SOY – finally one bit of good news

Over the years, many Healthy by Nature guests have discussed the many problems with most forms of soy. I’ll review some of that below, but first some good news:

A newly published 11-year Japanese study of almost 93,000 persons showed important benefits from certain food products made from fermented soy. The foods miso and natto were associated with a lower risk of “all cause” mortality. Natto, in particular, showed a significant association with reduced cardiovascular disease. Other forms of soy were not associate with these benefits.

You may only know miso from the soup of that name served in Asian restaurants. I often use miso paste to add flavor depth to dishes—especially vegetable soup. I recommend Miso Master Organic brand found in the refrigerated section of natural foods markets. I tried natto when I was in Japan. To me it tasted as bad as it smelled (something like a rotting used sweat sock). I’m glad to report that Kyolic, put in their blood pressure Formula 109 capsules a concentrate of the active natto property (and no icky smell). Formula 109 also includes wisely the massively studied Kyolic Aged Garlic and the calming amino acid, L-Theanine.

There is NOT GOOD NEWS  for other forms such as soy protein, soy milk, tofu, edamame, etc. 

• Anthony Jay, PhD talked about hormone disruptors during his January 11 interview. He wrote me later to assure I knew that soy was associated with thyroid
• Steven Gundry, MD talked about inflammatory lectins in his November 9 interview. He says that lectins (components plants create to protect themselves by being eaten by animals) are a major cause of leaky gut, arthritis, obesity and many diseases. Because soy is very high in lectins, he thinks that it is one of the worst foods. On Facebook he said: ““The soy industry lied to you to make money.” 
• More than 75% of soy (unless certified organic) is genetically modified (GMO) and contaminated with glyphosate weed killer. Study
• The following two quotes are from Michael Pollan in his book, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto:

“You may not think you eat a lot of corn and soybeans, but you do: 75 percent of the vegetable oils in your diet come from soy (representing 20 percent of your daily calories) and more than half of the sweeteners you consume come from corn (representing around 10 percent of daily calories).”

“The soybean itself is a notably inauspicious staple food; it contains a whole assortment of “antinutrients” – compounds that actually block the body’s absorption of vitamins and minerals, interfere with the hormonal system, and prevent the body from breaking down the proteins of the soy itself.”

The food industry talks up soy, but there are whole books on what is wrong with it. I’m glad to see the study showing benefits from fermenting soy. Fermentation reduces the problems with foods and makes them more powerful. I am a fan of Dr. Ohhira’s Probiotics because it is a concentrate of many wonderful fermented foods.

“The REST of the story”

For more than 50 years, radio commentator Paul Harvey famously surprised us with “rest of the story”. These days, a fly on the wall would often hear me muttering “but what about…” as I read / listen to news reports about health. Here are three examples:

• “The body’s ‘normal’ temperature has dropped.” As the Scientific American article reports, for nearly 150 years, 98.6° was understood to be the temperature of a healthy human. Now researchers claim based on averages that the new normal is 97.5°.

The rest of the story. Really? It is illogical that the genetics of whole populations could have changed in just a few decades. Hmmm…you know what else has changed in that time period? The incidence of thyroid insufficiency which has gone up markedly and a major symptom of low thyroid is low body temperature! The condition is under-reported and the low-temp symptom is often still present even after treatment with the synthetic thyroid drug. So, are they really talking about a new “normal” or have they basically said that on average we are sicker, so we’ll just call it normal?

Since 40% of the country is obese, should we now call that “normal”? Likewise, several studies have concluded that boys and girls are reaching puberty at younger ages. Do we change the guidelines in the textbooks, or try to control the hormone-disrupting chemicals and plastics in the environment that Dr. Jay said are to blame?

• Sepsis. According to the CDC, “each year, at least 1.7 million adults in America develop sepsis. Nearly 270,000 Americans die [annually] as a result of sepsis. 1 in 3 patients who die in a hospital have sepsis.” Wikipedia explains: “Sepsis is caused by an inflammatory immune response triggered by an infection. Most commonly, the infection is bacterial, but it may also be fungal, viral, or protozoan.” Sepsis is the leading cause of deaths in hospitals and the incidence of it is rising by 8% per year. 

The rest of the story. Bill Sardi reported: Modern Medicine’s Aversion To Vitamin C Therapy Results In Needless Deaths From Sepsis In U.S. Hospitals Every Year. He also told me that “one published study reveals the prevalence of vitamin C deficiency is ~7% for the public at large but rises to 47.3% among hospitalized patients.  That figure approaches 100% in the ICU.” Intravenous vitamin C is extremely inexpensive.

