It really didn’t matter if the wedding was Protestant, Catholic or Jewish, clergy are clergy and you know what, no two individuals are exactly alike but there’s something about them that makes them immediately recognizable as part of a very idiosyncratic community of poeple.

To me the clergy fall into three main categories. The first one, and probably the funniest is the eccentric type. Its about my discoveries concerning a member of this category that I want to tell you about.

Eccentric clergy, in general, are those who, among other things, overcome their sense of self consciousness by grossly overcompensating in all situations. For some reason they always seem to feel completely and utterly out of place.

This results in some extremely comical dialog that’s accompanied by the weirdest arm and hand movements imaginable. Most of the time it appeared to me like they are flagging the fleet.

But this type are far from being the worst because there is, in matter of fact a far more seriously afflicted group of poor, sad individuals. It is a rare sub group of the eccentric lot which I call the ‘pathologically eccentric’.

One vicar, who must have been in his mid thirties, used to perform wedding ceremonies clad only in his cassock, ankle boots and black knee socks. Yup, you got it, absolutely as stark buck naked as the day he was born under those holy robes.

I discovered this strange fact one day when I decided to use the self timer on my camera. The reason for this was because of the film speed I was using. I had put a highly sensitive film in the camera to compensate for the poor lighting conditions of the churchyard and, consequently, I had to put the camera on the tripod and to use the self timer to eliminate camera shake.

Having already arranged the family and guests in the exact order that I wanted them to stand I stood away from the camera and started to count down the seconds. Right then something hit the vicar on the back of the head causing him to turn around to look in the general direction of the assault.

Low and behold at that very same moment there was an almighty gust of wind that not only raised all the ladies skirts but blew the vicars cassock up over his head as well.

Well, You never saw such a fiasco in all your life. All the ladies screamed hurriedly trying to flatten the fronts of their skirts and frocks, their husbands doing their best to protect their wives modesty, hurried to flatten the back of their wives frocks but the poor vicar’s cassock was blown so high over his head that he couldn’t get it back down in time before the camera took the picture.

Lucky for him, everybody’s attention was diverted.

That is, except for two young children, a boy and a girl, who’s attention was caught by the sight of the black parachute that was once the vicars only screen from complete ridicule being blown right over the top his head.

You never saw a vicar turn around so fast in your life!

The two youngsters, whose necks were stretched right out looking to their left wore wide mouthed expressions of total astonishment, shock and absolute disbelief for what they were seeing. All I can remember thinking at the time was the sheer injustice of the situation those poor kids would be in.

I howled with laughter.

Who would believe them?

Later,when family and friends saw the official picture they all commented about how red the vicars cheeks looked. They All commented that it must have been due to the cold day. If they could only see the cheeks, the ones in my filing cabinet!

The connection between wine, or the fruit of the vine and spirituality is abundantly apparent in both the Jewish and Christian religious traditions. Wine is used during the blessing and sanctification of religious occasions in the Jewish tradition and it is central to the Cristian tradition (particularly in Catholicism) in so much as it is used in the Mass. Christians either believe that the wine becomes the blood of Jesus Christ or believe that it represents his blood. This depends upon the denomination to which one belongs

So, what is it about ” fruit of the vine” that gets holy men so worked up?. It is not by chance that the Jewish fathers who adopted the belief in a single and omnipotent Creator chose the grape to represent the path that every soul must journey upon to reach it’s ultimate goal. Indeed, every aspect of the grape and the making of wine has relevant symbolic meaning to the spiritual path of the soul.

In order to be able to fully understand what I going to talk about we must first look at the evolution of mankind and the evolution of the human ego over time and compare it with the making of wine. Like mankind the grape was created to exist within nature. When the human species first started to emerge as a creature that was developing traits which set it apart from all other creatures in that it possessed a brain larger and therefore more capable of adapting to circumstances than most other animal species. Early humans started to diverge onto a path that would lead them to believe that they were created to fulfill an entirely different purpose to that of all other species. They began to believe that everything in nature was created only for their sole benefit. The purpose of the formation of such a belief was a strategy directed toward ensuring the continued survival of the human species.

