What's new? For all you non-gardeners out there, our new Human FAQ: Sprouts could be the answer to consuming fresh greens which are so very important for optimum health. Another article especially for all those of you who have wailed "I can't live without at least some grains!", is the equally new Human FAQ: Heirloom Grains with seven old-fashioned, healthful grains described that are safe for most to eat according to your metabolic type. In fact, many are not even true grains/grasses at all meaning they have no gluten and, better yet, are alkaline in the system. They make great porridges and side dishes plus flat breads and crepes. No, you won't get risen rolls and breads since those are dependent upon the very gluten which is so injurious to most digestions. For even more in the food line, we have found a couple of good links for purchasing grass-fed beef and mercury-free wild fish. www.grasslandbeef.com offers not only beef but also poultry, pork, bison, variety meats, dairy, bones and even honey while www.vitalchoice.com offers frozen or smoked wild salmon plus canned salmon, tuna (to make you tuna eaters happy!), anchovies and even wild blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. Permanent links are up on the Human Handbook page. And in anticipation of a long, hot summer, do also look at the new article Human FAQ: Exercise & Hydration. For those of you who have read our Human FAQ: Microwave Ovens article and have pitched your "nukers" like we did a few years ago, there appears to be a safe, infra-red alternative: the FlavorWave Oven which is a small, counter-top appliance. Interestingly, both of the sites above offer them since it cooks even frozen-solid meats and fish to perfection, but you can also do a web search and see what you come up with. If anyone knows of any reason why these may not be healthful after all (Mercola has nothing about them), please let me know. At the moment we are still using our super counter-top rotisserie/oven/broiler but we just may change to this smaller, lighter, eco-friendly device. And for any of you looking for truly exceptional photographs of you, you and your family or you and your pets, either for business purposes or gift giving, do visit MB Imagery at http: //www.mbimagery.com. I have seen real live examples of Maria Boldry's work and think it is exceptional. What she does with angles is truly amazing! Plus she has very reasonable prices which is sort of icing on the cake. Internal Spring Cleaning . . . Spring is a good time to not only air out and de-clutter our homes, but is also a great time to do the same with our, and our animals', bodies. It is always best to detox with the waxing moon, culminating a few days after full and the full moon in April occurs on the 24th. NOTE: it really is best to avoid detoxing while trying to DO something. In other words, avoid detoxing when athletic events are on the horizon, when pregnant, when testing is around the cornier, when traveling, etc. Even with herbs, detoxing is stressful on the body with it requiring a bit more rest than usual. HORSES - get ready for the new show season by detoxing with Herbal Tonic, a completely herbal vermifuge (parasite) powder. Daily Excel at 1/2 tsp helps to maintain the cleanliness you gained with that. It can be added to the daily grain ration of PGR and Regular OR TNT makes it really easy by having it, and 5 other terrific products, all in one easy-to-feed pellet! Of course you can also do a straight Excel cleanse by removing supplements from the diet (feeding only hay and HES) and upping the amount to 1 full teaspoon; doing that for 10-14 days or so can work wonders with horses that have been just a bit off. DOGS & CATS - can also partake of Tonic and Excel - you may never need to worry about worms again! Obviously amounts are adjusted downward with our 100# GSDs receiving just teaspoons of the Tonic OR 1/4 tsp daily Excel with 1/2 tsp for a full cleanse. Cats do well with 1/4-1/2 tsp Tonic or pinches of Excel HUMANS - even though the products mentioned above are formulated strictly for animals, many distributors have bucked the "rules" and partaken of them with the same fabulous results. For a diet cleanse, stick with soups and salads - including blended or juiced salads. I suggest some in the Food Thoughts section lower down on this page. Once you have finished your cleanse, then you might consider starting a new physical program to get into shorts and bathing suit shape. www.t-tapp.com contains some great, body sculpting, easy-to- do exercises that require no expensive gym or equipment - just your body, a floor and very little time. Try the preview section before buying the tapes or DVD's. The site is filled with success stories and great body hints, but what I really like about it is there is a very real appreciation of proper organ placement (a little yoga here!), lymph drainage (more yoga concepts), and even skin tightening awareness so vast weight loss does not result in excess loose skin. In my estimation, from what I have observed, it can actually rival my favorite www.callanetics.com. Of course you can