• A New Approach to Cancer Treatment Draws Lessons From Darwin. “Adaptive treatment” is a type that takes a break from chemo after the tumor is reduced by a certain percentage. The point is to stop before the tumor cells all become resistant to the chemo drug. Once that happens, the patient is in serious trouble. (Some farmers and smart pest control services do something similar. They leave a few critters behind to compete with the ones that have evolved resistance to the poison.) Cancer treatment is resumed when the cancer begins to grow again. This approach significantly increased the survival rate while reducing both the cost of treatment and side effects. Sounds promising.

The rest of the story. Research continues. In an early study it was projected that the optimum time to suspend treatment was when the tumor had shrunk 25%. However, to make the idea better accepted, the treatment was continued until a 50% reduction was achieved. What interests me most about this is that oncologists have been so slow to learn from the farmers, pest control and the horrible mess we’ve made by creating antibiotic resistance. I’m impressed that our friendly bacteria, which are a huge part of our immune system, can mutate to protect us as the threats change. Too little research is being done on how our microbes can be used to help with treatment and how to avoid killing them off with treatment. (Chemo damages them of course, but so do antibiotics that are used in cancer surgery…often with no thought to replacing the depleted probiotics.)

Cancer prevention and patient support options

One hundred years ago, cancer was the #5 cause of premature death. When we began our conventional “WAR on cancer” in 1971 (almost 50 years ago) it was #3. Today it is #2 (unless you count the total of medication side effects, medical mistakes, hospital acquired infections, etc. which would push cancer back to #3). Some of that rise is due to some diseases moving down the list. Yes, what they call “survival”, still alive at 5 years, has improved. That is due mostly to folks giving up cigarettes and excessive sun exposure, plus earlier detection of cancers. However, a shocking number of people still must be treated for cancer and because conventional treatment so damages the immune system, the rates that cancer returns after 5 years are alarming. And, there has been a 250% increase in breast cancer since 1980.

If we were looking at the situation objectively from another planet, we’d have to conclude that Americans must be doing something(s) to generate more cancer and that the current treatment approach is not all that effective…in spite of the near $100 billion spent on research and a like amount spent every year on treatment! The “war” strategy has been mainly chasing some silver bullet (translate that as “drug”) to kill cancer after it has become established—i.e. we’ve been fighting the forest fire. We should be telling people how to blow out the match before it starts the fire—i.e. prevention. Science continues to discover genes linked to certain cancers and big pharma invents sophisticated (and horrendously expensive) drugs to tell the immune system what to do regarding a single gene that affects a particular cancer. Side effects abound.

However, I think the really exciting research is into how nutrients and other natural substances can change how many genes behave to avoid and even cure cancer. Although there are many kinds of cancer, the basic causes and nutritional support for them are very similar. So, don’t be afraid to read about “pancreatic cancer” or “breast cancer” even if that is not what you are worried about. Also, what is good for prevention should also be considered during treatment.

The paragraphs above are the introduction to what is a major new overhaul of the information about cancer in the website Library. If you are interested in prevention you might like to read it. If you know someone with cancer, please do them a service and send them this link. They might just find the life saving answer(s) they have been looking for.

These are the subjects on the cancer page: Causes of Cancer to avoid, Detection Options, Natural Supportive Steps (with sections on diet, gut, various supplements and remedies, body weight, toxins, alcohol, exercise, stress/anger, hormone therapy, sleep/shift work, stem cells), links to Related Pages (Building Immune Function, Pancreatic Cancer, a Survivor Story, 10 steps from Dr. Kotsanis), Treatment Options, links to outside sites with good information, past Radio Shows, Books, Charities and services for patients.

Yes, it is a lot, but for someone in the fight of their life, I think they would want as much good information as they could get and unfortunately, they will not likely hear any of this at the conventional oncology clinic.

New Year’s Health Resolutions Made Easy

Well, maybe not so much “easy” as they are potentially manageable. One reason that “turn-over-a-new-leaf” resolutions often fail is that folks bite off too much thereby setting themselves up to fail. (Some also just set a goal weight reduction rather than working on being healthy first.) Studies at Stanford University offered tips for forming good habits. They also found that making an emotional connection to the desired habit helps.

