Heal The World

5 Suggestions for Health in the New Year

2012-01-05T12:57:00.000-08:00

It appears that at least weight management advertisers think everyone is making weight loss a New Year's resolution. Every channel seems to be offering great deals to join their weight loss program. Weight loss, while a worthwhile goal, is a secondary concern. It is somewhat like addressing only a symptom, while the cause goes unaddressed. The primary concern should be pursuing better and stronger health. Weak or non-existent lifestyle habits are never sustain you in the long run. So, consider the following five foundational lifestyle suggestions:

Exercise. I'm sorry to give thee bad news. There is no substitute. Laziness is one of those acquired lifestyle habits that saps your strength, saps your lean body mass, saps your cardiovascular health, saps your motivation, and feeds back reproducing more laziness until your backside won't fit into a theater seat. If laziness and lethargy is your problem -- start simply with the resolution to combat being lazy. Intentionally park your car farther from the door EVERY time, the farther the better. Take stairs, not elevators or escalators. Take a long route on foot, rather than the shortest. Make multiple single trips to pick up and put away clutter in the house. Hang large rubber exercise bands on the door knobs in your house and make a rule to pick them up and stretch a few times as a toll for going through that doorway. Now, if you WANT to take out a gym membership and GO to the gym nobody is stopping you there!
Drink Water. Water is the largest single constituent in your body. Circulating fresh water through yourself. Think of it this way: water keeps your radiator from clogging up. Lots of water everyday provides the following benefits: it helps you get more exercise (running to the bathroom where there is a exercise band means your bladder becomes your exercise trainer!); improves the filtration function of the kidneys so more toxins get flushed; and it keeps your skin toned. Eliminate all sugary or artificially sweetened drinks. Drink water. Using some lemon in your water improves taste and gives a hint of Vitamin C.
Pray, meditate and journal. Take some time daily - 10-20 minutes - to sit quietly and ask yourself how you are doing spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Use a journal as the voice back to yourself from whichever aspect of your being you want to converse. For example, imagine yourself as your body -- what would it like to say to you? What things come up as being a priority for you to pay attention to today? If you think of your body as the Temple of God (cf. I Corinthians 3:16), or the place in which God resides, how could you honor God's house more?
Avoid sugars and processed foods. This is another place where laziness and convenience drags you down the primrose path to health destruction. You HAVE to cook your meals using real food ingredients! just throwing prepared foods into the microwave or oven opens the door for poor nutrition - high bad fat, simple carbohydrates (sugar), and high sodium -- with little redeeming value. A diet leaning more heavily toward salads and vegetables is going to raise your nutrition profile substantially.
Maintain Elimination Pathways. Everything that goes in has to come out. Toxins accumulate and negatively impact your health if all the elimination pathways are not working. The four elimination pathways include urination, bowel movements, breathing, and sweating. Bowel movements should take place daily; getting 25-35 gm of fiber a day helps enormously. Exercise or hot baths induce sweating and more breathing. Water intake facilitates urination.

These five foundational suggestions cut to the chase for better health. All five of them done more days than not will reduce your weight, reduce cholesterol, improve cardiovascular health, keep good brain health, increase motivation & ambition, and increase your pride and self-esteem.

NatureWords for your body, peace for your soul,

5 Suggestions for Blood Sugar Control

2012-01-03T16:37:00.000-08:00

Okay, so now that the holidays are all finished up, all the crazy amounts of food have been eaten, and you have eaten up enough comfort food leftovers to stuff your guilt in some new creases, let's talk about getting blood sugars under control. Your first question might be, "Why?" Blood sugar, also called glucose, is an essential substance for life. It is used to create energy in every cell in the body. If you ate absolutely no sugar or carbohydrates of any kind, the redundant biochemical systems in the body have made alternatives available for converting fat and protein to glucose. Glucose is that important. However, it is almost equally essential for glucose concentration in the blood to be kept in a fairly narrow range. Too much glucose damages tissues, feeds cancer cells, and leads to high cholesterol and obesity - all fatal outcomes. Too little glucose and one gets shaky and faint, one's brain shuts down, a person can fall into a coma, and even die.

So here are five suggestions to help you stay within a healthy blood sugar range.

1. Eliminate sugars from your diet. It doesn't matter whether the sugar is called sucrose, high fructose corn syrup, fructose, or corn syrup they all lead to increased glucose levels in the blood stream. Eliminating sugar will not lower your glucose too much as the body will manufacture glucose if needed from fats and protein.

2. Exercise. Exercise requires more cellular energy so it increases cellular demand for glucose. The best glucose in the body is that being utilized in cells for making energy, not just circulating around with nowhere to go. There are also good indications that exercise pushes the innate blood sugar regulation systems within the body to function more efficiently.

3. Eat Protein. Eating smaller meals more frequently with a source of protein at each will help stabilize glucose. As mentioned above, protein can be converted to glucose; this process takes time. Protein acts as a sustained release glucose and minimizes blood sugar spikes from too much glucose entering the blood stream all at once. (Note: if you have any kind of impaired kidney function see your doctor before doing any kind of high protein diet.)

4. Supplements that stabilize blood sugar include: chromium, magnesium, vanadium, alpha lipoic acid, gemnema sylvestre, and bitter melon,

5. Increase fiber intake. Fiber reduces the speed with which glucose gets absorbed. 20-30 gm a day is a healthy amount; take it with meals so that glucose absorption is slowed.

5 Suggestions for the Holidays

2011-12-21T12:37:00.000-08:00

One of the most common discussion topics around the holidays always seems to be about weight management or dieting. Everyone seems to walk around gatherings commenting either about their guilt for liking food or about how many pounds they're adding. I'd like to make some suggestions about ways to think about food and the holidays.

