The influenza virus can be life threatening - it kills about 36,000 people (mostly over age 65) each year. For employers, it's a major loss of revenue and productivity. The New England Journal of Medicine reported in 1995 that it costs employers $3 to $5 million annually. We don't yet have a study to verify it, but my and other herbalists' observation is that a flu home remedy like Honeysuckle & Bupleurum cuts cold and flu time down to 2 or 3 days. If every American employee used them, we'd save millions!

How do you personally stand to gain from this flu home remedy? David Givens felt better in 2 days, despite having to pack, fly across country, and socialize away from home. Travel and overdoing it can stress immune system, plane travel can irritate sinuses, and David's immune system had already been compromised by flu. So, herbs not only turned tide, but also kept him healthy despite greater than normal stressors.

Givens adds, "There are so many side effects with over counter remedies - your nose gets dried out and you get sleepy. There's always a drawback you feel right away, whereas, with this flu home remedy, there wasn't one. It's a much cleaner change within body."

If you're not a licensed medical professional, as with many diseases, please don't make your medical decisions solely on basis of your reading and research - consult your medical doctor, and a licensed and trained herbalist/acupuncturist.

It's also important, when considering various treatments, to differentiate between colds, flu's, and sinus infections. You can find specific symptoms of each on National Institute of Health's MEDLINEplus internet health information website (www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/).

Dimintio subsequently tried to convince two more baker/entrepreneurs to merge cookies and tape worms, but they brushed him off. He became depressed. We have a record of him at Mt. Sinai, New York City's oldest hospital, where he received water bath therapy, which was all modern medicine had for depression in late 1800's. Local history in his hometown in Mexico has it that he returned home to his wife and family to bake cookies during day and play sad Mariachi songs at night.

Rampant Obesity in 20th and 21st Century By end of 20th century, it was clear that Demintio had been way ahead of his time. Obesity was on rise, and food addictions were in full swing. Even children as young as nine were eating themselves into adult-onset diabetes. The term 'globesity' was coined to describe this worldwide health crisis.

Ever ahead of health curve, Canadian government ordered an exhaustive study of all weight loss solutions known to man. Organizations like Weightwatchers were investigated, diets like The Zone, Atkins, and South Beach were evaluated, herbs like ephedra were eaten, snorted, and injected, tribal peoples across world were extorted in an attempt to discover their weight loss wisdom... not a single stone was left unturned.

Finally, government-appointed Canadian National Committee for Sane Control of Weight issued its monstruously authoritative 500-page report, and overnight it became a Canadian bestseller.

Readers in America still haven't heard of it. It's Canadian! Who cares?? One American publisher firm attempted to take on U.S. distribution of report, but ran into translation difficulties. The movie rights, however, are still available.

Among Committee's findings are:

* No diet works for everyone * Most obese people are lazy, but so are many skinny people * Many obese people eat lots of sugar and diet sodas, but so do skinny Hollywood fashion models * Professional athletes usually are not obese * Anorexics don't gain weight

In short, report was stunning in its inconclusiveness. The only points of light were some promising newer diets that had not yet been tried by large groups of people, or by large groups of large people, which included:

* The Tape Worm Diet Pill * The Miraculous All Chocolate Diet * The Ephedra Weight Loss Pizza

Experts, in report, expressed concerns about each of these diets. Yet, they concluded, "we must try anything and everything, leaving no stone unturned, until everyone in world can look like Jennifer Lopez and Brad Pitt."

Ok, ok, let's get serious.

I really am working on an ephedra weight loss pizza.

Stay tuned.