the|underground|universe|

Grow Your Own Meds

2010-03-19T18:56:00.000-07:00

Planting a garden could save your life.

30 year-old Mioyo Shujaa certainly thinks so. When she was diagnosed with uterine fibroid tumors in 2009, the doctor told her surgery was the only hope. Two months later, Shujaa left her job and health insurance behind, “For me, the diagnosis was a wake-up call. I felt that years of poor nutrition, stress at work and never feeling like my time was my own were wreaking havoc on me – physically, mentally and spiritually. ”

Shujaa and her partner, Burt Vera Cruz, became determined to not only shrink Shujaa’s tumors, but to transition into a life that they loved loving. For Vera Cruz, establishing a more organic lifestyle was all but critical, “Having the ability to nurture yourself and feed yourself natural, organic food s that are free of chemicals eliminates your reliance on a system that is increasingly dependent on fossil fuels and creating more pollutants.”

The couple began growing heirloom vegetables in paper cups in their Los Angeles apartment in the fall of 2009. Several harvests later Shujaa reports an increase in her overall health and a decrease in the symptoms and size of her fibroid tumors, “I don’t plan to go to another hospital again for the rest of my life. I believe that the human body is naturally capable of maintaining health and warding off diseases when free of toxins and unnecessary stress.”

Unfortunately, chronic diseases appear to be on the rise-especially in the United States.

According to a 2007 study conducted by the National Cancer Institute, 1 in 2 Americans will suffer from some form of cancer in their lifetime.

50 years ago the occurrence of cancer in the US was 1 in 300.

In 1928 the late German researcher and physician, Dr. Max Gerson, believed he’d found the cure for not only all cancers, but for most chronic and degenerative diseases – organic vegetables.

Before his death, Dr. Gerson claimed to have cured hundreds of patients through an herbal detoxifying regiment and nutrient-rich organic vegetable juices.

Dr. David Servan-Schreiber, cofounder of the Center for Integrative Medicine, concurs that 5 or more servings of organic vegetables per day is an essential part of the anti-cancer diet.

The NCI estimates that the numbers of new cases of cancer will more than double by 2050. The key to avoiding this fate, it seems, could be homegrown.

Treating Sinus Infections with Home Remedies

2010-02-28T10:33:00.000-08:00

About three days ago, I woke up with an itch in my throat and headache. I knew I was going to get sick and in no time, I was sneezing and my body felt sluggish overall. I tried gargling with wild oregano oil to no avail. Then I tried rinsing my sinuses with a saline solution, still no result.
Finally, I searched the internets for other solutions and landed on earthclinic.com which provided me with more solutions that I ever thought of.

For a sore throat, 2 tbs of apple cider vinegar with 8 oz of water seems to be the popular remedy and for sinus congestion, a tomato tea with hot sauce and lemon is also popular. And since my ailments were related I added the ACV to the tomato tea last night and I woke up this morning with less congestion and I easily discharged mucus from my throat. Infection gone yet? No.

Instead of the simple saline solution for my nasal rinse, I added a pinch of baking soda and a 1/4 tsp of hydrogen peroxide and used distilled (not brita filtered water!) water. As I rinsed a dollop of green mucus dropped into the sink and now I can breathe again. I feel no sinus pressure and my mucus is pretty clear.

The real test is to keep up with this regiment over the next week to see how or if my ailments subside.

Before trying these remedies, I considered going to a doctor...but only for a minute. I don't want to be prescribed with a chemical nasal spray that'll open up my sinuses but ignore the infection. And antibiotics don't treat the actual location of the infection as much as these remedies do. The health care industry is making billions by keeping the population and their paying patients sick. We can either fight back by waiting for health care reform, OR we can simply heal ourselves with remedies that use common household ingredients and cost a fraction of pharmaceutical drugs.

Yes, we need to fix the broken health care system. Yes, we need a single payer solution to combat the profit motive. But we can't wait for the industry to rid themselves of greed and inefficiency. They still have to pay nurses their $80k salaries, big pharm needs its cut and someone needs to pay for the overhead cost of maintaining medical buildings. It's time for us to take health into our own hands.

The Gerson Miracle

2010-02-24T13:02:00.000-08:00

"The cure for cancer has been discovered."
~The Gerson Miracle

The Gerson Miracle documents the amazing work of Dr. Max Gerson whose Gerson method has successfully treated all types of cancers since 1928.

Sharing the stories of nine longtime cancer survivors, this film explores the principles and effectiveness of Gerson Therapy, a holistic method of treating cancer and other degenerative diseases. Gerson's daughter, Charlotte -- founder of the Gerson Institute -- also discusses her fight to keep the controversial therapy going despite objections from those who question its effectiveness.

Gerson targets nutritional deficiency and environmental toxins such as chlorine, fluoride and pesticides - all of which are currently added to the US supply of water and food -as major factors causing cancer.

Not surprisingly, the US is one of the only countries in which the practice has been banned.

Dr. Gerson died of arsenic poisoning immediately after writing a book on his method.

Check out this documentary in its entirety on YouTube and pass it on.

The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil

2010-02-08T14:35:00.000-08:00

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990 nearly sent Cuba's economy into a complete tailspin. In a matter of hours, the island nation's oil imports were cut in half and their food imports decreased by 80%.

This documentary tells of not only the hardships of what the Cuban people came to call "the Special Period"; but of the creativity and power of a mobilized collective community. Cubans share how they transitioned from a highly oil-dependent, industrial agricultural system to one utilizing organic agriculture, community gardens and sustainable energy technologies.

The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil is a project of the Arthur Morgan Institute for Community Solutions - a non-profit organization that designs and teaches low-energy solutions to the current unsustainable, fossil fuel based, industrialized, and centralized way of living. Visit www.communitysolution.org for more information."

"Everyone who is concerned about Peak Oil needs to see this film. Cuba survived an energy famine during the 1990's, and how it did so constitutes one of the most important and hopeful stories of the past not just of individual achievement, but one of the collective mobilization of an entire society to meet an enormous challenge."
Richard Heinberg, author of The Party's Over, Powerdown

Watch the whole documentary on Google Videos: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1721584909067928384#

Your History Month: The Danger of a Single Story

2010-02-05T15:06:00.000-08:00

Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.

[reprinted from http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html]

Your History Month

2010-02-05T13:41:00.001-08:00

African-American history is American history. European-American history is American history. Asian-American history is American history. Latino-American history is American history. Indigenous/Native American history is American History.

Our collective history is part of the biological, social, political and karmic fabric of the entire planet.

This is especially true in the United States where the legacies (and repercussions) of the Native American genocide, British Colonial rule, 300+ years of chattel slavery, the Industrial Revolution, Women's Suffrage, the Mexican War, Japanese Internment and Imperialism are shared by everyone.

We are one people with one collective story - a story best understood as a whole when seen from its many different perspectives.

The Underground Universe is celebrating Your History Month this February. We believe that the human experience is intrinsically linked -without regard to phenotype or genotype.

We believe historical and cultural awareness is an integral part of the effort to affect sustainable social, environmental and political wellness.

HAPPY HISTORY MONTH.

Peace,
the|underground|universe

http://www.flickr.com/photos/razorline/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

The Permaculture Concept

2009-10-28T15:29:00.001-07:00

“Permaculture is that art of the possible”
Graham Bell ‘The Permaculture Garden”