Over the course of time animal herds would dwindle in number due to the great ice age and mankind would realize that the reality in which he once thrived had changed forever. This former bountiful state is represented in the bible as being same period which we call the garden of Eden. As a consequence of this changed state of affairs man would reverse his belief in the the ability of nature to provide all his needs and would set himself upon a course whereby he took sole responsibility for his own development and survival. In his mind he was now separate and in control of his own destiny and the course of nature. However, it is important to point out that this new mind set only exists in the perception of mankind because in reality we are still very much connected to nature.We refer to this period as the advent of the agricultural age.

The point at which man determined that he was above nature (due to the fact that he no longer trusted the power of nature as being capable of supplying his needs) can be interpreted as the point at which the human ego started to develop within. Until then fear only existed to warn animals of impending danger and man as a creature existing within nature acted in accordance with the same principles. Ego being desire or need which is founded upon fear. This ego quality that was hitherto foreign to the nature of man can be compared to the yeast which grows on the outer skin of the grape but is just as foreign to the grape’s initial and integral design as the ego is to man’s original state. In saying that, yeast is critical to the survival of the grape due to the resistance that the yeast provides against the invasion of other micro organisms which would very much like thrive on the sugar within the grape. Likewise, the ego is just as essential to the spiritual development of mankind. You might now be asking the question,”but how does this compare with the Ego of man?”

The answer to this is as follows: the ego of man developed as a strategy that enabled him to disconnect himself from the events occurring within the forces of nature to a degree that gave him the ability to manipulate them to his own advantage to the extent that his perception of reality allowed.

At this point I would like to point out that the spiritual tradition of the nation of Israel, (or Kabbalah) which was founded by Abraham in Babylon where he wrote his “Book Of Life”, considers Nature to be the the absolute total sum of reality, material and spiritual. Therefore, according to the spiritual tradition of Judaism, God and Nature are one and the same.

As many of us know, the ground, humidity, altitude and climate in which the vine is grown are all factors contributing to the suitabilty of the grape used for wine making. Conditions in which wine making grapes are grown must be close to the limit that the grape can tolerate if the wine is to be of superior quality. Wine makers call these environmental conditions “terrois” This way the sugars, acids and tannins that develop within the grape develop as a consequence of the forces acting upon the vine. These conditions ensure the vine’s survival within the reality in which it grows. This also provides the solid ingredient base upon which the wine maker performs his art.

In actual fact, what is happening is that the difficulties that the grape experiences push the grape (by the provision of resistance) into developing those qualities within itself that will later form the material that will a) give the grape a better chance of surviving the condition in which it develops and b) provide the material needed for the making of a superior wine. Likewise, if conditions were to be perfect for man his development would cease and he would revert back to a situation parallel to his former situation whereby all of his needs were determined by and provided for by nature. The difficulties which the creator presents us with can be likened to darkness, the sole purpose of which is to push us toward the light. Yet as with the grape, the creator can will never present us with conditions which we are unable to tolerate. (This relates to “us” as a species).

The next stage requires intervention. On behalf of the grape the one who intervenes is the wine maker and on behalf of mankind God himself intervenes at the request of man.

At the stage of the “so called” break from nature it is as though mankind based his whole ethos upon this so called foreign element. It is as though he transferred it from without to within so as to make the ego an integral part of every aspect of his being in the same way that in order to make wine the yeast that coats the skin grape must enter the flesh of the grape and mix with the juice through the intervention of the wine maker.

In man it is as if the essential quantity of the fear element that is essential to all animal species, which is known as the “fight or flight response”, (the function of which is to ensure the continued survival of the species), was not enough. Man developed an additional fear. He needed and actively sought more advantages to enable him to survive. The point at which this new fear burst forth was when man convinced himself the his destiny should be placed solely in his own hands and be shaped by his own vision.

In the realization of the limitations of the human brain and in it’s capacity to operate solely upon the powers of reason, some men saw that by the use of the power of his brain the only course upon which he set himself was one of self destruction. The quality of desiring the advantage for the self first always stands in the way of man’s ultimate goal which is the creation of complete harmony and happiness.

It was Abraham who first saw that what was needed in order to achieve happiness and harmony was simply Integrity. That is to say the development of the principle of loving thy neighbor as thyself. or, in other words to love thy neighbour as if he were thyself. (This notion is developed from the realization that reality only exist within the function of our senses and hence, reality is therfore an integral part of what and who we are) The implication of this is that mankind can only reach the result that he seeks by first investing in others that which through his own nature he would have for himself. This way, all others are catered for and through their similar investment our rewards become far greater because we receive our investment back from infinite avenues. The only thing stopping us from achieving this high state of attainment is fear itself, the fear of being without, left out and excluded. We believe ourselves to be justified in this perception because we imagine that all others lack our own level of morality would cheat us.

