Sugar: The Bitter Truth

Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, explores the damage caused by sugary foods. He argues that fructose (too much) and fiber (not enough) appear to be cornerstones of the obesity epidemic through their effects on insulin. Series: UCSF Mini Medical School for the Public [7/2009] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 16717]

More UCTV videos about sugar: http://www.uctv.tv/sugar
Dr. Lustig's book (comes out Dec 27, 2012), "Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease": http://www.amazon.com/Fat-Chance-Beat...

Sick: A Documentary

This is a documentary about the mental health institutionalization of youth. It was completed as part of the social justice program at Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It explores mental health institutions in the context of Irving Goffman's 'total institution' and looks at parallels between the institutionalization of youth in mental hospitals and the prison system. One part historical, one part sociological, one part personal - former patients share their experiences. Based on personal experience, we asked as our premise - if you are sending someone somewhere to get healthy, why would you send them to a prison? In this film we offer a critical look at the institutionalization of minors.

The Truth About Food - Episode One: How to be healthy (BBC Documentary)

News presenter Fiona Bruce takes us on a journey through the digestive system and learns why there is good and bad bacteria.
Want to know what food really does to your body? Forget the headlines, watch our intriguing investigations with 500 volunteers as we expose the real science behind the food we eat.
Is red wine good or bad for you? Can certain foods stop you needing glasses? Is it worth drinking eight glasses of water a day? Which foods are aphrodisiacs, and which are just passion killers? Why does your thin friend eat what she likes, yet never put on weight? Do detox diets really work? It's time to find out. The Truth About Food is the biggest-ever investigation of its kind. For the very first time, all the common myths about food have been put to the test in the science lab and in real-life trials, in order to prove once and for all which are fact and which are merely fiction. Whether exploring spinach, soya, omega-3 or dairy products, this landmark book reveals the truth, and nothing but the truth, about the effects of food on our bodies.
The Truth About Food BBC Documentary

How To Stay Young and Beautiful by eating right foods

How To Stay Young and Beautiful

When Diets Go Wrong - BBC Documentary

Mikyla takes a tour through a whole range of dieting disasters as she discovers the dangers of diet pills; talks to those whose diets gave them saggy skin and smelly sweat; and meets those whose extreme dieting put them under the knife, brought on seizures and made their life an addictive hell.
When Diets Go Wrong - BBC Documentary

The Great Culling: Our Water Official Full Documentary

 The Georgia Guidestones is a large granite monument in Elbert County, Georgia. It has been referred to as an American Stonehenge. The person or group that paid for its construction is a mystery. Inscribed on its stones are ten commandments, written in twelve languages, for what it describes as an Age of Reason. Many believe it is an agenda for the New World Order.

The first commandment is: "Maintain humanity under 500 million in perpetual balance with nature." Since the world population now stands at over seven billion, that means the commandment calls for the elimination of 93% of the world's population.

THE CULLING ALREADY HAS BEGUN
The Great Culling of the human race already has begun. It is being done through chemicals added to our drinking water, food, medicines, and the air we breathe -- chemicals that have the known effect of reducing fertility and shortening lifespan. This message can no longer be dismissed as conspiracy theory. The facts are in plain view.

This documentary is the first of a three-part series. It shows how additives to our drinking water, such as fluoride, supposedly to combat tooth decay, in reality are covert doses of death. It also shows how you can protect yourself and your family.

http://www.thegreatculling.org

Ginger is one of the world's seven most potent disease-fighting spices

The Heath Benefits of Ginger are many. Ginger is one of the world's seven most potent disease-fighting spices. It has been widely regarded for centuries as a natural remedy for a variety of ailments. Find out why and how ginger can benefit you in this video.
http://www.celestialhealing.net/healt...

Cardamom traditional medicine in China,

 Cardamom has a strong, unique taste, with an intensely aromatic, resinous fragrance. Black cardamom has a distinctly more smokey, though not bitter, aroma, with a coolness some consider similar to mint.

