1whowaits

I have to give credit where it is due, you are one funny character Actually I've always been torn about homeopathy because plenty of homeopaths get results using it but there is very little solid scientific research supporting it. Maybe the vast majority of benefit from homeopathy is the placebo effect at work? That is my belief about it anyway. You are also wrong to assume I sell coconut oil, but I do buy it almost every time I go shopping, so I try to practice what I preach regarding using it for health purposes. I don't sell any health products actually, but I do buy them when necessary for prophylactic purposes since I can't afford health insurance. I haven't had a single cold or other infection since I started using vitamin D every day in 2009 for example, whereas I got sick every winter previously

Pie Serendipity wrote: If coconut oil was an effective treatment the FDA - and its equivalents in other countries - would be more than happy to recommend it. They don't. You cant honestly believe this can you? I would find this statement quite funny if it wasnt so unfortunate for Americans. There is virtually no money to be made from researching the safety or effectiveness of coconut oil, so of course the FDA won't recommend it. Actually the FDA doesnt recommend any natural treatments or prophylactics for disease, they only tell Americans which foods and supplements to avoid if one of them makes false claims or produces adverse events. Fortunately millions of people in tropical countries can experience the health benefits of coconut oil without futilely hoping the FDA or their own regulatory agency will bless their centuries old use of coconut oil as a treatment or prophylactic for many different health conditions, and they are almost completely free of all Western diseases as a result. I will take the experience based wisdom of people in countries like the Philippines over the severely limited scientific knowledge of the FDA any day. For example: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21669587 "Coconut oil is associated with a beneficial lipid profile in pre-menopausal women in the Philippines." Your analogy of coconut oil and MCTs vs prescribed drugs to a unicycle vs. cars in terms of its effectiveness has no basis in fact and is a straw man argument, because as I cited in my previous reply, MCTs from coconut oil have been proven to be more effective than the leading Alzheimer's drug Aricept, and that is just one example of a disease coconut oil/MCTs is more effective than a drug in treating or preventing. So the issue is not just safety but effectiveness. Furthermore, given that most drugs are no more effective than a placebo (i.e. not effective at all), I will always choose a food extract or dietary supplement over a drug, because if effectiveness is equal (i.e. no effectiveness), food extracts or dietary supplements have the advantage over drugs in terms of safety in most cases, and definitely in the case of coconut oil. The Hippocratic Oath says "First, do no harm." If only the FDA had to abide by that oath. Well, one day hopefully. One thing we can agree on is that there are a lot of natural health scam products on the market, especially when it comes to weight loss and skin care, but coconut oil/MCTs arent one of them. Also you wont lose a fortune buying coconut oil unless you eat it by the gallonful daily lol. If there was any potential for harm from a natural dietary supplement such as in your friend's case I would understand your caution, but can you provide me with one example of evidence showing coconut oil has harmed anyone in the history of humanity?

Pie Serendipity wrote: SL is full of individuals who, for one reason or another, or another, or another . . . are not able to cope with real life, and promoting an anonymous "we will listen to you" service sounds like an excellent way to bring those desperate people to you, so you can exploit their weaknesses for your own gain. Maybe I should promote a "Hugs for rich widows" business and get rich quick too. So based on your complete skepticism of any potential benefits from any self-help group in SL, do you also believe RL support and self-help groups are a complete waste of time? Since you mention anonymous with the implication that it is a bad thing, are you also against RL anonymous support groups like AA, EA, NA, etc.? Also what exactly would we gain from offering support to people in SL? A short lived ego boost at best? We arent asking anyone for money or anything else so do you have any proof of your belief that we are exploiting others for our own gain? I'm honestly not sure if you believe anything you are saying or if you really spend time criticizing others in SL as a hobby. If the former is true then yes you are beyond the help of our group and should seek help from a professional. If the latter is true of course we would welcome you in our group if you would like to share whatever it is that is causing you to feel so pessimistic and critical of others