Suggestion #1: Remember it IS a holiday season and nobody is going to be killed by eating "what they shouldn't" short-term. Moderation is ALWAYS a healthy by-word, but enjoy and do it without guilt. What fun is a guilt-ridden holiday?

Suggestion #2: Keep a minimum of "goodies" and fattening items around the house. Making up piles and piles of sweets and fattening food to just be there tempting you 24/7 is not REALLY celebrating anything but hedonism and your own potential for girth.

Suggestion #3: Don't forget to exercise. Go for walks, or hit the gym. Don't try to "burn off all the calories you eat" - there is significant discouragement in that! Just get out there and keep your heart moving that life force around that we call blood.

Suggestion #4: Drink water! It helps fill up your tummy so you won't feel like eating as much. It helps you detoxify. It fills in your fine facial wrinkles. It should be the primary beverage ALWAYS - every day. 1/3 of your body weight in fluid ounces + 8 oz for coffee and sugar.

Suggestion #5: Begin thinking about your celebration during the holidays as walking out onto a diving board where you will be poised to jump, after the first of the year, into a new way of working on your health.

Food Sensitivities

2011-11-22T08:57:00.001-08:00

Food sensitivities can be a problem; they are a problem on two fronts. First, is the problems they create in your body. If one looks up the symptoms that can be attributed to food sensitivities, the symptoms can cover just about every one in the book; everything from nasal allergies, headaches, and blurry vision to frequent urinary tract infections, abdominal pain, and fatigue can, in the right persons, manifest because of what they eat.

The second problem food sensitivities pose is diagnosing them and pinning down what foods are causing a problem. It is a rare occurrence for a single food to be causing all the health problems one might have. It is not as uncommon for multiple foods to be causing one's impaired health. There is a general rule of thumb that the foods you are reacting to are paradoxically the foods you consume most; but even that isn't of much use. The most effective test for food allergies/sensitivities is the elimination-challenge diet. This diet removes the suspicious foods for a period of 2-4 weeks, and then methodically re-introduces one food at a time watching for the reactions to return. It is extremely effective - if you eliminate all the offending foods. The trouble is how do you know just what all to eliminate? Also, eliminating your favorite foods for weeks is an intense challenge when the list was made up largely as a guess - "Well, maybe this is a problem?"

One of the diagnostic tools that can assist in the food elimination decisions is a food allergy panel. Food allergy panels take a small amount of blood and, depending on the type of test, look for immune system reactions to different foods. The results then provide a list of the foods your immune system is showing a response to; you eliminate those foods and retest in a few months. I use a test called the ALCAT. It provides a great starting place. It also gives an affirmation that you don't have sensitivities as well. So, if you have mysterious symptoms that don't seem to have a conventional medical explanation or ones that haven't improved greatly with conventional treatments, you might explore the impact food sensitivities may be causing.

Gluten Intolerance

2011-10-31T14:00:00.001-07:00

Do you have trouble with your stomach hurting frequently? Do you think of it as "just part of getting older?" Have you had digestive problems for years and just learned to live with it?

Oftentimes health problems creep in so gradually that we just adjust ourselves to them and are barely aware that there is a problem there, or we think that everyone is having problems, so why should I be any different?

An increasingly common cause of tummy pains is gluten. Gluten is the elastic protein in certain grains (wheat, barley, oats, rye) that makes for a well binding dough. It helps to trap air in the dough and makes for lighter bread, and malleable dough forms for pasta. Unfortunately, it also is sticky and gummy and adheres to the tissue lining of the digestive track. Over time the immune system picks up on its presence and in its attempt to eliminate it creates inflammation, which is where the hurt comes in. For the relatively small number of people with Celiac Disease gluten is a true health nightmare. You do not have to have Celiac Disease, however, to have gluten intolerance or digestive inflammation. Anyone having digestive problems - Irritable Bowel, Crohn's Disease, just nebulous abdominal pains -- would benefit from at least giving a gluten-free diet a try.

Giving up gluten is no simple matter, however. Wheat flour is used in a surprising number of ways. Most people find the giving up of bread and pasta a major impact on their ability to eat. Fortunately, the numbers of gluten intolerant people has increased so much over the past few years, that stores are carrying a lot of gluten-free products. (If you are overweight though, be cautious to read labels for fat content and adjust portion sizes accordingly.)

I'd suggest going off all gluten for two weeks and see how your tummy pain is. If you then add wheat back, your tummy will definitely let you know if gluten is the problem. Then you have a choice. You can put up with the pain; or you can eliminate gluten for an extended period of time.

NatureWords for your body, peace for your soul,

Soda Pop, Soda Pop, pop pop Soda Pop

2011-10-30T18:11:00.000-07:00

Do you want to take a big step on the road to health? Quit drinking soda pop -- all kinds of it, caffeinated, sugared, sugar-free, pop for men, pop with fruit, ALL of it -- just stop drinking it all. Why?

I'd like to just say, "Just take my word for it, it's just bad." Alas, nobody just listens and Americans have to have information so they can think for themselves. Which is an irony since millions of us just do what the advertisers tell us about buying their soft drinks.

Pop companies are the chief suppliers of sugar and sweetness for Americans' sweet tooth. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest pop companies are making enough pop for every man, woman, and child to drink 52.4 gallons of pop a year. As the suppliers for the venom fueling obesity and diabetes they rake in billions of dollars a year. (Should a national tax of 2 cents be put on pop it would raise $3 billion a year.)(1)

A primary ingredient of pop is high fructose syrup. High fructose syrup is an intensely concentrated form of sugar. However, the body handles fructose differently from other sugars. The liver has to do 100% of the metabolism and it metabolizes it into triglycerides, fat, and bad cholesterol. Fructose does not affect the hunger and satiety hormones, so it does not turn off appetite. 120 calories of fructose result in 40 calories being stored as fat. So, one pop a day can put an extra 40 pounds on a person in a year. We won't even mention how seriously sugar stimulates cancer growth, or the mood problems, or the increased arthritis/gout troubles... will we?