also get some good yoga tapes or simply put on some great music and dance! GARDENS - as you till in your winter mulch, also till in some HumiZyme or HZ Plus to give your garden a good spring boost! Brief notes . . . Also, with Spring here, many horse people are thinking in terms of hay as their winter stores become depleted. Before you buy, do review our new, improved Equine Basics: Forage & Hay article. And be sure to get your hay tested! Here along the front range, Weld Labs in Greeley is the place to contact: 970-353- 8118. If your chosen hay tests low in protein, add HES to your horse's diet and, if your horse can handle alfalfa, get some good, clean alfalfa pellets and feed about 1 qt daily at a different time than feeding PGR or supplements. Many geriatric horses require that you soak these hard pellets before feeding them. If the hay tests out low or unbalanced in minerals, your Free Choicers (always offer all 4: Izmine, NTM Salt, 1 to 1 & 2 to 1) should compensate fine there. If it tests out high in Nitrates (remember you have to ask specifically for this very important test - Weld charges only $11 for it - it is not performed automatically), don't get it - that is an unfixable situation! High nitrates cause nitrosis which is  an ability to carry oxygen in the blood. In turn, this can affect behavior (essentially brain damage due to lack of oxygen), gestation (mares can abort), and coat appearance (due to suppressing of Vit A). And, since high nitrates can also suppress copper assimilation, immune systems can become compromised especially in dark horses who require higher copper levels anyway. One sign of copper insufficiency is a reddish cast to normally dark coats. High nitrate hay can, but not always, feel rather brittle or rough, breaking easily rather than having that sort of springy feeling that grass hay should have.   And many people are getting their new foals on the ground. Do review both Equine FAQ: Foaling and Equine FAQ: Foal Feeding before that big day arrives! Remember that it helps the mare have an easy labor to start feeding Easy Boy about 3-4 weeks before her due date and for a couple of weeks after foaling. And don't forget to have plenty of Release, Relax & Tranquil on hand for all! DynaSpark during and after labor can make sure her electrolytes stay balanced while adding up to 2, or even 3 for some mares, quarts of HES to her supplement program right after foaling (build up slowly in 1/4 cup increments) will ensure an abundant, nutrient-loaded milk supply while keeping your mare in show condition! Remember though to wait until the baby is about 3 months old before detoxing mom; she really cannot be expected to grow, deliver, or lactate a baby while detoxing. And in anticipation of pest season hovering on the horizon, you might also think about stocking up on DynaShield. Totally safe for all critters and humans, too - even for fluffy white cats! See P/E/L Results: Fleas No More. All the Dynamite products are so incredible, including their dog food. We raised 2 GSD's on it with our at-the-time ancient Herzen receiving it for the last 6 months of his life and dying with the best coat he had ever had along with a complete elimination of his life-long battle against dreadful hot spots. And then along came Carl (Omega's Carl vom der Geberge) with an almost literally deadly allergy to all corn. So out went the Dynamite and in came a search for a decent dog food. Oh my! Since then I have heard of numerous other dogs also being very sensitive to Dynamite Dog Food while most of the dogs I know are absolutely thriving on it. But for those like Carl who do not (terrible scratching and hot spots), I have compiled this little list which may help you...including the local distributors and the manufacturer's websites for you to read all about them, make your own decisions on what is best for you and your dog (or cat), and perhaps to locate a distributor near you: What we are feeding right now and available at Poudre Feed:      www.naturapet.com  their California Natural Chicken & Rice Puppy Food (small kibbles) with its extra fat is what is apparently now encouraging him to scratch less. All 3 German Shepherd dogs (from almost 2 yr old Carl, to 9 yr old Feigl to 13 yr old Eric) daily receive a raw egg yolk, raw meat, cooked yam, leftover veggies/fruits, DynaPro, both Human and Horse Regular, Izmine, Herbal Green, and for Carl, MSM. The 2 cats, black Dett and orange Kiri (about 18 yrs old each) get their California Natural Cat Food plus powdered Purrrformance; they hunt their own raw foods! Carlson's fish oil is also a good idea for many dogs if you don't mind the fishy breath. The same dog food company, Natura, that makes the California Natural line, also offers a grain-free kibble called Innova Evo that looks excellent. Other good options:       Poudre Feed www.stevesrealfood.com  frozen & freeze-dried diets from the author of See Spot Live Longer www.naturesvariety.com  frozen, freeze-dried & kibbled foods; their Venison contains only quinoa & amaranth as grains www.naturalbalanceinc.com  freeze-dried sweet potato & fish        