Consider tackling one of the following tips and working on that until it becomes a habit (which may take weeks). And then try another. Everyone is different, so pick the one you think might make the biggest change in your health and energy. Tackle that first. Or go for one that sounds easy and build on that success. Having the goals written out helps. Perhaps print this out and assign a month to each item (I’ve given more than 12 choices). Post the plan where you will see it daily and remember that a trip of a 1,000 miles starts with a single step.

1. Reduce sugar in your diet. The more you remove, the better you will feel and the less you will crave it.
2. Consider reducing your intake of grains like wheat and corn. They are starches that turn into sugar and are at the top of the list of most common allergens, but there are a lot of other reasons. Learn more from my Library article on grains.
3. Eat more vegetables. Every study that I review, no matter what the disease focus or overall diet plan, agrees that veggies are crucial. One reason is that they are what our intestinal good guy bacteria like to eat. Frozen vegetables are okay if you can’t get fresh.
4. Choose more organic foods. The Environmental Working Group is a great resource. They rate the foods they have found to be the most contaminated with pesticides and weedkillers and those that are safer. You can download a shopping guide and a list of hormone disrupting chemicals to avoid. CLICK HERE.
5. Plan meals a week at a time. A lot of our nutrition indiscretions occur when we are very hungry and our survival instincts lead us zombie-like to a vending machine or drive-through window. Twenty minutes a week of planning before going to the market will make sure you have what you need. You can pull something out of the freezer or turn on the crock pot before you head out for the day.
6. Drink sufficient water. Our cells contain a total of about 30 quarts of water. It is needed to move nutrients in, toxins out and to facilitate all the chemistry of the cells. The standard advice is to divide your body weight in half and drink that many ounces per day. (For example, a 150 lb person would drink 75 ounces.) Measure out that much into a glass bottle or pitcher and monitor throughout the day how you are doing. Of course, I’m talking about pure water, not tap water. Water filtered at home is much better and less expensive than any brand in a toxic plastic bottle.
7. Get 8 hours sleep. Because of our body runs processes on a clock, hours of sleep before midnight count more. If you are in the habit of staying up late, try going to bed ½ hour earlier each night until you reach your target. Computer work or staring at the phone screen before bedtime makes shutting down your brain harder. A warm bath or shower helps. If prayers or visualizing a relaxing vacation spot doesn’t send you to dreamland, consider a supplement of melatonin.
8. Improve your digestion. Chewing thoroughly and being relaxed when you eat are a good start. Probiotics are very important. (Learn more in my book, The Probiotic Cure) If you need more help, consider a fiber supplement, enzymes and adequate water (as suggested above). If elimination is slow, try drinking a large glass of very warm water when you get up in the morning. As I discuss in my heartburn book, it is a very, very dangerous idea to corrupt digestion with acid-blocking drugs for more than a couple of weeks.
9. Get your structure straight. Make a standing monthly appointment for a chiropractic tuneup to make sure you aren’t stressing your body with something being out of place. Miss-alignments can cause interference with nerve supply and/or circulation to almost any body part or system.
10. Reduce stress in your life. You likely know where unhealthful chronic stress is coming from. Make a plan to get rid of the sources and add in more pleasurable things. Stress Reduction Ideas. At the least, be determined not to let the things you can’t change control you. Don’t forget the little stressors that add up–like clutter or the annoying ding that says you have email. Pay attention to your breathing. Slow deep breaths from the gut are relaxing and cleansing. Count 4 in 8 out.
11. Reduce toxic chemicals in and around your home. Substitute natural, environmentally safe cleaners like vinegar and baking soda. Use organic pest and weed control—follow the advice of Howard Garrett.
12. Be regular about supplements. Make up packs (in little zip lock baggies) so that you are more regular with your supplements. These are described in my article on supplements. You can get the right size baggies in the bead department of a craft store or on Amazon. (You can put in a note to take ones that are stored in the refrigerator.)
13. Take better care of your gums. Gum problems lead to cardiovascular problems and adult tooth loss. Use a Sonicare brush and Water flosser (on low setting and perpendicular to the gum line so you don’t force anything below). Dissolve a Dr. Ohhira’s Probiotics gel cap in your mouth as you sleep. Have your teeth cleaned twice a year.
14. Exercise. I saved this for next to last because advice to exercise is everywhere. Start wherever you are and make gradual improvements. If all you can do today is walk to the mail box, maybe by next week you can get to the neighbor’s. We are reminded less often to do strength training, but it is equally important. You don’t have to go to a gym or even have fancy equipment. I have a page on this website that lists 16 reasons to exercise and here is a site with some useful suggestions: Link.
15. Lose weight. This is most likely the New Year’s Resolution made and broken most often. (As the joke goes, I vowed to lose 10 pounds…I only have 15 to go.) It too can be turned into steps starting with some of those above, especially the more water / less sugar ones. Another you might not have thought of is to watch for yeast overgrowth because your gut bugs have a lot to say about what you crave.