Pop increases the acidity of the body. It takes 10 gallons of pure water to correct the acidity 1 can of pop creates. Shifts too much on pH either direction increases disease risks.

"But I drink diet pop." Switch it to sugar-free pop, you open the door to synthetic chemicals that mess with brain chemistry, and further mix it up for a liver struggling to cope with all the hormones, all the chemicals, all the proteins, carbohydrates, and fats needed to regulate blood sugar and fat storage.

SO, as I said, I wish you'd just take my word for it -- don't drink pop. It's almost as deleterious to your health as cigarettes, honest. It's almost as bad to your wallet as well!

NatureWords for your body, peace for your soul,
M.

(1) http://www.cspinet.org/sodapop/liquid_candy.htm

Healing Cancer World Summit

2011-10-26T22:34:00.000-07:00

The last couple nights I've been at the Healing Cancer World Summit. It's been really interesting, encouraging, and hopeful. Yet there is still a long ways to go. Here are a few take-aways I've heard.

Cancer has no code of conduct. The cancer a person may have today will not necessarily be the same cancer tomorrow; mutations happen that fast.

Diet and lifestyle have a tremendous amount more to do with getting cancer than does genetics. Genetics has very little to do with getting cancer.

Alkalinity and acidity of the body makes a big difference. Red meat raises acidity. Plant foods raise alkalinity. Eating a pH balanced diet for your metabolic type is one of the better protections against cancer.

Sugar and salt are serious problems for cancer patients. Sugar feeds cancer cells intensely.

Pancreatic enzymes are effective anti-cancer supplements. They have two actions. They help flip off the rapid cellular replication, and they tear away the fibrin coating in which cancer cells cloak themselves.

Neither alternative medicine or conventional has all the answers on cancer. Together they have more solutions than used separately.

Diet, Detox, and Supplementation are the three common denominators in nearly all alternative treatment programs. Supporting immune function is crucial.

There are 3 more nights. You can hear it online at www.renegadehealth.com/cancer/blog

Comment on Recent News Blurbs

2011-10-17T19:00:00.000-07:00

A couple of news headlines were spinning around the airwaves today -- thought you might like my take:

1. NPR this morning discussed the findings that supplements might actually be harmful and left the impression no supplements are ever needed.

Comment: Unless there is a clear health indication for doing so, mega-dosing on vitamins and minerals is a dumb health thing to do. We simply don't know enough about mineral/vitamin balance to formulate the right products for your particular situation; health is all about balance! It IS best to get the majority of nutrients from food, and food-sourced supplements (e.g. click on the Juice Plus picture on this page for info). However, it is the rare individual who is getting enough nutrition in what they eat and so some supplementation is very helpful! This is not to say that because a little helps, more will be better! Here's a health hint: In medicine circles taking more than is prescribed does very little good, and frequently you will pay a steep price for it. Apparently, some men have been taking a LOT of Vitamin E, and their prostate cancers are showing up in the news.

P.S. One also HAS to wonder about the controls in these studies. There are some EXTREMELY powerful financial interests at work that would benefit amazingly well if people quit their supplements and got sick needing a pricey pharmaceutical! Just sayin'...

2. A report on CBS News reported a finding that all women will likely have at least one false positive mammogram in their life that requires additional diagnostic tests. The doctor interviewed said, "Maybe this will lessen women's anxiety about getting a bad mammogram, so they'll be more willing to get them."

Comment: I like it when doctors talk into the news microphone while they are high on something. What woman is EVER going to not worry herself sick over a "bad mammogram?" Here's another health hint (2 for the price of 1 today!): Don't get routine screening mammograms. They are fraught with peril. The radiation exposure -- yes, they are X-rays! - is cumulative. I can't help but wonder seriously if the reason breast cancer rates are continuing to inch upward is directly a result of zapping millions of breasts every year. The high percentages of false positives and false negatives are unacceptable given the radiation hazard. Learn and do self-exams; and for goodness sake don't wait for a scare to just start PREVENTING breast cancer!! If you need ideas on how to prevent cancer look through my other blog entries, or make an appointment to come see me!

Expanding Your Food Horizons

2011-10-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

Food and water are the two substances, in addition to oxygen, without which humans cannot live. Clean water is a tremendous problem throughout most of the world, but not so much so here in the U.S.; we have a much more profound problem with food. I'm not going to talk about obesity or diabetes, those are getting lots of press. I want to talk about some more general health issues with food that apply to everyone.

The personal emotional dynamics with food are substantial. Food is like a lifelong mate. Think about it. Food sits with us at every meal and every snack. It's there when we are alone, or when we are with others. It's there when we're home or when we're out; at work or at play. We take it to bed with us, go on dates with it, encourage others to join with us in it, we pack it and carry it in the car and everywhere else we go. Food participates in everything we do - privately, as well as socially. One of the most common talking points with other people is what foods we like or don't like; and the cause for those personal preferences remain mysterious and largely unknown. What we like is just what we like. If we have the foods we like, we're happy. If we don't get the foods we like we get to feeling deprived and even unloved. When too many foods we don't like get forced upon us we can even feel tortured, depressed, and hate life's circumstance that forces "this yuck upon me!"

