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Happy Friday! Here are some natural supplement options that can really boost your immune system safely and effectively. Please note that after today we will be out of the office until next Wednesday. Have a great long weekend!
Here is a link to the Immune Section of our online supplement shop.
Sleep is so important that I devote this video to explaining how poor sleep can lead to all types of immune system problems. If nothing else, aim for a good night’s sleep to help you prevent all those nasty colds this fall and winter.
This is the first video of three that I discuss natural and common sense ways to help boost your immune system. With the start of September this week, the colder fall weather will soon be upon us and so this is the perfect time to get prepared!
Getting results from exercise can be challenging. See below for three quick tips that can help you get the most out of the exercise you are doing:
Check out this video to learn why treating your life as a fun obstacle course can lead to so much better results than trying to just get over the next obstacle:
There are so many over the counter sleep supplements. Check out this video where I break down which natural supplements are best for falling asleep, staying asleep and helping you when you need to fall back asleep in the middle of the night:
Sleep is so important and it seems we are all suffering the effects from a lack of sleep. It adds up. It matters. Here are a few etiologies to think about:
I think you will really like to hear about Earthing. This can help everyone and anyone looking to sleep better, have more energy and feel better overall!
I am really excited to announce that our new online supplement store is now live.
Next week I will be announcing a big supplement sale to kick off our new store.
I have many, many new supplements to tell you all about and you can find them all in the new online store.
I also wanted to let you know that we are now on Facebook.
Click here to check our our Facebook Fan Page.
Yea, it’s Friday! Have a great weekend.
Remember to check back next week for the big supplement sale announcement.
We all want to optimize our fat burning potential. Here are three hurdles you have to jump to optimize your fat burning and muscle toning potential.
Most women tell me that they feel poorly for 1-2 weeks out of the month and think this is the way it’s supposed to be. I want to tell you that you can feel well ALL MONTH LONG. Most people don’t know this, but now you can create optimal weight and energy throughout the month without dreading that week or two.
This is worth thinking about now. What if there is a government mandate for you to get a newly approved HIV vaccine?
Let’s say the vaccine had made it through all of the appropriate government clinical trials. It had been tested on thousands of volunteers.
The plan is to vaccinate all of the adults in the US by mandating you receive the vaccine either when it is time to renew your drivers license (yes, it will be administered at the DMV offices).
So at some point if you want to renew your drivers license, you will be required to receive this vaccine.
It is for the public good for you to be vaccinated. And it’s good for you, right?
What if the vaccine was a heart disease vaccine or colon cancer vaccine?
I bring this up because I think this is where we are headed (seriously). There is a large medical movement to “prevent” chronic diseases by developing different vaccines. The thinking is that it will be far easier/ cost effective/ simpler to “prevent” disease onset through the use of shots than through the encouragement of personal responsibility and the living of healthy lives through sound nutrition/ fitness/ positive/ organic living.
I have many parents as patients who are concerned about the effects of childhood vaccines. For many parents who choose to vaccinate, they want to vaccinate on a delayed and slower vaccination schedule. Recently I wrote an order for a parent to go to the Health Department for the patient (6 months old) to receive ONE vaccine. Usually infant vaccines are given 3-4 at a time.
The health department told the parents they would not comply with my request–it was either ALL the shots at one time or none at all.
This is alarming to me. Here are a set of parents that want to vaccinate slowly and steadily and are being told they cannot do this. All or nothing. That got me thinking about what is coming in terms of adult vaccines.
There are many in the pipeline. With the new government take over of health care, I think these issues are worth thinking about now.
I don’t have any good answers for you right now. I do have a big problem with anyone telling me or my patients that they have to take a shot because it is in their best interest. Or in the best interest of the collective good of society. Don’t get me wrong, I think that childhood vaccines for the most part are very safe and effective, but the problem is the way they are administered.
New vaccines, especially adult vaccines, are different. How long have they been in use? How many people have really been given the vaccination? If they are new, which there are a host in the works, then how can we know what the effects of these vaccines will be in 10 years, 20 years, let alone 40 years from the time they are given?
That is why these vaccines must remain optional. But I can tell you that that is not the trend–we have seen how child hood vaccines have become mandated by schools and states. This is true for the HPV vaccine in many states. Mandated. It had only been tested for a few years or less.
My goal in writing this is to get you to start thinking about these issues and to stress the absolute necessity for all of you to be your own health advocate. YOU are in charge of your health and well-being. The sooner we all embrace this notion, the better.
I want you all to see what my wife is blogging about–her perspectives about health and wellness and life are totally unique and refreshing!
Click here to read her latest blog posting about health and our hearts and how she combines art and health…
Here is the last in this series. I hope you enjoyed them. Remember to pass this information on to family and friends….
Finally some ways for you to start to get your cortisol back in sync! It is July 15th, so we are exactly half way through 2010–time for Christmas in July! Details are at the end of this video:
Here is the third video in this series. I have received a lot of positive feedback about this series, so I am glad that you are enjoying these videos!
Good morning. Here is the 2nd video in my Evolution of Cortisol series….have a great Tuesday!
Here is the first of a series of videos where I talk about how we have evolved cortisol. As you know, cortisol is our stress hormone and mismanagement of cortisol leads to weight gain, fatigue, hair thinning in addition to putting you more at risk for all types of chronic disease. Please pass this video on to friends and family as I think it is very important for everyone to understand the implications of cortisol….
Last night my son’s first tooth fell out–yea!! That got me thinking this morning about the contrast with how children and adults view health and their world around them. Children are so excited to lose a tooth and in contrast, adults hate it to lose some hair! So here are a few quick tips for giving your hair, nails, skin and teeth the best nutrients:
Yes, it can be frustrating and difficult when your hair is thinning or your nails are becoming more brittle. But, by incorporating Biotin, different oils and Vitamin K, you can go a long way to ensuring you are giving yourself what you need.
I am out of the office today, not feeling well myself, but wanted you all to check this out:
My wife was featured as a guest blogger in which she spoke about health, wellness, art and how creation itself is an extremely powerful tool. She is both a physician and artist so her ideas are extremely unique.
Click here to go to the blog post.
As you can tell, she has an amazing perspective on life and she is a huge inspiration for me!
Sorry for another post today–the last email was unclear. I posted a video blog today and so please be sure to check it out……
Again, Happy Independence Day!
CLICK BELOW for a video message! I am mixing things up and want to introduce a video blog to you.
Happy Independence Day!
I’ll take a stab at this, but do know that I certainly don’t have all the answers.
From my perspective, there are three reasons why most people are not in great shape:
1.) Inconsistency
2.) Wrong type of exercise
3.) Hormones
Let’s look at each one of these reasons and see if there is a better way of approaching exercise and health.
1.) Inconsistency: I truly think this is the number one reason most people are not in great or even good shape. It seems that most people like the idea of exercising, but don’t really turn those ideas into reality. The common scenario is someone who generates a plan, starts running every morning, gets bored of running and stops. Most people likely get bored of their exercise routine, because, well, it is a routine and routines are generally boring if you only look at them as if they are routines, AND because they do not see the results they want in the timeframe they expect to see them.
Imagine if you starting your brand new exercise routine (whatever it is: running, weight training, swimming, etc.) and after 1 week you lost 10 pounds and now had a chiseled, fit body? Your response would be to keep up with the exercise, I think. You would likely be thrilled with these results and that positive momentum would help keep you going. You would clearly reap the benefits of your hard work.
In reality, this never happens, right? It may take you 3 months or 6 months or never to see the results you are looking for. And so the common thought is that the exercise is “not working” and therefore, why even do it?
So it is easy for exercising to become inconsistent because we don’t see consistent results. You may lose 8 lbs after 3 weeks of intense working out, but then plateau and not lose another pound for 3 months doing the same exact workout. Meanwhile your friend or spouse or whomever continues to lose weight much more easily. The bottom line is that exercise results are inherently inconsistent. I am not sure why we all assume it the other way–why do you think that exercise results should be consistent?
Here are some quick ideas to help you fix this. First, schedule your exercise sessions–don’t leave it up to your schedule to make room for you. Yes, exercise results will be inconsistent, but exercise itself does not have to be. In most cases, you have to get up early to make time for exercise. But this becomes so much easier if you schedule it into your day. I think consistency is truly what separates those in great shape from those who are not–look at elite athletes–they exercise everyday! Most of us go through phases–we do this exercise for a few weeks or months, then stop, then start again a few months later. We repeat this over and over. I think it is far better to stay consistent with your exercise.
This leads to idea #2: make sure you enjoy and have fun with your exercising. Yes, running around a track over and over gets boring. So does lifting the same weights over and over. Be creative and find ways to make the exercising you are doing much more enjoyable. This will help you stay consistent and not burn out. I know this is common sense and you hear this advice all over the place, but it really is important to keep exercising fun. Without the fun and enjoyment, you will get nowhere with it.
2.) Wrong type of exercise: I see far too many people who feel that they have a great exercise routine because they run on the treadmill at the same pace every day. Now, if you really, truly enjoy this same routine every day, more power to you. But, likely, you are getting on that treadmill because you feel that you have to exercise and so you know that putting in your 45 minutes is the right thing to do.
I certainly think that every now and then long, steady, indoor running may provide some benefit, but overall, this is a poor choice of exercising. I say this to the mass of people who are not physically fit and in good shape.
For most of us, our lives are more confined to work in the office and so we do not get the *movement* we require as humans. So we turn to exercise to provide that fitness boost. But slow, steady exercising is NOT going to get you where you want to go. In order to burn fat and build muscle you need to push yourself and include interval training. This means, simply, stepping it up so that you are going at full or near-full capacity for bursts of time. Examples include sprinting (running, biking, swimming), increasing the resistance in weight training and not merely lifting the same weight all the time and exercise videos such as P-90X and Insanity (which is what I am currently doing and it is HARD, but fun!)
The goal is the same–push yourself to maximum capacity and stay there briefly so that you are maximizing your heart rate and your oxygen exchange. The more you are able to push yourself to the maximum, the better your overall physiological response will be.
Try to do this as much as possible–it is far better for you to spend 10 minutes sprinting back and forth, back and forth than it is to spend 45 minutes running at the same pace on a treadmill. You have to change it up and the best way to do so is to SPRINT.
3.) Hormonal–yes, there are certain hormonal imbalances which will make it much more difficult for you to benefit from exercise and will leave you out of shape. That being said, it still is in your best interest to start moving and start moving as much as possible. Exercise will only improve your hormonal imbalance, so there is no need to be cautious from that vantage point.
That being said, if you are hypothyroid or hypoadrenal, exercise will be much more difficult for you. Plus, it will likely take you a much, much longer time to see the results you desire. There are other hormonal imbalances that contribute to poor physical fitness, but hypothyroid and hypoadrenal are the most common.
In both cases, your body has lost it’s ability to put out enough of those respective hormones to meet physiological demands. And in both cases that will feel like you are always walking through cement, as you feel tired, burdened, overweight, and overall bleh.
Both the thyroid and the adrenals work together to allow for healthy energy flow and metabolic fueling. And when neither or both are operating at full capacity, there goes your energy flow, your drive to move and slowly but surely you begin to feel as if the world is slowing down around you.
The good news here, is that we can fix this. By testing your thyroid with blood tests and your adrenals with saliva and urine tests, we can figure out if your lack of fitness is truly just a hormonal cause. And when the testing is inconclusive, we can try adding back some of these missing hormones and see what happens.
In the near future we are going to start measuring lean body mass in our office through the use of a bio-electrical impedance device. Basically, weight by itself is a poor measurement as it does not give us muscle mass vs. fat mass, but the BodyBio machine we have does. This means we can track how well you are doing (or not doing). Because at the end of the day, total weight is meaningless–what we want to know is how lean you are. Obviously the leaner the better. And I think by keeping track over time, this will allow for us to become better stewards of our individual bodies. In order for exercise to work for you, for you to get the results you want, you have to ENJOY it, you have to be CONSISTENT, and you have to push yourself.
This start to summer is the perfect time to jump start yourself! Find exercises that you enjoy and stay active because the more active you are, the more active you will continue to be. A simple, but true reality.
Here is the link to a CNN article where I am mentioned (at the bottom) for helping patients with libido issues using natural herbal remedies.
Here is a link to a recent study that showed that testosterone helps women lose weight and have better metabolic performance.
What is the contrast? I spoke with the CNN reporter for about 30 minutes and wanted to talk about how natural, bio-identical hormones really help women feel better, including boosting their libido. The reporter told me she did not want to talk about bio-identical hormones at all in this article because it was too confusing and controversial for her readers.
But the data continues to mount: natural, bio-identical hormone replacement is the BEST way to help women with low libido; not to mention all of the other therapeutic benefits.
I point this out because it is CNN and other major media organizations who get to choose what you read and what you hear is important and in this case they have deliberately chosen to ignore the most important part of this story–natural hormones!
I certainly love to talk about any natural approach for any type of issue whether that be bio-identical hormones or herbal approaches. But I want to ensure that everyone knows ALL of their options and ignoring natural, bio-identical hormones misses the punch.
That is one reason I enjoy filtering through the media and providing you with the relevant information!
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Blueberries are ready for picking at Myer’s Blueberries in Summerville–check it out here (scroll down to Dorchester County). We went yesterday and had a fun 30 minutes picking 4 large baskets of blueberries that my sweet wife has already turned into 12 jars of blueberry jam, a gigantic blueberry pie and 6 large jars of blueberries for the winter! Go now while there are tons of blueberries ripe for picking!
Charleston County has recently upgraded their recycling capabilities and now recycle plastics #1-7!!! This greatly expands what can be recycled. Check out that information here.
Thanks again for taking my quick survey.
The other day I had this conversation with a patient. She is in her early 50’s, in excellent health and feels great.
Patient: I am concerned about my Osteoporosis for which I feel nothing I am doing is helping.
Dr. K: How were you diagnosed and when?
Patient: I had a DEXA (bone density) exam 3 years ago which revealed Osteoporosis. The following year a repeat DEXA scan showed improvement and I was now in the Osteopenic stage. But the DEXA scan from last year showed that I was back in the Osteoporosis stage.
Dr. K: What are you worried about in terms of Osteoporosis?
Patient: I have known several women who are 10-15 years older than me who have now lost bone height in their backs and who seem to be shrinking. And I worry about breaking some type of bone–I am active and play a good deal of tennis.
I want to be able to be playing tennis for so many more years. My husband’s father was a tennis champion at the age of 75.
Dr. K: Did he have Osteoporosis?
Patient: I don’t know. I don’t think he ever had a DEXA scan completed.
——————–
This conversation struck me because here was a very healthy women who eats well and exercises and takes a good array of supplements who is worried about a diagnosis that was given to her years ago. And so now I worry about her manifesting those poor outcomes (shrinking, loss of bone height, bone fracture) due to this Western Medicine diagnosis process. She has been labelled as having osteoporosis and so now that is how she identifies herself. So the more she worries and thinks about some future negative outcome, the more likelihood that outcome will come to her–this is the Law of Attraction. The Law of Attraction simply means that the energy and feelings you send out to the universe is the energy you get back in your life.
I found it interesting that she wanted to be playing tennis like her father-in-law, whom may have had Osteoporosis but never knew about it.
I am all in favor of finding things out and making diagnoses–but we do have to keep in mind that the more we label something, the more we distract our attention away from all the other “good” aspects of our health and the more we tend to focus on these diagnoses instead.
Yes, I think it is very important for this patient and every patient to know if there bones are brittle. But we have to proceed with caution. First of all, in this case, the bone density exam is just a relative test–it reveals bone density status, but cannot tell us anything about what this actually means for the patient. Yes, having lower bone density does put an individual at more “risk” of bone loss, bone fracture, etc., but I wonder if having this diagnosis itself also accelerates this process. Her father-in-law and millions of other people who never break a bone likely have some degree of osteoporosis, but were never told so.
So how much does a diagnosis help? The answer of course depends upon the person, not the disease process (this is how the conventional medical world views this issue, though). The conventional medical world has decided that the more serious and/ or acute a disease process, the more we need to label it and diagnose it down to he very detail–not taking into account the holistic nature of who they are diagnosing. I agree with this notion on some levels–it really does matter to know if you have an infection and what type of infection or cancer and what type of cancer. But I think what is lost with this diagnosis process is that the conventional medical world gives absolutely no credence to whom they are handing out these diagnoses to. And to me, that is a big deal, a huge deal.
We are all so completely different and unique–each of has has our own methods for healing and health (we all think differently, eat differently, exercise differently, etc.). And yet, that is not taken into account. We are told you have Osteoporosis and this is BAD and you have to take this drug or all of these bad things will happen.
Really? Maybe the osteoporosis is good for this person because it signifies that they are metabolizing their estrogens too efficiently and now have no chance of breast cancer (this is potentially true, actually).
The point here is that what matters is not the diagnosis itself, but what you choose to do with that diagnosis. And most of the time, people fall into the mantra that everything is bad and they fast forward and start to manifest all of these bad outcomes BEFORE they have even occurred! Oh no, I have osteoporosis and so now this means I will not be playing tennis, that I am going to shrink and lose bone density! (I am exaggerating here to make a point).
I can tell 100 people that they have colon cancer and I guarantee that they will all have different outcomes that are based MORE upon their response to that diagnosis than to the diagnosis itself.
The take home point is this: I am all in favor of making diagnoses and for people to know where they stand with their health and well-being. But, that diagnosis should not consume us–it may be doing us good! And it is our own realities and everyday you have the option and choice about what that reality means to you. Will you make that reality into a disease or will you chose to make that reality into just part of you (lower bone density) without anything else. I really do believe you have that much power and control. You first have to believe this. Yes, this takes practice and more practice (and part of the practice is making good food choices, exercising well and consistently and taking good supplements). But the first step is believing–believing that you are truly healthy and special and unique–that is the most important step.
Have a wonderful weekend…
My family and I just finished reading the “Red Pyramid,” a wonderful adventure that describes the introduction to Sadie and Carter Kane into the world of ancient Egypt. This was by the same author (Rick Riordan) who wrote The Percy Jackson Series which involved the stories and retelling of myths of the ancient Greek world and the ancient Greek gods.”Red Pyramid” follows in similar fashion in that it made real the world of ancient Egypt into our modern world. The author creates a modern day America where the ancient Egyptian gods and ancient Egyptian magicians are alive and living amongst the non-Egyptians.
The Red Pyramid
A fascinating concept that emerged from ancient Egypt and the ancient Egyptians, is the belief that when the sun went down not only had their day ended, but their life had ended. Because each time that the sun rose, it signified not just a new day, but a new life. Again, not just a new day, but a new life. Very different from how we view the world with the sun setting and the sun rising. The ancient Egyptians would go to sleep each night watching the sun set, the moon rise. And that would be the end of their day, as well, be the end of their life.
They had no idea that the earth took 24 hours to rotate around the sun. And at the end of the 24 hours, the earth would complete it’s rotation and reveal a brand new sun. No they didn’t know these things. A brand new day. A brand new life. Imagine feeling that every time you went to sleep. How would you go about changing your day to reflect this belief?
We can learn a lot about this, because we have taken TODAY for granted, and we have taken each moment for granted. Literally, the sun rising everyday for us can be a new start, a new day for anything to happen. Anything we want to happen. So in terms of our health, this is even more true than anything else. The Egyptians are known for many many things and I think this idea of the sun rising revealing a brand new day and life is a great concept. The idea that a new day and a new life begins every single day the sun rises; we’ve lost track of that, and that’s a shame.
We now know that we can do this. This is a sudden reminder to try and treat everyday like a brand new day for your health. Anything is possible. So again, what will you choose to focus on TODAY–how can you create the best day for you?
First, we will be closed tomorrow (Friday the 11th) as well as Monday, the 14th. We will also be closed Friday, June 25th and Monday, July 5th.
Yes, our new friend Leptin is at it again. This time reacking havoc in the thyroid world. This recently published study reveals that Leptin, the dominant fat cell hormone, can be an initiating cause of autoimmune thyroiditis (the most common form of hypothyroidism). We are learning more and more about the effects when Leptin metabolism is not well maintained–Leptin resistance leads to insulin resistance, an impaired immune system, weight gain, and now can lead to autoimmune thyroid issues. This is not a surprise, but certainly is a great finding–now we have even more reason to check out leptin levels and keep leptin levels on the low side. (See my earlier post on how to do this)
Resveratrol is also being studied extensively and has recently been found to lower inflammatory markers. While we knew that Resveratrol is a potent antioxidant, it is good to see that Resveratrol also literally lower our anti-inflammatory burden. You can read more about Resveratrol from an earlier post, here.
And lastly, while we have known for a while to Estrogen exerts a positive influence on cholesterol levels (raises the good cholesterol HDL and keeps the bad cholesterol LDL in check), there has not been a study to show how the effects of estrogen THROUGHOUT the menstrual cycle affect these levels until now. Check out this study where it shows that as estrogen levels change (cycle) throughout the menstrual cycle, cholesterol levels change accordingly. I think this has profound implications on the testing and timing of cholesterol testing in women. As far as I know, doctors do not consider this estrogen effect when checking lipid panels in females. I know that standard and conventional lipid testing should be replaced by much more detailed lipoprotein testing and I know that the entire cholesterol scare is really a lot of hype (with some validity), but this new information is interesting because it calls into play the idea of timing of testing. There are “standard” levels of cholesterol for both women and men and so many female patients who are pre-menopausal get prescribed a cholesterol lowering agent. This new study reveals that we may need to revise these standard cholesterol levels to account for this estrogen effect.
We should not see any variance for me because men do not “cycle” their hormones as women do. BUT: both men and women do have a great deal of hormonal decline that generally starts in our 30’s and progressively occurs as we age. So it seems to me that a lot more of studies like this one need to be conducted on both men and women to investigate the effect of cholesterol levels as we age. Right now we have one standard for both men and women across all ages–we know now that this is a huge oversimplification.
Yesterday I wrote about my “Don’t Cry Wolf” theory in terms of hormones and cell membranes. This applies to all types of hormones: insulin, cortisol, thyroid, etc. As I see it, we are speeding up the rate at which our cell membrane receptors are stopping listening to our hormones.
Hormones are literally chemical messengers–that is the simplest way of looking at them. When activated, they are sending a message from the central controller–the brain–that something needs to be happening. And happening fast! But since we keep shouting from the rooftops with our different messages, the cell membrane receptors have stopped listening.
Insulin: secreted in response to any type of carbohydrate, insulin is literally the master controller of unlocking the cell membrane that allows glucose (and lots of other chemicals such as magnesium, selenium…) into each cell/ muscle. But due to the constant barrage of insulin that is secreted, our insulin receptors have stopped listening. When this happens (and it is happening at an alarming pace) we become insulin resistant which leads to weight gain, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and left untouched: diabetes. This is primarily due to two events: eating too much of the wrong foods in combination with not enough physical exercise.
Insulin
The food component is easier to fix: eat more protein, eat more healthy fat, eat less carbs, and most importantly, get rid of the processed foods and synthetic additives. The exercise component is more difficult to fix as developing and sticking to an exercise regimen is more difficult to follow.
Thyroid: we are now also seeing thyroid resistance developing at an alarming rate. This feels like the world has slowed down: your metabolism slows, you become constipated and cold and you start losing hair. Even when you cut back on the calories in your diet, you still gain weight or don’t lose weight. This happens to those even on thyroid hormone replacement. Why? Again, the same principle applies: your thyroid receptors have stopped listening to your thyroid hormone.
This likely develops in the context of sending out too much thyroid hormone. So why would we be asking our thyroid to output more thyroid hormones? Some examples, include: the scenario where we are eating too much of the wrong food without enough exercise, when we eat the wrong foods such as soy which throws our thyroid into haywire, and when we start throwing antibodies at our own thyroid (likely due to a food allergy or infectious attack). So our response to all of these is to output more thyroid hormone to speed up our metabolism and to increase cellular respiration. But when we are perpetually doing this, our cell membrane receptors stop listening.
The fix? Not so easy, but I think doable. First, clean up your diet: stop eating the wrong foods–this obviously includes getting rid of soy, but also includes any other food that you have an intolerance t0. Next, keep moving: it is fine to enjoy eating a little too much–but so much easier when you are also moving a lot. And lastly (not really last, but last for right now) try some iodine replacement. While it is debated how much iodine we truly need–some experts think some individuals need 50mg per day and others think we only need 50mg per YEAR. Iodine, while helping to form the base structure for thyroid hormone itself, can also help upregulate our thyroid receptors. It seems that we are not getting the iodine we need–mostly due to other iodine-like chemicals (bromine, chlorine) that we are saturating ourselves with. (In a few weeks I will be introducing our Iodine Essentials, so more to come).
Cortisol: yes, the stress hormone, cortisol is excreted all the time by our adrenals in response to ANY stressor. And we are perpetually stressing ourselves all the time these days. From the psychological stress we place upon ourselves trying to compete and keep up, to eating the wrong foods (yes, food is a BIG deal!), to exercising the wrong way (not enough recovery time), to not getting enough sleep. I can go on and on about this one.
So we are sending out cortisol to put out the fire, to tame the inflammation. But, again, when we are doing this all the time, our cortisol receptors stop listening. As a result our adrenal gland become tired and fatigued. And so we not only stop producing cortisol, but also the important hormones DHEA, Pregnenolone, Progesterone and others. The result: we are becoming more adrenally fatigued than ever before.
The fix includes nutritional aspects (eat the right foods for you), exercise (take it slowly and consistently) and supplemental options such as: adrenal cortex (nutrition for your adrenals), licorice root (to help keep cortisol flowing), B-complex vitamins (to keep the wheels of your adrenals turning) to name a few. To help with the cell membranes, you can also take Phosphadityl Serine, an amino acid complex. While I normally recommend this amino acid to help lower cortisol levels, I have stumbled upon new data that reveals that this amino acid helps make ALL of your cortisol receptors more sensitive to cortisol. I will now be recommending this amino acid to all of my patients who have any type of cortisol flow problem.
To conclude, I wanted to give you brief synopsis of what happens when we stop listening to our hormones. This is by no means all-conclusive at all, just a start. You see our genes (DNA) cannot possibly code for everything it means to be human (not enough material). But our genes listen to our cell membranes who provide the antennae to our world. And our cell membranes transmit these messages (all messages) to our genes who then make up the proteins and products that tell our cells what to do.
Cell membrane
I have just described some brief examples of how our cell membranes STOP listening to the signals they are receiving. As a result there are many consequences–and it is these consequences–namely weight gain, fatigue, metabolic inhibition–that lead to how we feel, which in turn fuels other more chronic disease processes.
Yes, complicated, but fixable at the same time. We need to take the time to understand this notion, because the more our hormones Cry Wolf, the less we listen, and the less we listen, the worse the outcomes.
The current of model of health does incorporate the idea that chronic stress opens the door to all types of disease processes, from heart disease to cancer to weight gain to fatigue. This idea is not new–for the past 50-60 years, we have known that stress will affect everything ongoing within the body. Stress, both external and internal does several things:
1.) Dampens the immune system which makes us more vulnerable to infectious diseases
2.) Interrupts proper hormone functioning which makes us feel worse, gain weight, and tired
3.) Interrupts proper neuro-chemical responses so we feel depressed, anxious and not balanced.