Unfortunately, no one can do these things for you and it is clear that if we keep doing what we’ve been doing, we will keep getting what we’ve been getting (and maybe some other unwanted stuff we didn’t see coming.) Good luck!

Give your amazing gut buddies a break

Probiotics

Well over 2,000 years ago, Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine taught that all disease begins in the gut. It turns out that he was right—even though he had no way to know then about the crucial role of bacteria. For a long time we thought that bacteria were only bad. Then we became aware that good varieties might help keep our elimination regular. Now, we appreciate that having a robust, diverse, and well-balanced personalized collection of friendly bacteria in our intestinal tracts does a whole lot more. It help us avoid, reverse, or at least improve obesity, depression, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and many more chronic health concerns of our time. It isn’t clear that we can even stay alive without what Steven Gundry, MD calls “our gut buddies”!

We are host to a LOT of these critters—perhaps 100 times more bacterial cells than our own body’s cells. Together they weigh 3-4 pounds, which is about as much as our liver and they have even more jobs! This internal collection of microorganisms is called our “microbiome”. It is a crucial part of the body’s instruction manual because the bacteria have 1,000 times more DNA than our own cells! For a tiny glimpse of how they work, look at this page showing a few of the jobs performed by the 12 species (also known as strains) used in the fermentation of Dr. Ohhira’s Probiotics.

A few probiotic basics:

• Antibiotics are our gut buddies worst enemies. These drugs are created to kill bacteria and they are not like Santa Claus, e.g. checking who’s naughty and nice. Up to 50% of the time, antibiotics should not even be prescribed because, like in the case of the flu, the problem is not bacterial. After a round of antibiotics it may take our gut up to a year to return to normal. We are also getting stealth agricultural antibiotics slipping through in commercial meat and dairy. Glyphosate weed killer (e.g. in Roundup) acts as an antibiotic. It is used so extensively that studies show that 93% of us probably have it in our bodies.
• Modern life in general is hard on our gut buddies. The assault starts when a child is born by C-section and therefore misses the first donation of bacteria that he or she would have gotten in the natural birth process. Then, mom and baby are both likely to receive antibiotics. Tap water has chlorine added to kill bacteria. The air and a great many consumer products contain toxic chemicals and most medications are hard on bacteria. You can see why we must look out for them.
• What the bacteria like to eat. Foods they eat are called “prebiotics”. The probiotics thrive on fiber, especially from vegetables and fibrous fruits. Fibers like FOS and inulin that are often added to probiotic products do increase the numbers of bacteria, but not necessarily the important diversity and certainly not the postbiotics that you will read about below. It is smart to eat as much organic produce as you can because the agricultural chemicals are so harmful. The Environmental Working Group makes an annual list of the “Dirty Dozen andclean 15”. Commercial kale is now at the top of the dirty list, so that is a good place to start going organic. Good bacteria appreciate spices like turmeric.
• What they don’t like to eat. Ultra-processed foods in general are bad for our good bugs because they lack fiber and nutrients and contain harmful chemicals such as preservatives, artificial colors and the like. Sugar from any source is a special problem because it feeds intestinal yeasts that are competing bad guys.
• “Postbiotics” are the magic. It seems that the main way that probiotic bacteria help us is to digest the good foods we eat and turn them into useful substances…hundreds if not thousands of them. For example, you’ve likely heard that pomegranates are a sort of superfood. An interesting study showed that pomegranate extended the life of mice 50%, but only if the mice were host to the right bacteria that could make Urolithin A (a postbiotic) from the fruit. Click here to see a list of the types of postbiotics our bacteria make.
• Meaningless marketing claims. It isthe American way to assume that more is better. So, when we see a probiotic ad claiming 50 billion organisms that might sound pretty good. However, without even getting into why the freeze-dried type might not be viable, consider that well fed bacteria in a good environment can double in numbers every 30 minutes. That means that in 24 hours, 100 bacteria can become 28 quadrillion! Obviously, we should get well researched strains and give them a good home.
• What do I recommend? I think eating a diet with lots of vegetables and fiber plus fermented foods is a great start. Most of us need some extra help and over the years I have not found anything that works as well and as quickly as Dr. Ohhira’s Probiotics. That’s because it is a concentrate of fermented foods, not a freeze dried powder. Twelve strains of bacteria are fed dozens of superfoods over at least 3 years. That means you get the postbiotic benefit of untold generations of bacteria. The bacteria are not freeze-dried, they are alive and come in a capsule with their food supply and hundreds of the postbiotics they made for you. Because they are fermented at room temperature, they don’t need to be refrigerated. The usual probiotics are probably not bad, but their benefit is no comparison to Dr. Ohhira’s Probiotics. It deserves to be in a different category.

