Friday, March 19, 2010

Back in the day

Back in 1965 I first read a book by Dr. D.C. Jarvis called Vermont Folk Medicine. It was most likely the best book I ever read about natural cures. It remain one of my favorite books because of its simplicity and straightforward methods.

He details how he cured so many maladies with a simple solution(s)...apple cider vinegar and honey. He used these to cure everything from morning sickness to arthritis. I still recommend using the combination to "fix" acid reflux. Yup. It works.

Dr. Jarvis was ahead of his time (or behind, depending upon your view) and his book is available here from Amazon. It is probably in its 100th reprinting. But, it's worth the 7 bucks.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

IBS and Colon problems

Q. What causes IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)?
Like many colon diseases (diverticulosis, diverticulitis, Crohn’s Disease, leaky gut) the primary cause is the Standard American Diet and the overuse of antibiotics. Because our food supply is full of antibiotics and dangerous chemicals, it really is a wonder that the entire U.S. population hasn’t succumbed to this.

These additives reduce the friendly flora in the colon thus causing these diseases. The first answer is to avoid antibiotics whenever possible. That means eating as organic as possible and avoiding foods that contain chemicals and or derivatives such as MSG (which now goes under the pseudonym of partially hydrolyzed soybean oil). There are also new foods on the market that can also contribute to this and these are the GMO or genetically modified foods that are appearing more frequently. These foods incidentally, are not regulated by the FDA so it is up to the consumer to beware. READ LABELS!

Q. How do we get parasites and how do we keep from getting reinfected? Which supplements do you recommend for ongoing maintenance?
First, undercooked or raw foods are a huge culprit. That means steak tartar and sushi are high on my list of “no-no” foods. These make me want to pull out my hair. Parasites, of course, are killed by high cooking temperatures so cook your food!

That caveat applies to salads, as well. This is especially true of salads in restaurants. In a survey done some ten years ago by the FDA, 100 restaurant salads were checked and every single one had human fecal material. Restaurants are a notorious source of parasitic infections.

Some parasites enter the body through the soles of our feet, through orifices in the body when swimming in contaminated water (9 young boys under 13 died last year alone swimming in the warm water lakes of Arizona and becoming infected by a parasite that entered the ears).

Drinking water that is “treated” can also be an issue. Standard methods of water treatment such as chlorine will not kill pathogenic parasites like cryptosporidium. Hundreds of people die each year due to cryptosporidium in the water supply. Drink only water you know for certain is pure and labeled as such. Your own treatment system is a plus especially if it treats with reverse osmosis and UV.

For ongoing maintenance, I suggest (after an initial cleanse of 90 days), a 7 day cleanse every 6 months. We use Cumanda, but you may also use Black Walnut Hull tincture with wormwood and both are effective. Cumanda is a bit more broad spectrum for sor some of the more exotic critters.

Q. How about information about stopping free radical damage and candida removal?
Free radicals are part of the natural healing process of the body. However, when free radicals go crazy, they can cause premature aging and diseases such as cancer.

Free radical damage occurs when the body cannot properly utilize oxygen. The oxygen left behind in the system attaches itself to the red blood cells and causes a breakdown in their ability to perform their function in the system and this is called oxidation.

This occurs when we exercise, eat chemical laden foods, exposure to pesticides, radiation or during an illness like a simple cold. This is why taking antioxidants like vitamin C, grapeseed extract, SOD (Super oxide dismutase) etc., is so important, especially to athletes. Regardless of what mainstream media reports, taking supplements can and does reverse many illnesses. Even the American Cancer Society recently admitted that Resveretrol reverses and prevents melanoma!

Q. I’ve been told that reverse osmosis filters remove important minerals from the drinking water. How do we remineralize the water.
There are many good supplemental mineral products on the market that can be added into the water once it passes through the reverse osmosis filter. One of these can be found on the Biocytonics website as Trace Minerals.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Brain Food

What does your brain and jellyfish have to do with one another? Read on for an exciting new product (I wish I had invented it).

Many of us know of or personally know someone complaining of either memory loss or Alzheimer's Disease. Now there is a new product out that research suggests may improve memory and protect the brain from cell loss.

Your brain is made up of many small cells, and controls everything you do. When your brain is not functioning properly, everything it controls is affected. To stay healthy your brain has a built-in protection system that contains a protein to regulate cellular calcium. Too much calcium in a brain cell will destroy it.

As we age, the body's ability to naturally produce this protective protein slows down. When this happens you begin to lose about 30,000 brain cells every day, and may start to experience difficulty with memory, focus and concentration. Prevagen helps keep brain cells alive by supplementing the protective proteins your body stops producing.

Prevagen is a brain health supplement shown to improve memory loss and protect the brain by keeping cells alive longer. The brain functions better as brain cells are protected and healthy. You will be protecting the long-term benefits of which we hope you will cherish for years to come.