ARFY's www.timberwolforganics.com kibbles and fermented dried meat rolls         Vitamin Cottage www.solidgoldhealth.com  WolfKing - 2 dog owners are finding this to be effective         only available online www.thehonestkitchen.com  grain-free dehydrated meals "Force" & "Embark" www.omaspride.com  frozen or freeze-dried diets including meat/bones/veggies + raw tripe Please, if anyone has any experience, good or not, with these or other reasonably pure foods you have found, do let me know so I can update this list and keep it available for those requiring it. Thanks! Book Reports Klaus Ferdinand Hempfling has an extraordinary new book available entitled What Horses Reveal: From First Meeting to Friend For Life PLUS its companion video Coming Together: Use Body Language to Establish Leadership, Friendship & Trust. Here Hempfling describes 26 personality types within horses regardless of breed and shows specifically how to work with each one. This is about as close as you can get to having Klaus himself as your private tutor! As with his previous book, Dancing With Horses, this one is packed with beautiful and beautifully illustrative photos. The book is available at Amazon and both book and video are available at www. horseandriderbooks.com. Thanks, Teresa, for the heads up on this one! Rex Ewing, author of Beyond the Hay Days which I quote extensively in my equine articles, has another book out but this one developed from he and his wife building a sustainable home written about in Logs, Wind & Sun. It is called Power With Nature and contains a wealth of practical advice - the first of its kind that we have found to date! This wide-ranging local rancher (he lives in Masonville CO) also has a book entitled Hydrogen: Hot Stuff, Cool Science and forthcoming Monkeys Are Made of Chocolate: Unseen Costa Rica. All of Ewing's books are available from his website www.pixiejackpress.com or, of course, Amazon. Along similar lines are 2 books which speak knowledgeably of various modern building techniques utilizing ancient materials. Both The Natural House: A Complete Guide to Healthy, Energy- Efficient, Environmental Homes by Daniel D. Chiras and Art of Natural Building by Joseph F. Kennedy, Michael Smith, Catherine Wanek offer dozens of ideas for those attempting to truly live a cost-effective, "less is more" lifestyle even to a personally designed and personally built dwelling whether of rammed earth, corn cobs, old tires, straw bales or even the new "papercrete." Both are available of course through amazon.com but also at www.papercrete.com which has dozens of other alternative building ideas. Wonderful concepts for you younger folk just starting out or for those older versions wanting to move out of the city. I have just completed The Fluoride Deception by award-winning investigative journalist Christopher Bryson. What he has to say will probably apall you as much as it did me, but the evidence is rapidly mounting that not only is the fluoride used in our water systems a far nastier substance than most of realized, but that this fact (certainly the neurotoxic affects to both fetuses and young children) was deliberately withheld from the public. The Notes start on page 242 and continue on through page 358 after which the index continues for another 16 pages! I can nothing more than please read it and pass a copy along to your dentist, your doctor, and those involved in making public health decisions. Your health and the health of your loved ones depends on your speaking out! And PLEASE, if you live in Ft Collins, vote against fluoride in the upcoming April 5 election! Did You Know?  (from www.healthynewsletter.com, with my comments following) ...that at a typical concentration of 20 ppm (milligrams per liter = milligrams per kilogram), a liter of diet soda would release 1.6 mg methanol, enough to trigger migraine headaches and other similar symptoms common to methanol poisoning. For more on migraines, see Human FAQ: Migraines.As an alternative to pop, drop an herbal tea-bag into your Catalyst Water-activated day's worth of drinking water. ...according to Dr. Reg McDaniel, the human body is able to perform its own natural "stem cell therapy" when it receives enough glyconutrients. According to Dr. Reg, there are numerous free-floating stem cells in your blood that are available to be assigned to do "stem cell therapy" wherever it is most needed in the body, and they are ACTIVATED and enabled to do their work by glyconutrients. Since glyconutrients are located in vegetables and fruits, make sure you consume a wide variety of Super Foods and Sprouts and avoid their antithesis, the Toxic Foods. Also, as a chlorophyll supplier,Herbal Green is a source of glyconutrients while Izmine provides the micro-trace minerals to enhance their biological effects. ...according to a report published in last month's issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a new study suggests that chamomile tea - especially the German variety (also called manzanilla) - may relieve a wide variety of health problems, including colds and cramps. Chamomile has long been championed