Tuesday, March 31, 2015

20 powerful steps to a healthier life



     Dr. Schulze's 20 Powerful Steps to a Healthier Life.  This is not a requested review, rather a book a loved one wanted me to read to help me out.

     As most of my readers will know, I'm sick.  I have a serious illness which prevents me from even writing at times.  It has a cascade of secondary illnesses which have been of no end of pain and suffering for me.  As a result, everyone I love wants to help me.  Doctors mostly just shrug and give me stuff for the symptoms because my disease is too rare for any real research to be done on it, so, naturally, I've looked for ways to help myself.  I've studied a lot of herbal and homeopathic cures and remedies, and have had some small success by moving to a healthier eating life-style.  I don't preach about what I do because I'm still figuring it out myself.  I've read several books on the subject, and I've followed countless diets, supplement, and herbal plans to get better.  20 years later, I usually just try new stuff to make a loved one feel like they are helping me.  Some improve small aspects of my life, some do nothing, and some hurt me.  I've learned a little with each new passing "miracle cure".  

     Personally, I believe that if you educate yourself on nutrients, eat as healthy as possible, find out what helps and hurts you, and don't obsess over nutrition (yes, obsessing over nutrition is bad.  Don't dedicate your life to just eating healthy.  If you do, all the extra years you bought by good living will have been spent trying to eat right.) you'll be alright.  I don't eat animal products because I have blood issues.  I'm not a vegan to save the poor animals.  I love meat, and when I cheat on my diet, there's nothing I like more than juicy ribs, but meat thickens my blood further and makes me sick so I rarely eat it.  Does that mean that eating meat is bad for everyone?  I don't believe so.  I do believe we (in America and any other 1st world country) eat too much of it, and the process for producing such large quantities of meat by the cattle ranchers and finishing farms has introduced a lot of bad things into the meat products they sell, but I think each person needs to self-educate about the matter and make a personal decision instead of a blanket-all answer of no meat.  We are, after all, omnivores, which means we were created by God (or nature, evolution, or whatever you believe in) to be able to eat both plants and animals.  We were also blessed with bright minds to discern how to use our bodies.  

     Sadly, addiction, lack of education, availability of food items, money, and (unfortunately) political interests prevent the masses from knowing just what is best to eat.  The food pyramid, and the old four food groups, is not 100% accurate, but slightly motivated by political obligations, and popularity.  I think the biggest problem is when we don't fully comprehend the damage we are doing to ourselves. 

     And that is where this book comes in.

     When we get sick, we are desperate to get better.  You don't realize how much your health can affect your life until it goes South.  There are literally millions upon millions of miracle cures out there; diets, herbs, colon cleanses, aroma therapy, acupuncture, teas, exercise routines, creams, pills, and even modern medicines.  But, sadly, most are bull.  These "doctors" prey on the sick and desperate with false hope and empty promises.

     The truth of the matter lies in the fact that our bodies get sick, old, worn out, injured, and eventually die.  Can you stave off these things?  Yes, to a point, anyway.  Every cell in your body has a distinctive chemical makeup.  they need certain vitamins and minerals to function properly.  Some can make due without, some can't.  If you feed your body all it needs, it will be healthier.  Just like if you regularly maintain your car with oil and other fluid changes, and use premium gas, it will last longer and run better.  However, If you eat a lot of garbage with little nutrition, the body is full, and still doesn't have what the cells need to function, so it tries to make due.  That can lead to things like cancer and other diseases.  Just as a car would break down if you never changed the oil, or if you used old gas.  A lot of problems can be prevented by proper maintenance (both with the body, and the car).  But some things can't.  It doesn't matter how often you changed the oil in your car if you get in a car wreck, nor would it matter if there was a defective part, or if a part naturally wears out from use.  If you injure your body to a certain extent, or if it gets old and worn out, or sick, there is only so much you can do.  Our bodies are miraculous, beyond our understanding, and where sometimes people have had incredible recoveries from things they shouldn't have recovered from.  However, that isn't the norm.  Authors of books like this want you to believe otherwise.

     I don't want to come across as an absolute skeptic.  There is power in good nutrition, perhaps equal to, or even greater than, modern medicine.  After all, most meds only treat symptoms.  Only your body can heal itself.  The stuff doctors do is preventative and emergency measures.  The body, in the end, is responsible for actually fixing any problem within itself (with the exception of surgeries).  So, yes, you can heal a lot of things with diet and supplements.  I have experienced it with my own disease.  I'd be dead by now if it weren't for the nutritional changes I've made in my life.  The problem lies in the fact that Dr. Schulze, along with thousands of other "doctors" trying to sell books and supplements, over-sell the power of these treatments.