Everyone has about 20-25 foods that comprise more than 90% of one's daily diet. We reach for the same things week in and week out, and even though we might complain a little bit about getting bored with "the same old thing," we don't really want to change it up too much. Changing our basic diet creates something akin to a relationship issue. We feel abandonment, emptiness, stress, sorrow, loss, deprivation. Eliminating certain key foods from our standard set creates a downward spiral, and before we know it we're living out a Lifetime Movie - "I'm just going to starve myself because without my mashed potatoes (insert favorite food) I just don't want to eat anything... I'd rather die!" I think this reaction may be close to universal. Yet, there are thousands of foods available. Supermarkets are stuffed to overflowing with a greater and greater diversity of foods from all over the world. So, what's up with our inability to expand our diets?

Take a look at the 20-25 foods you eat most often. Look seriously at their nutritional content. I would hazard to guess that as many as half of the foods you commonly consume have little nutritional value. Broadening our diet to include more nutritionally dense foods is an essential longevity health-skill. While most of us have all heard of "comfort foods" -- as though there's a really select group of things we need for comfort -- the fact is probably that all the foods we consistently reach for are comfort. Eating itself is all about comfort. So the question really becomes, how do we create the positive associations with other foods such that more nutritionally dense foods transform themselves into "comfort foods?"

I don't really have any proven suggestions, but these four common-sense ideas might help:

Find a partner, preferably someone you really like, who is willing to experiment with you in expanding dietary horizons. Experiment with different diets and different foods together and compare notes about how you experience eating differently.
Pick a couple favorite activities and adopt an "off-your-list" (OYL) healthy food that you eat every time you do that activity. If you include a friend who joins you for the activity and the food, the positive association will probably be all the more powerful.
Learn the health benefits present in other "off-your-list" (OYL) foods and while you are eating those other foods talk to yourself A LOT about everything that particular food is doing for your body. (I have used this and found it comes in time to create a craving for the new foods.)
Try to avoid trying new foods under stressful circumstances. Choosing stressful times to try new foods is likely to only associate stress with that food.

If any other ideas come to mind, why don't you share them under the comments here?

NatureWords for your body, peace for your soul,
M.

Health Resonance

2011-09-30T09:54:00.000-07:00

Since I can't afford two pianos, nor have the room in any of my life spaces to have two pianos side by side I can't personally vouch for the truthfulness of what I'm about to share, but.... I read that if two pianos are parked side by side and you hit a key on one of them the sound frequency of that note will cause the same string on the other piano to vibrate.

Sit for a moment and ponder what this might mean. Like, recall that all living things are creating and expending energy. Energy vibrates and has an inherent "buzz" about it. Think of electrical transformers and generators. I remember as a kid visiting the dams on the Columbia River and the deep vibrating buzz of the electrical generators. Of course, that is perhaps billions of times more energy flowing than the cells generate in our bodies, but just the same we are all operating on certain energetic frequencies. If we had the ears for such tiny impulses we could hear them as sound. Different cells produce different energetic signatures and together they harmonize such that each one of us is likely putting off a particular musical chord. Re-enter the two pianos. Hmmm?

Could "good health" be defined as harmonized cellular energy? I think this is very likely the case! If this is true, then knowledge about the pianos and sound resonance opens up the door of speculation. In particular, if we expose our bodies to harmonious sounds will our health improve? Is part of the huge degradation in the environment due to the chaotic background noise being generated from so many different sources?

I'm not the first to come up with this idea. It is being actively worked upon by people a lot smarter than me. There are hundreds of directions we could go with using sound for health. How about starting some sound experiments of your own? Like, the reason you may find certain types of music more soothing than others is that certain styles "chime" well with your own biological music you are generating. By listening to music that soothes your soul, perhaps you are soothing cellular groups that are stressed and heading toward disease? Soothing music may be helping to create the positive resonance your body needs to heal? It's a GREAT thought! And, even if it isn't the case, you now have a GOOD excuse for sitting with your favorite music, sipping a little red wine, and relaxing -- and THAT does do a body good as well!!

NatureWords for your Health... Peace for your Soul!

Detox II

2011-09-21T23:05:00.000-07:00

So I finished up the detox I mentioned on Sept. 7th a couple of days after that. I've done detoxes often enough that I didn't do too badly, apart from blood sugar issues. The Master Cleanse program with it's use of the maple syrup lemonade plays havoc with blood sugar regulation, and I almost felt better with water only.

For people who do get sick doing a detox, there is good news -- it convinces you quickly of how badly you need to do more detoxification work. Symptoms that occur during detox include: nausea, upset stomach, vomiting, diarrhea, itching, headaches, bad breath, achy joints, tiredness, and even mild fevers (though fevers can be from dehydration, too.) These symptoms can get quite severe, even debilitating requiring bed rest and a slowing down of the detox processes.

What can you do about these symptoms? First, do NOT take any non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, like advil, aspirin, or alleve; and no Tylenol either. These mask your symptoms but defeat the goal by adding to the toxic load. A couple of supplement things might help - chlorophyll and/or activated charcoal. Neither one of these add toxins and both help to bind toxins that have been released, thus decreasing or eliminating their pesky side effects (symptoms) and they hold onto the toxins until they can be processed.

Hot baths for 20-30 minutes induce sweating that reduces toxin loads through the skin. The bath can help itching especially, and if you put a couple tablespoons of oatmeal in a sock that you run the bath water through this also aids itchiness. One caution: be well aware that raising your body temperature in the bath, also increases your body's metabolism and with it blood sugar can drop. If you've been fasting and you pump up metabolism you can get dangerously dizzy or faint very quickly. So, do the hot bath only after having taken some juice or something else with calories that will support your blood sugar level.