The current thinking in terms of stress involves the notion that our bodies are adaptable and we become adapted to our new baseline, for better and for worse. I wanted to review what happens when we become both acutely stressed and chronically stressed:
Acute Stress: let us use the classical example that you are being chased by a lion. Your brain sends signals to the rest of your body that it is fight or flight time and your primary goal is survival. So your adrenalin kicks in and is pushed through your blood vessels to allow you use more energy in your big muscles (brain, heart, legs and arms) and diverts blood flow away from your stomach, colon and pancreas. Cortisol, our stress hormone, dramatically increases as we want our hearts to beat stronger and more blood sugar to be available to our brains and muscles as fuel. We also ramp up our pain control system (endorphin system) that will help us if we get injured. The up-regulation of our endorphins also helps promote greater utilization of our cortisol and stress hormone response. Hopefully this event only lasts a short time. Once resolved, our systems can return to normal–cortisol and adrenalin levels return back to baseline, we settle down and rest (and likely sleep) and can once again resume eating at some point. This burst of hormones, neuro-chemicals, and endorphins was short lived and we were able to utilize our acute stress response to help us do so.
Chronic stress–this is a very different response system but is more practical to talk about because it is this model of chronic stress which can help us explain most chronic disease processes. Let us use “competition” as an example of chronic stress. By competition, I am referring to academic competition as well as career or professional competition. When we are competing chronically–and I would argue that this has become a huge problem within our society–we are constantly and consistently placing psychological demands upon our systems as we strive to achieve expected and desired outcomes. These psychological demands tend to cause us to feel stressed and overwhelmed and tired and nervous. This stems from actual alterations in the flow of our hormones and neurotransmitters. So when we feel tired and nervous and anxious it is because we are causing our serotonin and dopamine and DHEA to be affected. Again, this can work out fine if this is an ACUTE stress event, but our systems were not designed for the chronic stress component. And so, when we have these chronic stressors, our physiology and biochemistry must ADAPT.
We develop a new baseline. When this happens, we allow ourselves to operate under these “stressful” conditions without losing much ground (or so we think). But over time, this chronic stress literally wears us down. And over time, we stop feeling good while at the same time causing alterations in our hormonal, neuro-chemical and immune system functioning.
Okay, you say, I have heard all of this, stress leads to chronic disease, what is new about that? Here are a few thoughts. I think what happens when we chronically stress ourselves, we lead to a down regulation of our cell membrane receptors. Put simply, we stop listening to the signals we are sending. It is the Don’t cry Wolf theory: the more you ask your body to output cortisol, the more your body stops listening. So instead of you feeling wound up and ready to sprint for your life, you feel anxious and tired. But guess what, you do it again and again and again.
My other thought about chronic stress is that our current model does not address the “pain response” very well at all. But this is a key component. When we sound the alarms because we are “stressed” our bodies prepare (and rather quickly I might add) for the danger. This involves the mobilization of our endorphin system which will help us if we get injured or have trauma. This utilization of our endorphin system augments the hormonal response as well.
Our current model of how to deal with chronic stress does not address these two important issues very well. We are very much focused on balancing our hormones (super important) as well as optimizing our neuro-chemicals (also extremely valuable). But in order to bring the immune system (which I have not even begun to touch upon) into play as a system that will help with chronic stress, we need to start embracing our cell membrane receptors as well as our endorphin systems.
Certainly all of this is difficult and confusing, but I feel that by embracing these two concepts, we will be able to achieve faster results and results that are farther reaching. As we accumulate the stress in our lives, we need to know what we can do to not only prevent this stress, but also offset it’s harm. By embracing these new concepts of cell membrane ignorance and the endorphin system, we will be in a much better position to make long lasting changes in not only how we feel (more energy, better sleep, fat loss) but also in our ability to prevent chronic disease onset.
Tomorrow I will outline more specifics related to the Don’t Cry Wolf cell membrane theory: what this means and what you can do about this.
Don’t miss this great opportunity tomorrow.
Here are a few links that explain. This festival features local ETSY artists, so there will be tons of great things to look at and purchase.
One of the artists will be my wife, Laura Koniver, MD who will feature some of her new birdhouses. Check out her recent crafts here……
Have a great weekend :-}
Yesterday I wrote about two recent studies that revealed good news for red meat and dairy. I forgot to link to the article abstracts, so here they are:
Dairy consumption and patterns of mortality of Australian adults
As always, thanks for your interest and please keep the comments and questions coming.
Let’s face it, dairy and red meat get a lot of bad press. These thoughts stem from studies misinterpreted long ago that told us that both dairy and red meat are BAD for our health. These thoughts now run rampant in our food culture and most people feel that eating dairy and red meat are detrimental to our health. I know a lot of people feel deep down that they need to limit their dairy and/ or red meta intake. For if they don’t, they will be increasing their chances of developing heart disease and/ or cancer.
Well, two new studies being published this week truly put the daily and red meat being bad for you theories to rest (hopefully).
First dairy. The investigators studies people who consumed dairy (low fat and full fat) in comparison to those who consumed no dairy. The investigators were interested in finding which groups of people had more heart disease, diabetes and cancer develop. They discovered and conclude that there is no relationship between dairy consumption and development of heart disease, diabetes and cancer. This means that consuming dairy does not put you at risk for these bad illnesses down the road.
Bonus—they also found that those consuming FULL FAT dairy had the LOWEST rates of heart disease. Yes, I’ll repeat that: individuals who consume full fat dairy had the LOWEST rate of developing heart disease. So, please, please enjoy the benefits of Whole Fat Milk, Whole Fat Yogurt, Butter (Organic, of course)!!!!
Now on to the red meat study. The investigators, in this study, compared individuals eating processed meats, grass fed red meat and no meat consumption in terms of heart disease development. The only conclusion at the end of the study was that those individuals eating PROCESSED meats had a higher incidence of heart disease. But individuals who consumed grass fed red meat had NO increased risk of developing heart disease.
This goes to what I have been saying: it is not the dairy or the red meat that matters, but how those foods are “produced”. Dairy, especially whole fat, and red meat are healthy foods to eat–but make sure you choose dairy from organically raised cows and make sure you choose red meat from grass fed organically raised cows. What matters MOST is what the cows eat and how they are treated. Same goes for free range chicken/ eggs.
I hope these two studies help you understand this subject a bit more. Unfortunately, these studies will get little air time with the main stream media, so please pass this information on to your friends and family!!!!
Here are some quick tips based upon recent studies conducted and published in major medical/ nutritional journals:
As always, these small tips confirm what we know: there is a natural option for everything….
Do you know about these three terms? They are linked actually. This is a good story.
Leptin is a fat hormone. Literally. It is communicated from fat cells to the brain helping to define our appetite centers. When working properly, leptin is released and travels to our brain and tells our brain, you feel full, stop eating. This is particularly important at times of stress when food is scarce. And much of how our brain is wired is actually to help us in times of stress.
The difficult part about this is that, for the most part, we do not have food emergencies right now. In fact, we have quite the opposite–we have an abundant food supply and we tend to eat whenever we want. And so we tend to “mess up” our leptin regulation. This is a bad thing because when we misuse our leptin, we will gain weight and also start to mismanage our immune system. This will lead to a host of other unintended consequences.
PPAR-gamma. This is an up and coming player in the world of metabolism, hormones and health. When we are able to bind the PPAR-gamma receptors, we will set off a host of beneficial physiological events including lowering leptin, reducing oxidative stress and decreasing overall inflammation. So there is a race, if you will, to figure how best to bind these types of physiologic receptors.
Two weeks ago a scientific paper was released revealing that binding PPAR-gamma receptors leads to a decrease in inflammatory bowel disease (crohn’s, ulcerative colitis). We also know that binding this receptor leads to better insulin regulation, better lipid profiles and overall increase VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) which is responsible for delivering oxygen to tissues. So there are a lot of really good reasons to help with PPAR-gamma.
Curcumin. You are likely familiar with this spice as it relates to Turmeric. Curcumin is also an up and coming player in the world of health and well-being as it provides outstanding anti-oxidant capacities which have shown to be beneficial in helping to prevent Alzheimer’s Dementia among others. Curcumin is one of the few phytonutrients that is worth getting every single day due to it’s protection of the cell membrane from free radical damage.
Turmeric
The connection? Curcumin is one of the few NATURAL binders of the PPAR-gamma receptor that leads to better Leptin regulation. Others include high dose Omega
3 Fatty Acids (Fish Oil) and to a lesser extent Resveratrol.
This is a lot of science stuff, but the bottom line is this: we want to lower Leptin which will help burn fat, boost immune system functioning by the binding of the PPAR-gamma receptor. You can do this everyday by getting some Curcumin, Fish Oil and Resveratrol. This will be a hot topic in anti-aging soon, just wait and see.
In the meantime, you can try my Metabolic Essentials which is a brand new and unique supplement formulation that includes both the Curcumin, Resveratrol as well as the Estrogen lowering Chrysin and Pumpkin Seed Oil. This is good for any female wishing to have optimal estrogen metabolism and for men who do not wish to make too much estrogen from their testosterone.
Again, lower leptin, bind PPAR-gamma, take some Curcumin…kinda rhymes now doesn’t it?
It is becoming increasingly common that our health when we are very young affects us as we age. This is particularly true in the context of environmental influence (pesticides, PCBs, volatile solvents) as well as genetic influence. We all have genetic individuality which we can choose to use or go against. For example, many of us have genetic changes that affect how well our liver can detoxify. While we obviously cannot look into the mirror to know what our genetic individuality is comprised of, we do choose behaviors which will either negatively (smoking, alcohol, poor nutritional choices) or positively (exercise, drinking filtered water, supplementing well) impact our health.
So we spend our adult life trying to make positive impact to our current health to help prevent wear and tear and decline. We want to feel young and refreshed and have a spring in our step. The crucial question to this complicated health maze is this: can we overcome both our genetic profiles AND environmental influence to positively impact our health? This is what we are trying to do when we make good food choices and by taking certain supplements. This is what we are doing when we choose to get up and jump rope as opposed to sit on the couch and eat fried chicken.
Genes
The neat thing is that we can now figure out all of this. We can test our genetic profiles and the impact the environment has had on our liver. We can literally reverse the damage done from the affects of DDT/ DDE influence from our childhood. Anything and everything is now possible. But we need a game plan because there is way too much information to stay current. One day Fish Oil is good and the next day someone is telling you to stop taking it. One day broccoli is good to eat, the next day, you have to be careful because too much of anything is not a good thing.
The science is changing all the time. Nature is not. I don’t think we are supposed to increase our heavy metal intake or intake of preservatives. I think that life and health flows better when we are in harmony with nature–the rhythm of the sun and the moon, eating food that is fresh and not processed, moving and moving some more….The key here is that we need to be able combine the new science and apply to good ole nature.
I am working on many different protocols to help you figure all of this out for yourself. It seems as if everytime I prepare something, the science changes and I need to re-evaluate what I want to tell you and present to you. But my plans are in the works and hopefully soon I will be able to tell you about them.
Until then make sure you get plenty of sun, exercise because you want to have fun doing so and know that everyday is a choice.
A new day
Due to the recent finding of another NFL player testing positive for Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs), I am re-posting an earlier post about muscle metabolism. I think it is sad that these professional athletes are getting such poor advice when it comes to their nutritional supplementation. There is a plethora of healthy, safe and effective natural supplements out there that are not BANNED by the NFL and other professional organizations. In a world where performance and recovery are absolutely critical, all the more important it is to be able to trust the quality of the supplements and advice you take!
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When we exercise, we are striving to get our bodies in shape which usually translates to creating more muscle tone with the loss of fat. Let’s look at what happens after working out your muscles because I think this is an important analogy to health and wellness overall.
After working out and stressing your muscles, you expect to have some soreness as your muscles are damaged. This is the fact of exercising your muscles–you will not be able to build muscle unless you stress the muscle. The main factors that contribute to muscle damage are:
Physical stress: this involves the literal stretching and tearing of muscle fibers. Without this process, you will not get muscle remodeling which is important in order to build strength.
Hormonal stress: due to stress of exercise, cortisol is released as cortisol is our stress hormone. Cortisol has direct catabolic action upon the muscle which causes further muscle breakdown.
Oxidative stress: this results from free radical production that occurs with muscle stress. These free radicals, in turn, come back and can further contribute directly to muscle break down.
Indeed there needs to be balance here; in order to get your muscles to grow (toned) you need to stress them. But too much stress results in too much muscle damage and not enough muscle remodeling.
The interesting note here is that many elite athletes and professional athletes attempt to manipulate this process through the use of banned substances. Deemed Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs), these range from different types of steroids to stimulants. The goal for the athlete is to manipulate the “stress” process to increase muscle growth and improve recovery times. This can all be obtained with proper understanding of the physiological and biochemical processes and no athlete needs to rely on any PED when there is so many other natural options.
Our bodies work best when we work with nature and don’t try to manipulate nature. Also, while we are in the age of designer PEDs, we are also in the age when there are so many powerful and acceptable natural options for helping both grow and rest our muscles.
Let’s look at how these same principles, when applied to health in general, are applicable. Anytime you get sick or don’t feel good, our bodies are not keeping up with stress demands. We need to be cognizant of this so that we can optimally manage this stress and our health.
From an exercise point of view, we try to utilize the following strategies to reduce stress after exercising to improve muscle remodeling and decrease muscle break down:
Physical: REST…if we attempt to exercise our muscles too quickly after a work out, we do not allow for proper down time and therefore, remodeling cannot occur. Also, we want to help with the extra inflammation that has occurred due to the muscle stress (fill in any other type of stress)…..here proteolytic enzymes can be very useful…this includes plant based enzymes such as Amylase, Lipase and others
Hormonal: too much cortisol reflects a poor adaptive response to a stressor–here we need to take strides in stress reduction including stress reducing activities such as reading, meditation, yoga, stretching, as well as taking stress reducing supplements such as B-vitamins, Green Tea, Theanine, GABA, Phosphorlyated Serine.
Oxidative: too much free radical production is bad; to limit and temper this we need adequate antioxidants such as Vitamins C and E, CoQ10, Resveratrol, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Lutein, Quercetin and others.
I think these three components that are significant when applied to the context of muscle damage and repair are useful for the context of really any health stressor. I believe the more we look at our individual health concerns through this lens, the more easily we will be able to make strides towards optimal health and well-being. And so while it is tempting for the elite athlete to reach for the banned hormonal manipulator, know that working with nature and all it’s bounty provides a wealth of health resources waiting at your fingertips.
Here is some background and detailed information about biotoxins; their affects as well as what we can do about them. Some of this was adapted from Dr. Shoemaker’s protocol, a pioneer in the field of biotoxin illness.
Background: We are constantly under a barrage of threats from certain biotoxins. This includes:
These biotoxins can wreak havoc to every facet of our biochemical framework from our immune system to our nervous system to our mitochondria. While all of us are at risk for developing symptoms related to exposure to these biotoxins, certain individuals are at a greater risk of developing symptoms due to their genetic predisposition. Once exposed, these individuals begin to exhibit symptoms of profound fatigue, joint and muscle pain, memory loss, exercise intolerance, weight gain, headaches, depressed mood–symptoms typically assigned to those with chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and depression. Many of these individuals also have gastrointestinal (GI) dysfunction including diarrhea, bloating, irregular bowel movements and abdominal pain.
The goal in trying to understand this biotoxin burden is to appreciate the devastating effects that occur to our immune systems, nervous systems, hormonal systems, mitochondrial systems and detoxification systems. It is impossible to catalogue every single biotoxin product that affects us and therefore the goal is not to get caught up in identification (although that does help), but rather to examine the damage that has been done with the goal of undoing the damage and restoring a healthy biochemical framework again.
Here is a summary of how these biotoxins cause their devastating affects to our systems (per Dr. Richard Shoemaker)
Stage 1: Biotoxin Effects:
It all starts when a person is exposed to a biotoxin. In most people, the biotoxin is ‘tagged’ and identified by the bodies immune system and is broken down and removed from the blood by the liver. However, some individuals do not have the genetics (HLA-DR genes) to code for the antibodies and in these cases the biotoxins are not ‘tagged’ and remain in the body indefinitely, free to circulate and wreak havoc. Once present in the body, the biotoxins begin to set off a complex cascade of biochemical events. The biotoxin binds to surface receptors (Toll Receptor) in fat cells. This in turn causes a continual upregulation of cytokines.
Stage 2: Cytokine Effects:
The activated fat cells start to produce more leptin, which leads to weight gain that is unresponsive to diet or exercise. Remember that the fat cells are also pumping out cytokines, this overload starts to block or damage the leptin receptors in the hypothalamus. Elevated cytokines can produce many different symptoms including: headache, muscle ache, unstable temperature, and difficulty concentrating. High levels of cytokines can also result in increased levels of immune related markers such as TNF, MMP-9, IL-1B, and PAI-1. MMP-9 delivers inflammatory elements from the blood into sensitive tissues and can combine with PAI-1 to increase clot formation and arterial blockage.
Stage 3: Reduced VEGF:
The elevated cytokine levels in the capillaries attract white blood cells, leading to restricted blood flow and lower oxygen levels in the tissues. Reduced VEGF leads to fatigue, muscle cramps and shortness of breath.
Stage 4: Immune System Effects:
Patients with certain HLA genotypes (immunity related genes) may develop inappropriate immune responses which may include antibodies to: myelin basic protein (often from fungal infections), gliadin (wheat-like allergy), and cardiolipins (affects blood clotting).
Stage 5: Low MSH:
Reduced Melanocyte Stimulating Hormone (MSH) production results in yet another set of problems and symptoms. The production of melatonin is reduced which results in sleep problems. Endorphin production is suppressed which leads to chronic and sometimes unusual pain. Lack of MSH can cause malabsorption or ‘leaky gut’ which further weakens and deregulates the immune system. White blood cells eventually lose regulation of cytokine response so that opportunistic infections may occur or recovery from infections is slower.
Stage 6: Antibiotic Resistant Staph Bacteria:
Reduced MSH also allows resistant staph (MARCONS) to flourish in the mucous membranes. These bacteria further compound the problem by producing exotoxins A and B that cleave MSH, further decreasing the MSH levels. At this point, the downward spiral starts to perpetuate itself.
Stage 6: Pituitary Hormone Effects:
Reduced MSH can decrease pituitary production of antidiuretic hormone (ADH) which can lead to thirst, frequent urination, neurally-mediated hypotension (NMH), low blood volume, and electric shocks from static electricity. While sex hormone production is often down-regulated the pituitary may upregulate the production of cortisol and ACTH in the early stages of illness, then drop to abnormally low, or low-normal ranges later.
Using this model of how the damage sets in, we then need to work backwards to fix this problem.
Here is my approach based on lab findings (obviously this changes per patient individuality):
This is a marathon and not a sprint. An obvious goal is reduce exposure to the biotoxins! Practically speaking, however, this can be very difficult. Mold, metals and chemicals are particularly important to remove from the environment, so that involves careful assessment at both home and work.
We may need to continue the Cholestyramine as long as there is ongoing exposure.
Useful reading:
Biotoxin illness and management will become a very important aspect of disease management in the future. This is complicated and confusing, but if we take this a step at a time, we can make a lot of progress and finally get to the buttom of many disease symptoms.
Per Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez:
I wanted to alert you to the latest threat to supplement availability in the US. The latest threat comes courtesy of Congressman Waxman of California, who receives enormous money from the pharmaceutical industry and has long been an opponent of alternative medicine in general, and the over the counter availability of supplements. Without any warning, Congressman Waxman slipped a provision into the “Finance Reform Legislation” that has nothing whatsoever to do with financial reform, but gives the Federal Trade Commission onerous new authority to regulate supplements and legitimate claims about the health benefits of nutrients - an authority that doesn’t even belong within the FTC’s jurisdiction.
Here is a link to a site discussing the nature of this provision:
<http://www.anh-usa.org/congressman-waxman-slips-obscure-anti-supplement-measure-into-wall-st-%e2%80%9creform%e2%80%9d-bill-passed-by-the-house-please-take-action-to-prevent-same-thing-happening-in-the-senate/>
Unfortunately, the bill has already passed the House, but this provision can be kept out of the Senate version if enough of us mobilize against it. You must call or e-mail your Senators as soon as possible, objecting to the secretive, improper inclusion of a finance reform bill a provision to give the FTC enormous power over supplements.
You can find your Senators easily enough by going to www.senate.gov.
It’s a shame but they never give up.
We have a ton of legos at my house as both my daughter and son are avid lego builders and minifig creators. So yesterday while helping my son find a particular lego piece, it dawned on me how similar legos are to health. Follow me on this…..
Lego bricks come in all different shapes and sizes and can be used in infinity number of ways to create different structures: space vehicles, homes, castles, pirate ships, jungles, on and on. The structure is completely dependent on how you decide to use each brick. If you choose different color bricks, your pirate ship may look more like a cruise liner and your space rocket may look more like an airplane. If you choose small bricks then you can build a small home and if you choose large bricks you can build enormous castles. The choice is 100% up to you. And each step of the process depends on your point of view.
The more bricks you use, the bigger and more impressive your building. The more colorful bricks you choose, the more glowing and shining your underwater submarine becomes.
Lego bricks
If you are not happy with the way your lego car is turning out, you just break all the bricks up and start over.
Yesterday I was helping my son find a particular leog piece–the lego brick looked black in the diagram so I looked through all the pieces for a black piece, but could not find one. My son told me it was actually a dark grey brick that was called for, and there it was, right in front of my eyes.
All this being said, do you see the connection between legos and your health? Every day we have the opportunity to create (build) the health we want. We can choose to focus on small bricks or large bricks, colorful bricks and dark grey bricks. We have the choice to start over all the time. We have the ability to create as magnificent a health masterpiece as we can.
The key to all of this is knowing this and believing this. I believe that you can feel as good and as bad you want to and at the same time start over anytime you want. The choice is ultimately based upon what bricks you choose to use and focus your attention on.
The other component to this that is often forgotten is that building and using legos is FUN! And so is your health (as long as you see it that way).
So try and imagine everyday as a new day, a new chance at creating the most optimal health for yourself. What color bricks will you choose today?
All next week, Kiawah Island is hosting a variety of events to celebrate NATURAL living.
Here is the link to all of the activities planned.
The week long event culminates with an Earth Fest on Sunday, the 24th from 11AM to 3PM.
There you will be able to see the works of many local artists, including my wife, Laura Koniver, MD who is preparing to announce her new website and art ventures, Heartsong Fine Art.
Have a great week!
Please note that we will be closed all of next week, re-opening on Monday, April 26th.
So for the next 4 days we will be having a Buy One Get One Free Supplement Sale of ALL of our supplements! This includes all of our original supplements as well as our new ones (yet to be introduced):
And many others…..
4 day sale and last time I did this we sold out quickly!
Finally, all the elements have been completed so that I can officially announce the arrival of our Spring Cleaning Detox.
30 Days of spring cleaning for your body and mind. This is a comprehensive 30 day program that focuses on eating fresh food and taking an array of supplements to help detoxify from the effects of a long winter and the associated insulin woes.
Included with the Spring Cleaning Detox are 6 different supplements including our new Cleanse Essentials, Detox Essentials, Nattokinase Essentials, Insulin Essentials, Recovery Essentials as well as our fantastic tasting Body Ami Apple Cider Vinegar. This program is truly revitalizing as much as detoxifying.
Along with the supplements, you will also receive a 42 page full color guide and daily journal to help you keep track of your supplement intake, exercise and thoughts each day.
This took me some time to put together and I truly feel that this Spring Cleaning is unique and comprehensive and everyone can benefit!
We are in the process of setting up a Facebook wall designed specifically for users of the Spring Cleaning Detox to post comments and questions–a forum if you will.
Check it out and see what you think. The price is $185 for everything–this is truly getting all of these supplements for 50% off.
Yes, the summer is almost here and it is time for a little rejuvenation….
I have received a number of questions recently about the use of the Whole Food Supplements vs. Non-Whole Food Supplements.
The main argument FOR whole food supplements is that they completely are derived from food and therefore represent a better “form” of the vitamin/ mineral. This argument is based on the tenet that vitamins and minerals are best absorbed when in their natural form which consists of being in combination with other vitamins and minerals. The thinking is that the best form of the nutrient comes from food and so therefore, to supplement with/ for a nutrient, that that nutrient is in it’s best form from the food itself.
I think many of these reasons make sense. I agree with the notion that vitamins and minerals are best absorbed when in combination with each other. There are many studies that are conducted where the researchers denounce vitamin supplementation because they find that supplementing with JUST vitamin C, for example, does not help with XXXX. Well, of course not. No one would ever think that you can benefit from JUST one supplement. We know by virtue of common sense that we need an array of vitamins and minerals TOGETHER for optimal health.
Here is the part that I don’t agree with the Whole Food Supplement argument, however. In today’s world with food handling, processing, spraying, manipulating, etc., it is VERY difficult to get the nutrients we actually need from food. That is why we do need to supplement. So our food supplies have been compromised and that makes it difficult to get what we need from the food we eat. Unless you have you own organic farm, orchard, and garden, it is impossible to get everything you need from food. Now, we can come very close by purchasing local, organic food products. So to me, when we are supplementing, we are trying to make up for what we don’t get from food. Ideally we would not need to do this–ideally our nutrition would provide us with everything we need. But again, that is no longer the case. So we need to supplement with vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc.
Based upon that reasoning, it does not make sense then, to turn back to the food supply that is lacking to obtain our supplemental vitamins and minerals. No, for me, I want to ensure that I am getting high levels of Vitamin A and B and C and D, etc. And the best way to do that is to take synthetic, but BIOIDENTICAL supplements. Because I know that when I take my Vitamin C 2000mg that I am actually getting 2000mg of Vitamin C. Because I can no longer guarantee that from the food I eat.
Here is how I go about eating: I eat organic and local food as much as I can. I choose the healthiest foods for me most of the time. And I also choose to eat foods (pizza, chocolate, gummy bears, others) that are not the “best” for me. But I know and firmly believe that I am eating what is good for me EVERYTIME. I am confident that my body will extract the nutrition it needs and do away with the rest. I do not fret about eating pizza and feeling guilty. (I am also extremely lucky that my wife is an amazing cook and uses organic products to make wonderful creations all the time). And I know and trust that my food is not going to be the end all be all for me–that is why I choose to take an array of different supplements including my Daily Essentials Pack (multivitamin, minerals, fish oil, evening primrose oil, amino acids) enzymes, and others.
I am comfortable with what and how I eat and part of that comes from my comfort knowing that I am filling up on all the vitamins and minerals I need from the supplements I take. I don’t feel that I could say that taking Whole Food supplements. And that is why I don’t.
But that is my decision. Ultimately you have to trust what your gut tells you. And then run with it and don’t look back. Again, there are no rules. None.
As strange as this may sound, the answer is yes. Mold is representative of any chronic inflammatory source. And it turns out when you dig deeper, many chronic inflammatory sources are due to infectious (foreign) etiologies.
Mold
You see we are exposed to so much “stuff” all the time. From mold to fungus to yeast to parasites to bacteria to viruses. The good news is that we have a vibrant and robust immune system patrolling our blood searching for anything foreign.
The bad news is the we have a vibrant immune system patrolling our blood stream…..