For a more complete story and an indexed guide to solving many health issues naturally, please read my book The Probiotic Cure: Harnessing the Power of Good Bacteria for Better Health

FDA’s war on homeopathy

Access to Homeopathy Threatened by Latest FDA Action

Homeopathy is a system of natural medicine that has been used by untold millions of people around the world since the 1800’s. (Even the British royal family!) People love it and the medical literature includes hundreds of clinical trials demonstrating its safety and effectiveness. Unfortunately, we are facing a serious threat to our freedom to use homeopathy. But, you can help and it isn’t hard.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced a change in policy that, unless rescinded, would make all homeopathic medicines automatically illegal by classifying them as “new drugs”! Why is that a problem? The FDA is allowed to remove any unapproved and therefore illegal drug from the marketplace without notice and without any proof of harm.  Homeopaths as far away as Australia are worried about the likely ripple effects of this impending change—and rightfully so! We only have until January 23^rd to stop them!

Obviously, you should care if you stay healthy by seeing a homeopathic physician. But, you should care even if you just enjoy a safe, effective homeopathic sleep spray or if you reduce muscle soreness with Arnica after a workout, or if you appreciate safe children’s homeopathic products that help avoid the need for antibiotics. (Have you ever tried Oscillococcinum® at the first sign of the flu? Amazing!)

For the last 30 years, the FDA had a regulatory system for homeopathy that worked. It allowed manufacturers of homeopathic remedies to thrive while also ensuring the quality and purity of homeopathic medicines. However, the FDA has revoked that framework and proposes to replace it with one that reflects the agency’s extreme bias against any non-pharmaceutical health-related products. (We shouldn’t be too surprised given the well documented incestuous relationship been the industry and the regulators.)

Makers of homeopathic products cannot patent homeopathic medicines like the manufacturers of pharmaceutical drugs do thereby cornering the market and making billions in profit. Therefore, not one homeopathic company can justify spending hundreds of millions of dollars to gain FDA approval. Even if they could, the process takes many years.

The FDA claims to be concerned about safety of active ingredients. Really? The ingredients they say could be a problem are been diluted to the point that there is not even one molecule of the substance in the medium. All that remains is the energetic signature that gently urges the body to correct a problem. This regulatory change supposedly started because several years ago one homeopathic product also administered zinc directly into the nose and may (or may not) have caused a loss of smell. Then teething products were targeted, but the agency could not confirm a connection to the problems claimed. The FDA extreme position on homeopathy seems an especially cruel joke in light of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who die annually due to FDA-approved medications. (And don’t get me started on the fact that USDA that allows toxic Roundup in our approved foods on store shelves.)

What about manufacturing safety? This week, I visited a prominent supplier of homeopathic products. I was extremely impressed with their cleanliness, safety consciousness and finely detailed control procedures. This wonderful US homeopathic company was targeted by the FDA mainly because they couldn’t account for which customers walked away with 3 individual products given as samples at a tradeshow! Once looking for trouble, the regulators found a non-infectious bacteria in a product and all heck broke loose. The company would have had to close if the owner hadn’t used his life savings to fight their way back. (I’ll bet good money that they are safer than the Indian and Chinese pharma companies who make those generic drugs so frequently found to be contaminated. I heard on the news that FDA only cares to inspect foreign makers once every two years or so.)

Don’t depend on a company or organization to solve this problem—the FDA isn’t worried by them. However, when the public gets riled up, the FDA knows that Congress listens—that might affect the FDA’s budget! Protect your access to this extraordinary system of medicine NOW because the comment period ends January 23, 2020. Click this link to submit a comment to the FDA. Say something like this:

1. Please extend the comment period by 180 days because more of my friends need to express their opinions.
2. I want to protect my ability buy homeopathic medicines because I know that they work and I trust them.
3. Please do not classify homeopathic remedies as unapproved drugs because that gives the product makers no protection and your agency too much leeway to act on prejudice.
4. I request that instead of going after homeopathic products, the FDA should use its resources on much higher priorities such as antibiotic resistance and the unacceptable number of deaths and disability from FDA-approved medications.