Hmm I wouldnt call that a fix given that your "fixed" statement is demonstrably false. If you did a quick search on Pub Med for coconut oil and MCTs derived from it you would find over 10000 peer reviewed studies, most of which are reliable, and all of which are substantiated and repeatable. While it is true that most of these studies are not human studies due to lack of funding (thank you FDA), there is more than enough in vitro, animal and population studies in addition to several good clinical studies done on coconut oil and MCTs to show its effectiveness in treating or at least preventing a large number of diseases. There is more than enough research on it to make me comfortable in recommending it to someone with a disease that it has shown promise in treating like Alzheimer's or Epilepsy. Just as important as its effectiveness is its safety profile, as it hasnt caused a single death. Compare that to 106,000 deaths per year due to prescription drugs. Then do a comparison of effectiveness between coconut oil or MCTs from it and a popular drug like Aricept for Alzheimer's and you find MCTs much more effective than Aricept. So you can see why I am choosing recommending coconut oil to people with diseases that may benefit from it instead of telling them to take a drug that not only wont help them but may harm them. Ultimately I'm not telling anyone to believe in miracles; I'm just giving them dietary advice based on known facts that they can read with their own eyes if they dont believe me. Is that really such a bad thing?

I wouldnt say prescribed so much as recommended because coconut oil isnt a drug to be prescribed, but rather a natural food extract with therapeutic properties for certain diseases. I am glad you mentioned some of the more well known uses of coconut oil. Indeed research has shown it is an effective treatment for all the purposes you mentioned and many more too. Although I generally dislike using the word miracle to describe the therapeutic effects of any natural food or substance, because con artists like Kevin Trudeau tend to use the term to get people to buy their books or supplements, in the case of coconut oil it can be used legitimately, at least in the case of certain degenerative diseases where the person with the disease had no hope of healing prior to using the coconut oil. The most notable case that has shown the miraculous healing power of coconut oil for certain diseases is that of Steve Newport and his wife Dr. Mary Newport, who cured him of his Alzheimer's Disease using only coconut oil as a treatment after he didnt respond to drugs. If you look at the clocks he drew before and after using the coconut oil on this page it is apparent it radically improved his brain: http://www.coconutketones.com/ His full story is here if you or anyone else is interested: http://www.coconutketones.com/whatifcure.pdf Fortunately the FDA hasnt and cant smack down coconut oil because it is a food extract, as long as no one selling it makes a claim that it can treat, cure, or prevent any disease. I wouldnt say quacks are promoting it, as several highly respected doctors have been using it to treat many people with many different diseases, and best of all with no side effects like the drugs it is used to replace or complement have. Have you heard of anyone being harmed by eating coconut oil? I've heard of and known lots of people harmed by medically prescribed drugs. I'm not trying to convince you or the woman whose brother has Asperger's about the therapeutic effects of coconut oil, I'm just putting the information out there, because no one was ever harmed by learning the truth about something, other than their ego lol.

Hi Sephina, thanks for your support of our group! I'm so sorry to hear about your brother and I know it must be really hard to deal with a family member with a disease as frustrating as Asperger's. We don't claim to be able to treat people with serious illness like your brother in our group if such people even exist in SL, but we at least hope to provide emotional support and practical ideas for bearing such weights, and natural remedies for people whose illness has a biological cause. Have you dont research into Asperger's? One natural remedy I know of offhand that some people have had success in treating Asperger's with is coconut oil so you might want to look into that. Perhaps we could do some further research into it for you if you havent, just let us know Thanks again for your response!

Hi, thanks for the support I guess if one spends enough time in SL it can make one jaded, or so I hear, but I understand why people are cautious of any self help group because in RL there are lots of self-help scams. We have no agenda other than trying to help people, so thanks for recognizing that. If people would visit our place in world they would realize it also lol. We hope to see you at our first meeting this week! (we'll send a group notice 24 hours in advance).

Hi Dres, this is neither a Psychiatric support group (at least not in the formal sense of the phrase) nor a "Think yourself into a better person" scam. As xsunmoonstarsx said, this would be a pretty ineffective scam if it was one since we arent asking for money or anything else from people except their time and an open mind. We know of a few other support groups in SL whose leaders have no formal psychiatric training, because they dont provide psychotherapy, just emotional and social support, which is what we also provide. Have you heard of peer support for people with mental illness, where someone simply visits a person with mental illness, takes them places, and basically acts as a friend to them? Well that is one of the main purposes of our group, with the others being teaching people how to think more rationally about themselves and their lives, and just educating them about how to live a healthier and happier life. Regarding credentials, we don't a PhD in psychology if that is what you are referring to since we aren't providing psychiatric services in the formal sense of the word. I am a psychology grad student and my co-founder is a former licensed social worker who now teaches English. If you have any further questions about us or our group feel free to ask