as a panacea for all types of low-level illness, stress-related symptoms, and muscle pains. This newest study is among the first to prove such claims in humans (many animal studies have previously confirmed these positive effects). As above, make your tea with water activated by Catalyst Water! ...if healthy bacteria (a protective factor) are missing within the intestinal wall, unhealthful bacteria, yeast, parasites and toxins may accumulate, damaging the intestinal wall and producing poor intestinal health. Your gastrointestinal tract is a "tube" approximately 15 feet long, running through the body from your mouth to the anus. DynaPro, a fermented product, actually promotes healthy intestinal bacteria. Formulated and sold only for animal use, there are plenty of human animals who have partaken of it with similar successes. ...as early as 1989 according to EPA records, more than 1 billion pounds of chemicals were released into the ground, threatening the soil where we grow our food and in the groundwater in which we get drinking water. Over 188 million pounds of chemicals were discharged into lakes and rivers. More than 2 billion pounds of chemicals were pumped into the air we breathe. This produces a grand total of over 5 billion pounds of chemical pollutants released into the environment in just that one-year. Do you still really think that neither you nor your animals require detoxing? Regular, or quarterly,use of Miracle Clay can work wonders for removing heavy metals as can using the special- order Chelation Therapy Suppositories. Points to Ponder Drugs Under Scrutiny . . . two more drugs are under scrutiny: The FDA has recommended short-term and intermittent use of Elidel and Protopic, recommended for eczema,  as the last option and in a lowest possible amount, saying, "The long-term safety of these products is unknown." Studies have shown that prolonged use of the drugs may lead to increased risk of cancer. The agency also stressed that children under two years old and others with a weakened or compromised immune system should not use the drugs. http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems. asp?ID=IE320050311063318&Title=Features+-+Health+% 26+Science&Topic=-162 MS Drug Pulled . . . and, according to ABC News February 28, 2005, the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) drug Tysabri, which was expected to become the world’s leading treatment for the condition, was pulled from the market after one patient died, with another case suspected, from a rare central nervous system infection called  multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a rare infection of the brain and spinal cord. The drug;s makers, Biogen Idec and Elan Corp., also stopped clinical trials of Tysabri to treat rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Tysabri in November 2004 under an accelerated program the FDA reserves for drugs it believes will have “extraordinary benefits” to patients. It’s the first in a class of MS drugs called selective adhesion molecule, or SAM, inhibitors, and it works by blocking a molecule known as alpha-4 integrin and preventing inflammatory cells from working into brain tissue. However, Dr. Lawrence Steinman, a Stanford University professor and an MS specialist who has developed MS drugs himself, said he repeatedly warned of the potential for serious immune-system side effects with Tysabri and drugs like it. After Tysabri, which was expected to generate more than $1 billion in sales, was withdrawn, Biogen shares went down 43 percent while Elan shares went down 70 percent. Combined, the two companies lost $16.9 billion in market value. Further, in the two weeks before the recall, three Biogen executives sold thousands of company shares for millions of dollars in profits. Elan execs did not make any sales in the days before the FDA recall notification. http://www.mercola. com/2005/mar/16/ms_drug_death.htm Crestor Advisory . . . On March 3, The Washington Post stated that the FDA issued an advisory on AstraZeneca's popular cholesterol-lowering statin drug Crestor. Apparently in increases the risk of potentially life-threatening damage known as rhabdomyolysis which can lead to kidney failure. Especially at risk are those of Asian ancestry. Since Crestor hit the market in September 2003, there have been 117 cases of rhabdomyolysis and 41 cases of kidney failure. Because of this, prescription suggestions have changed from the highest approved dose of 40 milligrams to half that, or 20 milligrams. According to Dr. Mercola, "it is one of the five drugs that Dr. David Graham warned about when he questioned Vioxx in his November 2004 congressional hearing. Crestor, as are all statin drugs, are non-specific inhibitors of a number of very important liver enzymes. The enzyme they are intended to inhibit is called HMG Coenzyme A reductase, the enzyme that causes your liver to make cholesterol when high insulin levels stimulate it. Unfortunately, these drugs don't just stop at this enzyme; statins not only block HMG coenzyme A reductase but they also block Coenzyme-Q10 (CoQ10), a vital enzyme that your body