     As a sick person, an educated sick person who is well-versed in nutritional therapy and alternative medicines, I took tremendous offense to this book.  Dr. Schulze is a crackpot, if ever I've seen one.  

     The first 60 pages of the book are bull (I don't swear, but feel free to insert an expletive phrase here).  He tells fish stories of growing back a 4th degree burned hand, regrowing a malformed heart, and how his blown out knee magically re-attached/grew tendons and ligaments through diet alone...  
One of two things happened here: One, the injuries were embellished, or two, they didn't happen at all.  Frankly, it's insulting to expect his audience to believe that a tendon, detached from a bone and pulled away by the muscle, could, somehow, get pulled back into place (against the natural tension of the muscle tissue, mind you) and re-attach to the bone before healing to proper functionality.  If it was torn, but still attached, it would be a stretch but I could see the body healing itself from that. 

     If the outlandish stories aren't enough, you get a heavy dose of Dr. Schulze's obnoxious personality in these opening pages, as well.  The personality doesn't get any better as the book continues, but the material does... sort of.

     Dr. Shultze, like any good snake oil salesman, goes on to talk about the miracles and great success his plan has had with thousands upon thousands of people.  Then he gets lost talking about irrelevant psychobabble to confuse anyone still reading before he goes on to explain his simple plan.

     The plan is not new, by the way.  Spoiler alert:  Basically, eat fruits and vegetables, or better yet, juice them, and drink lots of water.  He talks briefly about throwing out the T.V., exercising/stretching, etc. etc. but he is mostly just trying to sell cleanses and supplements.  He does give some interesting facts and cites studies done by actual doctors and researchers.  He gives a few good examples of foods that are good for different body parts, but in general, he's fairly vague about what to eat.  

     The most annoying thing, though, is that he shamelessly advertises his rather expensive supplements fairly heavily throughout the second half of the book.  He's big on cleansing, but those cleanses are all about his magic cleansing pills, which is ironic because he rants and raves against the herbal doctors for that very thing... but his is better, of course.

     If you take out the fictitious first 60 pages, cut out the lengthy advertisements for his supplements and cleansers, there's about 20-30 pages of information in this 251 page book.

     I know I'm being ruthless, but there are so many good nutritional therapist out there who can really help you if you're sick, and if you start with this idiot first, you may never get to their genuine work.  

     If you want real information, the best nutritional doctor I have come across is Dr. Joel Fuhrman. That link takes you to his amazon page where he has several good, informative books, along with cook books which will actually guide you on what to eat and why.  Unlike Dr. Schulze, Dr. Fuhrman's books are reasonably priced, and there is a wealth of actual information in the books.  And he's not trying to make a living selling you supplements.  There are others good Doctors out there, too.  The first one to help me down my path of self-help nutritional therapy is Dr. Hugo Rodier.  

     As for 20 Powerful Steps to a Healthier Life, it's a book you buy to read advertisements to buy supplements and cleansing products for your body.  Dr. Schulze isn't even an adept writer.  There are a couple of good tips in the book, so I can't give it 0 stars. 

     In all, I give the book



Monday, March 16, 2015

Stonehearst Asylum



     Stonehearst Asylum is inspired by a short story by Edgar Allen Poe.  It stars Kate Beckinsale (probably one of the most beautiful actresses ever), Michael Caine, Jim Sturgess, and Ben Kingsley.

     I love this movie simply for the fact that the "movie critics" hated it, but just about everyone else loved it.  Critics just destroyed this movie.  They said everything from, "With such a big cast it was obvious that this was just a 'paycheck' movie since most of the actors haven't been doing a lot lately" to "I don't know why I keep going to asylum themed horror movies."  Hello?  Did you even watch the show?

     First of all, it is not a horror movie, nor was it meant to be.  It's a thriller.  There is a bit of suspense for the characters.  Granted, the outcome was fairly predictable, but there are moments when you find yourself worrying.  

     Secondly, I thought the "big cast" was wonderful.  Beckinsale was charming as ever.  I just love her.  Sturgess is his usual neurotic self, which plays perfectly for his character.  Kingsley is awesome.  In everything he's in, he's the jerk everyone loves, this was no exception.  Caine's part was played down, but he played it well.

     I honestly don't know what the critics had against this movie.  I was pleasantly surprised.