Green cardamom is one of the most expensive spices by weight, but little is needed to impart the flavor. It is best stored in pod form because once the seeds are exposed or ground, they quickly lose their flavor. However, high-quality ground cardamom seed is often more readily (and cheaply) available and is an acceptable substitute. Grinding the pods and seeds together lowers both the quality and the price. For recipes requiring whole cardamom pods, a generally accepted equivalent is 10 pods equals 1½ teaspoons of ground cardamom.

It is a common ingredient in Indian cooking and is often used in baking in Nordic countries, such as in the Finnish sweet bread pulla or in the Scandinavian bread Julekake. In the Middle East, green cardamom powder is used as a spice for sweet dishes, as well as traditional flavouring in coffee and tea. Cardamom pods are ground together with coffee beans to produce a powdered mixture of the two, which is boiled with water to make coffee. Cardamom is used to some extent in savoury dishes. In some Middle Eastern countries, coffee and cardamom are often ground in a wooden mortar, a mihbaj, and cooked together in a skillet, a mehmas, over wood or gas, to produce mixtures as much as 40% cardamom.

In South Asia, green cardamom is often used in traditional Indian sweets and in masala chai (spiced tea). Black cardamom is sometimes used in garam masala for curries. It is occasionally used as a garnish in basmati rice and other dishes. It is often referred to as fat cardamom due to its size. Individual seeds are sometimes chewed and used in much the same way as chewing gum. It is even used by confectionery giant Wrigley; its Eclipse Breeze Exotic Mint packaging indicates that it contains "cardamom to neutralize the toughest breath odors." It has been known to be used for gin making and in tisanes.

Green cardamom is broadly used in South Asia to treat infections in teeth and gums, to prevent and treat throat troubles, congestion of the lungs and pulmonary tuberculosis, inflammation of eyelids and also digestive disorders. It also is used to break up kidney stones and gall stones, and was reportedly used as an antidote for both snake and scorpion venom. Amomum is used as a spice and as an ingredient in traditional medicine in systems of the traditional Chinese medicine in China, in Ayurveda in India, Pakistan, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Species in the genus Amomum are also used in traditional Indian medicine. Among other species, varieties and cultivars, Amomum villosum cultivated in China, Laos and Vietnam is used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat stomach issues, constipation, dysentery, and other digestion problems. Tsaoko cardamom Amomum tsao-ko is cultivated in Yunnan, China and northwest Vietnam, both for medicinal purposes and as a spice.

Main constituents:

The content of essential oil in the seeds is strongly dependent on storage conditions, but may be as high as 8%. In the oil were found α-terpineol 45%, myrcene 27%, limonene 8%, menthone 6%, β-phellandrene 3%, 1,8-cineol 2%, sabinene 2% and heptane 2%. (Phytochemistry, 26, 207, 1987) Other sources report 1,8-cineol (20 to 50%), α-terpenylacetate (30%), sabinene, limonene (2 to 14%) and borneol.

In the seeds of round cardamom from Jawa (A. kepulaga), the content of essential oil is lower (2 to 4%), and the oil contains mainly 1,8 cineol (up to 70%) plus β-pinene (16%); further­more, α-pinene, α-terpineol and humulene were found.

Beneficial Uses of Caraway

Caraway (Carum carvi), also known as “meridian fennel” or “Persian cumin,” is native to western Asia, Europe, and northern Africa. Recently, Kapoor et al. (2010) showed that caraway essential oil and oleoresins were progressively effectively with dose as antioxidants and more effective than commercial butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydroxytoluene.

Schwaireb (1993) examined dietary caraway oil for its effects on skin tumors induced by DMBA and croton oil in female mice. The number of carcinomas in those animals provided with caraway oil were significantly less than in the controls.
Caraway may also influence carcinogen activation by its ability to modify carcinogen bioactivation. Overall, changes in both phase I and II enzymes are consistent with the ability of caraway and its active constituent to lower chemically induced cancers.

The fruits, usually used whole, have a pungent, anise-like flavor and aroma that comes from essential oils, mostly carvone and limonene. They are used as a spice in breads, especially rye bread.