Enemas and mild herbal laxatives can speed up the elimination process and reduce toxin loads to reduce symptoms as well. I have a hope for the end of this year or early next to have out an e-book about the great therapeutic value enemas can play in your overall health, so watch for that.

Finally as a last resort, if symptoms get too much then end the detox. This is done by putting food back into your life. If you've been off food for several days it is best to ease back into a diet, perhaps by juicing fruits and vegetables; then salads with small amounts of protein. Protein shakes can also be used. I particularly like the taste and the breakdown of a product called Muscle Milk, that is a whey-based protein.

As I said, if you've gotten sick on your detox you need to plan additional ones in the months ahead. These can be accomplished through mild one day fasts where symptoms should be less pronounced, or if you are game to go it again, a longer several day fast program. Happy detoxing.

Detoxing

2011-09-07T09:37:00.000-07:00

On Monday I started a detox. I decided to use a commercially created form of the Master Cleanse program. This includes a complete solid food fast with a lemonade made of lemon juice, palm/maple syrup, cayenne and water plus a laxative tea in the evening. My plan is to do 5 days, so I'm halfway through. Apart from a bit of spaciness and the expected hunger pains that come with any fast I haven't had any detox symptoms, though I have done many detox programs over the years. The lemonade certainly helps the hunger - especially if enough cayenne to burn your throat a little going down is used.

Why do this? First off, I'm a proponent of thinking about our physical bodies in the primordial state of early cave dwellers. If we spin time backwards to before all the environmental, chemical, and dietary issues that modernity has injected into life and consider the lives of early human beings before the agricultural revolution and all, I think we pick up a few hints for our health today. There were times before Safeway or QFC when there might be a few days without food. Hunters and gatherers might not find food. So they lived lives with nature-enforced fasts. Their digestive systems got a rest. I think it does not hurt us to rest our digestive systems, even for a day once a week. (Most of the world's spiritual disciplines recommend fasting for spiritual health as well.)

The second reason is modernity has exposed us all to a huge array of toxins that mess with our body chemistry something fierce. We don't really notice too much except that a lot of symptoms we might blame on "aging" nag us all the time. We live in a cauldron of modern chemistry. Like the frog swimming in a pot - if the water temperature is raised gradually the frog doesn't notice it's about to get cooked. Throw one in a pot already at boil, and it will do it's best to leap out instantly. We're living in the chemistry pot with the toxicity of it gradually increasing. Our bodies are adept at adapting even while they are simultaneously and invisibly being slowly poisoned. Detoxing is a good way to turn down the effects of the toxic soup in which we swim daily.

Finally, there is a very good feeling that comes from the knowledge that you are putting a great deal of intentionality into your health. A lot of introspection and reflection on what all your body's responses to the absence of food mean. If detoxing makes you terribly sick (something I will talk about in the next blog) you know you have work to be doing. When it makes you feel better toward it's end, you find a new resolve to change your diet and ways you want to interact with your environment. A detox/fast helps you to build resolve to avoid many of the sins to which you've been subjecting your body. So weigh the fasting and detoxing options. I'm happy to answer questions and give advice.

Longevity

2011-05-26T22:43:00.000-07:00

The best current information we have on how to extend our life and our health is through calorie restriction. Calorie restriction is a way of eating on vastly fewer calories than the majority of us eat. The "typical" American diet is 2,000 calories. This is the amount on which all nutritional food labels base themselves. Calorie restriction is defined as somewhere around 1200 a day. The average daily metabolic rate is the amount of energy we need just to perform basic life tasks - like sitting, thinking, and breathing. It is about 1200 calories, so calorie restriction is like eating a minimal amount of food for existence.

Because the amount of food you are consuming is so close to the minimum needed, it is a diet that requires serious thought and a great deal of intentionality. The 1200 calories cannot be junk food! The limited calories do not allow room for "empty calories" of any kind. They must be the most nutritionally dense foods you can get. Nearly everything that goes into your mouth needs to count for something. There needs to be a good balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fat, along with intake of adequate vitamins and minerals. Eating this way will bring one's weight down to the low ranges of normal, but done well over a long period of time it will add years to your life. It is not something to leap into. In fact, getting yourself down to the 1200 calorie limit should take place over a long period of time involving months. The first step most of us can take is to eliminate sugar and white/processed foods and start taking in lots more vegetables. We're moving into summer, the best time of the year to enjoy the rich availability of fresh produce. Start there. Then check out the Calorie Restriction Society Website for more information: click here.

Garlic

2011-05-11T13:48:00.000-07:00

Another food you can grow easily in your yard, or in a container on your patio or deck is garlic. Garlic has been known for both its culinary uses and it's medicinal purposes for eons. Garlic is a member of the allium plant family which includes onions, leeks, and shallots.

Who has not used garlic in their cooking? It can be used "straight up" as "garlic butter" (whole heads of garlic roasted until the cloves are all soft and squishy that can then be spread on bread) or it can be chopped finely and included in virtually any recipe. Sauteing garlic lessens its taste potency.

Medicinally, it is a virtual treasure chest for health. It has significant anti-microbial properties. In 1858 Louis Pasteur was perhaps the first person to prove this. It was used in WWI and WWII as a powerful battlefield antiseptic. More recently, as I have mentioned in another blog entry here, garlic extracts have been used successfully to combat even antibiotic resistant staph infections (MRSA).

Garlic has a powerful effect on the respiratory tract, digestive and cardiovascular system. It aids digestion and raises good cholesterol while driving down total cholesterol. It is an expectorant, so it helps decrease coughs from a variety of causes.

Get some raw garlic. Separate out the cloves and just plant them and watch them grow!

Brussel Sprouts

2011-04-28T19:27:00.000-07:00

Brussel sprouts are a member of the crucifer family, along with broccoli and the cabbages. Brussel sprouts are like little cabbages. They are actually flowers of a sort. They grow with numbers of them on a long stalk, so they can be quite entertaining to grow in your garden.

Their nutritional value is very high. The Nutritional Data website shows them to be very filling for a low number of calories and very nutrient dense. They contain good amounts of B-vitamins, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Copper, Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Vitamin C, Potassium and Manganese.

They have Isothiocyanates, which are sulfur-containing compounds that are responsible for the aroma they have when cooking, but more importantly help the liver heal. These compounds stimulate enzyme production in the liver that facilitates detoxification. Research shows they may also play a significant role in preventing cancer, especially premenopausal breast cancer.

They can be steamed or roasted in the oven. Enjoy.

MyFitnessPal.com

2011-04-20T23:07:00.000-07:00

I want to introduce you to, what I think, is the greatest and best diet/exercise tracking website anywhere, and the best part is it is free! Myfitnesspal.com is wonderful. It has an ap for your mobile devices, so entering your exercise or food while you're on the go is a snap. It has a database of 160,000 foods that covers just about the entire gamut of processed and whole foods. If your particular dinner item is not listed, you can enter the recipe; or just enter the information off the nutritional label into a section called Your Foods. You can enter your current weight and what you want to weigh and it will calculate the calories you need in a day to achieve your desired weight.
Then it tracks your progress for calorie intake, your exercise, and water intake. This website has the advantage of providing accurate feedback on your day by day progress. You can set it up to nag you on Facebook where you are going wrong -- some people want the public humiliation to keep them on the straight and narrow.

In about the last month of using myfitnessplan I have lost 13 pounds and been able to keep track of my protein, fats, and carbohydrates, as well as other nutrients like vitamin C, Iron, and vitamin A. I simultaneously decided to eliminate sugar and grains because of some middle abdomen expansion in my old age -- attributable to reduced insulin and leptin sensitivity. Myfitnessplan helped me track sugar intake and locate from where it was coming. I've learned a lot about foods and exercise effects on caloric intake in the time I've been using the website. Give it a try. All the services they offer are free, so there is really no cost for aiding your health improvement.

Artichokes

2011-04-17T21:41:00.000-07:00

The garden season is coming up and I thought it might be a good idea to share some "power foods" with you that you might want to think about adding to your gardening plans. Power foods are those with especially powerful nutritional properties.

The first food is the Jerusalem artichoke. The artichoke is a member of the aster family. The edible part of the plant is the inner base parts of the flower petals, plus the flower's heart.

Nutritionally, artichokes supply 25% of your daily requirement for folate, 28% of Iron requirements, and 10 gm of fiber. The kind of fiber it contains tends to soothe upset stomachs. It contains a number of B-vitamins, and has more antioxidants than most other vegetables, including Vitamin C.

The artichoke really shines when it comes to liver health. The artichoke is a plant that has a particular affinity for the liver and digestive system. It contains silymarin, the chemical constituent in Milk Thistle that is often prescribed by herbalists and naturopathic physicians to protect the liver. Silymarin supports the development of the liver's filtration cells (Kupfer cells), and acts as a liver-specific antioxidant. In addition, it has other components that stimulate bile production, which helps a liver detox and improves fat digestion.

It grows pretty well throughout the U.S. and likes cool, moist weather -- perfect Seattle-kind of weather. If frosts are not too hard, they can overwinter and behave like a good perennial.

They are best steamed. A variety of different dipping sauces add some accent to a rather bland taste. These can be anything from straight Balsamic vinegar, to lemon and butter, or your favorite salad dressing.

Life's Complexities

2011-03-25T15:57:00.000-07:00

Some days you could almost think there was someone stamping you with a theme. The theme I've heard today is that a great deal of the troubles in our lives and world can be pinned on convenience, automation, and external drives for "success."

I want you to think about this for a moment. There are all kinds of gadgets and creations meant to save us time. Processed food bereft of nutritional value, computers for carpal tunnels and headaches, remotes so we can let the plaque build up in our arteries that don't have to move blood any more, and on they come. But, for what? So we can spend more time away from home running ourselves crazy with work and school and thousands of extra-curricular activities. Then we say we don't have time for anything but sitting in front of the TV and eating microwaved cardboard?

I want to invite you to ponder this situation. The most simple of first steps is to become aware of all the many ways hustle, rush, and short-fused agendas are dictating your energy levels, your sense of groundedness, and your stress. Awareness is the first step to change.

Radiation Exposure

2011-03-21T10:23:00.000-07:00

Given the reactor problems in Japan and the concurrent release of radiation that has wafted across the Pacific, I've been asked by a number of people whether this is something to be concerned about and what is to be done to protect against it. My short answer is: say a prayer.

Radiation is THE Problem with nuclear power, nuclear war, nuclear medicine, and industrial nuclear applications. Other than avoidance altogether there is not a lot of health protective guarantees at all from radiation. The problem is this: amounts of 0-100 mSv are considered low-level, yet can fracture biomolecules including DNA. (On Tuesday March 15th Reactor #3 in Japan released 400 mSv into the air.) Damaged DNA will frequently lead to cancer at some point. A chest x-ray has
about 0.1 mSv. Damage can be cumulative, which is why I am opposed to screening mammograms and squeamish about CT scans and unnecessary x-rays. There is a natural background radiation that we are exposed to that is on average about 3 mSv. This comes from X-rays and gamma rays from space, the presence of naturally occurring radioactive elements in the soil, and sadly, the radioactive wastes that planet Earth continues to accumulate predominantly from the fields of medicine and energy. (Heart of America is an environmental watchdog group monitoring radiation issues at the Hanford Nuclear Site in Washington State. If you would like a copy of their 5-page paper about health and radiation issues, e-mail me and I'd be happy to forward it to you.)