So how can we move from our present state into one of attainment. There is only one way to do this. One must become desolate in the belief that through ones own devices we can reach the one true goal. Just as the grape, which without the intervention of the wine maker it would fall from the vine to take seed in the soil only to begin the whole process anew. Man must shed himself of everything that he formally held dear, to clean himself of all the self made pollutants and to seek signals of a different reality. ( We call this phenomena peripheral or indirect light because we cannot use it ourselves but only desire that through its impression upon us and hence through the creation of true desire, direct light will start to appear and act upon us). This peripheral light causes us to realize the folly of our former way of life and this is the first stage of the spiritual path.

As the grape starts to ferment it seems at first as though nothing will happen. All we see is confusion. And so it is on the spiritual path. Only through sensing peripheral light or the knowledge that the goal is worth having and by the knowledge that we gain, do we receive a vision that it will lead to our salvation in the same way that the wine maker has a vision of his end product do we gain the strenght to remain upon the path.

At certain stages in the process of making wine the wine maker must clean scum that collects upon the surface of the wine. He must do this before the unwanted scum sinks to the bottom and spoils the wine. Likewise, along the spiritual path when we become aware of qualities which interfere in our quest to reach our goal we reduce these qualities to such an extent that they become negligible.

The fermentation represents the interaction between the ego qualities of man, and our false perception of reality. This happens in many stages along the path to spiritual attainment. Each time it may appear that we start the process anew. Sometimes it appears that we sink to levels that we never experienced the like of before. In spite of this we pick ourselves up and carry on. (This clearer insight into our state occurs because the self created bias that formally clouded the vision of ourselves begins to deminish and reveals a ever increasingly clearer vision as we progress). God, like the wine maker presents us with the work which we need to perform in order to reach the the goal in the same way that the wine maker knows what he has to do at every stage of making perfect wine and only by having the vision of the stage to which we are drawn can we likewise hope to liken ourselves to that state of perfection which is god himself.

Now we see how that the grape and the conditions in which it develops and the wine making process help to give us a clear picture of the course that our soul must make in order to reach it’s goal which is to sit at the right hand of God. (This is done by adopting his characteristics through the correction of our emotional state) It is for this reason that the symbolism represented within the process which the of the fruit of the wine undergoes is so sacred to Jewish and christian religions because it helps us to remember the path upon which every soul must embark in order to reach it’s ultimate destination which is also the only purpose of our existence upon this earth.

The followind addition is the content of a letter from a friend who replied on the subject of the essay by my personal email. I feel that it will enhance the topic further and it is for this reason that I have added it for you to read.

Andrew
Thank you for taking the time to share with the connection between wine and spirituality. I found it very interesting and thought provoking. You have completed a very astute summary of a most difficult subject.

I would ask your input on one thing. You have loosely defined integrity as a principle “of loving thy neighbor as thyself. or, in other words to love thy neighbor as if he were thyself. (This notion is developed from the realization that reality only exist within the function of our senses and hence, reality is therefore an integral part of what and who we are).

I define integrity as wholeness or completeness, unfolding or becoming , objectivity or purity. In simple terms, do the right thing, do the next right thing and do things the right way.

Integrity has three constants-that which is within, that which is without and the interplay between that which is within and that which is without.

I think this applies and clarifies a small portion of what you have said but I would like to hear what you say

Ans. Thanks for answering and I’m glad that you enjoyed the essay.

The notion of within and without come together in the sense that reality is only experienced through our senses, therefore the internal environment and the external one are in fact one and the same. Loving thy neighbour as thyself is actually the Jewish spiritual way of expressing wholeness because in it we have the indication that we take the reality of all others as per our own. We cease to see others as entities with which to compete and start to see them as an integral part of our own reality. So, as our sole desire is for the creation of absolute happiness for ourselves, all others then become included in the reality which we create for ourselves. In this sense we are indeed creating wholeness and completeness. Integrity is an objective approach to reality whereby our true interests are taken care of. In this I stress that the interests of others are our own interests. As you say, in “doing the right thing”, we comply with the one universal reality, the law which is the foundation upon which everything functions. In this sense, integrity becomes conformity with the law of nature, or if you like the law of God. Integrity is purity because in an integral reality there can never be any secret agenda’s. It’s like when the liver starts to use energy at the expense of other organs, the body will malfunction and become sick. When everything within the body acts harmoniously, everything exists and operates in a state of “weightless bliss”.