Yes, it seems that many times it is our immune system itself that throws us down the inflammatory pathway.
It starts slowly. By eating the wrong foods for our bodies, we trick our immune system into thinking there is a foreign invader attacking. And then the chaos slowly builds. This is usually not dramatic.
And then at some point we are exposed to too much. Too much for our immune system to keep up with. We then start expressing inflammatory cytokines all the time and this overwhelms the best of us.
You are familiar with the cytokines–whenever you get an insect bite, you get immediate redness and swelling and itching. This is your cytokines at work. They are angry and vicious and you know it.
These same types of reactions occur when our immune system gets overwhelmed, but on a more gradual scale. No redness, no swelling, not itching. This time it is fatigue and headache and muscle ache and weight gain. Yes weight gain.
One of the detrimental effects of the inflammatory cytokine cascade is the mismanagement of the fat cell hormone leptin. And once leptin is disturbed, you will no longer be able to lose weight. It becomes nearly impossible. Leptin feeds back to our brain and if this circuit is disturbed, watch out.
Leptin feedback
This is complicated physiology and biochemistry. But certainly worth understanding.
I will fill you in a little at a time so as not to overwhelm!
For those of you interested in more in-depth reading, please check out: Mold Warriors by Dr. Shoemaker.
The warm weather is finally here (or so it seems).
Time for a little Spring Cleaning, right?
Now, we generally take the time to clean our houses, but spend little time on ourselves.
I am releasing our Spring Cleaning Detox: a 30 day comprehensive and unique cleansing program that will help you feel better and even lose some weight.
In anticipation of this release, here is the spring-cleaning-detox….feel free to download it and see what you think.
The program includes ALL of the supplements as well as a color print out of this same PDF. The cost of this 30 day program is $185 (nearly 50% off what these supplements would cost if you bought them by themselves).
See what you think. Time for the warm weather, in anticipation of summer.
Finally. It has been a long time since we have had the warm sun.
To life. To health. To disease. We tend to think that Y follows X and that Z follows Y. But life is not nearly as linear as we think or want it to be.
The conventional models for health (and disease for that matter) assume that life unfolds in linear fashion. In order to get in shape, you have to exercise slowly and increase a little at a time. We assume we cannot go from feeling terrible to feeling on top of the world overnight. We have to take baby steps, we are told. We don’t go from feeling fairly well into complete adrenal exhaustion all at once. Or do we?
To have optimal health we need to eat well and supplement well and exercise well. And while there is a process to all of that, the underlying critical “step” is being open to the unknown. I think that people who feel optimally well and have incredible health do not set any precondition on the health and well-being they achieve. Nope. They don’t place limits. And once you remove these limits, there goes all the preconditions and the linear aspects.
So I challenge you today, this week, the rest of the month. Stop thinking that in order for Y to happen that you have to jump through hoop X first. Instead try going from A to Z all at once, right now, or even go backwards. I am confident that you will find things you were not even expecting to find. And that is the true mystery of life: stumbling upon the unexpected. We ask why? when? how?
And sometimes, many times, we have no answers for these questions. But I trust that you can be anything you want to be:(this includes the negative aspects of life such as negative, disappointed, angry, disease ridden) happy, healthy, amazingly in shape, positive. I think our preconditioned thoughts about the rules of life prohibits us from truly taking ourselves to all the places we dream. Dream bigger and brighter today, this week, this month. You will surprise yourself.
(this comes after my personal dissapointment and utter disgust with our representatives in Washington DC who have blatantly disregarded their roles in our lives…..)
Green tea, besides being a wonderful antioxidant and blood vessel stabilizer is also helpful to increase fitness performance. One of the unique characteristics of Green tea is that it helps oxidize fat. Simply put, this means that Green tea (specifically the EGCG components) help your body turn fat into energy. This results in fat loss (literally!) as well as being able to perform better when exercising.
Why? We know that fat is the most efficient form of energy–we can store so much more energy as fat than carbohydrate and protein. Our liver and muscles store glycogen (a carbohydrate breakdown) but only a little a time. It is estimated that fasting for 24 hours will completely use up our stores of glycogen. You also exhaust your glycogen stores by exercise lasting just over 1-2 hours.
But fat is quite a different story. It is estimated that most adults store enough energy in our fat to run 25 marathons! That is a lot of energy, don’t you think? The problem is that while we are efficient at storing fat, we are highly inefficient at utilizing that fat for energy.
In comes Green tea. Green tea helps us turn that fat into energy. This results in increased fat burning and at the same time increased fitness performance due to the increased utilization of the fat.
So drink more Green Tea and for more bang for your buck, supplement with Green Tea extract (our Green Tea Essentials) twice a day–lose fat, increase exercise performance, decrease risk of colon cancer….!!
PS: A new website, shopping cart and my very own Organic Performance iPhone App coming soon..
We have heard for a long time that broccoli is a great nutritional food–it is a cruciferous vegetable which helps keep estrogen healthy. It is a rich source of nutrients and vitamins. All of this is true, but be careful eating too much broccoli.
Yes, eating too much brocolli is not recommended. Why not? First too much broccoli can cause havoc to the thyroid gland. This is due to the nutrients in the broccoli that essentially compete for the iodine receptors needed by the thyroid to make thyroid hormone. When this occurs, iodine is not utilized well leading to a decrease in thyroid function. Some of this iodine effect is overcome by the way you prepare the broccoli–boiling is best, followed by steaming, with microwaving being the worst.
So I don’t recommend anyone consume broccoli more than 4-5x/week. Once you reach this amount, you will not be able to handle the iodine effect and, over time, will likely have thyroid dysfunction.
Can you replace the iodine? Not completely. It looks as if eating more iodine will help a little, but not a lot and so one should not rely on consuming more iodine in the face of high amounts of broccoli intake.
Bottom line: broccoli is a healthy cruciferous vegetable, but needs to be consumed in moderation at most.
PS: The best sources of iodine comes from seaweed and sea vegetables such as kelp.
I had the following conversation with my wife yesterday. What matters more (in terms of overall health and well-being): the frequency of eating OR the content of the food we eat?
Obviously BOTH matter, but here is the argument for if you had to either have control over one (frequency of eating) vs. the other (content of the food you eat).
I feel that the content of the food matters more. I think that most (if not all) health issues start with eating the wrong foods: processed, packaged, highly refined, sugar-fied, vegetable oiled, soy laced, foods. If you look at people who eat a traditional diet: healthy fat from animal protein and dairy, vegetables, fruit intake, minimal starch and grains, little sugar, nothing processed, everything organic, these individuals and populations do very well. But when you introduce all of the conveniences that our culture introduces: microwave, pre-packaged, processed, non-organic, etc, the quality of our food is greatly marginalized and depleted. The argument is that we don’t have time to grow and cultivate our own vegetables, that eating organically is too expensive, that we are fearful of raw milk, on and on and on…..yes, lots can be said for actually eating what is good for our bodies.
My wife has another view point: that the frequency of eating is what truly matters. We have lost complete touch with the natural flow of food and energy and have now manipulated ourselves into thinking we HAVE to eat every 2-3 hours in order to be healthy. We don’t follow the the natural flow of eating when we are hungry because we are “caught” in a food system in which we have trained ourselves to be hungry every 2-3 hours. The biggest problem we face is that we now have lost our “adaptability” in terms to how we handle food stress. Food stress is the physiological process by which we process glucose and insulin and since we no longer challenge this system, we have become a victim of it. Let me simplify: take the extreme of fasting–when you fast for over 48-72 hours, you adapt and your body reaches a new baseline in terms of how glucose and insulin are managed. When this occurs, we, ourselves become more adaptable. And it is this adaptation that keeps us strong and healthy (just look at athletes to know that a little stress is good for us). Extremes are difficult places to live for most people, and so fasting all the time won’t work, but fasting sometimes is something we are lacking. And if you look at animals in the wild (who are never overweight or unhealthy, BTW) that is the natural flow of eating. Eat when you are hungry, but don’t eat when you are not. You may go several days without eating, but this stress is a useful adaptation that we need.
Again, both of these issues are very important. In terms of nutrition we are so used to dealing in terms of the WHAT, that oftentimes we forget about the larger process at work. I think that being adaptable is what allows any cell to become stronger and that a little nutritional stress is a good thing.
What do you think? Which is a more difficult challenge for you:
1.) Change the what–rid yourselves of anything process, packaged, convenienced and eat only an organic, traditional diet? OR…
2.) Change how you eat–rewire your brain so that you do not eat every 2-3 hours, but eat only when you are hungry, which sometimes may be 3 days later?
1.) In a recently published study, low Vitamin D levels were associated with higher rates of heart disease and heart attack. Bottom line, this is more proof that getting Vitamin D3 (25-OH) levels to greater than 60 is a worthwhile goal.
2.) Low testosterone levels in men have been found to increase the chances of getting an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA). Again, more evidence that testosterone is so much more than just a sex hormone…..
Cooking oils and Fatty Acid Oils and Nut Oils.
First, Vegetable Oils including Soy and Corn Oil are BAD.
Canola oil is like plastic so that needs to be discarded as well.
Olive oil? It is great! But not at high temperatures due to it’s low flash point (meaning it will oxidize when heated). So use Olive oil for dipping and salad dressings only.
So what should I cook with?
Organic Butter is great! Tons of healthy fats and some protein as well. Use as much as you want.
Coconut oil is probably the best cooking oil–it is a saturated fat, but don’t let that scare you. As a medicum chain fat, it is energy that gets USED and NOT STORED. Coconut oil has been shown to help maintain healthy cholesterol levels, reduce the risk of heart disease and help with burning fat! Yes, eat coconut oil (3 tsps per day) and you will burn fat. Coconut oil is one of the healthiest foods available. Use it as a skin moisturizer as well. Buy organic coconut oil, of course.
Grapeseed oil and Walnut oil are great oils to cook with. They don’t have much flavor (especially the Grapeseed Oil) and have high flashpoints (they will not oxidize when heated). These are much better choices than the Canola oil most people choose.
Fish Oil is needed for it’s high EPA and DHA content (Omega 3 Fatty Acids). We get too much Omega 6 Fatty Acids from our diets and so we need Omega 3 Fatty Acids to help bring balance back to our systems. Everyone benefits from supplementing with Fish Oil. Everyone. Make sure you spend a little more money on an Ultra-Pure Fish Oil to ensure you are not getting fish oil that is rancid or containing heavy metal or other contaminants.
Flaxseed Oil is a good plant based Omega 3 Fatty Acid for those not wanting any fish oil. Be careful as using too much Flax does interfere with Thyroid function.
Evening Primrose Oil is also a great way to get healthy Omega 6 and Omega 9 Fatty Acids. Evening Primrose is particularly helpful for any cyst stuff (breast cysts, thyroid cysts, etc) as well as helping with menopausal hot flashes.
There are a lot of oils out there and I think most people are not using enough of the good ones and too much of the bad ones. Understanding this alone can dramatically impact your health.
With the wave of bigger government and more regulations, our individual health freedoms are being threatened. This is clear with the actions and intentions of Senator McCain who is trying to introduce more legislation to increase the regulation of natural supplements. I know I have written about this before, but I do so again because this issue is critically important to me. I never want anyone to legislate how I can choose to naturally take care of my health and my patients’ health. Unfortunately with ever increasing movements to regulate our food and now our supplements, we are heading down a scary path.
Specifically, Senator McCain is totally off base with the legislation about food supplements. It would take many safe and useful products off the market. It would virtually undo the DSHEA legislation that has allowed the food supplement industry to flourish and provide useful formulations that are hurting the sales of drugs, so someone got to him. He is seriously misinformed and it will take all of us working together to kill his bill, wasting needless time and effort.
He is co-sponsoring a bill that COULD eliminate your access to most of the dietary supplements you use in your supplementation regimen today. This link will enable you do take action now to help prevent this massive attack against the products that we need for our overall health and well-being.
Click here to read more and take action: Life Extension Legislation Action Center.
The FDA has all the power they need to correct the abuses that do exist, but every time government sets up to kill a fly, they shoot it with a cannon! We cannot afford to needlessly drive up the cost of supplements and/or lose over 1/3 of the special formulations that are helping people today deal with issues they have and who know how dangerous the drugs they would otherwise need to take are. The “approved” drugs are either the First, Second or Third LEADING cause of death in America today depending whose figures you use.
Click here to read more and take action: Life Extension Legislation Action Center.
Here is a link to a great website the chronicles the effect of environmental influence on health outcomes.
I share this with you not to scare you, but to educate you. We, unfortunately, live at a time when environmental influences can be dangerous. I come from the vantage point that we are all healthy and we DO NOT need to isolate ourselves and constantly detoxify. But with all the effects and hazards of soy, vegetable oils, chemical pesticides, harsh cleaning products, off gassing from glues and solvents, and many others, it does cause for pause.
We are now running these blood panels to see how the affects of the environmental chemicals have infiltrated you. There are several natural ways to support own immune systems and naturally detoxify without the use of strong pharmaceutical medicines. Again, I want all of you to be as educated as you can so that you can make the best decisions for you and your health. Unfortunately, most of this bad news does not make it to the mainstream media.
Healthy fat. Exercise. Eat more slowly. Cortisol. Run faster. Detox. Now. Neurotransmitters. Jump rope. Or trampoline. Eat breakfast. 3 meals a day. Caffeine is bad? Sleep 8 hours every night. Adkins. Glutathione. More Vitamin D. Interval training is the best. Bioidentical hormone replacement. Kombucha. Parasites. Candida. I am getting older, you know. Colon cleanse. Heavy metals. Digestive enzymes. 6 small meals a day. Don’t eat before bedtime! 20-30 grams of protein per meal. Organic! Aloe vera. Tea tree oil. Swim. Think positive thoughts. Rest. Colloidal silver. Vitamin A is critical. Meyer’s cocktail. Thyroid controls metabolism. Soy is bad. Gluten free? Burn fat, grow muscle. The root cause. Enzymes. High Cholesterol. Coconut oil. 2 a days. Joint pain. Apo B. Homocysteine. Rotation diet. Cell membranes. My serotonin is low. An apple a day. Phytic acid. Energy. Testosterone. Juicing. Antioxidants. cAMP. Nutrigenomics. Cytokines. Fish oil. GPC. Muscle memory. Just do it they say. Stress. Saliva testing. Colostrum. Equilibrium.
On and on and on….
What to do? How to do it?
Health and well-being await.
A better way. A new way. Enzymes, Energy and Equilibrium…..coming soon….
All the time I see people trying to accomplish their health goals WITHOUT utilizing all three proven methods of health: nutrition/ exercise/ supplementation. It is abundantly clear from decades of research and well proven track records that optimal health must include all three categories.
There are many who claim that they can get enough of the nutritional vitamins/ minerals/ nutrients from the food they eat. But in today’s world full of laminate glues that off-gas, chemical spraying, mineral depletion of soil, and heavy metals in our airways from jetfuel (to name just a few), it is impossible to keep up with JUST the food we eat. Nutritional supplements and exercise both serve as metabolic boosters and detoxifiers.
There are many who claim that they don’t need to eat well because they exercise abundantly and supplement well. In our world of vast malnutrition due to eating processed food and the wrong types of food (soy, vegetable oils, etc) there is no way to get all of the fat soluble vitamins and healthy fat that we need to maintain our cell membranes. Sorry, there is no fat in exercise and hard to come by with supplements–no, you need to EAT healthy fat and that is vital to our overall health.
And there are many who claim they can eat nutritionally sound meals and supplement well and that their jobs are exercise enough. Our bodies are designed for movement and we live in a vastly over-sedentary society and so, no, walking at work or climbing ladders at work is not nearly enough. We need to move and we need to sweat and we need to train our hearts and muscles.
Instead of trying to work hard to do everything you can to just get by without adding all three components, I think a better option, is to adjust your life around actively adding all three components of nutrition, exercise and supplementation in. Life is full of other things–work, stress, committments–all of which we would handle much easier and smoother if our focus was our committment to ourselves and our health.
Being healthy is not convenient–to make time to exercise we have to get up early or go to bed late. To eat nutritionally well, we cannot rely on fast food and pre-made packaged food. And to supplement well costs money. It is a challenge to be able to incorporate all three into your life. But the challenge is well worth meeting–your health, your life, this moment, this breath…..
Here is a recipe I came up with for a super nutritious and easy to prepare smoothie:
This provides an ABUNDANT supply of COMPLETE protein and healthy FAT to get your day started.
It is always great to have different smoothie options, so If you have a great smoothie recipe, please send to me and I can post them all together.
I recently reviewed the literature looking at the effects of egg intake and the risk of elevating cholesterol and then the risks of increasing heart disease. What I found may surprise some of you. It has been assumed that since eggs do contain a higher amount of cholesterol than most other foods, that eating more eggs will increase cholesterol levels and therefore increase the risk of heart disease. But in reviewing the literature, this is not the case. There have been several well-conducting studies that asked these questions with the result being that the amount of eggs did NOT adversely affect cholesterol levels.
Eggs do contain a lot of cholesterol–but they contain very high amounts of good cholesterol so this is a good thing. Also, it has never been clearly shown that high cholesterol leads to a shorter life span. Cholesterol is made by our liver and it is estimated that 90-95% of our cholesterol is made internally and only 5-10% of cholesterol comes from our dietary choices.
Eggs are complete proteins and supply a good deal of healthy fats as well. Eggs are one of the best food choices we have. It is a shame that so many of us feel limited in how many eggs we can eat. Eggs truly are super-foods. Make sure you get eggs from free range, organic chickens. Because what matters more than the amount of cholesterol in the eggs, is truly WHAT the chickens who laid the eggs ate.
So go ahead and eat more eggs–the more the better–because we all need complete protein and healthy fat.
With Valentine’s Day this weekend, I thought it would be good timing to review the best nutritional supplements for the heart.
Some of us are concerned about heart disease and preventing a heart attack and others are concerned about training their hearts to be in the best shape possible. Either way, there are a handful of supplements you can take to maximize your heart potential while at the same time ensuring that your heart beats as efficiently and strongly as possible. So here goes:
CoQ10: this is a vitamin or co-enzyme that is extremely beneficial to the way our mitochondria function. Our mitochondria are essentially our cellular respirators, creating ATP energy from the food we eat. CoQ10 is absolutely critical to proper mitochondrial function. It is estimated that 30% of our energy comes from CoQ10 alone. Since we have more mitochondria in our heart muscle, than any other muscle, it becomes clear the need for CoQ10 for our heart function. And while you can get CoQ10 from some food sources, the best way to ensure adequate CoQ10 supply, is to supplement on a daily basis. I recommend 150-300mg daily. Don’t get caught up in the ubiquinone vs. ubiquinol debate–it seems that both types are well utilized. Also, for anyone who is on a statin medication such as Lipitor or Zocor, you definitely need to take CoQ10 as the statin meds deplete our CoQ10. Unfortunately it seems that once we deplete our CoQ10 levels, it is difficult to get those levels back to healthy levels despite adequate intake. So make sure you start early with CoQ10 intake. We can always measure your individual CoQ10 levels with a simple blood test.
D-Ribose: Ribose, a pentose sugar which is usually supplied by the oxidative pentose phosphate–simply put, Ribose is a naturally occurring sugar that we metabolize. Ribose is needed for this particular metabolic pathway by which we create more ATP. Again, ATP is vital for muscle function and since our hearts are our most efficient utilizers of ATP, it is critical that we make sure our hearts have ample supply of ATP. A great way to ensure this is to add Ribose to your supplement regimen. Ribose comes as a powder that you can mix into water and juice. The optimal dose is 5000mg taken 3x/day. Ribose is used by both people with chronic fatigue and those who are long distance runners as Ribose helps prevent fatigue.
L-Carnitine: L-Carnitine is an amino acid that help shuttle fatty acids into the mitochondria. Fatty acids are critical to supplying ENERGY to our systems; our mitochondria then convert those fatty acids into ATP energy. This is a vastly under utilized system by most people. Optimal dosage of L-Carnitine is 1000-2000mg twice a day.
All of the above supplements are safe and are critical to mitochondrial functioning which is so important for proper heart contraction.
Have a Happy Valentine’s Day!!
PS: We will be getting several dozen new supplements in the next week or so that I will begin to share with you. One of them is a Ribose and Carnitine combination that will be awesome.
McCain’s bill is called The Dietary Supplement Safety Act (DSSA). It would repeal key sections of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA). DSHEA protects supplements if 1) they are food products that have been in the food supply and not chemically altered or 2) if they were sold as supplements prior to 1994, the year that DSHEA was passed. If a supplement fits one of these two descriptions, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cannot arbitrarily ban it or reclassify it as a drug.
These protections are far from perfect. They discourage companies from developing new forms of supplements. New supplements may be arbitrarily banned by the FDA or adopted by drug companies in a way that precludes their further sale as supplements.
McCain’s bill would wipe out even the minimal protections contained in DSHEA. It would give the FDA full discretion and power to compile a discreet list of supplements allowed to remain on the market while banning all others.
Everyone knows that the FDA is friendly to drug companies (which pay its bills and provide good revolving door jobs) and hostile to supplement companies. Under this bill, this same Agency could quite arbitrarily ban any supplement it wished or turn it over to drug companies to be developed as a drug and sold for multiples of its price as a supplement.
We must prevent this bill from gaining traction! Protect your access to supplements by contacting your senators today and asking them NOT to co-sponsor the Dietary Supplement Safety Act but rather to oppose it.
McCain’s Dietary Supplement Safety Act (DSSA) appears to be supported by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) which is funded by major league sports teams including baseball, football and others. The recent suspensions of NFL and other professional sports figures is much in the news, and the goal of the sports industry appears to be to shift the spotlight from their players to the supplements industry. In his comments, Senator McCain cited six NFL players recently suspended for testing positive for banned substances and purportedly exposed to these substances through dietary supplements.
The problem here of course is one of illegal sale and use of steroids. So why dismantle the supplement industry in order to control already illegal substances?
The FDA currently has complete and total authority to stop illegal steroids and, more broadly, to regulate dietary supplements. If the agency were doing its job, it could and would have prevented the sale of illegal steroids. The answer to this problem is not to give FDA more power. The Agency simply needs to do it’s job.
Why would a bill be offered to solve an illegal steroid problem that does not really address the steroid problem but instead gives the FDA complete and arbitrary control over all supplements? The answer is simple.
There are a lot of vested interests which are threatened by supplements. Drug companies do not like them because they represent a low cost, safer, and often more effective alternative to drugs. The FDA does not like them because supplements do not come through the FDA approval process and therefore do not support the FDA budget.
Why not simply require that supplements be brought through the FDA’s drug approval process? Wouldn’t that create a level playing field?
That is probably the argument that Senator McCain has been sold. But it is a completely false argument. The FDA drug approval process costs as much as a billion dollars. It is not economically feasible to spend such vast sums on substances that are not protected by patent, and natural substances cannot legally be patented.
This is the great “Catch 22” of American medicine. The FDA, which is supposed to guard and promote our health, is hostile to the kind of natural medicine—based on diet, supplements, and exercise—that represents the real future of healthcare. The Agency has either been captured by drug interests or is trapped in a catastrophically expensive, toxic, and ineffective patented-drug model.
Senator McCain has no doubt offered this bill in good faith. But he has been sold a bill of goods by special interests. And he has been naïve enough not to know that he is being used.
This exceptionally bad bill also requires the reporting of all minor adverse events related to supplements. This is in addition to the already existing requirement to report adverse events. This will further stack the deck against small supplement companies by creating new, unnecessary, even more cumbersome, and of course very expensive administrative hurdles. The result: the consolidation of the supplement industry into a few big companies.If passed, this bill will likely result in the disappearance from store shelves of many supplements currently on the market. In addition to fewer supplements, there would likely be much lower doses available. Unbridled authority would be handed to the FDA, an agency that needs a top to bottom overhaul, not ever more power over our lives.
The FDA will like this because it believes that it can more easily control a few industry giants. But isn’t it more likely that the industry giants will eventually gain control over the FDA?
The FDA is already misusing the adverse event reporting process that exists. Drugs rack up thousands of adverse event reports without any action. Just recently, the FDA yanked from the market a supplement product based on just a couple of alleged adverse event reports without even allowing the company (an old and respected firm) to provide any counter-evidence or counter-argument.
The bill also allows the FDA to yank a product (at the company’s expense) if there is a “reasonable probability” that it is “adulterated” or “misbranded”. Let’s remember that “adulterated” could mean there is a minor record keeping error on the producer’s part and “misbranded” can mean that the producer simply tells the truth about the product. An “adulterated” and “misbranded” supplement in Orwellian FDA speak may actually be both completely safe and effective.
If passed, this bill will likely result in the disappearance from store shelves of many supplements currently on the market. In addition to fewer supplements, there would likely be much lower doses available. Unbridled authority would be handed to the FDA, an agency that needs a top to bottom overhaul, not ever more power over our lives.
If McCain’s bill passes, we can look to Europe for a snapshot of what we may be in for: EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority, has sharply reduced the list of available supplements and is in process of reducing potencies to ridiculous levels, such as less beta carotene than can be found in half of a large carrot. Europeans already look to the US to obtain their dietary supplements. If this bill passes, where will we obtain ours?
Please take action immediately. TAKE ACTION Tell your senators NOT to co- sponsor this legislation and to do everything in their power to defeat it. Then forward this to your friends and family and ask then to do the same!
Here is a great summary from the Weston Price Organization that summarizes the detrimental components to eating soy. There is a great deal of misconception about soy and so it is always good to remind ourselves about these issues.
For centuries people have been using natural apple cider vinegar as both a food and a medicine. The benefits of apple cider vinegar result from the fermentation of apple juice to hard apple cider followed by a second fermentation to apple cider vinegar. This natural product retains all the nutritional goodness of the apples from which it was made plus it is fortified with the extra enzymes produced during the two fermentation steps. It’s the sum of all these ingredients that give apple cider vinegar its amazing health benefits. The best type of apple cider vinegar to use is one made from cold pressed, organically grown whole apples, in which no chemicals or preservatives have been added, which contains the “mother of vinegar”, and is not pasteurized. The “mother of vinegar” is a natural gelatinous substance formed during the last fermentation step.
There are a variety of health benefits that can be obtained from apple cider vinegar including aide with digestive problems, heartburn, calming down of allergies and boosting the immune system. These benefits are mostly attributed to two different parts of the apple cider vinegar: the acetic acid produced by the fermentation of the apples and the rich supply of enzymes retained during the double fermentation process. We know that enzymes are critical to cell function and are needed by our bodies to help digest and absorb food as well as maintain balance within our inflammatory cytokine cascade. These fine attributes of the apple cider vinegar also then contribute to overall detoxification which can lead to fat loss.
Apple cider vinegar is generally mixed in warm or cold water and drank first thing in the morning for maximal benefit. If you don’t tolerate the taste of the apple cider vinegar and water, add a little honey to help with the taste.
Where to get high quality apple cider vinegar? Most people look to Bragg’s brand, but I recently was fortunate to try a different and far better type made from a company in California, Body Ami. Body Ami has created their own unique line of Certified Organic Apple Cider Vinegar in several different flavors including Goji Berry Honey, Currant Honey, and Pomegranate Honey flavors. They use only high quality organic ingredients to make this delicious tasting, detoxifying apple cider vinegars.
