Healthy Habits

I have supported the Organic Consumers Association for years and have benefited from their newsletters and website when it comes to choosing safe, truly organic brands.  This article about Driscoll’s “organic” strawberries is an eye opener–no wonder many people don’t trust organic labels!  Fortunately, we have people like those at the Organic Consumers Association setting the record straight.  My advice to the berry lovers out there, if you can’t grow your own, find a local grower and pick enough during the season to freeze for the winter.  If you buy frozen berries, research the brand and be sure the berries are not grown the way Driscolls grows them.  Remember, you vote with your dollar and every purchase you make!  I grow strawberries and blueberries organically so I know it is easily done.  We need more local, small farms to bring regenerative agriculture back.  Support them whenever and however you can and consider supporting the Organic Consumers Association if you care!

HOW MANY CHRONIC DISEASES ARE CONNECTED TO TOXIN EXPOSURE?  This question must be asked and the answer should be the focus of research.  This summary explores Parkinson’s Disease which is a very good example of a chronic disease which can result from long-term exposure to environmental toxins.

Summary from a Mark Hyman  MD podcast with two prominent neurologists.

Before Parkinson’s Disease is ever diagnosed, these prodromal signs may manifest:

-constipation

-loss of sense of smell

-gut dysfunction

-acting out dreams (REM sleep behavior disorder or RBD)

-anxiety

Wow!  What does constipation have to do with the brain?  Turns out the buildup of mis-folded proteins that are associated with Parkinson’s show up not only in the brain but in the gut and the skin!  This is a whole body disease that was first observed in London during the Industrial Revolution when the air pollution caused by coal-burning was extreme.  It has been associated with farmers who are heavily exposed to pesticides/herbicides for decades now.  And people who live within one mile of a golf course have a 126% increased risk for developing Parkinson’s from the chemicals that are sprayed there.  Also, the heavy metal toxins, aluminum and mercury, are found in high concentration in the brains of not only Parkinson’s but Alzheimer’s patients as well.

Small wonder we are seeing an epidemic of Parkinson’s disease! Low-level, chronic exposure to toxins has almost never been recognized by medical professionals as a cause of chronic disease.  And the number of toxins we are exposed to has steadily increased over the last one-hundred or so years.

So there are two kinds of Parkinson’s—one that is gut first (toxins are ingested) and the other which is brain first (toxins are inhaled).  The common denominator seems to be mitochondrial damage mainly to nerve cells from toxins whether they are air-born or from food and drink, and whether they affect the brain through the olfactory nerve or the gut through the vagus nerve.

The bottom line– prevention is the most important strategy we can use.  Some suggestions:  Avoid constipation and address gut dysfunction (schedule a nutrition consult), avoid exposure to aluminum (from cans, cookware, vaccines) and mercury (from fish and amalgam dental fillings), carbon filter your water (consider a reverse osmosis unit), use indoor air-purifiers, buy organic as much as possible (visit ewg.org) and wash your produce, and take good quality nutritional supplements (ask us for help with this).

TYLENOL RISKS ARE REAL

Helping you to better health naturally has always been our purpose.  That means using natural means as much as possible for pain relief and chronic conditions.  We inform our patients about the side effects of their medications in order to increase consumer awareness.  It has been well known for many years that Tylenol can increase liver enzyme levels in blood tests.  What does that mean?  It means that this drug causes destruction of liver cells. 

Many studies, as summarized in this link , show an association of tylenol use during pregnancy with the development of autism.   Since there are natural options to deal with pain and fever, why take the risk of tylenol?  Chiropractic and nutrition therapies are the best natural, non-invasive, first choice for pain relief for people of all ages—including pregnant women.  The risk discussed in the linked article should be taken very seriously.  This is not about politics—it’s about your health and the health of our children

 

Do you read the ingredient label on foods you buy?  Most people still don’t!   My best recommendation is to never buy any food without reading the ingredient label first and then use your best judgement before purchasing.  So don’t go into the supermarket without your reading glasses if you need them–and some of the print on those labels is very small and hard to find!  Arm yourself with a few guidelines which will make your decision very easy. You will save money because you will buy fewer packaged (or value-added which means more expensive) foods AND you will also be eating a much cleaner diet.   This will mean cooking from scratch but isn’t it about time to just commit to doing this?

Some Simple Guidelines:

• Don’t buy foods containing any seed oils–canola, sunflower, safflower, corn, soy.  This will eliminate fried foods cooked in these oils which are the worst!
• Don’t buy foods containing “wheat flour”  which means refined white wheat flour–Even if it IS organic.
• Don’t buy foods that contain sucrose, sugar , high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, sucralose, or erythritol.

JUST DOING THESE THREE THINGS WILL ELIMINATE MOST OF THE BAD FOODS AMERICANS EAT.   IF YOU CAN DO MORE, ADD THE FOLLOWING:

• Buy foods that are organically grown.  Research is proving you will reduce your exposure to chemicals.
• Buy animal products that are from pasture-raised animals that have been fed glyphosate-free feed (corn and soy in animal feed is a major source of cancer-causing, gut destroying glyphosate in people!)  Finding a vetted, local source for your dairy, beef, chicken, pork and eggs is the best way to insure quality.
• Cook from scratch using the best ingredients and avoid eating out except for special occasions.

