Thank you for all your letters. I love reading them. And thank you for sharing the newsletter with your friends and family. Lots to cover this week, so here we go. Remember, getting healthy is a moment to moment choice and is a state worth working toward. Have a great week. D.I. Minkoff, M.D.

Are you wondering if you should vaccinate your children?
According to the New Scientist, "Many millions more people than previously thought might have been given polio vaccine contaminated with a monkey virus linked to cancer." This means that 20-40 years after receiving the vaccine they may come down with cancer. How's that for bad medicine?                                                                               read more ...»

A Lifeworks Wellness Center Success Story -- "For 50 years I was steadily poisoned..."
For 50 years I was steadily poisoned by my twenty very large mercury fillings, which were regularly replaced by fresh mercury amalgam.

In 1998 all of my mercury fillings were removed without any precautions being taken.

My health immediately deteriorated rapidly and I stopped working in 2000.   read more ... »

Breaking the lawn-care pesticide cycle
A woman in Oregon noticed that every time her yard was treated with lawn-care chemicals her six-year-old son, who would play in the yard after it was deemed "safe," experienced bladder and bowel control problems. – D.I. Minkoff, M.D.                              read more ...»

It's mosquito season, do you use insect repellant? Be careful. Here's a safer way to protect yourself.
Liberally applying a mosquito repellent with 21% DEET over a period of two weeks at camp, a 20-year-old Montreal man with Down syndrome lost consciousness and dropped onto his cabin floor. Apparently the liberal application of DEET, which had saturated his sleeping bag, resulted in his deep inhalation and transdermal exposure to the substance.
– D.I. Minkoff, M.D.                                                                               read the rest ...»

Are you an artificial sweetener junky?
Are you an artificial sweetener junky? Do you reach for the pink (saccharine), the blue (Equal), or the yellow (sucralose)? Did you know that artificial sweeteners may disrupt the body's natural ability to count calories based on food sweetness and thus lead to obesity? This finding may explain why increasing numbers of people in the United States lack the natural ability to regulate food intake and body weight.                                learn more ...»

Recipe of the Week - Garlic Ginger Flank Steak
The Optimum Health Reports is trying to help guide you to live a healthier life through diet, exercise, and knowledge. We are posting a recipe each week from the cookbook Having It All Without Wheat, Dairy Or Sugar, by Gwynn Palmer.   

Please see the newsletter for the recipe.