Send a copy of this email to friends you know use homeopathics. (Also contact your US Representative and Senator. Ask them to monitor the FDA on this issue.).

Some of the above is copied from an article by The Board of the American Institute of Homeopathy. I confirmed the points with this article and with lawyers who specialize in defending homeopathic companies.

Just say “NO” to the colds and flu season

Why do we have a “the colds and flu season”? Good question. I believe it is mainly because we change our behavior. But, you and your family don’t have to be victims. Follow these steps to be the “lucky” ones who don’t get whatever is going around at school or the office.

1. Some of the common seasonal advice is useful. For example, the guidance to avoid close contact with sick people, cough into your sleeve and wash your hands often makes sense. That is especially important when you are touching railings, knobs and buttons in public places. Sanitizing hand gels also help. Unless you have just washed your hands, don’t be tempted to rub your eyes or pick a dry winter booger because you might be putting germs right where they can quickly set up shop.
2. One important seasonal factor is sunshine. Sunlight is less plentiful and we are indoors more. As you surely know, sun exposure is how nature intended us to manufacture immune-critical vitamin D.( It not only helps avoid infectious diseases but also cardiovascular disease, cancer, depression, asthma, autoimmune conditions and much more.) Over half of Americans are deficient in Vitamin D all year and this “sunshine” vitamin is obviously harder to come by in the winter. The current enlightened thinking is that it takes supplements of 5,000-10,000 IU a day to reach optimum blood levels. Learn more at this Library link and at the non-profit Vitamin D Council.
3. Another seasonal change is our increased intake of sugar starting before Halloween and lasting until…well Valentine’s Day? Sugar is a major drag on the immune system for several hours. If you have a hard time avoiding sugar—even feel addicted—you may have too much yeast in your system. Yeasts make chemicals that tell you to find their favorite foods—sugars and starch. To learn more about that problem take the yeast quiz. Sugar and the bad company it keeps (e.g. refined flour, artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, emulsifiers and contaminants such heavy metals and agricultural chemicals) damage the friendly bacteria in our digestive systems. That is not good because they make up 75% of our immune function. Studies show that supplementing probiotics reduces the incidence of respiratory infections. (There is nothing even similar or close in effectiveness to Dr. Ohhira’s Probiotics.)
4. While some blame the heavier winter foods for dragging us down, it seems more likely that the problem is not so much what is added but what is missing. Most people eat lighter fare in the summer and that includes fruits and salads. Vegetables and other plant foods are important foods for supporting our friendly bacteria which as stated above are key to a vigorous immune system. Plants contain vitamin C and other antioxidants that help immune function. Many studies show that regular intake of vitamin C reduces the incidence and severity of colds. Here is a recent example. (I recommend Formula 216 for more comprehensive protection.)
5. Hustle, bustle and stress seem to pick up in the fall and winter. Those may in turn interfere with sleep. Stress and sleep deprivation are well known to reduce immune function. So, avoid burning the candle at both ends. Prioritize your to-do list. If something at the bottom doesn’t get done…oh well, at least you will be healthy enough to tackle it tomorrow! (This is a homeopathic stress control product I like.)
6. Due to unfortunate changes over time in our food supply and diet, most people are low in the mineral zinc. To date, zinc is known to perform over 100 functions in the body. One important job is to keep the thymus gland vital and producing immune cells to fight off disease. Read Bill Sardi’s enlightening article about this important nutrient and how to get the kind of zinc that will be absorbed and used. That is important, because an excess of the wrong kind can interfere with our ability to use the right kind. (I highly recommend Mr. Sardi’s multiple vitamin, Molecular Multi, in part because of the zinc it contains.) He also has a fascinating article about the flu protection that we get from eating eggs.

You can choose to NOT participate in the colds and flu season! But, if you somehow do get ill, read this article on Do’s and Don’ts and this one about Remedy Kit. (On second thought, better have that remedy kit on hand now so that you can react at the first sign of trouble.)

Do statin drugs lower testosterone and cause cataracts?

Our good friend Bill Sardi brings us important health news that the media misses. Well, gee…I think too often they don’t “miss” natural health news and drug negatives…they just fear annoying the drug companies who spend so many billions on advertising.