Unfolding applies to the state in which the truth unfolds, everything becomes transparent and does not need to hide. We cease to feel any form of shame.

Completeness very much applies here because love, in the true spiritual sense apples to the desire to complete wholeness or perfection. Here we get the sense that every part of the system becomes just as important as any other part. When fullness of contact (in the communicative sense) is achieved, it is then that we get a sense of the creator. Only through the completeness of fully corrected communication (i.e. the emotions) do we actually feel the presence of God. Anything else is self trickery, auto suggestion and/ or wishful thinking. Best Regards, Andrew.

Six months ago I decided it was high time to look deep within myself and to discover, for the first time, just why I have the urge to eat so much. On the pretext that all emotional issue lead back to the fear of exclusion I started to go through my childhood with a fine tooth comb.

From the age of nine onwards I started to become particularly thin which caused some ridicule at the hands of my school friends. I greatly feared that in being “skinny” I would become excluded from the group in which I had to survive on a daily basis. It was for this reason that I gained an eating obsession. However, no noticeable increase in body mass occurred during that period so it became something that I had to live with For me, this meant that over eating became a habitual addiction.

On sorting that out I then looked at my later life. As a young adult I was very much involved in sport. I was a horseman, I SCUBA dived, I played Rugby and I ran and swam every day. Since getting an umbilical hernia I became less confident to participate in such an active sports curriculum. To counteract this I have been walking three hours per day, six days per week. I find that I look forward to walking and I walk at a pace with which I feel comfortable. This may change from day to day. Some days my pace is very brisk and on other days it may be somewhat easier.

Wit regards to diet. In my diet I have changed only a few things. I stopped eating white bread (which also means that I cut out butter), I stopped eating ice cream (I ate at least a kilo per week). I stopped eating chocolate bars ( I ate one 100 gram bar per day on average) and I stopped eating cake, (I ate about 2 whole cakes per week).

In addition I added the following to my diet: one meal per day of oatmeal porridge cooked with water and sweetened with a teaspoon of honey and cooled with just a little milk around the edges. I added two apples per day, one desert spoon of ground flax seed and one desert spoon of ground sesame seed. In addition I added one desert spoon of crushed pumpkin seed and ground wall nuts which I blended together.

Along side that I drink 10 glasses of water per day and most important of all I take one over 50′s multi vitamin per day. I say most importantly because when we change our diet we may alter the way the body is used to receiving it’s vitamin and mineral quota. To compensate for this it is most strongly advisable to take a multi vitamin supplement.

I also eat a pro biotic goat’s milk yogurt each day, just to keep on top of the bacterial balance within the digestive system and I try to include as much vegetable salad a possible. I also do my best to divide my meals into five or six smaller meals so that I use the energy that I intake more efficiently and at the same time prevent those hunger pangs to which I had become so accustomed.

To date, I have lost 22 kilograms or about three and a half stones in the period of six months.

Unfortunately and tragically one of my very best friends died as a consequence of cysticercosis trough eating pork that was not throughly cooked in the town of Cusco in the Peruvian Andes mountains. In addition I have worked with another young peruviian man who had cysticercosis but luckily for him I was at his side to call for an ambulance. In Israel it is very rare to see this condition and so it took the medical team several hours to figure out what was going on with him.

Cysticercosis is an intestinal infection by the adult tapeworm or cestode. Infection with the tapeworm lavae causes cysticercosis in humans.

The adult tapeworm may measure up to 2.5 to 3 meters in length and is armed with a head section, or scolex, from which protrude several hooklets and a body which is made up of up to 1000 a thousand proglottids, or egg sacks. Hogs and pigs are the specific host of this paracite and humans are normally an intermediary host.

The embrios which are periodically released from the proglottids burst under the pressure greated by the embrio mass within where they penetrate the intestinal wall and are carried via the blood to subcutaneous tissues, muscles, viscera and the central nervous system (including the brain).