Caraway is also used in desserts, liquors, casseroles, curry and other foods. It is more commonly found in European cuisine. For example, it is commonly used in British caraway seed cake and is also added to sauerkraut. In Serbia, it is commonly sprinkled over home-made salty scones (pogačice s kimom). It is also used to add flavor to cheeses such as bondost, pultost, nøkkelost and havarti. Akvavit and several liqueurs are made with caraway. In Middle Eastern cuisine, caraway pudding is a popular dessert during Ramadan. Also it is typically made and served in Levant area in winter and in the occasion of having a new baby.

The roots may be cooked as a root vegetable like parsnips or carrots.

Caraway fruit oil is also used as a fragrance component in soaps, lotions, and perfumes.

Caraway also has a long tradition of medical uses, primarily for stomach complaints. Emerging and ongoing research from Arabic regional studies suggest Carum Carvi use as an endocrine function support agent, specifically related to thyroid disorders and auto immune disease (see Hashimoto's thyroiditis)

source: http://preventdisease.com and www.wikipedia.org

Health Benefits of Basil

Basil (Ocimum basilicum) is a culinary herb prominently featured in Italian and Southeast Asian cuisines. While many varieties of basil exist, sweet basil is one of the most predominant and most frequently examined herbs for its health benefits. Basil is originally native to Iran, India, and other tropical regions of Asia, but now it is widely available throughout the world. Basil’s antioxidant, antimutagenic, antitumorigenic, antiviral, and antibacterial properties likely arise from a variety of components including linalool, 1,8-cineole, estragole, and eugenol (Muller et al. 1994; Chiang et al. 2005; Makri and Kintzios 2007).

There is evidence that basil can decrease induced carcinogenesis. Providing Swiss mice with a diet containing 150 or 300 mg/kg body weight of basil extract decreased DMBA-induced skin tumors (12.5% reduction and 18.75% reduction for lower and higher doses, respectively), and lowered the tumor burden per mouse. Compared to the average number of tumors per mouse in the controls, the tumor burden was approximately 2.4 times lower in the low-dose basil group and 4.6 times lower in the high-dose basil group (Dasgupta, Rao, and Yadava 2004).

The anticancer properties of basil may also relate to its ability to influence viral infections. Individuals with hepatitis B are recognized to be at increased risk for hepatocellular carcinoma (Fung, Lai, and Yuen 2009; Ishikawa 2010). Chiang et al. (2005) evaluated the antiviral activities of basil extract and selected basil constituents in a human skin basal cell carcinoma cell line against several viruses, including hepatitis B.

There are many rituals and beliefs associated with basil. The French sometimes call basil "l'herbe royale", while in Welsh it has the synonymous name "brenhinllys". Jewish folklore suggests it adds strength while fasting. In Portugal, dwarf bush basil is traditionally presented in a pot, together with a poem and a pom-pon, to a sweetheart, on the religious holidays of Saint John and Saint Anthony. However, basil represented hatred in ancient Greece, and European lore sometimes claims that basil is a symbol of Satan[citation needed]. African legend claims that basil protects against scorpions, while the English botanist Culpeper cites one "Hilarius, a French physician" as affirming it as common knowledge that smelling basil too much would breed scorpions in the brain.

Holy basil, also called tulsi, is highly revered in Hinduism. It is believed that the herb was found growing on the original cross of Christ when it was discovered by the Empress Helena, and hence basil has religious significance in the Greek Orthodox Church, where it is used to sprinkle holy water.[31] The Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Serbian Orthodox Church, Macedonian Orthodox Church and Romanian Orthodox Church use basil (Bulgarian and Macedonian: босилек; Romanian: busuioc, Serbian: босиљак) to prepare holy water and pots of basil are often placed below church altars.

In Europe, basil is placed in the hands of the dead to ensure a safe journey.[citation needed] In India, they place it in the mouth of the dying to ensure they reach God.[citation needed] The ancient Egyptians and ancient Greeks believed it would open the gates of heaven for a person passing on.

