produce the science.

Sounds like "bait and switch" to me.

In defense of antioxidants, from such sources as pomegranate, how about digesting this science -

A report published online on September 1, 2010 in the British Journal of Nutrition revealed a protective effect for a number of antioxidant nutrients against all-cause and disease-specific mortality in older individuals over a 13 year average period. "The purpose of the present paper is to explore the predictive significance of a selection of biochemical indices for nutrients that are believed to mediate redox-modulatory (antioxidant or pro-oxidant) functions in living tissues," the authors write. "Evidence that subsequent all-cause mortality may be predicted by vitamin C intakes and/or status has been obtained in several previous studies, and similarly for carotene and selenium."

Researchers at MRC Human Nutrition Research in Cambridge and University College in London evaluated data from 1,054 participants in the British National Diet and Nutrition Survey, which enrolled men and women aged 65 and older from 1994 to 1995. Blood samples obtained upon enrollment were analyzed for plasma vitamin C, retinol, alpha-tocopherol, gamma-tocopherol, carotenoids, zinc, copper, iron, selenium and a1-antichymotrypsin, a serine protease inhibitor that is increased during inflammation. Four day dietary records were analyzed for the intake of these nutrients and energy intake. The participants were followed through September, 2008 and the causes of any deaths were documented.

Seventy-four percent of the men and 62 percent of the women enrolled in the Survey died over the course of follow-up. Increased plasma vitamin C, alpha-carotene, selenium, zinc and iron were signficantly associated with a reduction in all-cause mortality, as was the dietary intake of vitamin C, carotenoids, zinc, copper and total energy. These patterns remained fundamentally similar when deaths from vascular, cancer and respiratory diseases were separately considered, however, increased dietary vitamins C and E were found to confer a significant protective effect against cancer, and dietary vitamin E protected against respiratory disease in males (while carotenoid intake was protective in women). An association of elevated plasma copper and a1-antichymotrypsin levels with increased mortality was explained by the fact that a1-antichymotrypsin and a major copper-containing plasma protein increase during inflammatory states.

"A number of baseline nutrient status indices with ‘redox-modulatory’ connotations appear to predict all cause, primary vascular disease, cancer or respiratory disease mortality in older British adults," the authors conclude. "Future studies should attempt to determine, first, which nutrients are the most frequent predictors of all-cause and specific-cause mortality in different populations, and second, whether these predictions can imply causal relationships, such that dietary or other interventions might promote disease-free longevity."

from Natural Health News

More Foods for Health

Apr 22, 2010

Pomegranate Enhances sunscreen protection Lowers "bad" cholesterol Fights prostate cancer. Pumpkin Protects joints against polyarthritis Lowers lung and prostate cancer risk Reduces inflammation. Raspberries Inhibit growth of oral, ...

Learn more about antioxidants

Mar 02, 2009

The anti-prostate cancer effects of pomegranate and its extracts may be related to stopping an enzyme in the liver that processes environmental carcinogens, according to a new study. Pomegranate, a rich source of antioxidants, ...

More natural substances on their way to drug status

Nov 05, 2008

A few days ago I make a smoothie with pomegranate juice, goji juice crystals, plums, and Concord grapes, plus all my hemp protein and other nutritionals I add in. I even shared a little of this thick, velvety purple blend with my Golden ...

Avoiding Harsh Chemicals in Egg Dyes

Apr 11, 2009

Red: Lots of Red Onions Skins (boiled), Canned Cherries with Juice, Pomegranate Juice, Raspberries. This information is provided by Creating Health Institute through our Health Matters(c) project.

October Pink Promotions

Oct 01, 2008

Vitamin D, pomegranate, and curcumin may help promote breast health and reduce breast cancer risk. * These foods contain an abundant variety of polyphenols, healthful compounds that regulate cell growth and metabolism. ...