Infection with the adult worm is normally asymptomic. However the laval infection within the tissues of the body can cause pain, weakness, fever and if the CNS is involved symptoms of meningoencephalitis or epilepsy may appear.

The presence of tapeworms is often diagnoses by finding the presence of lavae in stools or around the rectal area. This may involve itching and lack of ability to sit still on the part of children. Cystericosis is normally suspected in areas where pork is raised in poor conditions. This condition can be treated but in patients where symptoms resemble epilepsy, death due to receiving blows on the head or falling into water are quite common.

This condition is preventable by raising pigs in hygienic conditions and by feeding them sufficient quantities of non infected foods. Also, in the event that there is no other meat to eat except pork then the meat should be throughly cooked by bioling until the meat becomes competely tender. This will have the effect of killing all lava.

The subject about what I about to write involves the hundreds of millions of destitute and homeless children around the world. I suppose that this could be termed as sociological subject matter and I hope that you will find the read both enjoyable and mind opening as per the possibilities of solving this most urgent issue.

(At this point I would like to ask you to send the link to this article to you friends if you have enjoyed reading it and feel, like me, that it needs to be read by as many people as possible if it is to do any good).

I would like to start by stating that I am very sceptical about the possibility for really changing anything to solve this problem because I believe that the human race is simply not capable of rising above both the collective and individual ego. At the same time I really do hope that something will be done to give these blameless children the hope of a more normal life.

Now we all know that there are many charitable organizations that work day and night to try to do something for the less fortunate of the world. Their work is a clear sign that there exists caring, compassion and empathy in the human race but unfortunately it only really exists in a very small minority of people. But does charity really do anything to change the reality behind such issues? My contention is that it doesn’t, indeed it only makes things worse.

I say this because the fact that regimes have become used to charities turning up to help those in most need is used as a cop out for the politicians in countries where such issues are rampant. I would like to put to you that the only way to change any reality is to put a fully integral system in place which will provide a clear benefit for all those who exist within that system.

Let me explain a little further, what I mean is that if the benefit is only a temporary benefit for the children it won’t be sustainable but if everybody benefits right down from the benefactor to the children then and only then can a sustainable reality be a viable option.

So, now you have read the word benefactor! I guess you’re asking yourself who could they possibly be? OK, here goes. Did you know that the world has hundreds of millions of multi millionaires and billionaires? Well it does. And did you know that the majority of these billionaires and multi millionaires write off hundreds of billions of dollars for tax purposes? Yes they do. And did you know that in spite of writing off all these billions of dollars to charities at charity dinners and benefits, the world feels very little benefit because nothing is actually done regarding the reality in which the poverty exists.

So what can be done to change the reality of child homelessness that has become a major issue in most third world and some western world countries? I would like to propose that a United Nations institute, such as UNICEF start a program to erect hostel homes for homeless children around the world by receiving large tax deductible donations from the ultra rich who’s job it will be to erect hostel(s) or orphanage(s) in the name of that benefactor. Furthermore it will be the job UNICEF to train and send staff to run these homes alongside locally employed teachers, carers and administrators. Such projects do exist as I’m sure you have heard about but they only exist in very small numbers and they don’t even amount to the tip of the iceberg.

So, you may be asking, in that case what are the benefits for the benefactors? First and foremost a tax write off, secondly the immense happiness that is gained from the knowledge that you have created a better reality for someone else and by taking a step that will truly mean that you (the benefactor) have left your footprint upon the earth in a very special way. In addition to all that it will help the world economy. Lets examine the facts. As already stated there are hundreds of millions of homeless and destitute children around the world. To home, feed, cloth and educate all of these children will take a great deal of logistics. Logistics means business, trade and jobs.

So you see, what goes around comes around, both in the bad sense and in the good sense. By writing off tax to help these kids the major industrialists will be getting a very welcome boost in business because these kids will need a whole range of products and services. Personally, I would estimate that the potential economic boost could be compared to several new countries appearing on the world scene. This is how integral systems work and we should not be put off by the fact that the rich will profit. In the integral order all must profit to some degree, that’s just how it goes.