In Boccaccio's Decameron a memorably morbid tale (novella V) tells of Lisabetta, whose brothers slay her lover. He appears to her in a dream and shows her where he is buried. She secretly disinters the head, and sets it in a pot of basil, which she waters with her daily tears. The pot being taken from her by her brothers, she dies of her grief not long after. Boccaccio's tale is the source of John Keats' poem Isabella or The Pot of Basil - which in turn inspired the paintings Isabella (Millais painting) and Isabella and the Pot of Basil. A similar story is told of the Longobard queen, Rosalind.

  source: http://preventdisease.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/ 

Health Benefits of Allspice

Allspice is one of the most important ingredients of Caribbean cuisine. It is used in Caribbean jerk seasoning (the wood is used to smoke jerk in Jamaica, although the spice is a good substitute), in moles, and in pickling; it is also an ingredient in commercial sausage preparations and curry powders. Allspice is also indispensable in Middle Eastern cuisine, particularly in the Levant, where it is used to flavour a variety of stews and meat dishes. In Palestinian cuisine, for example, many main dishes call for allspice as the sole spice added for flavouring. In America, it is used mostly in desserts, but it is also responsible for giving Cincinnati-style chili its distinctive aroma and flavour. Allspice is commonly used in Great Britain, and appears in many dishes, including cakes. Even in many countries where allspice is not very popular in the household, as in Germany, it is used in large amounts by commercial sausage makers. It is a main flavour used in barbecue sauces.[citation needed] In the West Indies, an allspice liqueur called "pimento dram" is produced, and a sweet liqueur called mirto is made in Sardinia.

Allspice has also been used as a deodorant. Volatile oils found in the plant contain eugenol, a weak antimicrobial agent.

The term “allspice” was coined in the 1600s by the English, who thought the herb combined the flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Allspice is also referred to as “Jamaica pepper,” “kurundu,” “myrtle pepper,” “pimenta,” and “newspice.” Ground allspice is not a mixture of spices as some still believe, but arises from the dried unripe berries of the tree Pimenta dioica. This tree is native to the Greater Antilles, southern Mexico, and Central America. Today, P. dioica is cultivated in many warm areas throughout the world. Allspice is also available commercially as an essential oil.

Allspice possesses antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antipyretic, anticancer, and antitumorigenic properties (Rompelberg et al. 1996; Al-Rehaily et al. 2002; Kluth et al. 2007). It contains a multitude of potential bioactive agents that may contribute to health promotion, including flavonoids, phenolic acids, catechins, and several phenylpropanoids.

The anticancer properties of allspice may be in part due to its ability to influence cytochrome P450 (CYP) activity and thereby influence carcinogen bioactivation. Kluth et al. (2007) cultured human liver carcinoma cells and human colon adenocarcinoma cells and studied the ability of the spice extract to activate mechanisms related to detoxification enzymes.

source: http://preventdisease.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/ 

Breaking The Food Seduction - by Dr. Neal Barnard

Whether you're drawn to chocolate, cookies, potato chips, cheese, or burgers and fries, we all have foods we can't seem to resist - foods that sabotage our best efforts to lose weight and improve our health. These foods are winning the battle -but that's because we're fighting it in the wrong place. As physician and leading health researcher Dr. Neal Barnard explains in his groundbreaking book, Breaking the Food Seduction: The Hidden Reasons Behind Food Cravings - and Seven Steps to End Them Naturally, banishing these cravings is not a question of willpower or psychology - it's a matter of biochemistry. Based on the author's research and that of other leading investigators at major universities, his book reveals the diet and lifestyle changes that can break these stubborn craving cycles.

Cannabis Cultivation Documentary - Introduction To Indoor Growing

Introduction To Indoor Growing - Cannabis Cultivation: Learning how to grow weed by yourself at home will give you the opportunity to control what marijuana seed strains you purchase, which grow lights and what nutrients you feel comfortable with.

This documentary will cover the basics through to advanced techniques. Even the beginner can grow some high quality weed without being overwhelmed with lots of technical language.

Cannabinoids Research Documentary

Cannabis Science - How Marijuana Affects Health - Educational Documentary
http://www.phoenixtears.ca