Olive oil comes from olives, peanut oil from peanuts, sunflower oil from sunflowers, but what is a canola? There was nothing on the label to enlighten me, which I thought odd, so I did some investigating on the internet. There are plenty of official Canola sites lauding this new “wonder” oil with all its low-fat health benefits and providing basic background information.

Canola, I learn, is not the name of a natural plant; it’s a combination of “Canada” and “oil”. and is the name given to a genetically engineered plant developed in Canada from the rapeseed plant, a member of the mustard family. Hmmm. I happen to know that rapeseed oil is poisonous to living things and is an excellent insect repellent. I have been using it (in very diluted form, as per instructions) to kill the aphids on my roses for the last two years. It works very well; it suffocates them. Ask for it at your nursery.

Even AgriAlternatives, the online Innovation and Technology Magazine for Farmers, and one of the web sites singing the praises of the new canola industry, acknowledges the poisonous facts. “By nature, these rapeseed oils, which have long been used to produce oils for industrial purposes, are...toxic to humans and other animals,” On other sites, I read that rapeseed oil is used as a lubricant, fuel, soap and synthetic rubber base, and as an illuminate for color pages in magazines. It is an industrial oil. It is not a food. It was the source of the chemical warfare agent mustard gas, which was used in WWI and perhaps again in the Gulf War. It has been linked as a causative agent to emphysema, respiratory distress, anemia, constipation, irritability, and blindness in animals and humans. There are some very suggestive coincidences in the removal of rapeseed oil from animal feed and the disappearance of Mad Cow disease.

I’m wondering if I really want to eat any of its relatives.

Web sites that support canola as safe to use acknowledge that it was developed from the rapeseed plant, but insist that genetic engineering has eliminated the toxic nature of rapeseed and left us with a plant whose oil is both cheap to produce and safe to use. Studies of lab animals with canola oil in their diets, however, suggest otherwise. Rats developed fatty degeneration of heart, kidney, adrenals and thyroid gland. When canola oil was withdrawn from their diets, the deposits dissolved but scar tissue remained on all vital organs. Despite such results, no studies on humans were made before getting FDA approval to market Canola oil in the USA.

Does that explain why the Canadian government and industry paid our Federal Food and Drug Administration 50 million dollars to have canola oil placed on the GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) list? Administrative filing fees are one thing, but $50,000,000.00?? What does that buy?

Well...how about a new industry? US and Canadian farmers grow genetically engineered rapeseed, it is processed, and manufacturers use its oil (canola) in thousands of processed foods. That equals a lot of jobs which keeps somebody--probably several somebodies on both sides of the border--in political office. And somewhere, someone is making a lot of money.

No formal studies have been done that I’m aware of, but there is anecdotal evidence of links between ingestion of canola oil and a range of health problems. Quality control tasters, for example, at an apple-chip factory where Canola oil was used exclusively for frying developed numerous health problems in the course of 9 months. Complaints included loose teeth and gum disease; numb hands and feet; extreme joint pain; swollen arms and legs upon rising in the morning. Others were cloudy vision and hearing loss; fragile skin and hair loss; lack of energy and heart pains. Typically hair grew back and other symptoms reversed after leaving the job. Five years after leaving, however, one young woman still suffers some joint pain, gum disease, and numbness in her extremities.

An idle question has led me to a lot of not so comfortable answers. I add up commercial and political interests, 50 million bucks, documented results of adding and then withdrawing Canola from diets both animal and human, stir in a couple of suggestive coincidences and some stories, and I decide that I don’t trust the FDA or genetic engineering. That means I check the labels of any processed food before I buy it, and avoid anything with Canola oil on the list of ingredients. It also means that anything I cook is either steamed or lightly sauteed in olive oil or old fashioned butter from a genetically unmodified cow.

In December 1991, on a flight home from Thailand, my husband Jerry and I decided to start planning a 1-3 year trip around the world. That decision put in motion a most phenomenal journey of change and loss that led, ultimately, to the understanding that the only thing that is forever is change itself.