This is just one example of how a major problem can be solved. By investing in these homeless kids we will be ensuring a better future for ourselves in every way. What will destroy such a plan long before it starts is the fear of exclusion on the part of the rich. Firstly there is the fear that they will be shunned for doing something to help those who are typically ignored. Secondly they could be shunned for doing something that could be interpreted as manipulative in that it forces the hand of others and lastly the super rich are rebound for holding to the assumption that money creates happiness because the alternative of not having money will lead to exclusion due to loosing control on ones destiny. So you can see the rich often exist in a vicious circle of fear and insecurity that keeps them trapped in a false world of pretense and this condition almost ensures that they will never be happy. As Jesus Christ said, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye if the needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. (When you think about it, only those who create happiness through the creation of integral reality find eternal happiness and those that don’t are destined to come back again and again until they do).

Mad cow desease or Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE for short) is a neuro degenerative disorder of the central nervous system of cattle of all breeds. It is believed (although not 100% proven) that this desease is caused due to the feeding of animal tissue (usually from cattle by also from sheep or pigs) to cattle.

It is common practice nowadays to feed cattle proteins from animal sources. This may be bone meal, blood meal, brain tissue meal or even feather meal. The reason why cattle are fed animal protein is because the protein levels that are present in most plants are relatively low and some strains of bacteria in the cows rumen break them down into undesirable fatty acids such as butiric acid which are less than ideal for the production of milk and flesh mass on beef cattle. (Acetic acid is best for milk production and propionic acid produces the best muscle mass).

The thing that farmers and industrialists alike are constantly looking for is protein types that the bacteria resident with the rumen will not recognise and therefore will pass through the rumen unaffected by the bacteria and pass into the true stomach where they will passed into the bloodstream through the cows intestine. For this technique to be successful, the farmer must alternate the type of protein given to the cow in its feed so that the bacteria of the rumen will not grow to recognize it and hence metabolise it.

Animal proteins contain prions which are proteins that can change the structure of other proteins that they come into contact with. Factories that make animal protein feed (Often in the far east) are renouned for not adhering to procedure and this can cause fluctuations to happen both in the processing time and temperature levels. You see, if the proteins are properly cooked, they will not cause any damage because when cooked, proteins change their structure.

The effect of eating unproperly processed protein feed can cause the prions within the protein of the feed to change the structure of the proteins of the cattles brain and spinal cord. This causes the tissue to become spongy meaning thet there are empty spaces within the tissue where there should have been nervous tissue. This wasting and structural change of the cows brain tissue cause the signals that come from the brain to malfunction causing the cow to apear to have fits and ceasures. This condition can take up to five years to develop in the cow.

Although few cases were reported above the norm, in technical terms, this condition can be passed on to humans especially where meat is only lightly cooked (or red in the middle). This desease cost farmers billions of dollors worth of damage , especially in the UK where some six million cattle either died because of the desease or were slaughtered in an attempt to eradicate it.

It is believed that some bad feed is still being exported from the far east, (easpecially from India).

I would like to bring light onto the subject of how can you give a huge boost to something which already seems to be doing quite well on it’s own. Well you can and here’s how.

The first thing to do with oatmeal porridge is to add a little more oat bran together with a teaspoon of wheatgerm. The next thing to do is to throw in a handful of cranberries and a handful of blueberries (frozen will do just fine). Then add a desert spoon of grounded wall nuts and a quarter teaspoon of ground black cumin seeds. Personally I like to add three parts water to one part milk with this recipe. Now you can cook your porridge.

After you have poured your porridge out, sprinkle the top with a desert spoon of ground sesame seeds and with a desert spoon of ground flax seed. I personally like to sweeten my porridge with a teaspoon of Honey and royal jelly mix, just for that extra healthy something.

I have purposely avoided going into any of the health benefits of the ingredients that I have mentioned but I will tell you this, they all have fantastic health benefits. I invite you to read up on all of them and agree with me that this recipe will turn out to be the healthiest thing you ever ate.

In a study published in the May issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, however, Paul Watkins, MD, and his colleagues, finally tracked down furanocoumarins as the active ingredient in grapefruit juice causing this unusual reaction. Watkins, the Dr. Verne S. Caviness distinguished professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina, explained that furanocoumarins block an enzyme called CYP3A4 in the wall of the intestine.

“This enzyme normally chews up certain drugs when they are absorbed,” he says. “When you inhibit the enzyme, however, it doesn’t chew up the drug, which means that more of the drug gets absorbed into the bloodstream.

“Research shows it can boost levels of the drug three times. That’s like taking three pills instead of one. This is an average. Some people would not be boosted as much. Others, however, would be boosted more.”

As startling as this sounds, Watkins points out that of the hundreds of different medications that people are treated with, there are only about 10 with any kind of warning about grapefruit juice in the labeling.

“Fortunately, these drugs are safe enough that boosting absorption for most people will be of no consequence. It appears, however, that a rare patient may have adverse symptoms — for example, muscle tenderness with certain cholesterol medications.

“To my knowledge there have been no confirmed reports of deaths occurring as a result of patients taking their medications with grapefruit juice.”

Classes of drugs that interact with grapefruit juice.
Watkins, who is also director of UNC’s General Clinical Research Center and who led the research team, says that grapefruit juice interacts with four major classes of drugs. One class includes some of the medications used to control anxiety.

Another class comprises a minority of drugs used to lower blood pressure, called calcium channel blockers.

Yet another class are those cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins — particularly Nevacor, Zocor and, to a lesser extent, Lipitor.

Finally, grapefruit juice interacts with immunosuppressants — predominantly Cyclosporine A — which is used mainly to prevent transplanted organs from being rejected.

“Grapefruit juice clearly boosts the absorption of these drugs,” says Watkins, again commenting on the general safety of the drug, so the boosting effect for most individuals is not an issue. The only exception to this blanket cloak of safety might be for individuals taking Cyclosporine A, he adds. “Kidney transplant patients, for example, will be taking this drug.”

Identifying furanocoumarins
It was originally assumed that the ingredients responsible for drug interactions were the flavonoids that give grapefruit juice its bitter taste, Watkins says.

“What we did with our study with the Florida Department of Citrus, however, was to remove the furanocoumarins, leaving in the major flavonoids to see if that got rid of the problem — and it did.

“This is the best evidence, to date, that the active ingredient causing drug interactions is not flavonoids, but these compounds called furanocoumarins that appear to be tasteless and are present in very low amounts in grapefruit juice.”

The story doesn’t end here, because each discovery opens doors to other possibilities, one being that it is now technically possible to market furanocoumarin-free grapefruit juice to patients who would otherwise have to avoid grapefruit.

Much more important, it may be possible to add furanocoumarins to the formulations of certain drugs that tend to be poorly or erratically absorbed to improve their oral delivery.

Watkins explained that if you are a drug company and you develop a drug and only 10 percent of it gets into the body, then you do not have a very good drug, so you usually stop developing it.

“The market for adding furanocoumarins to these pills would be primarily for drugs that had been abandoned in development, or given only by intramuscular injection or intravenously, or promising drugs that might be developed in the future.

“Since furanocoumarins are in grapefruit, it seems reasonable to assume that they are safe, so this should be a safe way to improve oral delivery of drugs.”

Safety: The bottom line
“I personally feel that if you have been taking medicine with grapefruit juice every morning, and the drug is working fine, and your physician is happy, then there is no reason to change.”

According to Watkins, there are many people who enjoy grapefruit juice. And there are others whose economic well being depends upon making it. With the hurricanes the south has experienced over the past couple of years, in particular, the citrus industry is really in tough shape.

“The reality is that a rare patient would get into trouble because of the interaction between a drug and grapefruit juice. This is not a public health issue.”

Probiotics are live bacteria that are beneficial to our health, when eaten in an adequate amount. It is important for our large intestine to maintain a healthy count of these “good” bacteria, as it helps to prevent bad bacteria from growing in the bowel or entering the body through the wall of the intestines to cause infection.
Probiotics are found naturally in foods mainly diary foods, for example probiotics are found in yogurt, fermented and unfermented milk, some juices and also some soy beverages. They can also be taken in the form of a dietary supplement (for example, capsules, tablets and powders) and in some other forms as well, the bacteria in these supplements may have been present originally or it is possible they were added during preparation.

There are numerous health claims associated with the intake of daily doses of probiotics, some of these are:

* Enhanced immune system
* Aids in preventing and treating colon inflammation
* Increased ability to digest food
* Therapeutic for viral respiratory tract infections by enhancing the overall immune system
* Reduces lactose intolerance
* Reduces incidence of yeast infection
* Increases ability to assimilate the nutrients from food
* Alleviates many common digestive disorders such as constipation, diarrhoea and IBS

Digestive health can affect other areas of our health – weight, energy and immunity – in ways we
might never have imagined. It`s important to understand the link between digestive health and overall wellness.