In a very interesting recent blog, Mr. Sardi brings us up to date on the controversy surrounding the controversial statin drugs for lowering cholesterol. He (and virtually all the integrative physicians that I know) think the whole emphasis on cholesterol is itself, at best, confused. These are quotes from that report which I thought were especially interesting:

• “If men only knew: statin drugs lower testosterone levels. (Supplemental vitamin D counters this problem.)” [Women need testosterone too!]
• “Vitamin D and coenzyme Q10 are now on the list of antidotes to avert side effects posed by statins.”
• “Statin drugs as a class of drugs result in a disproportionality in the incidence of cataracts.  Overall, statins increase the relative risk for cataracts by 366%.  But some types of statins increase the risk for cataracts by 1480% and 1330%.  Statin drugs are making cataract surgeons a lot of money.”

Since most doctors are trained (directly and indirectly) and then incentivized by drug companies, we are at great risk if we robotically fill prescriptions without asking a lot of questions and researching other options.

Invisible and powerful but for good or evil?

Adults learn early that “what you don’t know can’t hurt you” is nonsense. But, too many are lulled into thinking that if “seeing is believing” then the reverse must be true…”if you can’t see it, it doesn’t matter”. We can’t see energy, but it can be good or bad for us.

Examples of POSITIVE Invisible Energy

• Far Infrared light
• Microcurrents
• Music
• Grounding to the earth’s energies
• Reiki
• Magnets
• Whole Body Vibration

Examples of NEGATIVE Invisible Energy

• Ultraviolet light
• Microwaves and radar
• X-rays
• Bluetooth
• Ultrasound
• WiFi
• Cellular waves

Among other effects, the negative waves of electromagnetic frequencies, EMF (which are also known as electromagnetic radiation or EMR), damage cell membranes, DNA, immune cells and nerves; create oxidation; and promote inflammation. That means they likely damage every cell and worsen virtually any condition…even if research has not yet been conducted on that specific issue. Symptoms don’t always show up immediately, but have already been shown to include anxiety, asthma, autism, cancer and other immune problems, cataracts, depression, headaches, heart irregularities, infertility, insomnia, loss of libido, obesity, rashes and tinnitus.

Think about relatively recent additions to the EMF load from recent generations of cell phones, cordless phones, computers (or tablets), Wi-Fi (everywhere), blue tooth, smart TV’s, appliances that communicate, baby monitors, satellites beaming down GPS coordinates, electric cars as well as “smart meters” being installed by the water, gas or electric utilities. These newer sources add to the milder electromagnetic fields from our traditional lamps, radios and standard appliances. Considering that the effects of the hundreds of frequencies are additive and cumulative, the reckless proliferation of these largely untested energies is quite scary.

We have to look beyond the threats that we’ve historically been lectured about such as smoking, overeating, and being sedentary. Those problems, as well as newly rampant toxins such as glyphosate (Roundup), work synergistically with EMF to create damage. Poor nutrition makes us more vulnerable. We must try to reduce these health threats because, as this US Centers for Disease Control graphic points out, sixty percent of the adults in this country have a chronic illness and forty percent have 2 or more! Our great grandparents could not imagine such a ridiculous situation.

And, sadly it is affecting children even more because their tissues are still developing and their brains are more easily damaged. Parents are casually letting younger and younger kids have WiFi enabled toys, tablets, cellphones and blue tooth gaming devices.

Good grief, we aren’t talking about that or even being brave enough to discuss the neurotoxic chemicals in vaccines that amplify those threats. Meanwhile, autism, which was unheard of in the 1970’s, now affects 1 in 50 kids and suicide is the 2^nd leading cause of deaths in 10-year-olds! Worse yet, the negative effects of toxins, inadequate zinc and EMF have been shown to affect several future generations.

A good bad example are electric blankets. Why surround yourself with that negative energy all night. (If you must, just warm the bed before you get in and then unplug it.) A lot of what sounds like “progress” isn’t healthful. If your cell phone is getting the job done, why trade up to a higher number?

This recent journal article summarizes conservative medical opinion. For more information on EMF’s, listen to my 11/23/19 interview with Elizabeth Plourde, CLS, NCMP, PhD. She is the author of EMF Freedom: Solutions for the 21st Century Pollution – 3rd Edition. Also look at this page for videos and tips on protective devices.