You can check out all of their products right here.
Adding high quality apple cider vinegar to your daily regimen is very easy to do and I think that you will quickly see the benefits from both a digestive standpoint as well as an increase in overall health and well-being.
This is mostly a post about my wife, and a little about spreading joy.
Click on this link and look at the photos, and you will see pictures of tables set for a wedding reception out in California from over the summer. The center piece on these tables are beautifully crafted branch sculptures with white paper flowers. Yes, paper flowers–I had to look twice as well. These branch sculptures were hand crafted by my wife and their simple yet sophisticated design speaks absolute joy. The wedding couple chose these specific branch sculptures to be flown in from Charleston and I am certain their presence brought joy to all of the wedding guests. I am lucky that I don’t have to fly to California to experience her joy, but get to revel in her artwork and hand crafts that fill up our house.
These branch pieces cost next to nothing for my wife to make, yet, to me, their message of joy is truly infinite.
Bottom line: spreading joy is only as complicated as we choose for it to be and often the simple messages are the best ones.
This is a comment I frequently hear from patients describing the color of their urine after taking a B-complex or multivitamin. I think the general thinking is incorrect about what this means.
For most people seeing the bright yellow color, they think that they are urinating out all of the “extra” or “un-needed” vitamins. They think that the yellow color is the color of the vitamins and since they were not absorbed, they get filtered through the kidneys and therefore come out in the urine.
This is not exactly the case. IF you are seeing bright yellow after taking a B-complex or multivitamin, then you can be ASSURED that you ARE indeed getting those vitamins in. The reason is that in order for the vitamins to get to the kidneys, they FIRST have to be absorbed by our red blood cells. And to get to the red blood cells, they HAVE to be absorbed from our GI tract when we digest and absorb these vitamins. So you can feel rest assured that if your urine is bright yellow, you are INDEED absorbing the vitamins you are taking.
People are always wondering if they are actually absorbing the vitamins they are taking. It is a common question about which form of vitamin is best: liquid vs. capsule vs. tablet. Well, an easy way for you to tell if you are absorbing those vitamins, is to look at the color of your urine–if it is bright yellow (about 4-6 hours after ingestion), then yes, you are absorbing those vitamins. If your urine never turns this bright, highlighter color, then no, you are not absorbing the vitamins into your red blood cells. This is also a way to see if the vitamins you are taking, contain enough of the vitamins you need. Again, if you see the bright yellow colored urine, you know that you are getting a great supply of vitamins to your red blood cells. And if not, either you need to try a more comprehensive vitamin OR you are not absorbing yours well.
This is a common question. Others include: does it matter if it is a capsule or liquid or tablet? Does it matter what brand it is? Does it matter if there is 100% RDA vs 5000%? And what do those percentages actually mean? How do I know if the supplement is being absorbed properly? How do I know if the supplement is working for me?
Let’s start with the basics.
RULE#1: Choose a nutritional supplement from a reputable company.
You want to feel good about the supplements you are taking and you want to trust that the ingredients listed actually are the ingredients in the supplement. By choosing a well known, reputable supplement brand, you will be able to put those questions to rest (hopefully). It is obviously impossible to test the ingredients of all the supplements out there, but if you choose well known brands such as Whole Foods Brand or Earth Fare Brand or Carlson’s or Thorne or Udo’s or the Organic Performance Lab brand, then you can know that your supplements are full of 100% the ingredients listed and nothing more or less. I know for a fact that all of the supplements I sell are tested and 100% pure–they are the absolute highest quality supplement you can purchase–my brand is the only brand I personally take.
RULE #2: When in doubt, start with a Multivitamin and Fish Oil.
Everyone, including children, benefit from a comprehensive multivitamin and fish oil. There are no downsides here. Yes, there are literally thousands of different natural nutritional supplements you can choose from, so start slowly and simply. A multivitamin fills the gap for all that you are not getting from food and fish oil is so powerfully anti-inflammatory that every cell in your body benefits.
RULE #3: Forget about RDA
RDA or Recommended Daily Allowance tells how much of a vitamin or nutrient is needed to prevent disease. We don’t really care about this. We are shooting for optimal health and well-being so we want large doses of vitamins and minerals. For the water soluble vitamins such as Vitamin B and Vitamin C, there is no upper limit–you can take as much as you want. For the fat-soluble vitamins (A,D,E,K) you don’t have to watch (somewhat) how much you take in. However, for Vitamin D, we know that most people are severely Vitamin D deficient, so chances are you are not going to take too much. Compare a comprehensive multivitamin ingredients with a Centrum multivitamin to see what I am referring to.
RULE #4: At first, don’t worry about formulation (liquid vs. capsule vs. tablet)
The reason I say this is that we don’t really know how you are going to absorb what you are taking unless we test. So start with one that seems to be a good fit for you. If you are taking that particular one for a little while and notice that you feel worse, then it is time to switch or test and see what your vitamin/ fatty acid status is. Certainly don’t switch because you don’t necessarily feel better–I don’t think most people feel much better from adding a multivitamin and fish oil–the benefits are there and certainly accumulate so that if you supplement well, you are setting yourself up for a healthier aging process. There are times when we need to switch formulations (poor absorption is the number one reason) but that generally takes time to figure out. If you are concerned at all, go with the liquid formulation up front as it is the best absorbed.
RULE #5: Pay extra for high quality ultra-pure Fish Oil
You don’t want your Fish Oil to contain any mercury or other metals and you don’t want your Fish Oil to be impure and taste fishy. So pay extra for high quality fish oil that is tested to ensure purity. Fish Oil is such a crucial part of a supplement program that it is the foundation for which the entire supplement foundation rests upon, so make sure you choose this one wisely.
Those are five basic tenets to get you started. I will go into more detail about other categories of supplements including Adaptogens, Essential Phospholipids, Botanicals, and Amino Acids to name a few. I will also go over why I think lab testing is critical to formulating a balanced and optimal supplement program.,
A recently published study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reveals that soy intake leads to increased rates of colon cancer in women and prostate cancer in men. You can check out the article abstract here.
I really think the Soy industry has done a marvelous job in convincing us that soy is good for us. But I feel the exact opposite–soy is not only a nutritionally poor food choice, it is estrogenic and as you can see from the above article, increases the risk of cancer. The problem is that soy is now ubiquitous and it is difficult to find products without soy. How sad. (And scary).
With the growing estrogen dominance we are now seeing, my advice is to stay free and clear of soy.
PS: Next week I will be writing a series of posts centered on “How to choose the right supplements for me?”
Millions of dollars have been made by selling fitness equipment such as the Thigh Master and and the Ab Rocket, claiming that by working the area in which fat loss is desired, the fat will simply melt away. Because of this notion, people spend an unnecessary amount of time doing crunches to get rid of belly fat and using inner and outer thigh machines to get rid of fat on hips and thighs and although this will tone the desired area, it will not make fat deposits vanish.
For example, a study was conducted on experienced tennis players, comparing the circumference and fat deposits in both arms. The findings proved that although there was greater muscle mass in the playing arm, there was no difference in the fat deposition between the two arms.
Depending on genetic make up, it may be harder for some to lose fat around the torso and for others the hip and thigh area may be the problem. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to lose fat around these problem areas. So what does one do? Have patience. Once a high intensity cardio routine paired with a strength training program has been initiated, fat loss will become apparent. It may not occur in the preferred area at first but, if the routine is continuously intensified, the predetermined tough spots will soon be targeted. This approach may sound simple but it actually works when combined with good food choices, stress management and an adequate amount of sleep. The key is being able to increase INTENSITY. You cannot stay at the same intensity and expect to see results.
No matter where fat loss is desired, the same routine is applicable, a high intensity, full body workout. This is the best way to lose fat anywhere on the body, including those trouble spots.
When was the last time you jumped up and down?
Did you know that jumping up and down has many positive health benefits? First, jumping up and down is a great way to get aerobic exercise as jumping up and down is difficult to do. Next, jumping up and down is a great for strength training of your legs and entire lower body.
Interestingly, beyond the cardio and strength training, jumping up and down also seems to help with balance control. This has to do with the efforts made by our eyes to maintain (or attempt to maintain) some level of balance when jumping. Also, jumping up and down seems to recirculate our cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in a way that is unattainable any other way. This seems to help with detoxification and overall brain chemistry.
How can you jump and down?
I think jumping up and down is also a great way to have fun and so often exercise becomes mundane and boring. Try adding some form of jumping and down into your life and you will start to see the many benefits much sooner than you think.
2000 BC
Here, eat this root.
1000 BC
That root is heathen. Here, say this prayer.
1805 AD
That prayer is superstition. Here, drink this potion.
1940 AD
That potion is snake oil. Here, swallow this pill.
1985 AD
That pill is ineffective. Here, take this antibiotic.
2000 AD
That antibiotic doesn’t work anymore. Here, eat this root….
–Unknown
Happy Monday! I would add (quite literally):
2010 AD
This root, that root, how do we know what works for me? Here, take this test and we can tell you 
This is very interesting. Many people cannot tolerate Gluten and or Casein (protein in dairy). For some of these individuals, when they eat either gluten or casein, they do much worse because they are lacking a specific enzyme, the DPP-IV enzyme. This enzyme helps break down a portion of the gluten and casein (casomorphin and gluteomorphin). And if missing, the glutens and casein can cause a morphine-like reaction in these people.
Simply put this means that those individuals who are lacking this enzyme become addicted to the food (the gluten and casein) because the portion of the gluten and casein (that should be broken down by the DPP-IV enzyme) acts like morphine. So literally, these people become addicted to the gluten and casein they are eating. This is made worse because they don’t tolerate these foods and therefore are creating inflammation by eating these foods.
This scenario is commonly seen in Autistic children, but I think now that we are recognizing this physiology as a clinical entity, we will be more aware of this effect in all people.
What to do? Well, if you know that you are intolerant to gluten and/ or casein, try taking a broad spectrum of digestive enzymes which contains the DPP-IV enzyme, and see how it goes. Try taking the enzymes with meals. (Click here for info. about my Digestion Essentials which contains the DPP-IV enzyme).
If you don’t know if you are sensitive to gluten and/ or casein, get tested so that you know. Knowing this information can help explain many physiological behaviors that may have nothing to do with food (depressed mood, anxiety, irritability, food cravings).
Yes, many, many things come back to the food we eat!
What is the ONE thing you want to achieve this year? Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to have more energy? Do you want to stop smoking or drinking? Do you want to run a marathon? Do you want to feel more like yourself again? Do you want to be able to bench press more weight?
We all have at least one goal that we set for the new year. I want to help you achieve that ONE goal you are really going after. We all have great intentions as we make goals at the beginning of each year, but many times, life gets in the way of our aspirations, and then even those little goals get pushed aside.
This year, I would like to help you with that one goal of yours, no matter what it is. As you know, I like to look at things from different angles and sometimes that is all the help you need. Other times you may require a certain type of lab test or trying a certain range of supplements to get to the health goal you want. No matter what the process, the goal is to get to the goal. I think many times when trying to accomplish things in our life, the process gets in the way.
In the next few months, I am going to be telling you about adaptogens and phytochemicals and glutathione and cell membranes and antioxidants and biotoxins and the latest and greatest from the sports nutrition world. I will keep you updated about the newest health trends. I will make sure you know what the best foods to eat are, what the best way to exercise and the best supplements to take. We live at a time where there is too much information and I will try to sift through all of that and make sure you know what to know.
Through that, my one goal for everyone of my patients’ is to help them with ONE goal. If you can change one thing in your life, what is it and how do we get started?
There truly is a natural solution for every health question, no matter how complex. Let us use this year to accomplish the ONE goal you want the most.
Happy 2010!
This will be my last post for 2009 as we will be out of the office from Christmas through January 4th.
Looking back on 2009, it is abundantly clear to me how much people want to better themselves to feel optimally well. I am obviously biased, but I sincerely sense that my patients work harder to improve their individual health and well-being, than the general population. It is not always easy to feel good, right? It takes time and energy and planning to eat well for yourself, to exercise joyously and regularly and to think positive thoughts. All the hard work you put in does pay off as you notice that you feel better, have more energy, sleep better and have a clear and present mind. I think a big part of the journey of life is figuring out how to be relaxed and present in each moment of our lives. We are under a constant barrage of thoughts and pressures and stressors and so it truly is magical to see how many of you are able to be able to focus on the positive. I think the more you are able to practice feeling well, the easier it becomes. For ultimately, I want optimal health and well-being to be easy for you; to flow to you and through you. And the more you can figure out what works for your body and soul, the easier that becomes.
And so I will close this year with one final thought: every single day provides a fresh, clean slate for you to feel however you want to feel. And with the New Year approaching, there is no better time to recommitt to yourself that you will start over everyday; that you will allow yourself the freedom and independence to be in charge of you, right now and every single moment moving forward. Everything and anything is always possible as long as you believe it to be.
You will begin to see new labels on all of our supplements. These are the exact same supplements, with a different label.
There is a lot to talk about for next year and in time, I will tell you about my thoughts about a brand new way to optimize your health based upon my Enzymes, Equilibirum, and Energy system. There will a brand new website as well: www.organicperformancelab.com. There is nothing there yet. All in due time.
For now, if and when you get the new supplements, rest assured that these are the exact same supplements with a new label.
Here are my predictions for 10 “HOT” health topics in 2010:
10.) Beta-alanine: this amino acid is already widely discussed in the body building world as Beta- Alanine significantly can help promote Carnosine production. Carnosine, another amino acid, is crucial to helping build muscle. Watch as Beta- Alanine moves into the mainstream Sports Nutrition world, where it can be used safely to help build and maintain muscle mass. It is a good choice for those looking to add some strength and bulk to the musculature. (Our Beta-Alanine is called Muscle Essentials and will be showcased in 2010).
9.) Biofilm: this refers to a pathogenic organism creating a biofilm in our colon. This concept is not new, but is gaining ground in our understanding how pathogenic organisms can create biofilms to hide and shield themselves from our immune systems.
Biolfilm formation
Likley culpris include Candida, Lyme, Mycoplasma, parasites and others. If we do not attempt to destroy or disrupt this biofilm, then we will have less success in eradicating the overgrowing pathogen. Here are some biofilm disruptors (in no particular order): Bromelain, Calcium EDTA, Zeolite, Colloidal Silver, Castor Bean Oil.
8.) Microcellular detoxification: with the growing technology and research being conducted on the cellular level, we now know how cells function on the small scale. This is very important because it allows us to be very specific in terms of we detoxify. So now we can focus on microcellular detoxification–improving each cells’ own capacity to work efficiently by removal of toxins and improving cellular metabolism. This includes working with our own mitochondria to help them be more efficient at creating ATP (energy). (Much more on this to come in 2010)
7.) Gluten Free: while many mainstream grocery stores are embracing gluten free products, it seems that gluten has only been associated with Celiac sufferers. Now that more and more people are understanding that there are a ton of Gluten sensitive individuals, watch as Gluten Free becomes much more prevalent and mainstream.
Gluten Free
6.) Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs): a set of amino acids that are crucial to muscle development, the BCAAs are mainly discussed in the sports nutrition and athletic circles. That being said, many elite athletes are not aware of the beneficial effects of the BCAAs (Leucine, Iso-Leucine and Valine). BCAAs are the most potent boosters of muscle growth and development. This trio of amino acids are usually contained in the mix of good Whey Isolate Protein, but can also be taken in higher and more concentrated doses by themselves. The BCAAs are very well tolerated and are easy to mix into a post-work out regimen. (Our BCAA powder is called BCAA Essentials and contains 100% pure BCAAs).
5.) Oxidative Medicine: this branch of medicine, while widely discussed in the alternative medicine community, has not gained much ground in the mainstream medicine world. Oxidative medicine includes any process that seeks to create more energy through the understanding of the free radical and oxygenation system. This includes the use of understanding of hydrogen peroxide, ozone, hyperbaric oxygen. Less known to most is maximizing mitochondrial efficiency through the use of Carnitine and CoQ10.
Oxidative Stress
4.) D-Ribose: a naturally occurring sugar, D-Ribose is wonderful fuel for our cells. D-Ribose has proven to add endurance for athletes and I think it will gain more popularity in 2010. D-Ribose is great for anyone feeling fatigued, anyone with any type of heart issue and for anyone who wishes to gain more endurance. D-Ribose comes as a powder that can be mixed into water or juice or whatever you want. Most people report that D-Ribose does give them more energy as D-Ribose is used by our mitochondria to help make more ATP energy. (Our D-Ribose is called Ribose Essentials and comes in pure powder form)
3.) Cell Membranes: the more we learn about cellular physiology, the more it is clear that cellular mechanics are more dependent upon the function of the cell membrane and less upon the function of the cell organelles. This is a very exciting topic and one that I think will take root the more we study and discuss it’s potential for helping with optimal health. I will write much more about this topic in the new year.
Cell Membrane Structure
2.) Gamma Oryzanol: otherwise known as rice brain oil, this natural element is absolutely fantastic with what it can offer: weight loss, detoxification and decreasing the risk of cancer. There really does not seem to be any downside with Gamma oryzanol and it’s use will become much more widespread as individuals learn how they can incorporate Gamma Oryzanol into their supplementation regimen. As a soluble fiber, gamma oryzanol helps detoxify and has been shown to help with reducing the incidence of colon cancer. Look for gamma oryzanol to become more widely discussed in 2010. (Our Gamma Oryzanol comes in our Fiber Essentials).
1.) Prebiotics: most of us are familiar with Probiotics (healthy bacteria to help balance bad bacteria in colon), but not Prebiotics. Prebiotics are essentially non-digestible food ingredients that stimulate the growth and/or activity of bacteria in the digestive system which are beneficial to the health of the body. Basically speaking, Prebiotics include entities such as Inulin, Beta- Glucan, and FOS. We are finding that more and more people have a dysfunctional intenstinal lining (due to food allergies, pathogen overgrowth, etc.) and to optimally repair this lining, Prebiotics are needed. Prebiotics are taken like Probiotics, once or twice aday. I think that you will see Prebiotics talked about more and more in the next year. (Our Prebiotics are known as Prebiotic Essentials).
Prebiotics
No matter what, 2010 promises to be a fantastic year from a natural health perspective–with the growing interest and reserach now being invested in natural healthy living, I am sure there is so many new things to learn.
This will certainly be the only time for all of us that a Blue Moon is occurring on New Year’s Eve this year. And while a Blue Moon is certainly not Blue, it is exciting to reflect that this Blue Moon is coming at an exceptional time. New Year’s Eve this year not only marks the beginning of a new year and also a new decade. When you make your New Year’s wish this year, know that you are wishing on a spectacular year ahead where anything is possible. Anything and everything.
Before I forget, ALL of our supplements will be buy one get one free from now until January 1, 2010. We will be closed from Christmas until January 4th, so I wanted to mention that as we will only be open here in the office for 9 more days to take advantage of this offer.
There is a lot to look forward to in the next few weeks including this once in a lifetime Blue Moon on New Year’s Eve. Don’t forget to check it out.
I have received a bunch of questions about heavy metal testing: how it is done, what does it show, etc. So here is a summary. There are three ways to test for heavy metals:
I think all three testing methods have merit and we employ all of them here in my office. It seems that most insurance companies will cover the first two testing methods, but not the Urine Provocative testing.
If we find heavy metals we then talk about chelation strategies. This includes oral chelation methods, Intravenous methods and even suppository methods. All of different pluses and minuses so every case is different.
It is interesting that the more patients we test, the more heavy metal we are seeing. This is the result from environmental exposures most of all. Many people do a fine job on their own detoxifying from heavy metal exposure. But some people do not.
There are many typical symptoms for heavy metal burden such as fatigue, joint pain, numbness/ tingling, pre-mature aging, loss of muscle mass. Heavy metals certain can interfere with cell membrane metabolism and this can lead to a variety of symptoms and disease states such as heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease.
I am certainly not one to approach health and wellness from a defensive standpoint–meaning I do not start with heavy metal testing, but rather reserve it for when we are not making progress by other means. That being said, new research that clarifies the detrimental role of heavy metals and cell membrane metabolism may change my stance on this. I will keep you posted…..
There is a lot of talk these days about global warming and climate control. What astonishes me is that in all of these discussions, the absolute lack of discussion about the effect of the environment on human health and disease. For example, did you know that jet fuel contains many different heavy metals–without these heavy metals, airplane travel would be difficult and unsafe. But these heavy metals are scattered from the jet fuel into the air we breathe and fall into the ground where we have crops and soil. No matter if you buy organic produce or not, you are going to get exposure to heavy metals. And these heavy metals have absolutely no place in the human body. So we are getting constantly bombarded with heavy metal exposure from the environment.
I am not going to write that we should work to clean up the air ways by changing the way airplanes work–I certainly do not know nearly enough to comment on this subject. But I do know enough about health and just like stress and infectious disease, heavy metals are all around us. This much is fact. Some of us will be more affected and have more damaged cell membranes than others. Just like some of us handle stress better and some us do not get sick despite being exposed to infectious organisms.
I feel the conversation about global warming is way off base–it would be far better to spend our time and energy discussing sensible ways for everyone to deal with the complex issue of heavy metal exposure. The good news is that I am well aware of this issue and will continue to report back to you about what you can do to help yourself.
For now, it is a good idea for everyone to get tested and you will be surprised and come back and tell me: “How am I getting exposed to that?” The fact is, we are all being exposed. Some of us do a better job of dealing with it than others, but we are all being exposed. The big issue for me is that heavy metals can disrupt and destroy cell membranes. And our cell membranes are critically vital to how we feel and our overall health. We have solutions in place if heavy metals are discovered, so you can rest assured that you will be dealing with these metals properly.
There are 3 ways to get tested for heavy metals–blood testing, hair testing and a urine provocative test. We run all 3 types of tests here and all have their merit. As part of the Cell Membrane Program I will be introducing in 2010, heavy metal testing will be standard. For now, think about if you know much about this topic, Google it, learn about it and then come in and get tested to see where you are.
And when you hear all of this talk about global warming, just remember how little (none) of this talk actually focusses on how we can all learn more about heavy metals in our environment. Again, from I know, this global warming stuff is way off base–certainly the more we learn, the better, but let us not forget that we are here, right now on this Earth trying our best to live every day.
This is a timely question that is always asked: what is the influence of genes on disease outcome? The debate goes back and forth between those that feel that genes are the primary influence to disease and those that feel that it is the environment that shapes outcomes. Of course, there is the middle ground that asserts that it is a combination of both.
While I will not to pretend to know the exact answer, I do think we have been viewing this question from the wrong lens. We tend to think that it is the nucleus of our cells that creates and modifies our DNA (the brain of our cells) as the master controller of cell functioning. See image below with big nucleus in the middle:
We have treated the nucleus like our own brains–as the master controller for cell functioning. And while it is true that the nucleus is responsible for the creation and modification of our DNA, the real master controller of our cells may actually reside with our cell membranes:
If you look closely at this image, you will see those red and blue “things” sticking out of the yellow portion of the cell membrane layers. It is these “things” and others like them that contain the real key to how are bodies function on a cellular level.
We receive information from our environment by way of these peptides–I will attempt to simplify this so it makes sense:for example, if you are hungry, your brain sends out a signal to the rest of your body to get ready to eat. This signal takes shape as electrical impulses are passed from neuron to neuron in our brains. That electrical impulse may start in our hypothalamus and travel to our pituitary gland where once activated may cause a release of hormones. These hormones, in turn, travel around the rest of our bodies and BIND to the cell membrane receptors (the blue and red things in the image above). Once received these receptors then send the message (via complicated cellular communication signals) to the nucleus of the cell to start working to make cell messages.
As you can see, there are several different areas where that one message can be influenced, but it seems that the key point is how well the cell membranes receive the message to translate that message to the cell nucleus. So literally our cellular mechanisms are dependent upon these cell membrane receptors.
If we have a “good” supply of cell membrane receptors, we will be more likely to communicate “good” messages to our cell nuclei. But if we have “bad” cell membrane receptors, then we will be more likely to communicate “bad” messages to our cell nuclei.
Okay, the interesting aspect to all of this is that it is possible to modify these cell membrane receptors to our advantage. We have cell membrane receptors to everything in our environment–from Omega 3 receptors to plastic receptors. This is because the only way we can interact with our outside/ environmental world that our internal cellular world lives in is through these receptors.
I hope I have not totally confused you yet.
So we can up-regulate the good receptors so that we communicate good messages vs. the bad messages. This happens through the thoughts we think, the food we eat, the supplements we take and the exercise we do. As an example, Omega 3 Fatty acids (Fish Oil, Flax Seed Oil) bind to cell membrane receptors telling our cell nucleus to STOP making PRO-INFLAMMATORY cells called Interleukins (certain ones are PRO-INFLAMMATORY). So literally the Fish Oil is reducing inflammation by turning off this inflammatory cascade. This is a real process.
The same process occurs when we are thinking positive thoughts–we set in motion “positive” cell communication that is mediated through our cell membranes which leads to positive changes biologically.
And the same is true for “bad” things. For example, the more we expose ourselves to toxic chemicals, the more toxic cell membranes we up-regulate which leads to more “toxic” cellular processes–again, all mediated through our cell membrane communicating to our cell nuclei and NOT the other way around.
I have oversimplified this complicated physiology here, but the point remains that we are not influenced more by our genes or our environment. No, we, each of us, is the literal determinant of our outcomes–if we “choose” to eat more healthy foods, think more positive thoughts, exercise regularly, take the right supplements, then we will have a positive influence on how our cell membranes communicate to our cell nuclei. But, if we do not eat well, think negative thoughts, stop exercising and do nothing but expose ourselves to negative and toxic environemntal stressors, we will up-regulate those cell membrane receptors to communicate those messages to our cell nuclei.
Yes, we are all given a set of DNA to work with and we are all raised in certain environments which shape our adult lives. But, we have far underestimated our own, individual influence on how we can intend and create a healthy life for ourselves. And the reverse is certainly true–we have underestimated how we can literally create and intend negative outcomes for ourselves. It is far too passive a notion to say it is just are genes or just our environment. And it is short sighted to say that it is just a combination of both.
We are all individuals and we have clear and direct influence on how each moment of our lives unfold–will you choose to make each moment (or as many of them as you can) positive and healthier or will you stay passive and think/ live as if life is here just to unfold before you.
I will write more about this in the near future and have created a system (to be unveiled in 2010) to help you monitor how you are doing from a cell membrane perspective (because it is our cell membranes that literally are the hearts of our cells).
These are both neat antioxidant compounds.
Lutein is found in tomatoes and has been touted for a long time as helping with vision, prevention of macular degeneration and possibly prevention of prostate disease. Recently, however, a study was conducted in which consumption of tomatoes resulted in a 33% decrease in lymphocyte DNA damage. At the same time, it was found that blood quantity of lutein levels increased substantially. Therefore it was concluded that the antioxidant (protective) effects of tomatoes was mediated via Lutein.
This is good news because tomatoes can be eaten in a variety of ways: raw, cooked, on pasta, pizza, etc. Unfortunately, many people do not tolerate tomatoes well. The jury is still out whether supplementing with Lutein will provide similar benefits to eating tomatoes. My feeling is that supplementing with Lutein does provide antioxidant protection–we don’t know yet, how much Lutein needs to be consumed.