Here are some useful tips to help you maintain a healthy digestive system

• Eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grain products
• Drink lots of water – Water plays a key role in our digestion. It helps break down the food in our stomach, aids in dissolving nutrients and prevents constipation.
• Eat less fatty foods – The more unsaturated fat or transfat you consume, the more your digestive system is strained.
• Avoid processed foods – These types of food have little nutrition in them and often contain large amounts of saturated fats and preservatives that hinder proper digestion.
• Eat slowly and moderately – It`s common sense. Eating in a rush and consuming large portions in one sitting will definitely put a lot of stress on your digestive system.
• Quit smoking – It certainly can harm the digestive system, contributing to diseases such as heartburn, peptic ulcers, gallstones, liver damage and colon cancer.
• Drink less alcohol – Excessive alcohol intake can lead to cirrhosis of the liver. Furthermore, it can inflame the lining of your stomach and cause symptoms of heartburn.
• Exercise regularly – Cardiovascular exercise helps strengthen the abdomen muscles. Also it stimulates the intestinal muscles to push digestive contents through your system and there`s no reason for you to feel sluggish and lethargic.
• Reduce stress in your personal life – Stress has a negative effect on the nerves of the digestive system, which in turn affects the process of digestion.

To help improve your health and digestive system try Volcom UK and you`ll never look back.

Wishing you good health!

For most people, food entering the nasal cavity when eating is not a major problem. Few in fact experience the phenomena of food entering the nasal cavity to any serious degree in the sense that the food forms an obstruction of airflow through the nose or the nose and mouth. It is far more common for people to eject liquids through their nasal cavity. This can happen for a number of reasons. Firstly, it often happens when our mental concentration levels are lowered, such as when we laugh, sneeze of cough. Secondly, it can happen when we are surprized suddenly such as may happen if we are slapped on the back. Thirdly, it can happen if our mouths are too full and have problem breathing or swallowing. In this case breath or the action of contraction at the back of the mouth may force liquids, or solids into the nasal cavity. It may also happen to infants if they begin to cry while drinking. Another scenario in which food may be inadvertantly forced into the nasal cavity can happen in cases in which solid food or fluid is accidentally inhaled into the trachea (wind pipe) and in the process of attempting to expell it back into the bucal cavity, it is often forced into the caverns of the nasal passages due to the fact that they are situated directly above the trachea. This phenomenon can greatly incease the intense discomfor of the blockage of the wind pipe and can cause further temporary problems associated in the resumption of the normal breathing rythm. In a minority of cases the outcome may be more serious and require some intervention.

The sensation experienced in such instances may vary from mildly uncomfortable to quite uncomfortable. Rarely do these cases present a serious risk.

The cases in which food may enter the nasal cavity include the following: improperly chewed food. Food must be masticated thoroughly in the mouth so that it forms a semi adhehsive pellet valled a “Bolus” which is then swallowed whole and easily when it is forced by the tongue and soft pallet to the back of the throat. Food that cannot be properly chewed, as in cases whereby individuals has lost all their teeth, may find some pieces of food difficult to swallow. Food that gets stuck at the back of the throat may be accidentally forced into the rear nasal cavity.

Other cases in which food is forced into the nasal cavity may include cases in which individuals have a deformity of the pallet, tongue or a medical condition in which hardening or the inability of the pallet and tongue to contract properly, may cause food to be misdirected into the nasal cavity.

If the airway through the mouth is not blocked, nasal blockages do not present an immediate life threatening risk. However, they can be very uncomfortable. Some medical attention may be required to remove nasal blockages, although, most cases resolves themselves quite well.

Small particals of food do get sucked into the nasal cavity of many people. If the body is not able to remove them they will get infected by, staphilcoccus, streptococcus and other bacteria in the cavity of the nose. Usually, the individual in question and possibly others around him or her may experience an unpleasant smell from the bucal cavity until the offending food particle is dislodged. In other instances, although quite rare, toxins discharged from the bacteria may cause a septic sore to develop within the nasal cavity. Potentially, this may cause discomfort aand in extreme cases may even cause blood poisoning as with any other septic sore anywhere in the body.

When an offensive odor is noticed from the nasal or bocal cavity, medical advice should be sought just as a preventative measure.