Get a Flu Shot, Get Cancer

Since this year the mainstream is pushing flu vaccine with the H1N1 and seasonal flu solutions combined, in an untested combination, consider that your risk is much greater. 

Make sure that you understand what informed consent is and how to protect your choice to say no.

This is especially important for women who are pregnant, a.s last year's experiment led to many miscarriages and still births. 

excerpt from FLU VACCINES AND THE RISK OF CANCER
"Much concern has been generated over the upcoming new swine flu H1N1 vaccines that are being rushed to market. Clinical trials will be short – less than three weeks – and the potential for the addition of toxic oil-in-water adjuvants to be added at the last minute to stretch the vaccine supply is disconcerting. However, the problems with flu shots go beyond current concerns. The new manufacturing process for flu shots, called cell-line technologies, are little understood and have the potential for serious, long term consequences."  Complete article

Remember that making sure your vitamin D level and vitamin C levels are adequate or higher, drinking adequate fluids, using good hand washing technique, getting good sleep, getting good nutrition - all are safer way s to stay flu free.

More about flu shots and cancer
HHS sees cell based flu vaccine in 2011, from dog kidney cells  
When you 'assume' vaccines are safe

Hot Pepper-Apple Jelly

So I said on Wednesday that I had three weeks worth of peppers, and I really didn't want to throw them away, because that is kind of against the purpose of a CSA, right? Try new things and learn to love vegetables that are in season? But I hate peppers. I always have. I still remember a salad my father made when I was 5 years old with green bell peppers from his garden. YUK! I never ate another pepper.

Today I am an adult and I can tolerate peppers a little better. And I have discovered that I like chiles, just not so much bell peppers. But the summer always produces more than I have the stomach for. I got a thought this week though, Hot Pepper Jelly. This is a very southern thing, because we love to douse everything with sugar and stick it in a jar that can last all winter. Of course as I have mentioned before, I hate all the recipes for canning jams and jellies that I find on the internet because they all have 3-4 times more sugar than they need and they always stupidly include manufactured pectin. Yuk. So, I made up my own recipe. And yes, I brashly contend that it will be safe for consumption after it sits in a properly sealed mason jar for a few months. And if not, I guess I will find out in January!
Hot Pepper-Apple Jelly (Jam really...)
2 Apples with their skins on
Several Chilies or Peppers, Bell, Jalapeno, Cubanelles (thanks TQ), Hungarian Hot, etc
1 Cup of Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Cup of Water
1 Cup of Sugar (I actually used about one and a quarter...but I didn't need that extra bit, I just wanted to empty the bag).

First off I put the cored apples and the seeded and cored peppers through the shredder attachment of my food processor. I was going for a jelly that had a uniform consistency, I wanted the little bits to be small.
Then I dumped all the bits into my three quart saucepan and added the water, cider vinegar and sugar. And I boiled the mixture for about an hour or an hour and a half, until it became very thick and syrupy. Then I filled my glass jars leaving a little head room and processed them in a good old fashion water bath for 15 minutes.

There was enough leftover to store in a tupperware and DH and I had some as a snack before dinner. You know what? I tasted the mix while it was cooking and it was quite spicy. But by the time it got all cooked and done, it wasn't spicy at all. But what an interesting flavor combination, sweet, savory, sour and a tiny bit spicy. Nearly every website I found recipes on recommended cream cheese and crackers. But EVERY cream cheese in the grocery store contained Locust Bean Gum, and the brands named after that city in Pennsylvania had alot more unidentifiable stuff in it than I cared for. So I got a little container of Quark, a light cream cheese meets creme fraiche (it was cheaper too!). And I used our 100% whole wheat crackers and some quark and some pepper jelly. It was really awesome. Tomorrow I am going to put this stuff on a turkey sandwich with munster cheese. Anybody have any other good ideas for it? I have two jars of it put up. That is more than enough for us for now! I might not swap out my CSA peppers any longer. This is a sweet vegetable redemption.