In my mind I break the trip into three main components. During the first component, the 20 months from January 1992 to our departure in August, 1993, I was the happiest I had ever been. After many years of recovery, psychotherapy and ‘working on myself’, I felt that it had all finally paid off. I had a full, rewarding private psychotherapy practice; a loving, healthy relationship with my husband; my son was doing relatively well; and I lived in a wonderful house on the beach. Life was good! The long, extended trip we were planning required that I let go of all of the above and more. It wasn’t easily done; I faltered many times about going and did not actually buy the airplane tickets until three months before our departure date.

Every area of my life was changing as we packed up a two bedroom household and put everything we owned, including two cars, into storage. All that was left were the clothes we wore plus a 25 pound pack and a small carry-on bag. That pack and bag contained our “household” for the next 2 1/2 years, though the things that I thought were important to include in the beginning changed as we traveled through changing climates and cultures.

The most difficult part of leaving, besides saying good by to my son, was telling my clients--letting go of my “well know therapist” identity. I had to ask myself, “Who am I?” if not trusted therapist, well-known workshop presenter and newspaper columnist. I experienced many periods of deep, deep sadness and some fear as parts of my ego personality structure let go of who it believed I was. I discovered that each episode of “letting go” of feelings, thoughts, and beliefs created space within me that had a lightness and joy, and I became more available to experience the essence of who I really am in each present moment.

Not everything about leaving was difficult. I felt a great relief from my personal and professional responsibilities when I left. I felt like the stress and pressure of our American lifestyle had been lifted. I felt like a free bird beginning a flight! I had not taken many breaks from work in the previous 15 years, so I was definitely ready for an extended period away. Later in the trip I was able to look back and assess my life and work in a manner few people have the opportunity to do. The image in mind is that of an astronaut circling the earth, viewing it from a distant perspective.

In the course of the trip itself, my sense of self and identity shifted regularly as I made new decisions, changed my attitudes about my world, and became ‘Sue the traveler’ instead of ‘Sue the therapist’. There was constant change on every level, and though it was often difficult, scary and infuriating, ultimately I found it to be a positive process.

I remember a time in Nepal, early in our trip, when we worked at a 16 bed inpatient hospital that serves people who have leprosy, and also has an outpatient clinic that serves a large, poor population. Our attitudes and beliefs around a whole range of issues like cleanliness and promptness and reliability met serious challenges there. In some Eastern cultures, for example, it is sometimes a fact that just because someone says they’ll do something, doesn’t mean that they will, and ‘being on time’ has less value than in the West. And at work, some of the medical practices were at least 40 years behind modern western medicine.

One day I was in our small, primitive bathroom of the one room apartment the clinic had given us to live in. An enormous level of anger and frustration was welling up in me, and I came face to face with some of my control issues. I remember looking into the mirror and hearing an inner voice say, “Sue, you had better deal with and let go of needing to make these people do things your Western way or you will develop a stomach ulcer and need to go home, or go crazy!” At that moment I chose to let go, which consisted of feeling my feelings and changing my attitude. I realized that I simply had to adapt to dominant cultural attitudes and practices that were utterly different to my own. I could still prefer clean rivers and better pest control, but the emotional charge was diminished and I was better able to live in and with the present reality.

It is difficult to put into words all that happened in the course of three years and 14 countries. There were astonishing, once-in-a-lifetime experiences. We climbed a 16,500 foot snowy mountain pass in the Himalayas where I felt a profound and mystical connection with the beauty of nature, and where I had a near death experience. And there were the cumulative experiences of the changes in every day realities like food and money or acceptable dress and behavior whenever we crossed a border. Just as we got used to one country, we would leave and go to another with a different way of doing things. I began to be consciously aware of making no assumptions, and I began to get better and better at dealing with and transforming the loss that comes with change into feeling lighter and freer. That doesn’t mean it was always easier or less painful; I just became more familiar with the process.

As of this writing we have been home one year and two months. Reintegrating back into my Seattle life has been more difficult than getting ready to leave. Again everything shifts, but this one is a double. I’m coming home...only it feels strange. One of the most difficult shifts has been from Eastern to Western time and energy. I had totally forgotten what it was like to use an appointment book. I got lost in voice mail systems and the use of computers has leapt far ahead of anything I know. Perhaps the most difficult changes to acknowledge, much less to accept, were that the energy between myself and some of my closer friends had shifted.. Much has changed for all of us over a three year period, and some of the people in the center of my life when I left three years ago have moved out of it along the way.