What is the active ingredient in Prevagen?

Prevagen uses a protein called apoaequorin. Apoaequorin comes from the jellyfish - an organism with one of the simplest nervous systems. While apoaequorin has been commonly used in laboratory research for over forty-five years. Prevagen is the first time it has been used in a therapeutic manner.

Apoaequorin is unique in that it is from a family of molecules that are called calcium-binding proteins. Calcium-binding proteins are known to deplete in the aging process. Prevagen uses apoaequorin to help restore calcium balance in the human body.

You can purchase Prevagen here.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Plavix Warning

The FDA has now issued a warning regarding Plavix. Some patients may not metabolize this drug properly and it may increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. This "black box" warning is the strongest warning the FDA can place on a label and the patient needs to have a DNA check to ascertain the dangers.

Yeah, that's going to happen!

The full FDA article can be read here.

Why use this dangerous drug when there are alternatives that may accomplish the same thing, such as a good pinebark/grapeseed extract?

Oh, the side effects? If you are allergic to pine or grapes don't take it (or grapes or pineseeds), but it isn't likely to kill you, either.

Curing the Incurable

Recently (this morning) I had another client call in tears. Her doctor had diagnosed her with discoid Lupus, an incurable disease. Her doctor told her that she had to see a rheumatologist who would most likely put her on Methotrexate or Remicaid. Both of these have as a side effect, sudden death. That's encouraging. You can die from the cause or the cure.

Now, my first response to her was to calm her down and ask her to ask her doctor "What can you cure?" The answer for those of you going on Jeopardy, is NOTHING! Have you ever known a physician that cured anything? This is a phramaceutical world, folks. Cure is NOT in their vocabulary. Control is.

Lupus and many other so called incurable diseases are may times caused by mycoplasma infections. I have studied mycoplasma infections for nearly 30 years and I am still amazed at how many doctors have no idea what they are, so let me explain (again) what a mycoplasma is in a very short version. You can also read more about mycoplasma here.

According to Taber's Medical Dictionary, "Mycoplasma are a group of bacteria that lack cell walls and are highly pleomorphic." First, they are not bacteria. Pleomorphic means they have the ability to change shape and form. In other words, they can change and act like a virus OR a bacteria.

They do not respond to antibiotics. They will however, respond to several natural substances such as a good colloidal silver such as Sovereign Silver (make sure you use this brand) or certain brands of olive leaf extract such as Barlean's Olive Leaf Complex.

The infection is reversible and Doctors like Garth Nicolson and others do it all the time. They do respond to various other therapies such as hyperbaric and BioWave Rife generators.

Please do yourself a favor and do not do a knee jerk reaction to a physician's diagnosis. Remember, these guys cure nothing but they do know how to prescribe meds.

I love these labs that spend billions of dollars on research to find no cures whatsoever.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

The drug companies smarten up

No one can say the drug companies aren't doing their homework. Anyone who has seen a drug commercial has to be amazed at how many side effects are mentioned...unless you are totally brain dead while you watch some gent happily playing ball with his grandson after taking some medication that has the potential to kill him.

Well, Big Pharma has unveiled their new approach...NO COMMERCIALS! That's right. What they are doing now (and I think this will be the new trend) is presenting their commercials as Public Service Announcements.

While an "interviewer" talks to a doctor in front of a microphone "Tell me doctor, what is PAD?" The doctor responds with all the problems associated with PAD.

"So doctor," the interviewer responds "What does someone do for PAD?"

"Well, for more information regarding this potentially life threatening disease, go to our website and read more about treatment options."

The beauty of this so called public service announcement is that the drug companies do not have to tell you the side effects of the drugs since they are not talking specifically about a drug. They are just informing you and the side effects are now neatly nestled within the website. Cool, huh?

Soon, you will see these PSA's (public service announcements) all over television and in the print media. Now, you have no reason to throw a tantrum about the drug's side effects because these nice people have circumvented that little difficulty by avoiding the drug and concentrating on the disease.

You have to love the 21st Century. Oh, and if you don't have internet service, trust your doctor. After all, he prescribes what the drug companies tell him to and they have your best interest at heart. Well, you and their stock holders.

Am I getting to be a cynic or what?

Duh...again

Alternative therapists have long held that cancer can be beaten using herbals and enzymes. This is particularly true when it comes to pancreatic cancer often considered incurable.

Of particular note is the long held belief by many physicians that herbals are useless against disease even though most pharmaceuticals are derived from plants. I even had one patient's doctor say "There is no evidence that herbs are effective and besides, 90% of our drugs are derived from herbs." (If you didn't quite understand that incredible piece of logic, read it again...I don't either.)

Today, a report emerges concerning papaya and you can read it here!

This qualifies for another "duh" on the "Here is more proof of herbal efficacy" meter.

But, no matter, we may soon have mandatory health care that will eliminate the "duh" factor and present Americans with more of the same logic you read above.