Hello everyone, we are Wisdom for the Weary! A non-profitable group designed to help everyone who needs emotional support and guidance through counseling and activities that focuses on personal development. The group's aim is to help teach you to think more rationally and productively about your problems and unmet needs, and to find the solutions to those problems and the remedies to those unmet needs within your own mind, that is, how you think about yourself and others. WFTW have been away for a long hiatus due to Rl but now we are back and more excited than ever to help as many people as possible. We will be hosting both group meetings and lively discussions following it, and individual counseling with interested members. Occassionally, we will have various fellow Sl members as guest speakers to share their personal stories of their emotional and mental struggles and how they overcame it so that we can apply their hard earned knowledge to our own lives. Feel free to visit us and find more information about the group and what you can gain by being a part of it. We hope to attract more members who are able to give support and advice as well so we can help as many people here in sl as possible, so if you have knowledge, abilities, or just the ability to support and motivate people to lead better lives feel free to join us. Group meetings are weekly and are announced via group notices. There is no cost to join the group and counseling sessions are of no cost so you have nothing to lose and a lot to gain.

Hello everyone from your friends at Wisdom for the Weary! We invite you all to join us for our weekly meeting during which we will be watching a video and discussing it afterwards. This week’s discussion prompting video is titled “The Power of Introverts”. It is a video that will challenge how you think about how you relate to other people and to yourself, so you definitely won’t want to miss out on it and the stimulating discussion that will be sure to follow. Please join us on our scenic land at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Strutter/143/90/1702 at 7 pm slt this Monday to take one step closer to being wise with other likeminded people!

Hi Sonja :matte-motes-smile: Hope you arent as lonely anymore, but if you are you might be interested in joining the group I created in part for people who are just lonely and looking for meaning and fellowship in sl. It is called Wisdom for the Weary and we have a meeting every Monday at 7 pm slt at our house here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Strutter/205/119/23 You can learn about our group in this forum post: http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Upcoming-Events-and-Activities/Looking-for-a-wise-and-positive-perspective-about-your-life-Join/td-p/1639533 and feel free to come to our meeting this Monday. We would love to have you as a member!

Everyone is invited to join us for our group discussion today at 7 pm slt at Wisdom for the Weary at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Strutter/205/118/23 The short video we will be viewing is titled Why We Love, Why We Cheat, followed by an open floor discussion. It is very thought provoking so you won't want to miss it. Hope to see you there!

Greetings everyone! Here at Wisdom for the Weary we intend to give you that wise and positive perspective about your life or just a single problem you need a solution to. We are a new group with the purpose of educating, supporting, and motivating people who have problems that wont go away despite their best efforts to find solutions to them or who just need emotional support and a new perspective with which to view and accept their state in life when it cannot be changed. We hope to attract more members who are able to give support and advice as well so we can help as many people here in sl as possible, so if you have knowledge, abilities, or just the ability to support and motivate people to lead better lives please don’t hesitate to join. If you are open minded and want or need to improve your life we welcome you with open arms and will not judge you no matter what problem or question you may have. Please drop by our house at Wisdom for the Weary http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Strutter/205/119/23 after viewing our profile in sl using this link http://world.secondlife.com/group/958c3152-370e-43e1-a4c9-44d36feae190 or just search for us, “Wisdom for the Weary” in world using the search function. We will tentatively be meeting at 7 pm Monday SLT but that is subject to change depending on the needs of our members. Every Monday we will be showing a video or movie that will provide information and/or inspiration to our members and that will challenge them to improve an attitude or behavior in their life that needs improvement. We promise to make it fun and engaging too of course! Just as important as the meeting, we encourage members to drop us a notecard in our mailbox or simply IM us anytime requesting advice or information about individual problems you may have. Lastly, we have an exhibit area for members to showcase their artistic or literary skills or just view the creations of other members. We sincerely look forward to you joining our group and becoming a little wiser or at the very least listened to and supported. :matte-motes-smile: