Stay Strong in Summer Heat

If you have been to see me for a consultation recently, I may have used some new test kits to check you. The first thing that comes up for most people is “hydration”.  The remedy for that is not just water, and many people comment that they are already drinking “so much water”.

But hydration is far more. Most people are also deficient in minerals. The cells of the body don’t want water alone. They want water as a carrier for the building blocks of the cells, and that means minerals. Electrolytes, salt and potassium, are part of that picture. But that does not mean drink Gatorade! That does mean getting more sea salt in your diet, and summer fruits are a source of potassium.

Foods grown in depleted, over-farmed soil, have few minerals, and you are losing minerals in sweat with the heat. So, think minerals to help your body weather the heat better.

One of my favorite summer mineral supplements is Cal Amo. It is a life-saver in humid weather and has the added benefit of helping the lymph system.

The liver is burdened by hot weather, and since most of us have over-worked livers from all the environmental toxins, this can cause summer fatigue. Think liver cleanse, or extra liver support with Milk Thistle herbs and Choline and AF Betafood to help the gall bladder decongest.

Adrenals are stressed by extreme temperatures, as well as summer travel, so extra adrenal support is helpful. Avoiding sugar and going moderate with caffeine will help.

Air conditioning dries out skin, mucous membranes and lungs. And the change from hot outside air to cold inside air is worse. A dab of Egyptian Magic cream (available from Health food stores and online) can be used around the nose at night to give some moisture to your nasal cavities. Prescription medication and inhalers for allergies will further dry out membranes. There are natural allergy medicines such as Allerplex, Euphrasia and homeopathic Sabidil that can help you manage allergies naturally. Doing a good cleanse can give long-lasting relief, as well as getting tested for food allergies. Cleanse does not mean "fast" and you can eat well while you cleanse. Ask us about our 21 day Detox program.

You can never go wrong, in any season, by eating organic foods and avoiding genetically modified foods. The main reason for GMO foods is so the plants will be able to resist pests, and was supposed to reduce the use of pesticides. However, that has not proven to be the case, because Mother Nature has her own way of coping with stress in her environment and it is proving very difficult to fight her. Since we now have stronger, tougher weeds that resist the chemicals, maybe that is part of the reason that allergies seem to be worse than ever. http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe70s/pests_08.html

Remember the recipe for a homemade sports drink/lemonade. Juice some fresh organic lemons into spring water, and add a pinch of sea salt, and stevia or honey to taste. For pink lemonade, add a splash of raspberry puree.

And I want to share a recipe for gluten-free pancakes that are high protein and don’t even need syrup. Mash a small banana and add 2 eggs. Whip together to form a “batter”. Pour on an oiled or buttered griddle or pan heated to low-medium heat. Cook until golden and flip. Two eggs make 2 large pancakes or 4-6 smaller ones.  I like them slathered with butter and fresh sliced strawberries. This is a great change from other egg breakfasts and can be used for a snack or other meal. You can roll them up and take them to eat in the car on the way to work. (watch the butter!)

This recipe is courtesy of Zonnie Bauer, Pilates and Dance instructor. Enjoy!!

Do All Men Develop Prostate Problems?

According to WebMD, half of all men develop problems of enlarged prostate after fifty and 8 out of 10 after age eighty. http://www.webmd.com/men/guide/prostate-problems   Fortunately, most of these problems are Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia, which does not lead to cancer, but will cause frequent urination and reduced stream.

There are several reasons why the prostate may enlarge that can be addressed with diet and natural medicine. Many of us are eating foods that contain “phytoestrogens”. These are plant-based estrogens that can create estrogen-dominance in women. In men these estrogens can compete with hormonal receptor sites for testosterone, so that men are getting more female than male influence. As testosterone rates decline with age, this can create a kind of estrogen-dominance in men, also. Estrogen is a growth hormone, so it can cause the prostate to enlarge.

Soy is the worst food for excess phytoestrogen, and should be avoided by men completely, except when fermented like tempeh. Soy is highly allergenic, and can cause severe muscle pain, especially in the neck. Some foods will inhibit estrogen. For a list see here. http://www.holisticonline.com/Remedies/hrt/hrt_food_and_estrogen.htm

Cow’s milk and gluten in wheat are also estrogenic. Prostate improvement may be obtained by switching to goat and sheep dairy, and using gluten-free grains. Avoiding grains will also help with weight management and reduction of belly fat.

Fat cells also produce estrogen, so belly fat will contribute to too much circulating estrogen. Man-boobs in obese men are not just fat deposits-they are the result of excess estrogen.

Xenoestrogens are chemicals that have estrogenic actions in the body. They are toxins that bind with cell receptors for sex hormones. This is one reason for low testosterone in men. Even the chemicals in your shampoo may be causing low testosterone and too much estrogen. http://military-fitness.military.com/2012/01/cause-of-low-t-xenoestrogens.html

Your best defense is to eat organic food, and shop at health food stores for your personal care products. We are all over-exposed to environmental chemicals that we cannot avoid, so when you have a choice, pick organic and natural ingredients in the products you buy for home, pets and personal use. Do a cleanse and get checked for chemical and metal toxicity. This will also help to protect your from cancer.

Mineral deficiencies are also found in men with prostate problems. Zinc, iodine and calcium are needed for healthy prostates. Healthy oils will help maintain the correct calcium balance between bones, blood and tissue, so it is not enough to eat enough calcium in the diet. Good fats like fish oil must be included. Saw-palmetto is a plant nutrient that can be effective.

For older men, I like to use DIM, an extract from vegetables that helps the liver metabolize excess estrogen. Eating vegetables like kale, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage will also help the liver.

Most men who have prostate issues will ignore them and live with them, according to studies. But you can be pro-active and the changes you make at home will only enhance your health and well-being in general.

Don’t forget we still have our June special. $200 for Saliva Hormone Testing and full consultation for male patients. The Saliva Testing checks Testosterone, and  other Adrenal hormones like DHEA and Cortisol (your stress hormone).

Wishing Good Health and Happy Father’s Day to all the Fathers in our lives!

Keeping Men Strong- June Special

I can’t tell you how many times I hear a female patient tell me that she is worried about her man’s health, but she can’t get him to take care of himself.

Of course, there are exceptions.  Some men are working out and eating a healthy diet. But many are over-weight, stressed from work, and counting on the thing that has always worked before- their strength and ability to just push through.

When that doesn’t work, the first urge may be to push through harder. If that fails there may be some mood issues, like irritability or depression. Hormones rule the body, and the adrenals are where testosterone, adrenaline and cortisol are made.

Just pushing through is a bit like driving your car with a punctured tire. You don't know how long before it shreds or blows, and it won't fix itself.

Testosterone determines the sexual characteristics and gives muscle mass and strength. Adrenaline kicks in with excitement or fear. Cortisol is the hormone that gets us up and out the door in the morning, when levels should be highest. High cortisol at night keeps the body awake. When cortisol is released during a period of stress (freeway driving, for example) but is not used up by physical activity (sitting in your car, then sitting at a desk all day) then cortisol may cause more fat deposits around the belly.

All of these hormones can be disrupted by: 1) andropause/aging 2) weight gain because fat cells produce more estrogen 3) high stress, which depletes cortisol 4) environmental toxins such as plastics and soy products, which are estrogenic 5) high carb and sugar diet, which causes yo-yo blood sugar. When there is too much sugar in the blood, the body signals the release of insulin from the pancreas. The job of insulin is to carry the sugar into the cells or send it to the liver. Continuous release of insulin makes the cells begin to resist the influence of insulin. This is the beginning of Type II Diabetes. The low fat, high carb and sugar diet of the past few decades have given us an epidemic of Diabetes.

The new epidemic caused by low fat, high carb and sugar diet is Alzheimer’s, which is now being called Diabetes Type III. High carbs and sugar also produce inflammation, which is turning out to be the highest risk factor for heart attacks.

The good news is that men have a great advantage over women in addressing these issues. Due to their greater muscle mass, which gives men a faster metabolism, just cutting down on the carbs, snacks and sugar often gives a dramatic result in a short amount of time.

The trick then becomes adopting a healthy long-term lift style so that bad habits don’t creep back in. Eating more healthy fats can reduce the urge to snack in the evening. A protein shake with fruit and coconut oil after dinner works for many guys. With long summer days, going for a walk in the evening can get you out of the house and away from the refrigerator and bags of chips.

Prostate problems, belly fat, heart disease, low libido, high blood pressure, Diabetes, GERD and other “diseases of modern civilization” are not normal or inevitable. They are all preventable or reversible with the right natural approach. This is a case when wisdom becomes power and knowing how to manage a body takes wisdom, when powering through no longer works.

To celebrate Father’s Day, we are offering hormone testing, plus body and nutritional analysis, for men. Find out your testosterone, estrogen and cortisol levels. If your hormones are out of balance, natural medicine and herbal medicine can restore them to normal levels, boost metabolism, and give guys back their stronger selves.  

The June Special is Male Saliva Hormone testing plus consultation for $200, 30% off the regular price. Saliva testing tells us what hormones are left, after they have interacted at a cellular level. Blood tests tell us about the presence of hormones in the blood. But hormones must lock onto the cells, in order to carry their message.

Also in June, a new male patient consultation, without Saliva Testing, is $100, $35 off the regular price. If you have been thinking about getting on top of your health, June is a great time to do that!

Adrenals can be repaired, testosterone can be boosted, excess estrogen can be cleared out, and blood sugar can be stabilized, all without drugs. GERD is easily remedied and stress levels can be dramatically improved with herbs like Kava. Adrenals respond beautifully to nutritional medicine, weight drops off with dietary changes and detoxification and blood sugar can stabilize. We can use herbal preparations like Tribulus, which boosts testosterone in men, or we can use topical creams for Testosterone or DHEA. DHEA is another adrenal hormone that peaks at 18 and declines with age.

Men of any age can be strong, and healthy, with the right game plan.

The Vaccine Question

Whenever you have two sides feeling passionately about an issue, it may be time to regroup and take a new look at the issue.  As a holistic practitioner with a Western health science degree, I have been very interested in the issue of vaccination, and the safety factor. I wrote my first research paper on vaccination injury as an undergraduate at Ohio State University. I learned then that our approach to vaccination is inadequate and risky.

Would parents be against safe immunization that truly protected their child and was also completely safe?  Perhaps those with religious reasons oppose vaccination altogether.  But many concerned parents are not “anti” vaccine. They are simply anti a medical procedure that has not been proven safe and effective. The question is whether the risk of vaccination injury outweighs any benefit. The definition of immunity is the recognition of a pathogen and an immediate and correct response from the immune system so that the pathogen is contained before the disease has a chance to take hold.

This is not what current vaccinations do for children. Vaccinations stimulate an immune response, but in infants it is not the correct response. Until about the age of 1 year, infants get an immune response that weakens their immune system, instead of strengthening it. http://gaetacommunications.com/site/?p=1092

True immunity is not established by vaccination and that is why booster shots are required. http://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/5782/at-what-age-do-babies-begin-to-synthesize-their-own-antibodies

If you are getting your information from the general media, please understand that you are being woefully misinformed. Media is run by corporate interests, so you are getting the “company line” of the pharmaceutical companies. For many children vaccination is a “clear and present danger”, to borrow a term from the military. Even the CDC Chief has admitted publicly (on CNN) that some children, about one in sixty, carry genetic information that might lead to autism, if there is a trigger, such as vaccinations or other trauma. That is a pretty high number of kids to put at risk. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/04/22/head-of-cdc-admits-on-cnn-that-vaccines-can-trigger-autism.aspx

There have been no long-term studies on the safety of the multiple vaccinations that are being performed today. And injecting a child’s body with 49 doses of vaccination before age six and 69 doses before age eighteen, with no long-term studies, seems like a crapshoot. In the U.S. there have been no reported cases of Diphtheria for years, and there are only 4-5,000 cases worldwide, yet it is still on the infant vaccination schedule.

For a table of contagious disease statistics worldwide see this from WHO. http://apps.who.int/immunization_monitoring/globalsummary/timeseries/tsincidencediphtheria.html

There are other worrisome factors. After 1988, the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine was grown on fetal tissue from aborted fetuses. Some of the fetal tissue gets injected with the vaccine. After this, autism rates spiked. This is documented, and not a myth. Regardless of how you feel about abortion, does it make any sense to use human tissue to inject in an infant? The fetal tissue used has been “grown” from earlier fetal cells, so it is not supposed to be fresh fetal tissue. Nevertheless, the safety of these vaccines has not been established. http://www.vaccine-tlc.org/human

Heavy metals such as aluminum and mercury (thimerosal) are used in vaccines.  We know that heavy metal toxicity is a risk factor for all humans.

The C-section rate in the United States is 25%. The baby’s gut is seeded with vital flora as the baby passes through the birth canal and receives healthy bacteria orally from the mother’s vagina. Often women who have a C-section birth do not breast-feed. The immune system of a newborn is dependent on vaginal birth and the immunological factors in mother’s milk. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-establish-a-healthy-gut-in-your-primal-baby/#axzz3bPTzuQLR

The umbilical cords of newborns contain 200 environmental toxins, according to studies. This means that the infant is exposed before it leaves the womb. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/newborn-babies-chemicals-exposure-bpa/

Perhaps autism is a perfect storm of factors that could be controlled. We can reduce the toxic burden in the environment. We can improve maternal nutrition and health care to reduce C-section rates. We can encourage breast-feeding.

And we can do the studies and research to make safe and effective vaccines. One safe alternative may be homeopathic vaccines called “homeoprophylaxis”. HP has been used for cholera, polio, meningitis and other diseases. The level of protection is comparable to pharmaceutical vaccines, with absolutely no risks of adverse effects or injury. In fact, the homeopathic approach may actually strengthen the immune system, rather than assault it. http://hpworldwidechoice.com/What_is_Homeoprophylaxis.php

And we can uphold the rights of all parents to make health decisions for their family. Remember that giving up freedoms to central controls is never a good road to travel. It inevitably leads to less freedom for everyone.

Given the fact that we have rising childhood statistics on obesity, asthma, cancer, developmental and behavioral problems, and autoimmune issues, along with autism, I suggest that the Pharmaceutical companies should be required to do everything it takes to ensure the long-term health and well being of our children. It is very possible that the current method of vaccination will seem as wrong-headed as bloodletting, in years to come. Parents are now trained to take their kids to the doctors on regular schedules, which makes money for the pediatricians, but has not produced a healthier generation of kids. No one is demanding that Pharmaceutical companies take responsibility for what they inject in our children. In fact, the law says that you cannot sue for vaccine injury, except in a special Vaccine Injury Court. If vaccines are so safe, why pass such a law?

If you choose to vaccinate, there are ways to do it more safely, and I am happy to pass on that information. But I also ask that you respect the health freedom of those who choose not to vaccinate, whether for religious or health reasons. Denying basic rights like personal choices about medical treatment is a slippery slope. The next freedom to be taken away may be one that you hold dear.

Herd immunity theory is a completely unproven, and I suggest that it is used to frighten parents into compliance. Your immune system does not care at all whether my immune system is immunized or not. You are a separate system completely, and you will fight your own immune battles and I will fight mine.  We already have very high numbers of vaccinated children, and almost no contagious childhood disease.  We need to focus on other health issues for our kids, like nutrition and physical activity. A healthy diet, beginning with breast milk as an infant, will do more for the immune system and protection from disease than almost any other measure. We can agree on one important thing. We want the best possible health for our children.

For more information on homeopathic vaccination, here is a free course. http://yescourse.com/store/facts-about-homoeopathic-immunisation/?ref=1030