On a different antioxidant note, Astaxanthin (pronounced as-tuh-zan’-thin) is a carotenoid that does not convert to Vitamin A in the human body. Too much Vitamin A is toxic for a human, but astaxanthin is not. However, it is a powerful antioxidant; it is claimed to be 10 times more capable than other carotenoids. However, other sources suggest astaxanthin has slightly lower antioxidant activity than other carotenoids.
The “neat” and emerging data about Astaxanthin is that we likely have not been getting enough of it. We primarily get Astaxanthin from eating crustaceans, shrimp, krill, trout and salmon. Research shows that due to astaxanthin’s potent antioxidant activity, it may be beneficial in cardiovascular, immune, inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases. Some sources have demonstrated its potential as an anti-cancer agent. It also crosses the blood-brain barrier, which makes it available to the eye, brain and central nervous system to alleviate oxidative stress that contributes to ocular, and neurodegenerative diseases such as glaucoma and Alzheimer’s.
A recent study revealed that consistently taking 12mg of Astaxanthin daily resulted in fat loss. This was independent for caloric intake and exercise severity. This is very new data–if you look at the quantity of Astaxanthin in nutritional supplements, the range is generally closer to 1mg. It does look very promising for Astaxanthin to be one of the antioxidants we need to watch closely.
Now try saying Lutein and Astaxanthin as fast as you can so you can remember them for down the road….
Do you know much about the botanical Berberine? If not, then maybe after reading this, you might feel compelled to try.
Berberine is found in such plants as Berberis, goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), and Coptis chinensis, usually in the roots, rhizomes, stems, and bark.Traditionally Berberine is called upon for its immune boosting capacity, but here are some other interesting aspects about Berberine:
I recently added Berberine in our Essentials line of supplements, called Neutralizing Essentials. You can read more about it here.
So there are some really good reasons to consider using Berberine. See what you think.
PS: I am adding many new supplements to our supplement selections and will let you know about each of them in due time. I am also going to be coming out with a supplement guide that will give you my take on the many different supplements, their dosages and indications.
“Metabolism is vibrational response to your moment in time. Metabolism is the way the Energy is moving through your body. And so, everything is in response to the way you feel — everything is. Everything is mind over matter. Every disease is mental first. Everything is about thought. Everything is about vibration. Everything is about the way you feel. Practice scenarios that feel good–and never mind reality. Reality is only a brief moment in time that you keep repeating.”
–Abraham (via Esther Hicks)
So true. We tend to think of physical entities like metabolism as only being able to be affected by physical actions: eating, exercising, etc. And so we neglect any mental/ vibrational component.
This is the perfect time to thank all of you for joining me on this journey as we search for better and different approaches in our understanding of what it is to be human. This journey is something I truly enjoy and I want you all to know that I thank you for your trust and confidence as we delve deeper into how we can feel optimally well. There are many different doctors and health care providers out there, all with different approaches and advice. I am thankful that you have trusted me to help you. There is so much we don’t know and have to learn and I am constantly guided by the notion that life is abundantly full of everything for everyone; sometimes we don’t see that or appreciate that in our lives, but it is always real.
So as we celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, know that I am thankful for this opportunity to be a small part of your life. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
We have known for a while now that the best way to increase physical fitness levels is through interval training. Interval training, put simply, is changing the intensity of the exercise. For example, interval training for someone running would involve breaking their run into different “intervals” of higher intensity running. So instead of running the same pace for their run, they could run sprints during their run or at the end. The same goes for swimming, biking and weight training.
There is great evidence to support interval training as a more efficient way to get in shape and reach peak performance. The older way of thinking of exercise was that it was more important to get out and run/ bike/ swim/ lift weight, etc. for the same pace but do it consistently. And this is how most people still exercise. They get on the treadmill and start running, staying at the same pace the entire time. Or they are lifting weights and lift the same weight for a certain number of repetitions, the entire time. There is no change or interval component to this.
But science confirms that when you aim for high intensity training you will achieve better and faster results (build muscle more quickly, build aerobic capacity more quickly). At my office we have been running max VO2 testing which confirms this. Most of the people going through the VO2 testing do not do as well as they would like because they are not interval training–they are not hitting bursts of high intensity, but rather train at the same predictable pace.
A recent study was run where they investigated whether high intensity interval training alone could boost fat oxidation and fat loss post-exercise. What they found is somewhat surprising: the best way to burn fat during and after exercise is to COMBINE high intensity training with longer durational exercise.
So you will get more fat loss if you are able to do both–run sprints and run for a long period of time during the SAME exercise session. Now, that being said, you will certainly burn more fat from any type of high intensity training compared to endurance or long duration training. But you can really get things moving if you combine the both of them together during the same exercise session.
So next time you go running or biking or swimming or lifting weights, add high intensity bursts to the regular workout you are doing. How many/ how much? The more you can do, the better.
And remember as the weather starts to turn colder and rainier, there is no bad weather, just poor clothing choices. Challenge yourself to make this end of fall and winter the time to change up your exercise regimen to include high intensity interval training.
We all have our favorite songs and tend to gravitate to music that makes us feel good.
And I think that most people like to play music to match their mood and what they are doing: fast, up-beat music when working out or driving around, calm, soothing music when trying to relax…..
Have you ever tried flipping this around? Next time you go work out/ exercise, instead of choosing to listen to loud, fast music, choose the calm and relaxing music. And same goes for when you are trying to settle down: choose the faster music.
Why? Well we certainly feed off this musical energy and it is very real. Music, in general, is positive–whether it is a slow piece of music or a hip-hop, dance version. And we very readily benefit from this positive energy.
But I think we tend to fall into patterns with the music we choose. We can start to take for granted that the music will help us feel a certain way and/ or get our moods in a certain place.
When you change the pace of the music so that it does not match your mood/ situation, you will create new energy pathways you never knew existed. This is very real. For when we live life taking anything for granted, we are replaying and travelling through our existing neuronal connections.
But when we change the energy so that it is not a match to what we are “used to,” we literally can create new neuronal connections. Music is such a real example of how you can accomplish this in your life, but it really is just an example.
Yes, you might get some strange looks when you are seen rocking and doing the air-violin, but your life and energy will be better for it.
Good news and bad news. The bad news is that we are seeing a rise in trans-fat accumulation without good explanation. One of the tests we run, a fatty acid profile, examines one’s Omega 3,6,9 levels as well as their trans-fat levels. I have had two patients in the last 2 weeks who both have high trans-fat levels without good explanation. Meaning, they both eat well and do not incorporate trans-fats into their diets. Yet, their results show otherwise. I spoke with the doctor at the lab who told me that they are seeing a “spike” of high trans-fat levels in patients in the last year or so. Unfortunately, they were not able to give a good source of where these trans-fats were coming from.
The take home point here is this means that we are being exposed to trans-fats from places we do not know and/ or the food we are eating that is labeled “no trans-fats” likely has trans-fat content. Stay tuned as this is an interesting topic and the more I learn, the more I will share. Unfortunately we know that high trans-fat diets increases the risk of cancer, heart attacks and strokes.
The good news (for women, at least). A new study was recently published in which investigators compared oxidative stress biomarkers of both women and women after eating a high fat diet and exercise. They discovered that across the board that women had lower oxidative stress elevations indicating that they tolerated the high fat diet more efficiently then the men did. This is a unique study as this was the first study of it’s kind to compare women to men.
The take home point is that while we need to learn more about why women are more efficient with their antioxidant processes, gender does play a role in the antioxidant scheme of life. And the better one is from an antioxidant perspective, the less chance of getting Alzheimer’s Disease, Cancer and heart disease.
As I finished my morning bike ride just now, I cam around the corner to find an open Dr. Pepper can. 10 minutes earlier a group of teenagers were at that corner waiting for their school bus to pick them up for school.
So I assumed that one of them must have forgotten to pick their breakfast Dr. Pepper back up. Now I think we can all agree that Dr. Pepper is a poor choice for a morning beverage, right? But maybe that was the only choice the child had? In which case, I would rather that child drink the Dr. Pepper than have absolutely nothing until lunch time. This reminded me when I was working at the Ovie Mughelli Football Camp this summer–several children almost passed out, became nauseated and dehydrated and in ALL of these cases, the children had NOTHING to eat for breakfast. Nothing.
Now how could they have nothing to eat? I still don’t understand this. They all had a parent that brought them to the camp that morning. So how could they enter into this camp (in the middle of the summer, by the way) without having anything to eat or drink?
The only answer I could come up with is that their parents were not eating breakfast either. Because if the parents are not eating breakfast, then the children grow up thinking it is normal/ okay/ routine to skip breakfast. How many of you skip breakfast in the morning? I know there are a ton of reasons: not hungry, no time, feel nauseated in the morning, etc…..
But none of those reasons are that good to me. Especially if you are a parent and children are watching your every move. I am not suggesting you need to have a huge breakfast with pancakes and eggs and bacon. Not in the slightest. But eating something nutrtional with at least some water goes a long way.
Or you could choose to have nothing and watch your child grab the can of soda instead. To me the choice seems crystal clear, how about to you?
This first one appears to be an Internet service that allows you to take pictures of what you are eating, upload them to the Internet site, and then view them at a later time. I think the theory here is if you literally see what you ate, you may be disinclined to eat the same thing in a relatively short time frame. This is interesting as we know that rotating foods is critical to keep food sensitivities at bay. So maybe this service could help you keep track of your food (like a food log) but do so visually and not with words.
It looks as if this service is not yet ready for launch, but you can find it here.
The second website is something to bookmark and come back to you when you have some free time. It is a list of 50 online brain teasers that you can perform to see how well your brain is functioning.
You can find that website here.
More to come about the connection with our brains and our gut–the link between the two systems is complicated and complex, but very important for how we feel, how we age and how we can prevent disease.
With the recent House approval of the health care reform bill, I could not resist posting this information. We can only hope that the Senate will have some sense left to not let this horrendous legislation pass.
According to the Congressional Budget Office(CBO): the cost of this bill will be about $1.6 trillion dollars and despite more than $800 billion in tax and fee hikes, it actually adds $239 billion to the deficit.
So let’s consider (someone sent this to me in an email):
How many zeros in a billion?
This is too true to be funny.
The next time you hear a politician use the
word ‘billion’ in a casual manner, think about
whether you want the ‘politicians’ spending
YOUR tax money.
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend,
but one advertising agency did a good job of
putting that figure into some perspective in
one of it’s releases.
A.
A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
B.
A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
C.
A billion hours ago our ancestors were
living in the Stone Age..
D.
A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
E.
A billion dollars ago was only
8 hours and 20 minutes,
at the rate our government
is spending it.
While this thought is still fresh in our brain…
let’s take a look at New Orleans ..
It’s amazing what you can learn with some simple division.
Louisiana Senator,
Mary Landrieu (D)
is presently asking Congress for
250 BILLION DOLLARS
to rebuild New Orleans . Interesting number…
what does it mean?
A.
Well… if you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans
(every man, woman, and child)
you each get $516,528.
B.
Or… if you have one of the 188,251 homes in
New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.
C.
Or… if you are a family of four…
your family gets $2,066,012.
Washington , D. C
HELLO!
Are all your calculators broken??
Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax (Fed)
Federal Unemployment Tax (FU TA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service charge taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Tax
Vehicle License Registration T ax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
(And to think, we left British Rule to avoid so many taxes)
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago…
and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.
We had absolutely no national debt…
We had the largest middle class in the world…
and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
What the heck happened?????
Great news! I have recently started working with Dr. Lisa Benton, Clinical Psychologist, Health Coach and more. She currently has an office in Murrells Inlet, SC, but we have started working together and I wanted you all to know about her, what she does and how she can have a positive impact on your overall health and well being.
One of the great aspects of Dr. Benton’s practice is that she works with people from all over the world and communicates through email/ phone. So you don’t have to go to Murrells Inlet, but can enjoy all of her advice and guidance from your home.
So that you could get a sense of how Dr. Benton thinks and how she can help you, I asked her a few questions:
1.) As a health coach, how do feel that you can help patients reach their goals of optimal health and well-being?
Motivated. Truly, motivation is all it takes to make progress. The more motivation, the faster the progress. Ironically, discomfort usually produces motivation. Whether it’s emotional discomfort in the form of anxiety or depression or physical discomfort related to a medical problem, that problem helps build the motivation necessary for lifestyle change.
8.) How can perspective clients get in touch with you?
The best way to get in touch with me would be by email or phone: (843) 655-0930 or by email: Lisa@doctorbenton.com.
I encourage anyone interested in learning more to contact Dr. Benton. And certainly anyone looking for some practical and positive health coaching, she is someone I highly recommending working with.
Check out Dr. Benton’s information here:
I thought of this last night.
Here is an easy way to remember what is best for your GI tract to help you digest, absorb, and utilize your food best:
A recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that teenagers with a modest increase in fiber intake had improved biomarkers relating to insulin resistance AND weight loss. They found that this was true even when these same teenagers added more sugar/ carbs into their diet.
Translation: fiber may be the key player in regulation of sugar and insulin; possibly more so than the actual amount of sugar/ carbs that is consumed.
What this means is that while we certainly have tons of data that show that sugar and high carb diets are not good for our metabolism and ultimately lead to increased risk of diabetes and weight gain, this affect may be regulated through our intake (or lack thereof) of dietary fiber and not necessarily the sugar/ carb content.
To make this easier to understand: the general advice for everyone is to restrict sugar and simple carbs. But what might be better advice is to INCREASE our fiber intake. In the study I referenced, not only did they find that those individuals who consumed more fiber had a decreased risk of developing insulin resistance and diabetes, but that they also burned fat better.
And so we can then postulate that the more someone increases the sugar/ simple carbs in their diet, they are also decreasing the amount of fiber in their diet. The practical point here is to obviously increase fiber in your diet. This makes perfect sense as we know that those individuals who have increased fiber intake also have a decreased risk of developing cancer and lower risk of heart disease. But now we also know that by incorporating more fiber, one can also lower their risk of developing diabetes AND burn fat.
So certainly eat more fruits and vegetables (raw is best, by the way). And if you are going to splurge and have that ice cream sundae, make sure you also increase your fiber intake at the same time. I know, hot fudge sundae and carrots don’t really mix, do they? So maybe don’t try to mix the two, but certainly add the fiber!
For those of you who feel like it is difficult to ingest more fiber from food, you can always take a fiber supplement, such as ours, the Fiber Essentials (full of soluble fiber pectin and fat burning gamma oryzanol).
And who knows, maybe hot fudge and carrots do go together–you tell me….
While we all try to live by the axiom, “Everything in moderation,” what does this really mean on a health level? Here are some things to think about:
I can go on and on. This week, test yourself, and see how well you can embrace the “other side” of life. I think you will find that the more balance, the better…..
I am paraphrasing a quote I read a while back.
“In life we often approach the well of abundance with only a teaspoon and not a bucket.”
We feel that we can only do *so* much or feel a certain way. But in reality, there is abundance of everything for everyone. The first step is believing so. The next step is exchanging that teaspoon for a large bucket and heading to the well of abundance with your arms wide open. Anything and everything is truly possible. You can make any change in your life and you can feel anyway you want to feel. You can have more energy and more stamina than you have ever had. You can feel happier and more calm than you ever have before…..
Happy Halloween!
1.) When should I take digestive enzymes?
It depends. For help with any digestion issue: difficulty digesting protein, dairy, fat, carbs, take digestive enzymes with or right before meals.
For help with any systemic issue (allergies, headaches, joint pain, cancer prevention, etc.), take the same enzymes in-between meals.
2.) Does it make a difference if the enzymes are plant or animal based?
The only difference that I can find is in terms of cancer prevention–while the plant based enzymes are great for digestion and inflammation, it seems only the animal based enzymes are good for cancer prevention
3.) Is there a good test to measure my own enzyme production?
There does not appear to be a good test. We can measure your blood for these enzymes, but that does not seem to be a good measure. There also exists urine and stool tests. The stool test is probably the best, but is still not a great one. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a great test to say if you NEED enzymes or not. My take is that we all need enzymes, the only variable is to what degree.
4.) Why do our enzymes decline as we age?
This is complicated and likely not completed understood. My opinion from all of the research I have done is that since we stimulate our pancreatic enzyme production by our food choices, our hormones (yes, brain hormones strongly influence digestion), and our antioxidant capacities, that we end up enzyme deficient because all or one of those components is not running smoothly. It is very difficult to say what comes first–likely a combination of everything: not eating right for our individual selves, not absorbing what we eat, stress interfering with hormone production, not utilizing our antioxidants effectively. All combine to create a scenario where we cannot keep excreting the enzymes we need.
5.) What should I look for in an enzyme supplement?
There needs to be a broad based enzyme content of at least:Amylase, Lipase, and Proteases from either plant or animal sources. After that, it depends upon the specific goal. For anti-inflammatory action look for Bromelain and Papain, for allergies look at Amylase content.
6.) Can I take one blend of enzymes for everything?
Yes, but those particular products are difficult to find because ideally you want a blend of plant and animal based enzymes. I have a new enzyme supplement that should be coming out soon that will accomplish this goal. It will be both animal and plant based and be the most potent enzyme combination available anywhere (I think).
7.) Are there any side effects from taking enzymes?
Does not appear to be. They are extremely safe and well tolerated.
8.) Are there any reasons I should not take enzymes?
Not that I can find. They are safe, well-tolerated and everyone needs them.
9.) What types of enzymes do we carry here?
Several: Digestion Essentials: this is the most broad based and is entirely plant based. This is best taken for digestion issues with meals or right before meals.
Protection Essentials: this is specifically to help destroy biofilm production that is in the gut from a pathogen overgrowth…take with meals
Recovery Essentials: this is designed for inflammation and is best taken between meals and after work outs. Contains plant based enzymes along with Bromelain and antioxidant Quercetin.
We will be introducing other enzyme products soon and I will update you on when they are available.
10.) What else do I need to know about enzymes?
I think we are really on the leading edge here and that we will continue to learn more and more about the benefits of enzymes. I will keep you informed of what I am reading and learning. This is an exciting time and these enzymes are going to help all of us feel better and age better.
Okay, this is the last of my Enzymes Series posts and the one I am most excited about. Before I get into the details, I am getting a lot of questions about enzymes and will post a FAQ about enzymes on Monday.
So this week I have told you about enzymes: what they are, what they do, how they can help from a digestive perspective and beyond. Now I am going to tell you about, what I think, is the most interesting aspect of enzymes. This information is somewhat confusing and certainly deemed alternative and should not in any way be misconstrued as fact.
Let’s first talk about cancer. Cancer is literally cells that are growing out of control–they are in constant cell division and won’t turn off. If we could find a way to turn off the cell division then we would have a way to stop cancer from growing. Chemotherapy does not turn off the cell division, it is simply a way to kill cancer cells (and other healthy cells as well). But stopping cell division has been elusive..or has it?
Back in the early 1900’s, a Dr. Beard in Scotland was doing work with several different biological species. He found that a group of cells called trophoblasts acted like cancer. These cells are cells that are formed very early in life, right after egg and sperm meet and a new creature is born. These trophoblastic cells are like stem cells in that they can turn into anything. They are essentially naive and can go several directions–turn into a heart, a lung, a bone (I am oversimplifying of course). The interesting thing about trophoblastic cells is that at some point they stop dividing; they stop growing. They come to a halt and that is it.
These trophoblastic cells are just like cancer cells. The difference is that cancer cells do not stop growing and the trophoblastic cells do stop growing. So Beard asked the question why and through his work, he beleived he found an answer.
Beard discovered that across species lines, these trophoblastic cells stop growing and stop dividing at the exact moment that the pancreas is formed. So when the pancreas is formed and developed and starts secreting pancreatic enzymes, the trophoblastic cells STOP growing. He verified this with several different species of animals. Again, the one thing (which does not seem to make sense in any way) that turned these trophoblastic cells off was the development of the pancreas. Dr. Beard, of course, was seen as ridiculous and his work was left basically unnoticed until…..
Let’s fast forward to the 1960’s. There was a dentist named Dr. Kelley who was very much into nutritional healing. He developed pancreatic cancer and was told he had to have some intervention if he wished to survive (pancreatic cancer is a very bad cancer and most people given that diagnosis do not live very much longer–at least that is how it was in the 1960’s). Dr. Kelley was not satisfied with this option and decided that he wanted to fix his cancer through nutritional means only. He spent day after day in the library reading and reading and learning and stumbled upon Dr. Beard’s work. So he started taking high doses of pancreatic enzymes as supplements. Guess what? He started to get better. He also modified his diet (more on this at a separate time) and did coffee ground enemas daily (they are apparently detoxifying). He lived another 40 some years and did a few years ago. This is unheard of with pancreatic cancer.
Well Dr. Kelley started seeing patients and became an alternative cancer therapy guru that was sought out during the 1970’s and 80’s. As the story goes, a medical student named Nicholas Gonzalez happened to meet Dr. Kelley and was intrigued by his work. He started working with Dr.Kelley and spent a long time reviewing his data collection and speaking with his patients. Dr. Gonzalez concluded that Dr. Kelley’s work was indeed legitimate. After finishing his training in medical immunology and oncology, Dr. Gonzalez continued Dr. Kelley’s work and continues to this day. You can find out more about him here. (As a side-note, Suzzane Sommers interviewed Dr. Gonzalez in her new book, “Knockout,” and she and Dr. Gonzalez are scheduled to appear on Larry King tonight (10/23/09).
Dr. Gonzalez is currently trying to amass a database so that he can get NIH funding to make this alternative therapy for cancer legitimate. As such, he does not share how he goes about treating his patients.
I have listened to Dr.Gonzalez talk and I have read and read as much as I can about this topic over the last several weeks. Here is my summary: a possible way to turn off cancer cells is to supplement with pancreatic enzymes (animal based) taken in between meals throughout the day. This therapy combined with a specific diet plan based upon one’s metabolic typing (more on this in a separate post) as well as coffee ground enemas is what constitutes Dr. Gonzalez’s and Dr. Kelley’s treatment protocols.
This is all very complicated and difficult to understand. The take away point is that digestive enzymes may play a gigantic role in helping to prevent and treat cancer. And while I won’t pretend to understand all of the physiology yet, this all does make sense to me. I will continue to learn more about this and let you know what I find. This is certainly alternative stuff, but is very exciting from my vantage point.
I will have a FAQ on Monday so if you have any questions you would like answered, please email me.
I will end with a quote which I think is fitting for this topic:
“Once seen as a possibility, it can never be unseen.”…..Forrest Fenn, author, art historian and philosopher
I think we are on the verge of something absolutely miraculous with these enzymes………
While digestive enzymes are best known for their help with digestive aides, there are numerous benefits to these same enzymes outside the realm of the GI tract. Let’s review a few of them here:
1.) Athletic/ muscle recovery: digestive enzymes exert an anti-inflammatory influence by their direct (and indirect) effects on the inflammatory cascade of prostaglandins. We are all familiar with the Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory (NSAID) class of medicines that include Ibuprofren (Advil, Motrin), Naprosyn (Aleve) and countless others. These medicines work on the inflammation cascade of chemicals that includes the prostaglandins which are responsible for attracting inflammatory white blood cells. Interestingly enough, several enzymes exert similar influence including the pineapple based Bromelain and papaya based Papain. These two enzymes have been proven (in the lab and in real life) to decrease inflammation by their DIRECT effect on reducing the prostaglandin cascade that leads to white blood cell recruitment and inflammation. This is very interesting and exciting because these enzymes have powerful benefits for those who exercise as they literally decrease inflammation after exercise and thus promote recovery. These same enzymes also help with the inflammation associated with arthritis. The most known product is “Wobenzyme” which is a blend of enzymes along with the antioxidant Rutin. Wobenzyme is well known to help with joint pain and muscle pain and really does work.
2.) Allergic reactions: this includes reactions from environmental allergies and food allergies. Amylase, the enzymes that helps break down sugars and carbs, has been shown to have a strong anti-histamine effect. This means that Amylase itself can help alleviate allergic reactions and PREVENT them from occurring. We are all familiar with the anti-histamine class of medicines that includes Benadryl, Claritin, Zyrtec, Allegra, etc. These medicines help turn off the histamine response–histamine is one of the chemicals that is recruited at times of irritation. Well, Amylase does the same thing–but without any side effects of drowsiness.
3.) Migraine Headaches: less is understood about the exact mechanisms that explain how digestive enzymes help with prevention and treatment of migraines. But, there is certainly real data of patient reports that identifies the enzymes as exerting anti-inflammatory properties to lessen the bad effects of migraine headaches. I think the same mechanisms are at work here–decreasing the inflammatory and chemical response to irritation. It seems that the enzymes help regulate blood vessel integrity. And the current thinking on migraines is that some blood vessel irritation occurs that can lead to the trigger of aura, pain and associated nausea.
4.) Weight loss: yes, it is certainly true that enzymes can help individuals lose weight. This goes back to the power of the enzymes to help with digestion. When we are able to digest our food properly and break down the food into smaller nutrients for absorption, we are enabling our bodies to absorb these nutrients. When we are unable to effectively break down our food into the real nutrients it carries, we are unable to use these nutrients and can, in turn, end up storing more of these unbroken down (for lack of a better term) food particles as fat. This has been verified in both the lab setting and in real life–patients who take enzymes seem to be able to lose weight much easier than those individuals who don’t take enzymes.
There are many other examples of how enzymes can have an effect “outside” of the digestion tract.
The key with all of these systemic treatments is the timing of the supplemental enzyme intake.
For any help with the above issues, it is critical to take enzymes AWAY from meals–in between meals. If you take these same enzymes with meals they will be used with help digesting the food. But taken separate from food, they can be used by our bodies for lots of other uses.
Tomorrow I will discuss how enzymes can be used to prevent and even treat cancer–this is the most interesting chapter of the enzyme story yet….
Due to my busy schedule, we are making some changes here in the office.
1.) We will no longer be accepting walk-ins. I have strived to keep walk-in appointments available, but due to the amount of patients I see and because of how much time I like to spend with each patient, walk-ins do back the schedule up for those who have scheduled appointments. This has caused extra wait time for people who have scheduled appointments. So we will no longer have room in the schedule for same day appointments. If you do have an issue that you feel cannot wait for a schedule appointment, please call the office and we will instruct you from there.
2.) We have changed our phone system–now when you call you will hear a greeting that prompts you to press a certain extension depending on why you are calling. This will help us as we get a lot of phone calls throughout the day and we want to be able to respond to you as quickly and efficiently as we can.
Thanks and hope you have a great rest of the week….
As I touched upon in the last 2 days, the digestive enzymes Amylase, Lipase and Protease help us digest the carbohydrates, fat and protein we eat. These digestive enzymes are made by a portion of our pancreas and are secreted into our small intestine when we think about food and when we are eating.
The supplemental use of these enzymes to aide with digestion and absorption issues, is why most people purchase digestive enzymes. We now know that as we age, we make less and less digestive enzymes and as such, we have a more difficult time breaking down our food into the nutrients that can be absorbed. As a result, as we age, it becomes more difficult to actual get the nutrition from our food that we need. This is an ever-growing problem and, in my opinion, is a major cause of fatigue for older individuals.