Today I am deeply aware that the only constant thing is change. It is the underlying truth of our world. Another underlying truth is that change implies loss, and loss is often painful and frightening, Dealing with loss means feeling the feelings and adapting to a new reality--letting go of what has already passed and gone, shifting awareness to what has come in, and transforming the pain of loss to appreciation of the new present.

Are diseases such as arthritis, acid reflux, diabetes, cancer, psoriasis, eczema, Parkinson's, fibromyalgia, emphysema and many, many more plaguing your life or someone whom you care about? Are you longing to have more energy? If so, please read on.

One of the least understood concepts of nutrition is understanding what acid and alkaline balance is. The cells of the human body depend on a balanced acid-alkaline pH. If any fluids are abnormal, digestive enzymes are rendered inactive, food does not digest properly, and allergic reactions can result. Food bound micro-organisms such as yeast, bacteria, parasites, molds, viruses, etc. are liberated in the body, which puts stress on the immune system.

Why should we be concerned about pH levels? Since most of the body (50-60%) is water-based , the pH level has profound effects on all body chemistry, health and disease. All regulatory mechanisms (including breathing, circulation, digestion, and hormonal production) serve the purpose of balancing pH, by removing caustic metabolized acid residues from body tissues without damaging living cells. If the pH deviates too far to the acid side or too far to the alkaline side, cells become poisoned by their own toxic waste and die. Just as acid rain can destroy a forest and alkaline wastes can pollute a lake, an imbalanced pH corrodes all body tissue, slowly eating into the 60,000 miles of our veins and arteries like corrosives eating into marble. If left unchecked, an imbalanced pH will interrupt all cellular activities and functions, from the beating of your heart to the neural firing of your brain.

INTRODUCING...THE MASTER'S MIRACLE CHEMICALLY-FREE, ALL-NATURAL SOAP THAT CLEANSES THE BODY INTERNALLY AND EXTERNALLY BY WASHING BACTERIA AND TOXINS OUT OF THE BLOODSTREAM LIKE AN INTERNAL DETERGENT, WHILE HELPING TO OPTIMIZE pH LEVELS.

Our bodies contain many toxins, chemicals, parasites, fungus, bacteria and yeast that, if not cleaned from our system, tend to develop into major illnesses. Most people use soaps that contain animal fat causing the pores of the skin to clog, trapping chemicals and toxins in the body.

THE MASTER'S MIRACLE PROCESS:

1. Bathe in a bubble bath of 1 oz. Master's Miracle Soap and 1 oz. Master's Miracle Neutralizer for approximately 30-40 minutes in water as warm as tolerable. (Many report the water is black after 3-4 baths).

2. Drink the Neutralizer, a mixture of natural minerals and organics (tastes like water and raises pH within seconds). When the booklet states "7 drops" of neutralizer, this is merely for maintenance for those who already have an optimum pH level. We recommend drinking 1-2 oz. neutralizer a day, more for those who have very low pH levels.

3. Topically, rub the gel and lotion on the body for pain relief, skin problems, headaches, burns, insect bites, etc.

People are reporting MIRACLES: relief from cancer, arthritis, psoriasis, shingles, high blood pressure, diabetes, weight loss, Parkinson's, emphysema, fibromayalgia, asthma, acid reflux disorder, hot flashes, gum disease, acne and skin problems, just to name a few!

WE DO NOT HAVE A DISEASE PROBLEM IN AMERICA, WE HAVE AN EATING PROBLEM.

95% of the US population is acidic due to the fact that most people eat a diet of cooked and processed foods. Foods fall into two types, acid or alkaline, due to the type of residue that remains after the food is digested. THE MASTER'S MIRACLE products drastically increase the body's pH, creating an atmosphere in which foreign organisms CANNOT survive.

Many toothpastes containing fluoride have warning labels asking users to call a poison control center if swallowed. Since these chemicals are harmful to our bodies, we suggest using the gel and soap to brush your teeth. Your teeth will feel cleaner and smoother than ever before and your gums will be healthier too! Usually after the first bath with THE MASTER'S MIRACLE SOAP, people report their skin feeling completely smooth and energized, like it's never felt before. Skin conditions totally reverse.