We already have a cancer epidemic occurring. I would argue some of this can be blamed on present radiation levels. The main protection from the destructive influences on health from ionizing radiation is what I've already written of before several times in preventing cancer. The healthier you are - the more attentive you are to diet, exercise, keeping inflammation low, using anti-oxidants, sleep, reducing stress, and improving nutritional status -- the better you can weather health-assaulting factors, like radiation. Some individuals are more prone to health assaults than others, we don't fully understand the reasons. So, say your prayers, eat, run, relax, be good, and do your best - that's all any of us can do.

The Dangers of Aluminum

2011-03-18T16:16:00.000-07:00

On first thought, one would perhaps think that a metal like aluminum, for instance, would be inert and cause no health problems. You would think it would just sit around being a light shiny metal - like a roll of foil - and not really generate anything blog-worthy. Yet, this is not the case.

We have known for a number of years now that there has been a link between aluminum and neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. To my knowledge a causative relationship has not been definitively proven. But, the circumstantial evidence against aluminum is high with a positive correlation between these two diseases and high aluminum levels in postmortem brain tissue samples. Today Dr. Mercola's website talks about the connection between aluminum and breast cancer. A study out of Italy found much higher levels of aluminum in

women with breast cancer, than in women who do not have it. The mechanism suggested was that aluminum causes iron to be separated from its binding, carrier proteins. Free iron has very high free radical potential, and it has also been connected with various cancers for quite a long time.

Whether aluminum can be factually and solidly blamed for these serious life threatening diseases or not, the fact that there is an apparent problem should give pause. Further, since God did not see fit to put bauxite or aluminum into our daily dietary intake -- you know, where in the food pyramid is "aluminum"? -- perhaps it would be a good thing to avoid? That first belief that aluminum is just an inert, harmless, pretty, non-staining, light, highly malleable metal useful for all kinds of things has made manufacturers latch onto it as the tempting modern convenience it is. So where would your body pick up aluminum?

Here are some sources of aluminum, should you choose to try and avoid it for your health:

Antiperspirant deodorants
Aluminum cookware
Aluminum foil
Pie tins and food containers
Pop cans
Baking powder
Vaccines

When Mental Health is Big Business

2011-03-06T23:41:00.000-08:00

Mental health in America is big business. Consider these two statistics recently released:

Antipsychotics remained the top-selling class of medications in the U.S., with 2009 prescription sales of $14.6 billion, similar to the 2008 level.(1)

Antidepressants became the fourth-largest class in 2009, up from its #5 ranking the prior year, with U.S. prescription sales growth of 4 percent to $9.9 billion.(1)

So, between antipsychotics and antidepressants Americans are feeding pharmaceutical companies almost $25 Billion a year. There are a lot of reasons this is an outlandish amount. The pharmaceutical companies
claim that they need all this money so they can continue to do research and development on new drugs. The fact is, however, that far more of their expense involves marketing. Between direct advertising to potential customers online, and via TV and print media, and paying sales representatives to push drugs, and funding physician junkets to exotic locations to be sold on the newest drug budgets for marketing far outstrip R&D budgets.(2)

This amount of money being spent to lure patients into taking pills implies a deep cynicism that Americans are epidemically mentally ill. There is a belief that everyone is in need of psychological drug support. A great irony is that many of the side effects from these drugs cause the very symptoms and problems the drugs are intended to cure. So if the person didn't have the symptoms they're hoping to remedy, they well could have them after starting the medication. But, rather than tell people to avoid these medications, the typical advice is to give ANOTHER psychiatric medicine to counteract the side effects of the first one.

If this weren't enough, the indications for prescribing these powerful medications are not objective symptoms like chest pain indicating a heart problem. No, these medications are prescribed on a committee's recommendations on what behaviors constitutes a particular mental illness. The committee makeup frequently includes pharmaceutical representatives, either acting directly or as consultants to members of the committee.

While there are mental illnesses that are severe enough to warrant relying on drugs to maintain any quality of life, this is not what the majority of people have. Natural approaches are extremely effective, and they have none of the side effects that the drugs carry.

(1) IMS Health Reports U.S. Prescription Sales
(2) Carlat, Daniel J., Unhinged: The Trouble with Psychiatry - A Doctor's Revelations about a Profession in Crisis, Free Press, c. 2010.

Supplements for Colds.

2011-03-01T12:25:00.000-08:00

The KING5 health link leads with a story that zinc can help with shortening the duration of a cold. This is news? I like how as time passes very old, tried and true non-pharmaceutical treatments for different illnesses pass muster with science and suddenly become "okay." I also like how until they do many people equate using these remedies as quackery. Sigh, oh well... The dose I would throw out for the zinc by the way would be not more than 100 mg a day while you're sick, and they are right -- it is prone to causing nausea on empty tummies, so eat something.

Other cold and flu fighting supplements include Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Elderberry, Chinese Mushrooms, Astragalus, Echinacea, Goldenseal, and Colostrum. While studies have been done on echinacea with mixed results, all the others will have to await "validation" by real scientists and until then walk on the wild side and maybe kill a virus.

The Woes of Soda Pop

2011-02-22T10:04:00.000-08:00

Last week the Center for Science in the Public Interest issued a press release reporting on how the caramel coloring used in dark colored pops - e.g. Coke, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper, is made with a process of sugar and ammonia that makes the resulting caramel food dye carcinogenic. They called on the FDA to ban the ingredient.