Relevant QUOTES:

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” – Henry David Thoreau

“When in doubt, don’t.” – Benjamin Franklin

Foods “they” said were healthful may not be

Steven Gundry, MD’s diet advice has helped thousands of patients lose weight and regain their health from really tough challenges. The surprise is that he didn’t offer the standard advice to eat less, limit fats and to consume whole wheat and brown rice. The notes below are a quick review of a few key points from his interview on HBN last week. (If you didn’t hear the show, I urge you to do so.)

• While “inflammation” is often credited with being at the root of most degenerative diseases, he says that in a way it is another layer of symptom…“leaky gut” and its counterpart, “leaky brain barrier”.
• The gut lining is supposed to keep junk out of the blood stream. When it is porous, pathogens, pieces of bacteria, toxins, and incompletely digested food can get into circulation and annoy the immune system. Trouble then starts when the immune system can’t tell if something is a threat or not. Allergies, autoimmune conditions (think rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, MS and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis), heart disease, Alzheimer’s and a great many other problems can result, but can be reversed.
• Plants make “lectins” (a sticky protein) that stick to the lining of animals’ gut wall, blood vessels, joints and spaces between nerves. They make animals feel bad and therefore stop eating them…except humans who are not paying attention. Lectins are a major threat to the gut lining.
• Foods highest in lectins are wheat, most grains (even quinoa but not sorghum and millet), beans (including peanuts), nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, peppers and goji berries) and cashews. Peeling tomatoes and removing the seeds limits their lectin content. Wheat causes the creation of zonulin which in turn loosens the tight junctions between intestinal cells. While probably still not great, sourdough bread is better because it has had most of the lectins removed making white flour and fermenting reduces them further.
• A protein called WGA from the heart of wheat can get through the gut lining even if it is not leaky. WGA can then cause trouble by occupying insulin receptors but failing to deliver fuel to muscle and brain cells. Dr. Gundry says this is one reason that we are fat, tired and not thinking clearly. He points out that smart societies have been eating white flour and white rice for thousands of years. And remember, today’s grains are a big source of agricultural chemicals like glyphosate in Roundup that kill our good bacteria and independently damage the gut wall. Oat products (e.g. cereal and granola–even some organic) also contain glyphosate.
• Cooking in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot (on pressure setting) deactivates most lectins—except those containing gluten (wheat, rye and barley) and oats which contain a similar component.
• Aside from foods that have had the lectins deactivated as noted above, the safest diet is what humans ate 10,000 years ago before the advent of grains and beans. That was largely leaves, root vegetables, pasture-raised meats, a minimum of seasonal fruit, wild seafood and shellfish. Corn, nightshades and quinoa were only in the Americas until about 1492 when they started being exported to the rest of the world. Today, Americans are composed of about 70% corn carbon atoms, whereas Europeans are about 5%.
• In the summer, many plants create fructose because that makes their fruit appealing to animals who then spread their seeds far and wide as they poop. This also serves to fatten up the animals for a lean winter. Humans, however never have a lean winter and can eat fattening fruit all year long. Excess sugars, even fruit sugar, feed intestinal yeast and that can be a big problem. In his new book, Dr. Gundry says that patients who reduced fruit intake lowered their cholesterol and had better kidney function. Unripe fruit is worse and producers gas them to appear ripe.
• Folks that live extremely long lives have a different and richer assortment of intestinal bacteria. He calls them “gut buddies”.
• These gut organisms (as I also discuss in my book, The Probiotic Cure: Harnessing the Power of Good Bacteria for Better Health) are home to about 100 times as much DNA as in our own cells. They are a crucial part of our body’s instruction manual and they help keep the lining of the gut healthy.
• He says we aren’t “what we eat”, but rather “we are what our gut buddies digest”!
• Everything we do affects these critters. They like most vegetables, sunshine, and exercise (moderate). They are harmed by stress, most medications, chlorine in the water, herbicides like Roundup in the food, artificial sweeteners, preservatives and tens of thousands of other chemicals.
• Resveratrol (the red wine molecule) helps our gut buddies and has a great many other health and longevity benefits. He thinks that Longevinex is the best and has taken it for many years.

If you have an autoimmune or other serious degenerative condition you may want to buy his books and adhere strictly to the program. Most people should at least make some baby steps toward reducing lectin intake and improving gut bacteria balance. (I also recommend giving your gut a boost with Dr. Ohhira’s Probiotics.)

His series of books include The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age and The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in “Healthy” Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain. Coming on 11/19/19! = The Plant Paradox Family Cookbook: 80 One-Pot Recipes to Nourish Your Family Using Your Instant Pot, Slow Cooker, or Sheet Pan.