It is now fairly well accepted that as we age, our hormones decline, but less widely accepted or believed is that as we age, our enzymes decline as well. The interesting aspect to this notion is that our hormones don’t work to capacity unless there is sufficient enzymes around to help (more on this tomorrow).
We also now know that as we deal with any stress including acute illnesses, we do not make as much digestive enzymes. This is particularly true for any Gastrointestinal disease or ailment–from diarrhea to constipation to inflammatory bowel disease to irritable bowel syndrome. The vast majority (over 90%) of people we test for a GI disorder have very low levels of digestive enzymes. The difficult question, of course, is what comes first–the symptoms of the disease process (diarrhea, abdominal pain, constipation, gas, bloating) OR the decline in the digestive enzyme output? The conventional thinking (even among alternative minded doctors) is that the disease process sets in BEFORE the enzymes decline. So the infectious agent, be it parasite, bacteria, yeast or virus, sets up shop in the intestines and causes havoc which then leads to symptoms as well as a decline in our ability to produce our needed digestive enzymes.
The more I know about digestive enzymes, however, the more I think it works the other way around–we FIRST have a decline in our digestive enzyme output which then leads to a lowering of our immune function in our intestines which then allows for the unstable environment to develop where the infectious agent can come and start to live. I think this because it has become abundantly clear to me that most people do not know how to eat for themselves. As a society, we have come to accept the notion that pre-packaged, processed, handled, chemically sprayed food is not just okay, but actually good for us. Since this way of eating is now the norm, we fail to reject these food practices and as a result, we are literally contributing to our individual aging process in a negative way.
So when we eat the pre-packaged, processed, handled, chemically sprayed food, we are eating altered food that our bodies don’t know what to do with. As a result we ramp up our digestive enzyme output as we try to break down this food so that we can extract something nutritious. But the assault continues and we work harder and harder to keep our enzymes flowing efficiently. This goes on for a while and we are able to maintain our digestive enzyme supply, but ultimately, we cannot keep up anymore and we begin to slow down. Our enzyme producing capabilities are worn out. And wouldn’t you know it, in today’s society, this likely occurs when we hit the age of 10-12.
This of course depends on our diets for the early years of our life, but speaking in generalizations now, this is the norm and not the exception. How many people do you know that eat food they produce or grow or harvest themselves?
And we wonder why we have so much trouble with eating? I really think this destructive process begins when we wear out our ability to make digestive enzymes. For some this may not be until later in life, but for most, I think this process happens very early.
So we really have two options: make better choices with the food we eat AND supplement with digestive enzymes. It is very difficult to eat food that you grow, raise, harvest, etc. and for most people that is an impossibility. But nothing is impossible. It really does make a difference to eat food from your own garden or eggs from your own chicken. Instead of taking the time to keep our lawns looking green and well-kept, maybe we should be taking that time to nurture a small orchard of fruit trees and growing a small supply of vegetables. Because the more fresh food we eat, the easier it is for our digestive enzymes to be produced. This has been validated in the lab over and over again–the more fresh, raw foods have higher quantities of enzymes AS WELL as reduce the demand for our own enzyme production.
It is now fairly simple to supplement with digestive enzymes for digestive purposes–you can take them with meals or right before meals. And they are very safe–in fact, they are one of the safest supplements you can take–no side effects and you really do not have to worry about taking too much. Yes, it is tedious to keep up and maintain–but the benefits are truly worth it. By having digestive enzymes on board, you will be able to better digest and absorb the nutrients from your food. And when you are better able to get the nutrition from your food, lots of good things happen: you will have more energy, you will have healthier looking skin and hair, you will stop having bloating and gas and diarrhea and you will just feel better overall.
In summary, we have been taught that we are what we eat, and while this is true, it is probably more accurate to say: we are what are enzymes allow us to be. The healthier and more robust enzymes you have, the healthier and more robust you will feel.
Today I will go into more detail about enzymes: where they are made, what they do and what we should expect when taking them supplementally. Tomorrow I will discuss the traditional role of enzymes in digestive health. Thursday I will discuss other uses of enzymes including weight loss, athletic performance and allergy prevention to name a few. And then Friday will be the most exciting when I talk about the use of enzymes in the prevention AND treatment of cancer.
The three main enzymes we refer to are Amylase, Lipase and Proteases. These enzymes are made by our pancreas, a gland/ organ that sits in the back of our abdomen. The pancreas has a dual role–part of it is an ENDOCRINE gland as it secretes the hormone insulin which is needed to get blood glucose from our blood vessels into our muscles and organs. The second part of the pancreas is called the EXOCRINE portion in which the enzymes are made and secreted.
These enzymes act like chemical catalyzers as they are secreted into the small intestine when we think about food, are about to eat, or get the feeling we are getting hungry. The food we eat is then taken by way of the esophagus to the stomach where the stomach enzymes including Hydrochloric acid starts to break down our food from larger particles into smaller size particles. The food is then taken into the small intestine where the enzymes get to work.
The enzyme Amylase works to break down carbohydrates such as starches and glycogen.
The enzyme Lipase works to break down lipids and improve fat utilization.
The enzyme Protease works to break down protein.
After the enzymes work on breaking down our food, the remaining nutrient (vitamins, amino acids, minerals, etc.) are then able to transfuse into our blood stream to be used.
So you can see that having a healthy supply of these three enzymes is critical for properly breaking down our food. Without proper break down of our food, the food remains a food bolus and will travel to the large intestine where further breakdown is difficult to accomplish. If this occurs, the food bolus can sit and become a nidus for putrification and fermentation. This is something we do not want to happen.
The end result of improper break down of our food is constipation, gas, bloating and ultimately malnutrition as we are not able to get nutrition from our food. This can then lead to a decline in our immune function, an imbalance of healthy and unhealthy pathogens and ultimately lead to an inflammatory digestive track.
It has been established that as we age, we lose our ability to make enzymes. So just as we age and expect some degree of hormonal decline, the same goes for the digestive enzymes.
For any type of colon dysfunction including diarrhea, constipation, malabsorption, food intolerance, irritable bowel, etc., digestive enzymes need to be employed with every meal. More on this tomorrow.
Lastly, while our digestive enzymes that we make our made by our pancreas, many of the digestive enzymes we supplement with come from plant sources. Plants are extracted for these enzymes and then process for our use. Sometimes animal based pancreatic enzymes are needed.
In summary, digestive enzymes are critical to our health because they play such a key component of our digestive and absorptive process. Without them or in short supply of them ultimately will lead to malnourishment and fatigue.
This week I will be posting information of digestive and systemic enzymes. I am doing this because the use of enzymes for health and well-being is actually a very excited topic and there is a lot of information that currently exists which is not readily available. I want you to learn about all of the amazing benefits of enzymes and by the end of this week, I think you will see that enzymes are an important part of any supplementation program.
Okay, let’s begin with the basics. What are enzymes (most commonly referred to as digestive enzymes)? An enzyme is a biologically active (meaning they contain energy) protein catalysts (made up of amino acids) that literally help every single energetic reaction in our body. This translates to meaning that enzymes are involved with every single step of human functioning–from breathing to our hearts beating to food being digested to thinking thoughts and so forth. We generally only think of enzymes being helpful for digstive purposes, but enzymes are also very useful for the millions of systemic energetic reactions occurring everyday.
Here is a list of the common enzymes:
• Amylase – breaks down carbohydrates, starches, and sugars which are prevalent in potatoes, fruits, vegetables, and many snack foods
• lactase – breaks down lactose (milk sugars)
• diastase – digests vegetable starch
• sucrase – digests complex sugars and starches
• maltase – digests disaccharides to monosaccharides (malt sugars)
• invertase – breaks down sucrose (table sugar)
• glucoamylase – breaks down starch to glucose
• alpha-glactosidase – facilitates digestion of beans, legumes, seeds,
roots, soy products, and underground stems
• Protease – breaks down proteins found in meats, nuts, eggs, and cheese
• pepsin – breaks down proteins into peptides
• peptidase – breaks down small peptide proteins to amino acids
• trypsin – derived from animal pancreas, breaks down proteins
• alpha – chymotrypsin, an animal-derived enzyme, breaks down proteins
• bromelain – derived from pineapple, breaks down a broad spectrum of proteins, has anti-inflammatory properties, effective over very wide pH range
• papain – derived from raw papaya, broad range of substrates and pH, works well breaking down small and large proteins
• Lipase – breaks down fats found in most dairy products, nuts, oils, and meat
• Cellulase – breaks down cellulose, plant fiber; not found in humans
There are other ones too, like Wobenzyme, but I don’t want to completely bore you.
The take home point right now is that there exists a wide variety of enzymes and they serve many different functions. Currently, though, most people only think of these enzymes for digestive purposes. And as you will come to learn, these beneficial enzymes will do SO much more to help you….
When we exercise, we are striving to get our bodies in shape which usually translates to creating more muscle tone with the loss of fat. Let’s look at what happens after working out your muscles because I think this is an important analogy to health and wellness overall.
After working out and stressing your muscles, you expect to have some soreness as your muscles are damaged. This is the fact of exercising your muscles–you will not be able to build muscle unless you stress the muscle. The main factors that contribute to muscle damage are:
Physical stress: this involves the literal stretching and tearing of muscle fibers. Without this process, you will not get muscle remodeling which is important in order to build strength.
Hormonal stress: due to stress of exercise, cortisol is released as cortisol is our stress hormone. Cortisol has direct catabolic action upon the muscle which causes further muscle breakdown.
Oxidative stress: this results from free radical production that occurs with muscle stress. These free radicals, in turn, come back and can further contribute directly to muscle break down.
Indeed there needs to be balance here; in order to get your muscles to grow (toned) you need to stress them. But too much stress results in too much muscle damage and not enough muscle remodeling.
These same processes occur really with any type of illness that impairs our ability to feel optimally well. And we need to be cognizant of this.
From an exercise point of view, we try to utilize the following strategies to reduce stress after exercising to improve muscle remodeling and decrease muscle break down:
Physical: REST…if we attempt to exercise our muscles too quickly after a work out, we do not allow for proper down time and therefore, remodeling cannot occur. Also, we want to help with the extra inflammation that has occurred due to the muscle stress (fill in any other type of stress)…..here proteolytic enzymes can be very useful…this includes plant based enzymes such as Amylase, Lipase and others
Hormonal: too much cortisol reflects a poor adaptive response to a stressor–here we need to take strides in stress reduction including stress reducing activities such as reading, meditation, yoga, stretching, as well as taking stress reducing supplements such as B-vitamins, Green Tea, Theanine, GABA, Seriphos
Oxidative: too much free radical production is bad; to limit and temper this we need adequate antioxidants such as Vitamins C and E, CoQ10, Resveratrol, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Lutein, and others.
I think these three components that are significant when applied to the context of muscle damage and repair are useful for the context of really any health stressor. I believe the more we look at our individual health concerns through this lens, the more easily we will be able to make strides towards optimal health and well-being.
There was a recent article published in a major medical journal that concluded that supplementing with antioxidants (specifically Vitamin C and Vitamin E) may IMPAIR one’s performance while exercising. It seems that the antioxidants toned down the free radical production and this free radical production is supposedly needed by the mitochondria to create more ATP (energy).
This study conflicts mountains of other data that concludes the exact opposite–taking antioxidants improves exercise capacity. While I think more research needs to be completed to answer this question, two thought come to mind:
1. The dosages of Vitamin C and Vitamin E used in the first study were average–we know that as humans we don’t make Vitamin C so we have to ingest it to get it. But if we did make Vitamin C, it is estimated that we would manufacture about 3000mg per day. I think the dosage in the study was only 1000mg daily. So it seems to me where I see most people not taking anywhere near 3000mg/ day, that that Vitamin C dose was way too low to draw conclusions. I can’t stress enough that Vitamin C is the most robust booster of our immune system and that most people need to take much higher dosages than 3000mg/ day. Also, any antioxidant supplementation must be well-rounded and try to include lots of varieties of antioxidants including carotenoids, flavones, cucurmins, tocopherols, etc. So just using Vitamin C and Vitamin E would not cut it by my standards.
2. The effect of the antioxidants is most notable to the RECOVERY of exercise, not necessarilly the capacity of exercise. While closely related, exercise recovery and capacity are two different entities and as such need to be approached differently. It seems that the free radical production that is induced by the stress of exercise (repeated and forceful muscle contraction) is responsible for much of the inflammation and pain that occurs immediately following exercise. And it is the antioxidants, specifically, that can be used during the recovery phase of exercise to make a huge difference.
I find the use of antioxidants to be an exciting topic–not just for exercise related events, but also for the prevention and treatment for many chronic health conditions including heart disease, diabetes, cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. Certainly more to come…..
Two separate thoughts today. First, check out this article that appears in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine (a highly acclaimed medical journal). The take home point is that over the counter supplements often do not deliver on what they promise. And many times, you do not even know what you are getting in the supplement–that is displeasing if the supplement is poor quality, but dangerous when you are getting things you did not realize.
That is why I always recommend getting supplements from well-known brands, including my own line of supplements. I can guarantee that all of my supplements are of the best quality and are pharmaceutical grade meaning they are the highest purity. We put a lot of trust into our nutritional supplements, so make sure that you really know what you are buying.
And my second thought today is about anti-oxidants.
Take a look at this chart depicting phenolic compounds from plant sources.
And here is more information about what foods contain all of these powerful anti-oxidants.
I bring this up because I think the more we learn about anti-oxidants, the more we will find amazing health benefits. So for now, do your best to get as much anti-oxidants as you can: blueberries, raspberries, green tea, black tea, broccoli, apples, dark chocolate, dark green lettuces, strawberries, cranberries. Remember, the more vibrant the color of the food, the more anti-oxidant potential.
In a few weeks I will be telling you about a new Anti-Oxidant drink I am putting together that will allow incorporating all of these anti-oxidants into your diet lot easier.
For most people, too much estrogen is contributing to weight gain. This includes both men and women. For women who are estrogen dominant, there is a lack of progesterone balance and this leads to further estrogen dominance. For men, too much estrogen comes about when testosterone is converted into estrogen under the influence of too much insulin. This is the general scenario for both women and me as they age and gain weight–the decrease in muscle mass leads to insulin resistance which then makes estrogen dominance worse.
Here are some quick foods that are anti-estrogen (meaning they help inhibit estrogen production):
Try incorporating more of these foods into your diet to help lower estrogen levels. This will not only help you feel better, but will also help you lose weight.
Stay away from SOY at all costs as soy, while being an isoflavone, is estrogenic and can worsen estrogen dominance.
One of the “hotter” topics in the field of sports nutrition and exercise is recovery. Recovery after exercise includes the obvious such as rest, but gets much more detailed when we talk about how to recover in the best way to support both muscle and aerobic performance. This realm includes the intake of certain macro-nutrient ratios (carbohydrate, protein, fat), micronutrient intake (vitamins, minerals) as well as nutritional supplements.
The research now makes it clear that after any strenuous exercise that it is beneficial to consume both carbohydrates and protein after exercise. In fact, in order to achieve maximum results, it is important to do this within 30-60 minutes after the exercise. I think most people are used to drinking water or Gatorade after working out, but I don’t think that this is enough. Certainly not enough protein if you are looking to build muscle. And certainly not enough carbohydrate to replenish glycogen stores.
In the next few weeks, I will be talking more about this topic because it deserves a lot of attention. And in that time, I will give you specific recommendations for both the timing and type of nutritional supplements I think are best for RECOVERY. This includes, but is not limited to: HMB, B-Alanine, ZMA as well as anti-oxidants Vitamins B, C, and even amino acid formulations with Branched Chain Amino Acids and Glutamine.
The science of Recovery after exercise has gotten very interesting, but can be just as confusing. I will navigate this for you. For now, make sure that you are not exercising too frequently–you need to rest in between exercise sessions. It is critically important for your muscles and for your brain.
A new study was just released that shows that NFL Players have 19 times the risk of the average population for developing Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). This is a HUGE risk for these players. The thought is that repetitive brain trauma and concussions from the nature of the sport cause changes which lead to the development of AD.
I currently work with NFL and ex-NFL players in my ECO- Athlete program to help them optimize their performance by looking at their individual metabolism, nutrition, etc. We are currently working on a program for ex-NFL players to help them reduce their risk of AD development by looking at several of these same parameters. Here is a brief run down of AD development etiologies:
1.) Hormonal influences: it is certainly clear that head trauma over and over has the potential to cause anatomic changes in the brain that can lead to any type of neurodegenerative disorder. But I think that this theory is an oversimplification of what is actually occurring. Head trauma directly affects hormone status, and it is these hormonal deficiencies which directly contribute to the development of AD. The vast majority of hormones in our bodies are controlled via the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA ) Axis. Simply put, brain hormones directly influence and control the release of all other hormones. Let me address these as they relate to NFL players (men).
2.) Nutritional influences: It is now well understood that poor nutrition leads to the development of all forms of chronic disease including AD, heart disease, cancer and diabetes. We clearly understand that we should not drink alcohol excessively and that cigarette smoking is very detrimental to our health. But what has been less clear is how we affect our health by our nutritional practices. This includes choosing the right foods and the best nutritional supplements. A few articles that help shed light on the connection between our nutritional status and our risk of AD:
And there are many more studies which each the same conclusions: proper nutrition is a powerful tool in achieving optimal health and preventing AD.
3.) Oxidative influences: While there are certainly genetic influences which contribute to AD, there is also a growing body of data that suggests that free radical accumulation leads to neuronal cell dysfunction and ultimately death. This process then leads to declining cognitive function which leads to AD. Here is a quote from the article entitled, “Oxidative stress and Alzheimer disease,” that describes this process:
“An effort must also be made to produce a proper account of the actual neurodegenerative process itself and of neuronal death. Free radicals probably play a role in these processes. The free radical hypothesis of aging, which was proposed many years ago, posits that the age-related accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) results in damage to major components of cells: nucleus, mitochondrial DNA,membranes, and cytoplasmic proteins. The imbalance between the generation of free radicals and ROS may be involved in the pathogenesis of most of the neurodegenerative disorders, including AD.”
We now know how to measure for oxidative damage and then reduce it through the use of anti-oxidants such as Vitamin C, Vitamin E, CoQ10, Reseveratrol, and N-Acetyl-Cysteine intake. We are past the point where we can say that we just cannot do anything about free radical damage. For NFL players this is great news because now we can help them prevent thisoxidative damage through the proper use of anti-oxidants. Here is some information about a unique anti-oxidant, Resveratrol:
Resveratrol tackles Alzheimer’s plaques, shows lab study
By Dominique Patton
11/4/2005 - Resveratrol, a compound found in grapes and red wine, lowers levels of the amyloid-beta peptides that cause the plaques in the brain leading to Alzheimer’s disease, shows new research. It could help to explain the large body of epidemiological evidence linking wine consumption to lower risk of dementia.
Writing in the 11 November issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Philippe Marambaud and his colleagues at the Litwin-Zucker Research Center for the Study of Alzheimers Disease and Memory Disorders in Manhasset, New York, describe adding resveratrol to cells which produce human amyloid-beta.
They found that levels of amyloid-beta in the treated cells were much lower than those in untreated cells. The deposition of amyloid-beta peptides in the brain is one of the characteristic features of Alzheimer’s disease. But although resveratrol is naturally found in several plants, including grapes, berries and peanuts, and is particularly high in Pinot Noir grape varieties, Marambaud said that these concentrations are unlikely to be enough to reach the effect seen in his study. “Resveratrol in grapes may never reach the concentrations required to obtain the effect observed in our studies,” he said. But he added: “Grapes and wine however contain more than 600 different components, including well-characterized antioxidant molecules. Therefore, we cannot exclude the possibility that several compounds work in synergy with small amounts ofresveratrol to slow down the progression of the neurodegenerative process in humans.”
Marambaud and his colleagues are now trying to explain how resveratrol exerts its effects in order to develop similar compounds to use in new drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers believe thatresveratrol acts by stimulating the degradation of amyloid-beta peptides by the proteasome, a barrel-shaped multi-protein complex that can specifically digest proteins into short polypeptides and amino acids. Resveratrol may also be effective in fighting other human amyloid-related diseases such as Huntington’s, Parkinson’s and prion diseases. Studies by a group at the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale in Paris, France headed by Christian Néri have recently shown that resveratrol may protect neurons against amyloid-like polyglutamines, a hallmark of Huntington’s disease.
Another important protective measure comes from Vitamin D, a vitamin nearly everyone is deficient in. This article summary from the “Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease,” shed light on this very topic:
Source: Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease
May 2009, 17:1, Pages 151-159
Hypothesis
William B. Grant
Does Vitamin D Reduce the Risk of Dementia?
Abstract: The understanding of the role of vitamin D in maintaining optimal health has advanced sharply in the past two decades. There is mounting evidence for beneficial roles for vitamin D in reducing the risk of bone diseases and fractures, many types of cancer, bacterial and viral infections, autoimmune diseases, and cardiovascular diseases. Recently, several reports have also been published regarding the role of vitamin D in neuroprotection . This article develops the hypothesis that vitamin D can reduce the risk of developing dementia, presenting the evidence from observational and laboratory studies. The observational evidence includes that low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] has been associated with increased risk for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, depression, dental caries, osteoporosis, and periodontal disease, all of which are either considered risk factors for dementia or have preceded incidence of dementia. The laboratory evidence includes several findings on the role of vitamin D and reducing inflammation. Although this evidence is supportive, there do not appear to be observational studies of incidence of dementia with respect to prediagnostic serum 25(OH)D or vitamin D supplementation. Such studies now appear to be warranted.
We are learning more and more about the benefits of Vitamin D everyday and so it is no surprise that Vitamin D plays a protective role in the development of AD.
4.) Infection influences: Although still in it’s infancy, the infection theory in the development of AD, is gaining momentum with the amount of data we are collecting. The theory is that one or many different types of infectious organisms contributes to neuronal cell decline which leads to increased brain inflammation and ultimately AD development. This includes infectious agents such as the bacteria that causes Lyme disease andToxoplasma infection (a parasite infection). Here are a few article references that help shed light on the infectious etiologies of AD:
85% of Alzheimer brains in one study had DNA of Borrelia in the placques.
A study in Canada treating patients with Abx(Doxy and Rifampin) for 3 months showed improvement over placebo. Monocycline would be better.
1: Med Hypotheses. 2006;67(3):592-600. Epub 2006 May 3. Links
Plaques of Alzheimer’s disease originate from cysts of Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease spirochete.MacDonald AB.
St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center, Department of Pathology, 50 Rte 25 A, Smithtown, NY 11787, USA. inmacdonald@yahoo.com
1: Neurobiol Aging. 2006 Feb;27(2):228-36. Links
Beta-amyloid deposition and Alzheimer’s type changes induced by Borrelia
spirochetes.Miklossy J, Kis A, Radenovic A, Miller L, Forro L, Martins R,
Reiss K, Darbinian N, Darekar P, Mihaly L, Khalili K. Kinsmen Laboratory of Neurological Research, University of British Columbia, 2255 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z3. judmik@telus.net
1: Curr Microbiol. 2006 Apr;52(4):330-2. Epub 2006 Mar 9. Links
Lyme disease associated with Alzheimer’s disease.Meer-Scherrer L, Chang Loa C, Adelson ME, Mordechai E, Lobrinus JA, Fallon BA, Tilton RC.
Laurence Meer-Scherrer, 37 Flammat, Aumatt, Switzerland.
This case report discusses a patient with co-occurring neuroborreliosis and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Although no claim is made for causality nor is there objective evidence that spirochetes are involved in AD, co-infection may exacerbate the symptoms of eitherneuroborreliosis or AD. Much is to be learned about the role of spirochetes in degenerative central nervous system disease.
1: J Am Geriatr Soc. 2004 Mar;52(3):381-7. Links
A randomized, controlled trial of doxycycline and rifampin for patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Loeb MB, Molloy DW, Smieja M, Standish T, Goldsmith CH, Mahony J, Smith S, Borrie M, Decoteau E, Davidson W, McDougall A, Gnarpe J, O’DONNell M, Chernesky M.Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, Biostatistics Hamilton Regional Laboratory Medicine Program, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Again, this data coming out is new and exciting because it provides a unique role for treatment and prevention of AD: find the infectious source, eradicate it and move on.
I will try to get the links for you to the articles I referenced. It is clear to me that everyone benefits from reducing their risk of AD development. And we can make great strides in this effort….great strides.
Wouldn’t you know it…Congress is up to no good again by trying to pass HR2749–a bill that will mandate GMO-food and restrict access to supplements and natural food. This is very real and about to happen unless we speak out against this.
Click here to learn more about the HR2749 bill.
Click here to learn how you can help stop them before it is too late.
Comment: This bill is very scary as it would shut down small, organic farmers and therefore limit all of our access to organic food, the very stuff we need MORE of, not less. Once again, more government intervention is bad and not good for our independence and overall well-being.
In an earlier post I mentioned that two things have been studied to extend longevity: caloric restriction and Fish Oil. To me Fish Oil makes a lot of sense. But I struggle with understanding how restricting calories leads to longer lifespan.
This seems to be true, though, due to a series of genetic physiologic inductions that occur through the *stress* of restricting calories. I certainly won’t pretend to understand how that intricate process works.
I am sure that many of you have read and heard about Resveratrol, a polyphenol and natural plant compound with extremely valuable antioxidant activity. The really interesting aspect about Resveratrol is that this compound seems to induce the same genetic inductions that caloric restriction induces. What does that mean?
In simple terms, this means that taking Resveratrol exerts the same physiologic advantage that occurs with caloric restriction: life extension. This occurs on the genetic level and again, I won’t pretend to understand all of the physiologic intricacies. But I do understand enough to know that this MAKES SENSE.
Taking Fish Oil is relatively an easy thing to do, but caloric restriction is not. But now you can achieve the same longevity influence by taking Resveratrol.
In addition, Resveratrol also helps with inflammation, weight loss, blood pressure and overall feelings of well-being. Resveratrol helps protect the heart from inflammatory damage caused by free radicals.
See what you think by looking at our new Resveratrol Essentials monograph.
I will conclude with this final thought: as we increase our knowledge about what we can do to help ourselves feel better and lead longer, healthier lives, we continue to change what we consider staples in our lives. To me, right now, this includes a comprehensive multivitamin, high dose Vitamin D, Fish Oil and now Resveratrol.
PS: As we introduce the Resveratrol Essentials, we will be running a special, buy one get one free for the next few weeks, so call or come in to purchase.
I just spoke with the company that supplies the Flu vaccine to my office. As of right now, we may NOT be able to get ANY mercury free flu shots! Why?
The government panicked a little while ago and halted all production of the “regular” flu vaccine in efforts to make the new H1NI flu vaccine. So as it stands right now, the manufacturers of the flu vaccine are not making any more regular flu vaccine, but only the H1NI flu vaccine.
In my opinion, this is a huge shame. Many, many, many, many more people get sick from the regular flu virus compared to H1N1 flu.
So for now, if you would like a flu shot, go to a Walgreens or some other pharmacy. Unfortunately you will not receive the mercury-free flu vaccine that we had special ordered.
I wish I had better news to report.