My response to this is almost a yawn and "so what?" There are a lot of reasons not to be drinking pop, what is one more? In light of the article, the stupidity begins, in general, with how much synthetic food dye is utilized by processed food and beverage manufacturers (and it IS
manufacture - not cooking!) For what conceivable reason? To make the twisted less-than-fully-nutritious "stuff" they're selling look good for the food beauty contest? I remember Lucky Charms commercials with their colored marshmallows did not sound a great deal different from the Tide commercials with brighter colors promised, or different from the Kodak commercials of redder reds, etc. Is there anyone still consuming a large part of their diets with food dyes? Sadly, of course there is, for dyes are in everything apart from whole food cooking! I'd argue the CSPI did not go far enough in their call for a ban. The FDA ought to ban ALL artificial food dye. If a company wants red, let them use beet; or orange use turmeric, or green use chlorophyll; but yellow dye # 5, or lake blue #10? Come on, please save us! There is an absolute positive link between food dyes and many behavioral disorders, the largest perhaps is Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).

Then apart from the dyes there are preservatives. As a naturopathic colleague of mine once noted: "If a 'food' can sit on a shelf for several months (or years) without spoiling such that self-respecting bacteria and fungus don't want it, CAN it really be anything our bodies need or want either?" What DOES keep food preservatives from pickling us as well?

But the largest issue of all from pop is not preservatives or food coloring, it is sugar and sweeteners. What health disasters the sugar doesn't heap on you, the artificial sweeteners will pour on your fragile brain cells. I may be mistaken in the exact numbers because the info blip popped past me at blinding speed on the television this past week, but the point is clear -- I think it said cutting 1 pop out of your diet a day will reduce your weight 15 pounds in a year. Why not eliminate it altogether? It will do your body good!

A Dozen Breast Health Tips

2011-02-15T12:44:00.000-08:00

So I gave the resounding critique of 3-D mammograms a couple days ago. Here are some sound tips on keeping your breasts as healthy and at as low risk for breast cancer as possible.

To Do List:

Watch your BMI (body mass index) and keep your weight within a normal range. Google BMI calculator to find out what yours is. Excess body fat produces estrogen, which stimulates cancer growth in a large number of breast tumors.
Breast self-exams at least once a month, at the same time in your monthly cycle.
Exercise -- at least 3 times a week enough to get near winded for 20-30 minutes. Exercise = circulation. Improved circulation keeps the immune system on guard duty. Exercise also reduces stress and helps with the BMI.
Breast massage. Beat firmly on your collarbones a few times; this opens up the lymphatic vessels and then use a good oil -- like apricot, almond, olive, hemp or phytolacca and massage each side for a good 3-5 minutes. Massage keeps the breasts & lymphatic vessels cleared of toxins and prevents toxin-triggered DNA changes.
Drink lots of water - 1/3 of your body weight in fluid ounces.
Get plenty of fiber: 20-30 gms a day. The fiber prevents constipation and helps eliminate estrogen metabolites.
Each person needs different amounts of sleep, but getting enough is crucial in lowering breast cancer risks. Sleep should be always done in as dark of a room as possible. Darkness increases melatonin levels, which aids sleep and is associated with reducing cancer growth.
Insure your bra fits properly. Especially avoid ones that are too tight. Don't sleep with them. Bras add congestion potential to your breasts which keeps toxins localized that can be detrimental to cellular DNA.
Eat lots of vegetables, especially cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts). They increase fiber and aid in estrogen metabolism.
Eat range-fed, hormone-free meats. Organic whole raw milk (if you can find it anywhere) has unfractured essential fats that are key to breast health.
Helpful supplements: calcium deglucarate, turmeric, dindolylmethane (DIM), and green tea. (Avoiding coffee helps with fibrocystic breasts!)
Helpful Vitamins and minerals: Vitamins E and C, selenium, zinc, copper, B-complex.

3-D Mammograms

2011-02-12T22:33:00.000-08:00

The FDA has approved 3D-Mammograms. The news of this development was all over the TV and newspapers. I can already imagine radiologists donning their 3-D glasses and pouring over the films. The hype leaves the impression that women are going to be better off with this newer better technological improvement over the standard 2-D X-rays they now have. There are a few problems here in Mudville, however.

The first issue is that there is only a 7% diagnostic improvement. The pro-mammogram elements in medicine have tried to gloss over the rather dismal accuracy record of mammograms, misleading women into thinking they were essential screenings regardless of accuracy. Yet the truth has been they've always only had about a 54% accuracy rate in
detecting cancer. So, a 7% improvement still only measures up to a 61% detection rate and at what cost to all women having the procedure?

For the history of mammograms they've made adamant claims that the radiation exposure was worth the risks, carefully NOT delineating the risks at all. Early mammograms used much higher radiation, but they said it was the only responsible thing for a woman to do. Later mammograms used less radiation, which they used as a huge marketing ploy for radiation-shy women. But, the lower radiation frequently caused them to use multiple shots to get an accurate reading -- so the radiation hits were just as bad; and all the hits have always been cumulative in damage to cell DNA. So, along comes a "new and improved" X-ray exposure in 3-D that DOUBLES the amount of radiation used. Are you feeling a little nervous about the breast "care" to which the conventional medical profession seems myopically stuck?

There are non-radiation alternatives. Knowing the feel of your own breasts through the course of a month is a significant alternative. Having your doctor or gynecologist feel them thoroughly is an alternative. Photographic or computerized regulation thermography is an alternative. MRI is an alternative (though far more expensive and often not justifiable in most women for screening purposes.)

Plus, there are a host of preventive measures every woman should be working on all the time. I'll go over these again in a few days. Stay tuned.