The epidemic of pre-diabetes, obesity, and diabetes along with a host of digestive ills has resulted in many people taking some extreme low or no carb dietary measures to either reverse or prevent these health problems.  It’s great to be pro-active but a good maintenance diet does include good carbs and going without them can create new health problems and failure to see good results long-term.

If we focus on blood sugar levels we may miss the fact that it is insulin resistance that is causing poor blood sugar control and insulin resistance is caused by inflammation.  To complicate matters, other factors besides dietary can cause inflammation.  The key seems to be reducing inflammation in order to have insulin function normally.  Common sense and a lot of what we already know about inflammation can help us sort all this out.  We are here to help with the sorting out if you are confused, but here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• A good balance between carbs, protein and fat has been part of traditional diets that supported good health for generations across the world.  Quality is the determining factor for whether foods containing a balance of these macronutrients are health promoting or not but the condition/function of the gut is key also.
• Exposure to toxins/chemicals from our food, water and air has greatly increased over the last 100 years or so and this has resulted in an abundance of poor quality foods.  For example, glyphosate exposure from desiccation of our grains and legumes since the 1990’s has sky-rocketed.  Also, seed oils have flooded the food supply with omega-6 fatty acids (most of which are damaged into free-radicals by processing) and  were foisted on the unsuspecting public about 100 years ago and have only increased since then.  Another example, mercury from coal-burning plants ends up in the fish we eat.
• These toxins/chemicals cause leaky gut and a bad mix of microbes growing in the gut.  They also lodge in the cells (they often store in fat) and lymph tissues.  Once the gut is compromised even the best quality carbs can make digestion worse because bad microbes are making irritating by-products from these carbs and they get readily absorbed into the blood and distributed throughout the body causing further health problems.
• So the solution is to rebuild the gut with the best quality foods and supplements and with easily digested low carb content initially.  With time and as tolerated, more good quality carbs can be introduced all while reducing exposure to as many chemicals as possible.
• There are lots of measures that can be taken to help the body cleanse itself  from modern-day toxic exposures.  Give us a call to schedule a nutrition consult if you would like help on your road to better health.

Bayer is at it again–with a new agrochemical to replace glyphosate that, if you can believe it, is more toxic than glyphosate!  I am linking this article in the Organic Consumers Association’s newsletter because it updates us on the importance of going organic.

The best we can do to decrease our ingestion and exposure to these toxic chemicals is to

• grow our own organic food if gardening is possible
• buy locally from organic farmers
• only buy organic in the grocery stores
• stop using chemicals on lawns and gardens.

I know growing organically is possible–you can do it without the chemicals–because I have been gardening this way for decades.  You can make a difference!  Stay informed and support better choices!

Organic Bytes Newsletter #902: New Agrochemicals Are Even More Toxic

Castor oil is likely the most effective and  inexpensive ingredient  for cleaning, healing, and moisturizing the skin.  Be sure to buy organic castor oil in glass and not a plastic bottle.  This recipe with directions for a deep cleanse of the face (which makes use of another inexpensive and common ingredient–baking soda) has been made popular on a youtube video.  They make claims that it is effective for reducing wrinkles and dark spots.  Here is the summary for how to do the cleanse.

Cleanse your face with the following procedure.   For a deep, exfoliating cleanse, use castor oil and baking soda together –this mixture will also rejuvenate the skin.  Mix 1 tsp. castor oil with ¼ tsp. baking soda (be exact). If you have acne-prone skin, add 1 drop (no more!) tea tree oil.  Massage the paste into your face gently, covering the entire surface of your face but avoiding the delicate area around and under the eyes. Leave on for 15 minutes and then wash your face with warm water and pat dry with a towel.   If any irritation of the skin occurs, wash off the baking soda mixture sooner and reduce the baking soda next time.

This combination will help remove excess oil, dirt and other pore-clogging material and rejuvenate the skin.  The castor oil will absorb in 30 minutes or so and leave the skin feeling clean and moisturized.  However, there are different skin types, so if your face feels too oily afterwards, use a warm wet washcloth to help remove the excess oil.  If your face does not feel oily after the treatment, follow with a few drops of plain castor oil massaged gently into the skin and leave it on.

This mixture can be used on the hands also.  DO NOT DO THIS DEEP CLEANSE MORE THAN 2 TIMES A WEEK.  The recommendation made on the video is to do the cleanse Monday and Thursday evenings on a set schedule.  It should be done before bed for best results.  The castor oil alone can be used every night to remove make-up and clean the skin– use 1/2 tsp. castor oil applied with a warm wet washcloth and gently massaged into the face (add a drop of tea tree oil as an anti-bacterial if desired).  Leave on the skin.