In a prominent medical journal this week was the report of a study conducted that revealed that those individuals with Celiac disease, in general, had a shorter lifespan. Celiac disease is a condition in which gluten foods (wheat, rye, oats, barley) are not tolerated by the intestines. Those individuals with Celiac experience rash, abdominal pain, diarrhea, weight loss and other symptoms whenever they ingest gluten. Celiac disease is generally diagnosed by a blood test that looks for antibodies to Gluten (Gliadin Antibodies) or by biopsy from the intestinal lining.
The investigators felt that the shortened lifespan from Celiac disease was due to decreased absorption of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals which is a hallmark of this disease process.
Celiac disease does not affect the majority of individuals, but Gluten INTOLERANCE does. And while this study did not consider those individuals with Gluten intolerance (no acute reaction from Gluten, but difficulty absorbing Gluten which can lead to fatigue, intestinal irritation, rash, hormonal disruption, other symptoms), it makes me wonder.
One of the reasons I feel that we have many chronic diseases running rampant nowadays is due to our inability to absorb the nutrients from the food we eat. This has to do with the low quality of food that occurs through all of the spraying of chemicals, handling, processing, etc. But it also has to do with how we break our intestinal linings down by eating foods we should not be eating. Food is certainly nourishing, but food can also be inflammatory.
I think everyone should have a food sensitivity test run to make sure you are not eating foods that can potentially be irritating to your intestinal lining. By figuring this out now, you will be able to ensure that you choose the RIGHT foods for you and your body. Because irritating your intestinal lining has many profound implications that most doctors tend to ignore and neglect.
Here is another link to a sample test report of a comprehensive stool culture we run. This test allows us to determine how well you are absorbing food, if there is any pathogen overgrowth and gives us a game plan on how to correct any GI problems that are often missed on colonoscopy and endoscopy.
In summary, I think there is a lot about the effects of food that we don’t yet understand. But we do now have the tools to help all of us figure out how we can eat right for our bodies–we are all individuals and as you know, generic advice just doesn’t cut it anymore.
My family finished reading the last Harry Potter novel this weekend–a span of almost 3 months, 7 novels and thousands of brilliantly written pages. Throughout the story, there are many important parallels to health and well-being. I certainly won’t give away any of the story for those who have not read this yet; and I strongly encourage you to do so–I think I enjoyed the story more than my two children!
1. Magic…..the entire premise of the Harry Potter novels is that there is a world of magic all around. And those who practice this magic are the wizards and witches–apparently normal appearing human beings with exceptional talent for all types of magic. The world of magic lives intertwined with the rest of the non-magical world in that there is magic occurring all the time, and we (as non-magicians) cannot see it or appreciate it……and so it goes for health in general. I contend that magic occurs all the time, yet we are choosing not to believe it. For example, there are numerous case reports of people “curing” themselves from cancer and other deadly diseases by just believing themselves to be well. Most of us would say that that would be impossible because the physiology cannot be changed just because we want it to. We would say that we cannot change our minds and with a broad stroke, change our health. I would say that we certainly can and there are people who do this all the time. The magic comes not from what we don’t believe, but from actually believing. We are capable of doing anything we want, feeling anything we want–the key is to first believing this to be true. Not easy by any means, but well worth striving for. There indeed is magic in our everyday lives, and the more we choose to believe that anything is possible, the more the magic will become more present.
2. Feeling without resisting….as the story transpires and Harry Potter learns how powerful he truly is, he first has to come to terms with the notion that his magical destiny is easier traveled when he accepts his feelings without having to fight them. This is so true when it comes to health and well-being as well. I think we are often told and taught that good things only come from hard work and grit and pushing. But truly life is about allowance and accepting that life energy flows downstream without resistance. Certainly working hard and exercising and eating well and making difficult choices are part of the journey, but the real value comes from accepting without resisting. For example, when people are trying to lose weight, they are often told they need to work hard and exercise and be disciplined and if they fail at losing weight it is only because they were not disciplined enough. If that were true, I really believe it would be so much easier to lose weight. Do this and that and don’t do that can be followed fairly well by most people. No, the challenge comes from fighting against the weight–from always feeling guilty for eating and for not doing all of these things. I think a better and more sucessful approach is to allow the feelings of positivity to shine through–get away from focusing on the weight itself and focus more on how you feel.
3. Life is always about perceptions…..much of the intricate storyline of the novels is based upon how the characters perceive the events before them–whether they are actual fact or not is irrelevant. With all the recent talk about health being a right vs. a choice, I think this premise could not be more true for us today. When we perceive that optimal health is a right, we don’t want to take any responsibility towards maintaining it–it has been given to me and therefore I don’t need to worry about anything. But when we perceive that optimal health is literally a choice we make, then we completely change the dynamics of what health means. It takes choices and perceptions to eat well and exercise regularly and take nutritional supplements. Harry Potter had to make many choices based off his perceptions, even though everyone saw him as the “Chosen One.” There is no way he could have managed his own survival if he had just left things up to fate. No, it is how we perceive the cards we have been dealt that makes all the difference in the world. Some people choose to perceive themselves as being dealt a bad hand, and therefore wallow in not feeling well all the time. And then there are those that are dealt the same or worse hands, but choose to perceive that hand as an opportunity to make strides and gains in their quest for optimal health. Our individual health is completely dependent upon our perception of everything in our lives.
There are many more parallels between Harry Potter and health in general, but that is a good start. I truly believe that anything is possible and that miracles (magic) occur everyday. So beyond eating the right food and exercising at the right time, there does exist the world of perception and belief (or disbelief) and the more you believe, the closer you will come in bringing that belief into existence. Thanks JK Rowling for writing the most beautifully written series and for creating characters that will continue to inspire all the time!
Tomorrow marks the 8th Anniversary of the 9/11 horrific attacks. I will be out of the office tomorrow so I am hoping you can watch this great video tribute by Darryl Worley.
The health connection? None really. I think the few minutes of thought dedicated to remembering is a good enough reason alone.
There have been two documented ways to extend life: caloric restriction and fish oil consumption.
Caloric restriction is hard to understand, but I think “works” by applying a low grade stress on the body system as a whole. This stress allows for up-regulation of certain enzymes and DNA mechanisms that seem to keep our DNA in better shape. Basically this is equivalent of the saying, “What doesn’t kill you, will make you stronger.” Too much caloric restriction (stress) and this tips the balance too far. While the science supports this claim, it is difficult for me to advocate this principle. I do think we need to learn how to eat better so that we get more nutrition from our food, so I certainly don’t advocate caloric restriction. But I understand what it signifies. The good news is that there is a way to stimulate these same DNA mechanisms WITHOUT having to restrict calories. From a physiological perspective, it seems that we can indeed extend life by doing other things then restricting calories. I will let you know more about this at a later time, but for now, when you read about caloric restriction, know that the science seems to prove this true.
Fish Oil consumption is easier to understand. Fish Oil provides a supply of Omega 3 Fatty Acids which is the equivalent to healthy fat. And we NEED fat. Healthy fat. Omega 3 Fatty Acids found in fish oil are very anti-inflammatory helping with blood pressure, cognition, cholesterol, brain function, muscle function, and countless other processes.
I think the real question is not so much can we extend longevity, but do we want to? That is my question to you today: if you could take something, a supplement if you will, to extend your life, would you? Ponder this for a little while and I will get back to you about what the science tell us about how we can extend our lives….
Here is the link to an interesting article written by another doctor regarding the much-hyped and talked about Swine Flu Vaccine.
Again, I think the best flu prevention comes from sensible choices: wash hands frequently, avoid large crowds as much as possible, eat lots of fruits of vegetables, take immune stimulating vitamins and botanicals such as Vitamin C, Selenium, Milk Thistle, N-Acetyl-Cysteine, and Probiotics, sleep, and exercise routinely. And keep the colloidal silver handy in case symptoms of the Flu (rapid onset of high fever, cough, runny nose, nausea, vomiting, muscle cramps and fatigue) start….
In the past month I have and am currently treating people for:
In all of the above cases, those patients did not present with infectious type symptoms of fever, diarrhea, abdominal pain, etc. No, in all of the cases we were looking for reasons for: fatigue, joint pain, lethargy.
So one point I want to make is that the more we understand about stealth infections, that come and hide, the better we will be at treating common complaints. Our immune systems are constantly under assault and while it is difficult and stressful for our bodies, the good news is that we now have the tools to aide with detection. And once detected, the treatment is relatively straightforward. The above infections were picked up by blood tests, stool cultures and urine tests.
There are now reported cases of swine flu in the Charleston area. This should not be a cause for major concern, but rather, a reminder that it is so important to treat your immune system and body well. Sleep, exercise, breathe, make good food choices…..everyday. And make sure you are taking enough Vitamin C!! At least 3000mg per day, but the more the better.
And don’t forget some dark chocolate, at least every now and then……
I received many questions about my post yesterday regarding detoxifying with Zeolite and Silver.
I started both myself yesterday and both seem to taste okay–the silver has somewhat of a bitter taste. There are two ways to take these products depending on how aggressive you want to be: four times a day to be aggressive and twice a day for more maintenance purposes.
The cost of each is as follows:
We are running a special and will include both products as part of the Detox Kit for $58. Just ask for the Detox Kit and you will receive both. They both come in 2oz. bottles.
Again, I think using both of these products together offers a comprehensive and safe way to detoxify without bad side effects and with great results.
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Let’s face it: we live in a stressful time. I am referring to the difficulty we are having from actuality getting NUTRITION from the food we eat. This is due to the handling, processing, chemical spraying that occurs to the food before we get to ingest it. Unless you have your own organic farm, than you are eating food that is not exactly perfectly nutritious for you.
Now add the burden of the pharmaceuticals and chemicals that have been created synthetically here on earth–even if you yourself do not take any prescription medicine, you are affected by their presence. In our water, in the air we breathe, in everything we do.
I am not a pessimist by any means. I feel strongly that we are strong and healthy and we can heal and detox and become stronger every day. But sometimes we do need to stop for a moment and pause. And when I do this, I know that every now and then it does make sense to empirically detoxify our bodies. Maybe once a year; for others more often.
Maybe our inability to get nutrition from the food we eat coupled with our ever increasing load of toxicity is contributing to the paramount hormonal imbalances, weight gain, fatigue that plague so many these days. I certainly don’t have all the answers, but this concept makes sense to me. Most of us do not eat as well as we could, most of us do not have the robust immune system to keep pathogens at bay. We live in a stressful time. And most of the time we can exercise and breathe and relax our way through this. But not always. Sometimes we need some help.
Here is a short description of two new products we now carry: Colloidal Silver and Zeolite. This is a way to detoxify safely and empirically. I get asked a lot to recommend a “colon cleanse” or a “liver cleanse” to help detoxify. Until now I did not have a great answer because I do feel that it is best to “target” what you are detoxifying from. But now, I think this program is worth trying.
I think anyone who has: fatigue, weight gain, hormonal imbalances or who simply does not feel well or who is looking to detoxify can and should try this protocol. This is safe for both adults and children.
This is good news. There are always natural options. Always. And here, yet again, we have another.
Here is a great opinion article about health care reform by the John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods.
The health care debate continues to wage on and it is refreshing to see some free market ideas thrown into the mix.
Due to FDA mettling and other reasons, the natural thyroid hormone, Armour Thyroid is now back ordered and not readily available. This has caused a lot of problems for many patients, and therefore a good time to discuss the bio-identical, natural, organic differences.
Here are some quick definitions as I see them:
The terms bio-identical and natural generally refer to hormones such as bio-identical hormone replacement therapy, whereas organic and natural generally refer to food items.
Ideally, everything we consume (food, supplements, hormones) are both bio-identical and all natural. Here is a breakdown of some hormones and their status:
For those needing thyroid replacement there are other bio-identical, natural thyroid hormone options such as Nature-Thyroid, but it is very difficult to get as is the compounded hormones themselves. So for now, the only option may be trying Bio-identical Synthroid and Cytomel.
Did I confuse you yet?
If you think about all of the physiologic processes that occur when you eat food and gain energy (nutrition) from food, it truly is amazing that any of us can do what we do. The amount of chemicals, hormones, enzymes and interplay between good and bad bacteria create an astonishing stage of characters that would make even Shakespeare proud. We are actually very good at extracting nutrition from the food we eat, when everything goes as planned. Too often, though, this is not the case.
No, too often we are eating foods we should not be, not producing the digestive enzymes we need to be, not balancing the healthy bacteria with the bad bacteria. Too often we have an overgrowth of yeast or parasites (yes, this very common) and have worn down the immunity of our gut lining.
Yes, far too often, we make it impossible for ourselves to get the nutrition from properly digesting our food.
The saying goes that we are what we eat, but I think a better phrase is : we are what we digest. And if you cannot digest your food properly, than there is no way to feel good.
This act does have a happy ending in that we can figure all of this out. By examining food sensitivities, pathogen cultures, and immunity levels, we can gather the necessary data to help get everything back in balance. So that it becomes possible to have more energy than you ever thought possible. This is a good thing.
For more information, please email me at: askthedoctor@primary-plus.com or call the office 843-767-7650.
In this month’s American Journal of Clinical of Nutrition a study was published that revealed absolutely no increase risk of breast cancer from eating red meat, eggs and dairy. This was a large epidemiological study and to be published in this journal signifies it’s legitimacy.
As you know, I am a big fan of incorporating protein into your diet and those items: red meat, eggs and dairy all have A LOT of protein. I think some people felt uneasy about incorporating these foods into their diets due to concerns of increased cancer risks from eating these foods. This study puts these concerns to rest.
So eat more meat and eggs and dairy and feel good about it.
I just saw a patient who had recently seen a specialist . He had multiple complaints: runny nose, post-nasal drip, mild cough. The specialist examined him and performed some lab tests. In his note, the specialist thought that the patient was doing well.
And then he prescribed him 4 more medicines. One each for his runny nose, post-nasal drip, cough. And an extra one just in case.
Why is it that the modern medical model seeks to keep adding medicines instead of trying to get to the root of the problem (s)? This confounds me all the time.
My goal when seeing patients is ALWAYS to try and reduce the number of medicines each person takes. I would rather fix the problem, then just give a medicine because it is supposed to work for this or that particular symptom.
The next time you are prescribed a medicine, make sure you ask the questions: “Do I really need this medicine AND what exactly is this medicine going to do?”
I often recommend that patients eat more protein. Protein is comprised of amino acids which are the building blocks of our muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones. I am convinced that one of the primary reasons people have difficulty losing and maintaining healthy weight is that they do not have enough muscle mass. So eating protein is critical in building muscle mass.
But can one eat too much protein. I just saw a patient who was on the Atkins Diet which is famous for it’s high protein, no carb approach. Patients say they lose weight more quickly on the Atkins Diet. But that type of diet (or any diet for that matter) is difficult to stay consistent with. And you certainly can get too much protein and this can lead to kidney problems.
I usually see this occurring when people are not strength training while incorporating the extra protein in their diets. I generally recommend people aim for 20-30 grams of protein at every meal. Again, I want people to do this while ALSO doing some form of strength training. Without the strength training, our bodies cannot sustain the higher protein intake.
The best form of protein is from animal protein–beef, chicken, fish, pork. Next would be dairy including milk, yogurt and eggs. And lastly would be beans and nuts and other vegetables. You can also supplement with protein including Whey Protein, Rice Protein and Soy Protein (there are others as well).
Whey Protein seems to offer the best bang for your buck in terms of usable protein. Next would be Rice Protein and since I don’t like Soy at all, I won’t even mention it. I am working on developing our own pure protein powders and will let you know when we have them available. In the interim, we recommend Jarrow or Jay Robb Protein powders as sources of protein supplementation.
Lastly, it is critical to drink plenty of water while eating more protein. The more water helps your kidneys work more efficiently and all that protein is being filtered by your kidneys. So the more water, the better.
Bottom line: protein is critical for building and maintaining muscle mass which is critical to everyone’s health and well-being.
With the upcoming flu season just ahead of us, I thought I would tell you about my thoughts for flu prevention. I think people are a bit more “worried” this year with all of the talk of Swine Flu, etc. I feel it is too soon to tell what the Swine Flu will really mean to us on a practical level, but I come from the stance that we are all healthy and strong and by doing a few things I outline below, will allow your immune systems to be robust and active.
1. Flu Prevention:
2. If you get Flu-like symptoms
3. For children:
In summary, it’s good to have a good Flu prevention plan in place. I created the Immune Essentials pack to address this and make a convenient way to supplement.
Have you ever wondered what all those long words you see as medication/ supplement/ food fillers?
Here’s a good list for reference:
EXCIPIENT INGREDIENTS IN MEDICATIONS
Aspartame - An artificial sweetening agent derived from aspartic acid.
Aspartic Acid - A crystalline amino acid found naturally in sugar beets and sugar cane.
Benzyl alcohol - Made synthetically from benzyl chloride which is derived from toluene (a tar oil).
Cellulose - (ethylcellulose, methylcellulose, hydroxymethylcellulose, hydroxypropyl, microcrystalline) – Obtained from fibrous plant material (woody pulp or chemical cotton).
Cetyl alcohol - Derived from a fat source (spermaceti, which is a waxy substance from the head of the sperm whale).
Croscarmellose sodium - An internally cross-linked sodium carboxymethylcellulose for use as a disintegrant in pharmaceutical formulations. Comes from wood pulp or cotton fibers to form carboxymethylcellulose. It contains no sugar or starch.
Dextrans - Partially hydrolyzed corn or potato starch.
Dextrates - Mix of sugars resulting from the controlled enzymatic hydrolysis of starch.
Dextrins - Result from the hydrolysis of starch by heat or hydrochloric acid (from corn). It can also be obtained from wheat, rice or tapioca.
Dextrose - Powdered corn starch.
Fructose - Obtained naturally from fruits or honey; hydrolyzed cane or beet sugar.
Gelatin - Obtained from the skin, white connective and bones of animals (by boiling skin, tendons, ligaments, bones, etc with water).
Glycerin - Historically, glycerin (also known as glycerol), was made the following ways:
Saponification (a type of chemical process) of fats and oils in the manufacturing of soaps
Hydrolysis of fats and oils through pressure and superheated steam
Fermentation of beet sugar molasses in the presence of large amounts of sodium sulfite
Today its is made mostly from propylene (a petroleum product)
Glycerols - Obtained from fats and oils as byproducts in the manufacture of soaps and fatty acids (may also be listed as mono-glycerides or di-glycerides).
Glycols - Products of ethylene oxide gas.
Hypromellose – A brand of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (see cellulose).
Iron oxide (rust) - Used as a coloring agent.
Kaolin - A clay-like substance.
Lactilol - Lactose derivative; a sugar alcohol.
Lactose - Also known as milk sugar, is used in the pharmaceutical industry as a filler or binder for the manufacture of coated pills and tablets. Commercially produced from cow’s milk.
Maltodextrins - A starch hydrolysate that is obtained from corn in the United States but can also be extracted from wheat, potato or rice.
Mannitol - Derived from monosaccharides (glucose or mannose).
Methyl Paraben – Comes from the combination of denatured wood alcohol and benzoic acid (benzoic acid occurs naturally in cherry bark, raspberries, tea, anise and cassia bark).
Polysorbates - Chemically altered sorbitol (a sugar alcohol).
Polyvinyl alcohol – A water soluble synthetic alcohol (synthesized by hydrolysis of polyvinyl acetate).
Povidone (crospovidone, copovidone) - synthetic polymers
Pregelatinized starch - A starch that has been chemically or mechanically processed. The starch can come from corn, wheat, potato or tapioca.
Shellac - A natural wax product used in tablet or capsule coating.
Sodium lauryl sulfate – A derivative of the fatty acids of coconut oil.
Sodium starch glycolate - Sodium salt of carboxymethyl ether of starch. Usually from potato but can be from corn, wheat or rice.
Stearates (calcium, magnesium) - Derived from stearic acid (a fat; occurs as a glyceride in tallow and other animal fats and oils, as well as some vegetables; prepared synthetically by hydrogenation of cottonseed and other vegetable oils).
Sucrose - Sugar also known as refined sugar, beet sugar or cane sugar.
Titanium dioxide - Chemical not derived from any starch source used as a white pigment.
Triacetin – A derivative of glycerin (acetylation of glycerol).
Silcon dioxide – A dispersing agent made from silicon.
And here is a link to Gluten Free Medications, where I got this information.
The world of modern medicine is filled with medicine and technologies to help lower cholesterol, blood pressure and improve blood sugar control. The goal, of course, is to reduce the biggest contributors of morbidity and mortality: heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
But I think modern medicine has it’s priorities in the wrong place. Fundamental physiology tells us that the human body is driven by the support (or lack thereof) of our muscular system. It is our muscles which drive our metabolism–not our thyroid, not our hearts, not our cholesterol. And the heart disease, cancer and diabetes (let alone obesity, hormone imbalances, thyroid disorders, etc.) that continue to occur with increasing frequency all stem (in large part) due to the lack of muscular support most of us maintain.
So while we continue to run miles on the treadmill and cut calories in hopes of boosting our metabolism to lose weight, we have been missing the point all along. Without sufficient musculature support, our bodies cannot tolerate even the small amount of calories we end up feeding ourselves.
Truly the only way to fix these large scary problems (heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc.) is to provide muscle support. And the only way to do this is to strength train. I will explain more in future posts.
For now, I recommend checking out Shane Doll and Shaping Concepts where you will get personalized instruction on how to begin a strength training program in the gym or at home.
It’s time we put away the treadmills, started eating real food and began training our muscles. Enjoy the weekend!
As this health care debate continues to heat up, I thought I would share a few images I found. I think these images speak for themselves. Where in the Constitution does it say that the government should be allowed to make health care decision for patients? As a physician, I don’t want anyone but my patients making decisions about their health and well-being.
And here’s a fantastic article about the realities of government run health care.
Is there a better time of day to exercise/ work out?
Yes! There are some small studies that have shown that physical exercise increases brain neurotransmitter levels of dopamine, serotonin and GABA. This is good news as many people have low levels of these neurotransmitters to begin with.
Increasing these neurotransmitter levels helps people concentrate, increase short term memory and overall feel better. Studies confirm that when individuals exercise before studying or completing tasks, that they do these things more efficiently and better. Students who exercise before taking a test scored better then those students who did not exercise beforehand.
So the bottom line is that it makes more sense to exercise early in the day so that you will be more efficient doing what you do. Your day will feel better too.
Plan on getting up earlier and going to bed earlier, not the other way around.
And remember that you can get just as much of an “aerobic” workout from strength training as you can from running or swimming or biking. If interested learning more about this, let me know.
Thanks to a patient, try this wonderfully delicious Coconut Oil recipe:
Magic Coconut Oil Chocolate Shell:
Yes, it’s a treat, but that is what summer evenings are all about
Listen to Chicken Fried by the Zac Brown Band.
Enjoy these summer evenings.
One often overlooked aspect for obtaining optimal health and well-being is THOUGHTS. The thoughts you think have direct impact on how you feel and the reality of your world.
I was moving furniture around my daughter’s room last night and noticed a large poster she had made that said in really large letters: CATS ROCK. What a positive sign she made to hang in her room to remind her everytime she reads it how positive cats are in her life!
We all have things that we think “rock” but probably don’t think or focus on them as much as we want to. And to feel really good and be really healthy it is critical to think positive thoughts. So, today, as you go through the routines of your day, think about one thing that “rocks” for you. Then go celebrate that today. And everyday for that matter. I guarantee you will have a better day doing just that.
A frequent question I get is whether it is best to rely on food for vitamins and minerals, supplements or both?
I think the ideal way would be to get all of our nutrition from food. But I really think in today’s age, this is impossible. Just think for a minute about where all of your food comes from. Unless you eat all organic food, it is grown and harvested with the use of pesticides, fungicides and chemicals. It is then placed on a truck and/ or plane and travels to where it is handled over and over again until it shows up at your local grocery store.
So all those nutrient dense blueberries and strawberries and apples have now been, to some degree, depleted of their vitamins. The amino acids and vitamins in the milk and meat you choose has to compete with the foreign hormones and antibiotics that the animals are given. And then there is the genetically modified food. And the travel time and the handling process.
All in all, I think it is safer and better to supplement with high quality supplements. Everyone, including children, in my opinion, should take at least a multivitamin and fish oil.
Yes, ideally, we get all of our nutrition from the food we eat. But, unfortunately, in today’s time, it is far superior to rely on the stability and quality of supplements to help augment the food we eat.
I thought I would share a quick point about the current health care debate that is beginning. While I acknowledge that there are many things about our current health care system that are broken, I do not believe more government intervention is a good idea at all. There are many directions that I can go with that statement, but I will just focus on one right now.
I believe that for many of you, you enjoy coming to see me because I give you natural options for managing different health scenarios. I am very fearful that if the government takes over the health care landscape, as proposed, many, if not all, of these “natural” options will go away. For example, the bio-identical hormone Estriol is now on it’s way out and will no longer be available due to the FDA. Once the government is given the power to choose what is best for you, all of our choices will be drastically limited. So the bio-identical hormones will go away because the compounding pharmacies will not be allowed to operate. That means all of the IV formulations we offer will go away as well. And I believe soon after that, many of the over the counter supplements will be banned as well.
Why? Because the government will want to more strongly regulate everything health related. That is the premise of government control of the health care system. They will decide what is best for you and me. They will be the ones to decide if taking Vitamin C and 5HTP and Fish Oil are acceptable. Not you. This is already occurring on a smaller scale as the FDA wants more regulation for the over the counter supplements and bio-identical hormones. Give the government much more power to make these decisions and there goes the natural options we all embrace so strongly.
Check out this schematic diagram of the bureaucracy of the proposed government run health care system.
There are many things wrong with our current health care system. But giving the government more control and power over the decisions and choices that you and I talk about is a bad idea. A very bad idea.
A recent study revealed that low Vitamin D levels increased the risk of both men and women having heart attacks. The conclusion was that low Vitamin D itself is an independent risk factor for heart disease. We routinely check our patients’ Vitamin D levels and find that most people have very low levels of Vitamin D. I think most people feel that this is due to the decreased sun exposure that comes from the result of sunscreen use.
But, I think this is more likely due to the decreasing intake of healthy fat. The four Vitamins A, D, E and K are all fat soluble and therefore require fat to be absorbed. We have become a low-fat society, scared of the notion that eating fat can be good. And as a result, I strongly feel, we are not getting enough of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K.
The bottom line is that we need to do two things. First, we need to eat more healthy fat. Practically, this means incorporating things like WHOLE FAT yogurt, WHOLE milk, avocados, cottage cheese, coconut oil and ANIMAL fat into our diets. By increasing our healthy fat intake we will be making strides towards incorporating more fat soluble vitamins. Until we can make this change in our diets, I feel it is best to supplement with the fat soluble vitamins to ensure we are getting enough:
We now carry the Vitamin A, D and K as separate supplements. I have changed the Daily Essentials pack to incorporate Vitamin D 5000 IU in each pack.
The second thing we need to do is measure our vitamin levels on a routine basis. We can easily do this by drawing blood and checking. This will go a long way in staying on top of heart disease prevention.
#1: Soy is BAD!….I get a lot of questions about whether soy is good or bad. There are a ton of articles out there that go back and forth. I don’t like soy–it is estrogenic and can flame the fire of estrogen related illness. People say that look at the wonderful health of people in Asia. The truth, if you dig deep enough, is that in Asia, they soy consumption is relatively low. Stay clear of soy. Here is a good summary from the Weston Price website.