     Okay, on to the synopsis.  Edward Newgate (Sturgess) is a freshly minted doctor right at the turn of the 19th century.  He has the schooling and the knowledge, but he needs clinical practice.  He's always been interested in the mentally unstable because he wants to help them become whole people again.  When you learn his back-story, it makes a lot of sense.  He goes to Stonehearst to gain that experience.

     Silas Lamb (Kingsley) runs the asylum in a completely unconventional way, and right from the start you get the feeling that something is not quite right.  This may be what the critics didn't like.  The plot is revealed fairly early on, and they probably wanted a bigger build-up, but I honestly don't believe that that was the focus of the film.  At any rate, Silas allows the patients free reign, and doesn't believe in the barbaric treatment most asylums employed in that era.  The patients seem to be thriving under his social experiment.  One of the funniest lines of the movie comes from this new-age treatment plan when we see a man who believes he's a horse, and Silas threatens to neglect his grooming session if he doesn't behave.  Newgate questions if this isn't reinforcing a negative behavior to which Silas says, "Yes."  Newgate complains that the man needs to be brought out of his delusional state, and Silas says, "To what purpose?  Then we would have a malcontent old man instead of a happy horse."  I laughed, anyway.

     As Newgate gets to know the residence of the asylum, he is instantly taken with Eliza Graves (Beckinsale), who is admitted because of hysteria brought on by touch.  Apparently, she was grossly abused by her husband, so the touch of a man sends her into a seizure-like state.  The movie actually begins with Eliza standing in front of a group of doctors claiming to not be mad.  The attending doctor, touches her abdomen sending her into a fit of clonic tonic seizure, before telling the class that they should never believe anything they hear, and only half of what they see.  This becomes a theme throughout the movie, and the bases for the twist ending.

     Newgate vows to take Graves out of the asylum, but has to get her past her mental handicap, as well as the strange Dr. Lamb.

     I don't think I gave away too much, but if you watch the show, you will see, fairly early on, why the asylum is so weird.  

     I loved this show, and not just because it had the stunning Beckinsale in it.  It was a genuine surprise to watch after seeing all of the negative reviews from critics.  I absolutely love when they are wrong.  It wasn't the best movie ever made, and I don't want to mislead you and have you go into the film with too high of expectations, but it was far better than the critics gave it credit.

     I give this movie



Thursday, March 12, 2015

Passing of a great writer




     Terry Pratchett passed on today.  There is a great article about his life and passing here.  He was an incredible writer who inspired me when I was at the tender age of 15 and read his first book The Colour of Magic  for the first time.  They have since made a silly movie about it, which, of course, doesn't begin to compare to the book.

     Pratchett wrote over 70 books, of which, I'm embarrassed to say, I've only read 5.  His parody-type writing is memorable, as are his characters, and the wonderful flat world he created on the back of a turtle floating through space.

     Looking through his collection of works makes me realize how little I've read from him, despite liking the books I have read.  And his range seems to branch out into all sorts of subject matter.  I may be grabbing a few books from Amazon over the next few days.

     Pratchett, you will be missed.  Thank you for your humor, and nonsensical wit.  You will be missed.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Over the last month



     I apologize for my absence over the last month.  I had gone almost 6 months without a seizure, but I've had 5 over the last month.  I don't know what has been causing them, but I've gone in for some tests, and we're trying to figure it out.  I appreciate all of the e-mails of concern I've received.  You guys are awesome.

     I want to apologize to all of the authors whose books were scheduled to be reviewed.  I have major memory issues when I have repeated seizures like this, and it makes it difficult to read new material.  I get through a chapter, and can't remember half of what I read.  I don't know if everyone with seizures has that problem, but I sure do.  I haven't been reading or writing over the last month, but I assure you, once I get on top of all this I'll make up the reviews.  I'm thinking of doing two a week to catch up, as long as they aren't super long books.  Thank you for your patience, and again, I'm sorry for the delay.

     I've also received about 50 requests for new reviews.  I'm not ignoring your requests my fellow authors.  I've really just been down and out, and haven't been working.  I promise I will reply and schedule a review for you once I get back on top of things, if your book falls within the guidelines of my review requirements.  

     To all my readers, thank you for your concerns.  I'll be okay.  Other than the frequency of these attacks, nothing is new.  It will pass, like it always does.  My last seizure was yesterday morning, so I'm fairly addled (I've had to revise these few paragraphs 5x), but other than that I'm doing okay.  I'll get back to my writing as soon as I can.

     Thank you all for your patience.