NOTE: The Master's Miracle soap products cleanse the body so it is able to heal itself. These products are not a cure. For more information contact:

From Yogananda we move to Beyondananda. If you've never heard of Swami Beyondananda you owe it to yourself to go visit some of the links to his work. He is the funniest, most uplifting punster I have ever met.

Let me provide a small sample:

I love Swami's humor because it helps us see the shadow side of our deepest beliefs. These beliefs that are supposed to be enlightening become encumbering if we don't integrate the shadow side. What better way to see and incorporate the shadow side than through laughter? Laughter lets us touch places that we would be too afraid to touch if we weren't laughing.

If you poke at someone's belief system, they will get defensive. Swami never crosses that line. He always invites you to laugh with, not at. There is always deep compassion in his humor.

Did you ever wonder how much it costs a drug company for the active ingredient in prescription medications? It does not seem unreasonable to think it must cost a lot, since many drugs sell for more than $2.00 per tablet. We got curious and did a search of offshore chemical synthesizers that supply the active ingredients found in drugs approved by the FDA. As we have revealed in past issues of Life Extension, a significant percentage of drugs sold in the United States contains active ingredients made in other countries. We obtained the actual price of active ingredients used in some of the most popular drugs sold in America...and we were outraged. The chart below shows why.

First SARS, then monkeypox, now the flu. How far can the media go in stirring up public hysteria and fear of diseases? Answer: as far as drug companies tell them. "Jump," say the drug companies. "How high?" say their media cohorts. "High enough to sell all our new flu vaccine."

First the media conjure up a deadly flu epidemic, a killer flu that spares no one. Children die in Colorado. A policeman falls in his tracks in San Francisco. Everyone knows someone with the dread disease, and the death toll mounts. Is this year's flu any worse than other years? Probably not.

Then the flu shots disappear. A shortage is announced. What can the fearful public do? Thank goodness we still have that new live-virus nasal vaccine waiting for just such a crisis. The fact is that the public had already rejected the expensive new vaccine. Only 400,000 doses of Flumist had been sold prior to the media hoopla over the killer flu. And the manufacturer expected that most of those doses would be returned unused. Those fortunes changed when the killer flu hit and no one could get the injected vaccine. Now the drug company in question stands to make a hefty profit at $70 per dose for millions of doses. And insurers like Aetna and Cigna have miraculously changed their collective minds and decided to cover the expensive new vaccine after all. Everyone wins, except you. Because you are the unwitting victim of this media manipulation and drug company exploitation.

Here is the punch line. The vaccine does not contain the virus they say is causing this flu. Last year it was too difficult to isolate and culture the Fujian virus strain and they omitted it from the vaccine. Therefore both vaccines are ineffective in preventing the Fujian strain that the CDC insists is causing the current epidemic.

Amid all of this media circus, no one mentions the adverse effects of the flu vaccine, the cases of paralysis, the spread of the three live viruses contained in Flumist from the vaccine recipient to everyone within a four foot radius of that person's sneeze, and the symptoms of the dreaded flu caused by the vaccine itself.

I do not recommend that anyone get a flu vaccine. Whether you are eight months old or eighty, the vaccine will not help you. Whether you have asthma or emphysema, the vaccine will not prevent further disease. It may in fact cause a significant deterioration in your health.

Here are some ways to avoid getting sick:
1. Get plenty of rest.
2. Take vitamin C (1,000 mg) and zinc (25 mg).
3. Exercise regularly despite the cold weather.
4. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables for their vitamin/antioxidant content.
5. If your immune system is weakened and you get frequent colds or have allergies or asthma, then consider taking colostrum (1 tspn twice a day), or an astragalus formula to boost your immunity. Children can take half the adult dose.
6. See your local homeopath, naturopath, or oriental medicine practitioner for treatments that will fortify your system based on your own unique requirements.

If you get a cold or flu symptoms, then increase the vitamin C to 4- 6 grams, take Echinacea (liquid extract is best, two droppers three times per day), take vitamin A (20,000-40,000 IU per day), get the correct homeopathic medicine for your symptoms, and take a Chinese herbal formula such as yin chiao jin or a similar formulation based on your symptoms.