#2:Progesterone is GREAT!…Beyond all of the calming, soothing effects it provides women, Progesterone is healing. Check out this article which explains about the potential use of Progesterone in head trauma.
#3: Strength training can lower risk of cancer…..a well done study was recently published in a respected journal that revealed that those individuals who strength train (weights and body weight) had close to a 40% reduction in RISK of getting cancer. Bottom line: strength training is not only beneficial for this reason, but truly is the only way to change body composition in a favorable manner.
That’s it. Again, Happy 4th of July!
We will be out of the office all of next week on vacation. If you have an urgent matter, I will still be available by phone at 843-767-7650.
Happy 4th of July!
There are many diets out there that claim that all calories are created equal. They say that it doesn’t matter what the source is, whether it’s a calorie from a carrot or from a piece of candy, a calorie is a calorie. They, we won’t name names, go even further by giving you a certain caloric limit per day and the calories may come from anything you choose, but you must not go over those alloted calories given.
We may not need to tell you that this is absolutely absurd. Not only absurd but really quite disheartening. On these types of diets people tend to omit certain high caloric but very healthy foods from their diet in order to “save” their calories for a dessert or treat. However, normally, a treat involves sugar and lots of it. So, if you’re passing on the guacamole so that you can have a couple of cookies for dessert, you’re doing your body an incredible injustice. Where the avocado provides healthy fats which the body recognizes and is ready to put to good use, the cookies provide no nutritional value, depletes vitamins and will be stored as fat immediately. And, because the cookies are stored away so quickly, you will find that you are hungry sooner rather than later.
The moral of the story is, stop driving yourself crazy by counting calories. Pay more attention to the quality of foods that you are eating rather than the quantity.
Here is a quick thought. It is well understood that as we age we will undergo some degree of hormonal decline. For women this includes low estrogen, low progesterone and low testosterone. For men, the predominant male hormone, testosterone, peaks and then plummets as men age. For everyone this also includes growth hormone, DHEA and even Pregnenolone. The great question that I as a physician tries to answer is why.
Yesterday I had a revelation. Since most of the hormones I am referring to are fat soluble hormones, then it makes sense to me that hormonal decline occurs (at least more quickly) in the context of low fat intake. And since the vast majority of people try to lower the fat in their diets by incorporating vegetable oils, skim milk, low fat yougurt, etc. into their diets, the amount of healthy fat that most people actually eat is very little.
As a result, this low fat eating leaves people feeling fatigued, overweight, with high cholesterol, and yes, with lower levels of hormones. I know this is contrary to everything else you hear about eating, but I believe that eating healthy fat is critical. This includes butter, whole milk, whole fat yogurt, coconut oil, lard, avocados. Eat healthy fat to lose fat. Eat healthy fat to have energy and maintain muscle mass. Eat healthy fat to sleep better and increase your memory. And eat healthy fat to maintain and even boost your own hormonal supply.
We are getting ready to introduce our very own Nutrition Program, an intensive month of education and counselling and one of the tenets of this program will be that healthy fat is not only good for you, but critical to being healthy and feeling optimally well.
Check out the Weston Price website for more information about healthy fat. And the next time you are deciding between the vegetable oil based margarine and real butter, choose the butter, everytime.
We are referring to interval training which only takes about 15 minutes per session and, unlike drawn out aerobic training and running, the risk of injury is slim to none. The reason for this is simple, the longer you repeat a specific movement, the more stress there will be on your joints. Throw in the fact that many people that are spending hours doing cardio are the same people that are carrying an extra 20 to 50 pounds. This means that a large amount of weight is repeatedly pounding on your joints for an extended period of time causing injury and, ultimately likely to land you in a physical therapist’s office.
So how does interval training work? Simply put, interval training involves short, high intensity bursts followed by a short rest period. This is repeated for about 15 minutes. The reason that this is so effective is that when intervals are preformed your body becomes reliant on muscle glycogen, this is a good thing because although you will not burn as many calories at the time of your workout, you will continue to burn them for a much longer period of time after your workout. In addition, with the correct work and rest ratio, the total amount of of work preformed will almost always exceed that of steady aerobic training. Also, when you exercise at high intensity, you are able to get a boost in growth hormone output and this helps build muscle and burn fat.
Furthermore, interval training improves your V02max. V02max is the amount of oxygen that an individual can utilize during intense exercise. One of the benefits of improved V02max is that it has an increased thermic affect of food. So, when you slip up and eat a few doughnuts or an extra piece of pie for dessert, it’s less likely to be stored as fat.
You can find out more about V02max here We specialize in fitness testing and with your results you will receive comprehensive advice on how to improve your fitness level.
If you would like to start to improve your V02max now, here is a simple guide to get you started. For beginners, follow the instructions in the first row. As you get stronger move on to the second row and so on.
|
Work Period |
Rest Period |
Repetitions |
Duration |
|
10 seconds |
50 seconds |
15 |
15 minutes |
|
15 seconds |
45 seconds |
15 |
15 minutes |
|
20 seconds |
40 seconds |
15 |
15 minutes |
|
30 seconds |
60 seconds |
10 |
15 minutes |
Sprinting and the Elliptical are ideal tools for interval training. To get the most out of interval training you must be working at your absolute maximum. This is generally reached when your muscles burn and you are out of breath. You will only be able to maintain this intensity for seconds to a minute at a time. This should not feel good at the time, but when you have finished, after only 15 minutes, you will realize that this was time well spent
As patients coming through my office you have seen the bright, colorful artwork on the walls in the exam rooms. These have all been hand painted by my wife, Laura Koniver, MD. And while you have not seen her in the office, you have seen the gift she brings by enjoying her beautiful artwork. In the near future, Dr. Laura Koniver will soon be bringing more of a hands on approach to the office with the introduction of her Art Therapy. We will send more details as this becomes closer to fruition.
Her artwork also graces the walls of Eileen’s Restaurant in Summerville, Ladles Cafe in Summerville, West Ashley and Kiawah as well as being featured in a NH Store called Garden Plum. Dr. Laura Koniver also maintains her own art website here.
And so while Dr. Laura Koniver continues to grow and spread her artwork around the globe, we are lucky to have this same artwork here in the office!
Although sugar is found in most of our foods, food manufacturers are well aware that the public is becoming savvy of its harmful effects. This is why you will see the following tag lines perpetrating the store shelves, low sugar, reduced sugar, and sugar free.
How are they doing this while keeping our favorite foods sweet? Well, a few different ways, the first being Aspartame.
Aspartame is also known as Nutrasweet and Equal. A scientist by the name of James Schlatter first discovered Aspartame in 1965. Originally, he was trying to create a drug to treat ulcers. After accidentally licking his finger he realized that his creation was very sweet. After further testing he tried to get it approved by the FDA and despite horrific results in the many studies conducted on Aspartame, the FDA finally approved it in 1974.
For a clearer picture of aspartame, in order to produce and handle this sweetener one must wear chemical goggles, protective gloves and a chemical apron to prevent any skin exposure. This certainly does not seem like something that we should be ingesting.
Problems associated with Aspartame consumption include dizziness, visual impairment, severe muscle aches, numbing of extremities, pancreatitis, high blood pressure, retinal hemorrhaging, seizures, depression and triggering migraine headaches.
Another artificial sweetener saturating the shelves is sucralose, otherwise know as Splenda. Sucralose is derived from sucrose (sugar) and is put through a process that ultimately turns the Sucrose into a chlorocarbon. Chlorocarbons are known to cause organ, genetic and reproductive damage, shrinking of the thymus gland, swelling of the liver and kidneys, fertility issues in male rats and calcification of the kidney.
What is more, sucralose is more similar, chemically, to DDT than it is to actual sugar. So, ingesting sucralose is not unlike digesting small amounts of chlorinated pesticide.
Here are some other artificial sweeteners to stay away from:
Saccharin
Acesulfame-K
Neotame
Cyclamate
Alitame
Try eating products using the following natural sweeteners or, better yet, buy foods that have no added sugar and add your own natural sugar.
Honey
Stevia
Xylitol
Organic maple syrup
Freshly juiced apple
Freshly juiced orange
Dates
Sadly, it’s hard to avoid chemicals such as aspartame and sucralose as they are in so many unexpected food products including gum, baked goods and yogurt. However, we must educate ourselves and pay closer attention to food labels. Now, today, is the best time to pay extra attention to food labels, to educate ourselves and make healthier food choices.
Whether you workout in a group setting, like a group fitness class or you workout independently, you most likely have the well known bicep curl integrated into your routine.
The bicep curl is an isolation exercise specifically intended to work only your bicep muscles. For some reason, isolation exercises became en vogue. We not only do this with biceps but with triceps, quadriceps, hamstrings and just about every other muscle in our body. This tactic, however, is not functional nor is it ultimately going to help you create the optimal results that you are surely seeking. Additionally, this one exercise for one muscle is wasting valuable time
The important thing to understand is that, all major muscles are complemented by the smaller, “assisting”, muscles. The assisting muscles are meant to work in conjunction with the major muscles, not separately. It is simply not functional to isolate muscles, as this is not the case in the activities and basic movements in our everyday lives. When you lift a heavy paint can are you only using your bicep? No, you are using your bicep, your tricep, the many muscles that make up your forearm and even your shoulder muscles. When people isolate the larger muscles they are not allowing the smaller muscles to do what they do best, assist. This leads to muscle imbalance in the body and can cause injury and ultimately hamper your performance. Not to mention, if you are strength training for a well balanced, sculpted look, you will have far superior results by performing multi joint exercises as opposed to isolation exercises
In summary, when strength training perform multi joint exercises. When you perform multi-joint exercises, more muscle groups are used and this stimulates growth in every muscle throughout the body. Why waste time isolating one muscle doing one exercise when you can work multiple muscles in one exercise, cutting your time in half!
Here is the best possible upper body exercise that we all love to hate!
Push ups: The primary muscles used in this exercise are the shoulders (anterior and medial deltoids), pectorals, and triceps as well as the biceps and abdominal muscles. To begin, lay face down on the floor. Lift your upper body up while balancing on your knees (see picture #1 below). Keep your back in neutral position and in a straight line, to do this you must tighten your abs. Make sure that your arms are positioned directly below your shoulders and when you go down, your elbows are pointing out at a ninety-degree angle. As you improve in strength, balance on your toes (see picture #2 below) instead of you knees. You can also integrate a band or a weighted vest if you need even more resistance. Start out with three sets of 6. Gradually add push up’s as you gain strength, once you reach 3 sets of 12, it’s time to add resistance.
#1 #2
My next Whole Foods talk will take place this upcoming Tuesday, May 26th, at 6 PM. It is a FREE talk and will be titled: “Natural Options for Prevention of Heart Disease: Healthy Fats to the Rescue”. In addition to healthy fats, I will talk about all types of natural approaches to heart disease prevention including vitamin intake, food choices, hormonal influence and a variety of other natural ways to help lower the risk of having a heart attack. This should be a very good discussion and I will try to put to rest the myths regarding healthy vs. unhealthy fat. I hope to see you there.
Yes, coconut oil is full of saturated fat but, contrary to popular belief, this is not a bad thing. In fact, according to a recent study published in Clinical Biochemistry, coconut oil actually lowered total cholesterol. In the study, laboratory animals were fed a diet high in virgin coconut oil, which resulted in the lowering of triglycerides, phospholipids and LDL cholesterol. In addition HDL, the good cholesterol, was increased.
Moreover, Coconut oil is known to be antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial, which is due to the high content of Lauric Acid. This means that the consumption of coconut oil can kill or completely hinder the growth of many dangerous viruses and bacteria.
Additionally, coconut oil is a great source of energy. Athletes have been consuming it for years due to its “carbo” like effect. Coconut oil is not stored in the body but it is broken down quickly and used as an immediate energy source. It is also known to support thyroid function and increase metabolism.
And, just when you thought it wasn’t possible for coconut oil to get any better, studies have concluded that coconut oil can prevent and help to treat wrinkles, naturally.
Primary Plus Organic Medicine is proud to announce that we will be adding organic, unrefined coconut oil to our high quality, line of supplements that are available for purchase. Feel free to contact us for more details.
The ideal daily “dose” of coconut oil is about 3 tablespoons per day. You can add coconut as a cooking oil, use it as a topical moisturizer or just eat the coconut oil by itself. No matter how you incorporate coconut oil, you will benefit. Please see below for some variations on how you can add this wonderful oil and the wide range of nutrients it provides, to your life, everyday.
Topical Face Scrub
1 tablespoon of coconut oil 1 teaspoon of baking soda 1 lemon slice Mix baking soda, coconut oil, lemon juice Massage entire face Remove with warm water and washclothCoconut and Apple Pork Chops
2 boneless pork chops 2 Tbsp Coconut oil 1 Apple 1 Tbsp butter Dash of cayenne pepper Dash of cinnamon Sprinkle cayenne pepper on pork chops Saute pork chops in coconut oil Dice apple and saute in butter Sprinkle cinnamon on topping, mix well When pork chops are done, (about 15 minutes) top with apple mixture. Enjoy!
Many of us currently have or have had knee pain. Many times the seemingly obvious solution to this problem would be to strengthen the muscles around the knee, the quadriceps. Traditionally, when home exercises don’t work, phyiscal therapists are employed to help focus on knee manipulation/strengthening. However, a recent study published in The Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine found that the majority of knee pain is due to weak abductors, or hip, muscles. In addition, this study also revealed that manipulation of the knee seems to only be a temporary solution to knee pain, where as strengthening of the abductors provides long term relief.
In essence, if you find that you have knee pain, try concentrating on strengthening your hip muscles as opposed to your quadriceps. Over training of the quadriceps muscles, especially when you have week abductors, will bring on more pain as this is added weight that your knee must try to support.
A great way to strengthen your Abductors is by adding band walks to your routine. They’re very simple to do, merely step through the band and position it so that it is just below the knee. To begin, lift your leg straight out to the side, and then step back down to the floor, moving you across the room. Try to think of your leg as though it is attached to your hip by a hinge, making sure to step sideways, and keep your upper body completely still and not rocking from side to side. Try starting out with 3 sets of 6 and add more as needed. Please see example below.
Next time you feel pain in your knee just remember that the knee may be the source of the pain but not the source of the problem.
A recent study was conducted and found that pregnant women who consistently supplemented with Probiotics were able to lose weight and maintain healthy weight faster than pregnant women who did not use Probiotics. This is a very interesting finding. By taking Probiotics you are ensuring that you are getting the proper balance of healthy bacteria in your intestines.
In an age and time where unless you eat organic foods, you will be exposed to pesticides and fungicides which can have a dramatic impact on your intestinal tract. Most people eat a diet composed of processed foods, which dramatically depletes the amount of healthy vitamins, minerals and fats from food. The end result is that this type of food intake leads to malnutrition, weight gain, fatiuge and a host of chronic disease states.
So supplementing with Probiotics on a daily basis can help change that paradigm. By ensuring that you have a healthy supply of good bacteria to manage the processed, pesticide laden foods, you will go a long way to helping yourself feel better and reduce the chance of chronic disease states.
And as this current study shows, also go a long way to losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight.
Check out our line of Probiotics here. Take one capsule once a day and keep refrigerated.
Probiotics…a simple way to lose weight. Give it a try!
Did you know that when refined sugar was first introduced in the sixteenth century it was called “crack” and was heavily guarded? Back then, sugar cost a whopping 2 shillings per pound, which is equal to about $100 per 2.5 pounds today. Nowadays, sugar is one of the cheaper products that you can buy, but most people don’t realize it’s a horribly deceptive item for consumption.
According to a recent study conducted by the American College of Neuropsychoppharmacology, sugar may be as addictive as alcohol and drugs. The experiment revealed evidence that sugar has the same physiological and psychological effects as drugs do on the body. Meaning, it can be extremely addicting and can cause major withdrawal symptoms when taken away.
As many people are aware, sugar contributes to diabetes, weight gain and tooth decay. But did you know that sugar also causes the depletion of many B vitamins, Magnesium and Chromium? Also, keep in mind that often times when you consume white breads, pastas, and many processed foods, your body cannot distinguish the difference between these things and sugar.
Try taking sugar out of your diet for two weeks and take note of how you feel. If you are used to eating sugar you will most likely be tired, irritable and have sugar cravings–these are likely withdrawal symptoms.
Become sugar free. Eat whole, natural foods and as a general rule, if it’s white, don’t bite.
So it seems that the recent outbreak of the new Swine Flu is winding down. In light of this, I thought I would share some basic things you can do to boost your immune system. Again, many people are exposed to all kinds of viruses, bacteria, etc., but only a small number of people actually contract clinical disease.
Here is a list of immune boosting tips:
For any interested, I can always formulate a specific immune boosting supplement regimen.
Have a great weekend!
Myth Revealed: The truth about sit-ups and crunches. Everyone wants a flat tummy and to get this, we have been told to do as many sit ups and crunches as we possibly can. However, research shows that these exercises are not only extremely harmful to your lower back but they really are not as effective as they may seem. When you do a sit-up, you are asking your abdominal muscles to perform the same flexion that your bicep does but this is not a natural movement for the abdominal muscles and this puts tremendous stress on the spine. It is important to always keep a neutral spin and the more that you deviate from this position, the more likely you are to initiate low back pain.
So, how do you strengthen your abs? The answer is simple. Strength training. There are various strength training exercises that, when done correctly, engage the abdominal muscles without you even realizing it. A great example to strengthen your abdominal muscles without compromising your lower back is planks. Planks strengthen your abdominal muscles, lower back and upper body all while promoting good posture. Planks are easy to do, simply begin on your knees and elbows, slowly lift your knees off the ground until you are balancing on your elbows and toes. Next, make sure your back is level and you’re tightening your abs. Just think of pulling your belly button towards your spine. Begin by holding this position for 30 seconds, rest and then repeat, completing a set of 3.
It’s time to stop torturing yourself and your lower back with hundreds of crunches. Be kind to your back and it will be kind to you, for many years to come!
In our efforts to try and keep you updated with useful and interesting health information, we are now going to be broadcasting this type of information to everyone on our email lists. I will be updating my website frequently and will try to send you interesting health facts as well as information about the practice.
You can expect to get an email from us every couple of days. I think and hope that you will find these emails to be interesting and thought provoking. If you would not like to receive this information, please email me at:
primaryplus@primary-plus.com
and I will remove you from the list.
Enjoy the rest of your week!
A recent study was conducted where researchers compared two groups of people on two different diets. The first group had a diet that consisted of 19% fat and the second group had a diet that consisted of 50% fat. The 19% group’s low fat diet led them to lose only 1 pound and lower HDL, the good cholesterol. Those on the 50% fat diet increased HDL levels, maintained their weight, triglycerides, BP and heart rate. The conclusion to this study was that low fat diets do not provide enough calories and nutrients for optimum health. In addition, low fat diets do not allow for sufficient essential fatty acids, Vitamin E and zinc and less fat will result in the lowering of good cholesterol.
So, next time you decide not to grab that “fattening” avocado or you go for the low fat rather than the whole fat yogurt, you may want to think again. You are not only are missing out on some of natures most delicious and energizing foods but, you are depriving yourself of vital nutrients. That’s right, fat is good for you.
Mia Yelle is the latest addition to our staff. She comes to Charleston from San Diego and has a tremendous background in holistic nutrition and fitness training. Mia will not only be answering your questions when you call on the phone, but she will be helping me develop our Sports Nutrition program. She will be a frequent contributor to our News and Updates section and will be helping me in all aspects of making our health and wellness programs more comprehensive. I am excited that Mia has joined our staff and know she will be a great help!!!
A recent study was completed where investigators found that LOW or even LOW NORMAL levels of Testosterone in men was associated with a higher incidence of stroke. This was after controlling for conventional risk factors of blood pressure, diabetes, smoking status.
We have known that low testosterone in men is associated with a higher chance of having a heart attack, so this new study does not surprise me. But it does reiterate the point that men should get their testosterone levels routinely checked. And if their testosterone is low or even low normal, it seems worthwhile to try testosterone replacement.
This is good news overall as the more we look at bio-identical hormone replacement, the more we will find good data to support the use of bio-identical hormones. Without a doubt, it is women who mainly take advantage of bio-identical hormone replacement. Maybe this new study will help convince more men to get their testosterone levels checked.
Here at my office we routinely check testosterone levels in men and women using blood, saliva, and urine testing.
A recent study was completed in which the investigators measured growth hormone levels in participants blood after several months of a physical exercise program. The investigators split the groups of participants into a group that ran 20-30 minutes 3x/ week, another group that ran sprints 3x/ week and another group that walked for 30 minutes 3x/ week. In all of the groups the measured levels of growth hormone increased after completing the three month exercise regimen. The group with the largest boost in growth hormone: the sprinters. This is not totally surprising as we know that exercise increases growth hormone output and this is one of the ways that people lose weight while exercising–growth hormone help melt belly fat and increase lean muscle mass. The neat thing about this was this is a study where this was shown to be true.
So, if you are a long distance runner or someone who does not exercise much, the take away message is the same: incorporate some sprints into your training regimen. Sprints are easy to do because you only have to do 5-10 to get a quality workout and that may only take you 10-15 minutes, so time should no longer be prohibitng factor for exercising. Or try jump rope–you can do it anywhere and it will get your heart rate going very quickly.
If you want more information about how to increase your physical fitness, let me know as our Sports Nutriton testing program is well under way!
We are pleased to now offer the sale of all of our supplements on-line through the website. Check out our Essentials Line of Supplements section on this website and you can start placing orders right now. Now anyone, outside of the Charleston area, can benefit from our high-grade, unique supplement line. Or feel free to order if you cannot make it into the office and we will ship them to you.
I am excited to announce the latest of my custom supplement packs, Lean Body Essentials. This pack is designed to boost Growth Hormone output to help you lose belly fat, gain lean muscle mass and improve overall energy levels. I combined three different amino acids: L-Arginine, L-Lysine and L-Glutamine along with DHEA. The amino acids by themselves all help boost growth hormone output, but have a much stronger effect when combined. The DHEA ensures adequate androgen intake to make sure that cortisol levels are balanced. The Lean Body Essentials pack can be combined with any other supplement program.
As Spring time nears, it’s time to think about those bathing suits, so I think the Lean Body Essentials can help improve body composition–lose belly fat and improve muscle mass. See what you think!
I will be giving a FREE talk at Whole Foods in Mt. Pleasant on Tuesday, February 24th at 6PM. The title of the talk is: “Healthy Libido: Bio-identical hormones and Nature’s Herbs to the Rescue!” It will be an informal talk with lots of time for questions and answers. I will be talking about how a healthy libido is affected by many more things than just testosterone and how to boost it with natural hormones and herbs. I will be raffling off a free hormone test panel to the attendees. I hope to see you there!
A recent study came out that showed the greater the Vitamin D level, the more muscle power one was able to generate. This is great information and one that shows, yet again, that simple, natural approaches are usually the best. Vitamin D is emerging as a very important vitamin for hormonal and metabolic mechanisms and now we can add optimal muscle strength to that list. We know that low levels of Vitamin D are associated with increased osteoporosis, high cholesterol, fatigue, childhood obesity, and prostate cancer risk.
Measuring Vitamin D is easy, only a blood test, and one that I try to routinely order with my patients. Supplementing with Vitamin D is easy as well–just take a Vitamin D capsule once a day. The challenge is taking the right dose. Most of the recommendations you see on multivitamin bottles recommend dosages that are too low. So go get your Vitamin D level tested and then make sure you take more Vitamin D; it is truly a great Vitamin.
Finally a study has been conducted with patients using natural hormones (bio-identical progesterone, estradiol and testosterone). The results are not surprising: for women using natural hormones, they had a decrease in blood pressure, cholesterol and inflammatory markers. This supports what we already have thought: replacing hormones with natural hormones is GOOD for the body. What this study did not document is how these women felt, but my guess is that the vast majority felt really good with increased energy levels, better sleep quality and better body proportions. This was the a small study, but is a start.
Bottom line: natural hormones are good for helping people feel better AND improve their metabolic status. I see no reason not to get tested and see what your hormonal status is, do you?
I will be giving my next FREE talk at Whole Foods in Mt. Pleasant on Tuesday, January, 20th at 6PM.
The title of the talk will be: “Sports Nutrition: How Natural Supplements and Organic Food Improve Athletic Training and Weight Loss”
These talks are informal and I take lots of questions. As an incentive to get people out to the talk, I will be raffling off a free Food Compatibility Test from the ALCAT lab. This test is a blood test that tests 200 Foods, 10 Food Additives, 10 Food Colorings, 20 Molds and 10 Environmental Chemicals. I think this is the neatest test (the self-pay rate is $900) so well worth getting a free one!
I hope to see you there….
It is estimated that the average adult has enough energy stored in their fat cells to run 25 marathons! Yes, that is right, 25 marathons! How is this possible?
Well, fat, unlike carbohydrates is a much more efficient method of storing energy than storing carbohydrates (glycogen). The problem is in being able to turn that fat into fuel. Even though fat is a more efficient storage system, carbohydrates are THE preferred fuel for our energy.
So you can see the dilemma: we like to store fat but we like to use carbohydrate as fuel.
At my newly opened Organic Performance Lab, I will be helping athletes of all types (weekend warriors, hard core fitness addicts, professional athletes, marathon runners, etc.) become more efficient in how they use their fuel. There are so many amazing fitness and metabolic tests that I have put together to truly get each individual’s fitness and nutrition status. Check out the Sports Nutrition page of this website for more information.
So the next time you are thinking you want to lose weight or are feeling as if you weigh too much, know that that fat is fuel and you can learn to use it to your advantage. Maybe even run a marathon or 25?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of children with food allergies has increased 18% in the last decade. Over 3 million children were diagnosed with food allergies in 2007. 90% of these acute food allergies were triggered by 8 foods: milk, eggs, peanuts, trees, nuts, fish, shellfish, soy and wheat.
These numbers represent acute food allergies which is characterized by rash, wheezing, anaphylaxis within 2 hours of eating an offending food. While this is a large number of children with acute food allergies, I think the number of children with delayed food allergies is much larger. Delayed food allergies do not lead to the acute symptoms, but many of the same foods typically cause delayed food allergies. Delayed food allergies are more difficult to diagnose as it is often hard to connect the offending food with the symptom (headaches, runny nose, attention deficit, fatigue, abdominal pain, difficulty sleeping, and many others).
The good news is that we are able to figure out food allergies with blood tests. We run several different types of food allergy tests which makes diagnosing and classifying the food allergies a much more simple process.
I think food allergy testing is really the neatest testing available. Most of the time, we eat far too many foods to allow for a successful elimination diet. As humans we all have foods that we are allergic and intolerant to. We may be eating healthy foods, but they may be the wrong foods.
There is a growing body of literature which reveals the significance of Vitamin D. Not only is Vitamin D important for healthy bone development, but Vitamin D is crucial for feeling well and healthy hormonal Read the rest of this entry »
Here is a list of the dates that we will be closed during the Holiday Season: Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome to my newly designed website! This took a good bit of time to do, but this website is now much more user firendly, informative and interactive. I hope you enjoy what you find. Be well.