Positive Health Online

As we publish PH Online May Issue 158, the world community is at a knife's edge, wondering whether the Swine Influenza Virus H1N1 will become a pandemic event, and if so, if this will be a virulent or mild strain.

There are considerable warnings [hype and panic] over all forms of media, as governments seek to reassure citizens that there are sufficient stockpiles of antiviral drugs.

At this juncture, nobody, anywhere yet knows all the answers to some fairly basic questions, including what is the origin of this flu virus, how and with what other viral agents has it recombined, whether there is protection from previous flu vaccines, how many people have truly been infected, which enables virologists to calculate the true mortality of this strain. There are doubtless other anomalies and unanswered questions, which only time will reveal the answers.

In the absence of hard knowledge and epidemiological  facts, I urge PH readers to take common sense measures to help to keep yourselves and your family healthy. These include the usual precautions about basic personal cleanliness and hygiene, moderate exercise, sunlight, good, even superlative nutrition with plenty of fruits, vegetables, sea vegetables, protein, and a good vitamin and mineral regime, with the usual superb supplements, including vitamins C, E, coenzyme Q10, minerals selenium, magnesium, superfoods such as spirulina, wheatgrass and seaweeds, and other health-giving supplements which you generally take.

I suggest that PH readers consult the current issue's Letter to the Editor Swine Flu Treatments – Emergency Natural Allopathic Medicine by Mark Sircus which provides a wealth of natural medicines which can help keep us healthy and help to prevent infection.

In a similar vein, the feature Dietary and Chemo-prevention Strategies for Prostate Cancer summarizes many of the known risk factors and dietary agents which have been shown to reduce risk of prostate cancer.

Other superb features in this issue highlight the fascinating story and properties of crystal skulls, the application of meditation for ME, homeopathy to treat seasonal allergies, Bach Flower Remedies, and nutritional and bodywork features, including Anthony Deavin's Integrating Approaches to Bodywork: The Polarity Therapy Experience.

The older and supposedly wiser I get, the more I distrust information from official experts without verifying their source, their agenda, and without checking data about adverse reactions, side effects, and most importantly, what are the alternatives to the suggested treatment and what would happen without taking the suggested treatments.

In fact, I apply this strategy to many endeavours I undertake, include lectures, seminars, health treatments, financial advice, especially the latter. However, it is, alas, virtually impossible to predict many of the world's events and cataclysms beforehand, and there's the rub. One can happily live in blissful ignorance, taking the usual, suggested route of life until the wheels come off, as they will from time to time. Or one can adopt the assiduous, investigative approach and subject every decision you take to enormous scrutiny. This is probably the more prudent approach; however it does wreck any spontaneity and fun.

This is in fact how the current world has turned into a so-called Big Brother, Orwellian, fear of terrorism-driven society. These panics have transformed what used to be simple transactions of applying for loans, renting or buying property, attending school, phoning up to enquire about your bank balance into major interrogation episodes to be endured. In order to speak with anyone about anything today, one requires database records of all your passwords, and one has to pass security before you can even speak with call centre employees.

Personally, I bemoan what our society has turned into, and begrudge the immense waste of time devoted to administration, paperwork, security. Where has all the happiness and joy disappeared? I continue to deeply enjoy the privileged articles which PH authors send me for publication, and know that out there is an infinite audience of fascinated, motivated and deeply conscious readers who will never be dictated by the official experts. Especially about their deepest health requirements. Stay safe from the Swine Flu Virus.