Is chlorine eating your body from the inside?

All municipal tap water in the U.S. has chlorine (in addition to lots of other chemicals). The water you bathe in is chlorinated. The water in your hot tub, swimming pool, sauna and steambath have even more chlorine. Warm water opens your skin's pores and allows chlorine to enter. Warm water also turns to gas (steam) and is inhaled. Chlorinated steam enters your lungs, where your blood picks it up and delivers it to your entire body. Scary!

Chlorine kills microbes. Is it also killing you?
If you've ever swum in a chlorinated pool, especially a public one, you'll remember how dry and itchy your skin and scalp felt afterwards. That's the reason people rinse off with a shower after swimming. You may be getting even more chlorine from the steam in your shower than you get from a swimming pool.

Chlorine is added to public water supplies and pools because it kills bacteria and algae. However, the killing process isn't as clean as you've been led to believe. While it kills organisms, it produces disinfection by-products (DBPs), including dioxins, haloactic acids and trihalomethanes (THMs), which are known carcinogens. If you are exposed to enough steam from chlorinated water or its chemical by-products, you could suffer from immune disorders, blood problems, heart dysfunction and respiratory ailments. No one knows how much is too much. It's different for every man, woman, child and animal!

Besides killing microbes, chlorine also destroys or disrupts other things. For instance, it hardens your arteries, destroys the proteins in your body, irritates your sinuses, and can aggravate allergies and asthma.

Chloroform is another deadly by-product of chlorine. It causes cell mutation and creates free radicals. These two are responsible for cancers and a full range of illnesses because your body's immune system cannot fight the constant, daily assault of chlorine being dumped into your body by liquid or gas means.

Other health issues are caused by other chlorine by-products, such as dichloro acetic acid (disrupts cholesterol metabolism), which causes liver cancer. Or, (Z)-2-chloro-3-(dichloromethyl)-4-oxobutenoic acid (commonly called MX), which mutates DNA and can cause cancer. According to a 1991 article in U.S. News & World Report, 9% of all bladder cancers and 15% of all rectal cancers in the U.S. are directly caused by consuming chlorinated water!

How to avoid chlorine
A number of chlorine filters are available for the shower, your kitchen tap, your swimming pool or your entire home's water supply. How much you want to spend depends on how big a job you want done.

Check out the possibilities at the following websites:
Mr. Water Filter
Health Masters
Ion Life (my favorite!)

I like Ion Life best because it also delivers alkalline water, which is the ideal water for humans (dogs, cats and other carnivorous animals should NOT drink alkaline water!).

Part of the research for this article came from the above websites.

* * * * * * * *
I am not a doctor and have no medical training.
The information in this blog is not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Statements made on this blog
have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Consult a healthcare professional before using any products,
treatments or exercises mentioned on this blog.

"Let food be thy medicine and
medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates

A traditional diet can make you healthy!

Traditional diets are common to people in Asian, Mediterranean, African and Pacific island regions...among others. According to the Weston A. Price Foundation, traditional diets, regardless of the country of origin, have a number of things in common. Here's a very brief overview:

No refined foods, processed dairy, artificial supplements or toxic additives.

Consume some animal protein, some of which is raw.

Much higher calcium, mineral and vitamin levels than the typical American diet.

High in enzymes from eating raw or naturally/fermented/preserved foods.

Sprouted grains and nuts are eaten to release nutrients.

Higher fat content but much lower levels of polyunsatured oils.

Equal amounts of omega-6 and omega-3.

Include salt.

Eat some animal bones.

Would you like vibrant health, long life and children who will be free of disease?
The benefits of a traditional diet include excellent physical health and perfect facial forms and perfect teeth with no cavities.

During the 1950s and 1960s, I often wondered how people who lived in Third World countries could have perfect teeth, when people in America and other industrialized countries had terrible teeth. Traditional diets are so rich in natural nutrients that disfigured bodies, faces and teeth simply don't happen like they do in "rich" countries with lots of doctors, dentists and wonder drugs.

According to Weston Price, DDS, and Francis M. Pottenger, Jr., MD, it takes only one generation of eating a non-traditional diet in order to see the damaging results. When people immigrate to industrialized countries, they integrate "modern" dietary practices into their menus. The result is children with poor health, physical deformities and poorly formed teeth (prone to cavities) or incorrectly spaced teeth (noticeable gaps).

Eating a traditional diet is easy
An interesting aspect of traditional diets is the use of common, everyday foods. While you may have some difficulty finding some of the foods at Safeway and other big supermarkets, you've probably got a local international supermarket that carries virtually every food and supply you'll need to stick to a 100% traditional diet.

To get more information, cookbooks and even gardening books if you'd like to grow your own produce, visit the book section of the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation. They even have books about feeding an optimal diet to your pets.

You can also click on the links below to get some of the books through Amazon.



Additional sources:
Weston A. Price Foundation
Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation

* * * * * * * *
I am not a doctor and have no medical training.
The information in this blog is not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Statements made on this blog
have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Consult a healthcare professional before using any products,
treatments or exercises mentioned on this blog.

"Let food be thy medicine and
medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates

Do you drink a gallon of water every day?

A few years ago, there was a big movement to drink lots of water. Today, some doctors and healthcare professionals have come out against large quantities of water. In fact, one well-known physician has stated that he hasn't had a drink of water in decades!

I was very skeptical of drinking lots of water. In fact, my body rebelled when I started to pump water into it. However, I followed the Atkins diet (for over 30 years) and was told that high-protein diets required lots of fluid or my kidneys might suffer. If I downed 2-3 liters of water a day, I considered myself lucky! Any more than that, and my body would retain fluid and start aching from the overload. Looking back, I see that my body wasn't able to accept such a large amount of water because it wasn't able to get rid of water quickly enough. I was bloated and floating!

How I learned to love drinking lots of water
In 2005, I bought the book The pH Miracle for Weight Loss: Balance Your Body Chemistry, Achieve Your Ideal Weight by Dr. Robert O. Young and Shelley Redford Young. I've mentioned this book before (Burp! How to prevent & stop GERD) in reference to acid reflux and GERD. They lay out a plan to help you slowly increase your water intake. Because their alkaline eating plan flushes toxins and fat from the body, large quantities of water are required to move things out of your body and to help rehydrate your body.

Within a few days of eating only alkaline food, I found myself CRAVING water! Sometimes, I'd drink a whole liter in one sitting, simply gulping down as much as I could as fast as I could. My body was crying out for fluid. By the end of the first week, an amazing thing happened. The dry-eye syndrome that had plagued me for several years completely disappeared. Completely! 100%! Gone! My dry eye had been so bad, that I couldn't open my eyes some mornings. In fact, I would have to think of something very sad in order to generate tears to wash over my eyes. To this day, dry eye has never returned due to the larger quantities of water I drink.

The second amazing result of drinking more water was the relief of that "snap, crackle, pop" that accompanied my first steps out of bed each morning (and any other movement that came after I sat or relaxed for longer periods). My feet and ankles didn't feel like they were carrying the weight of the world anymore. With all the water I was now drinking, my joints were properly hydrated. Another side effect of eating an alkaline diet is the removal of toxins that might cause joint pain or even gout.

The right diet makes it easy to drink lots of water
Simply adding water without an accompanying change in diet may not work for you. Instead, I suggest that you buy either one of the Youngs' books linked below so you can witness the same miraculous and wonderful results that I have.

While sticking to the Youngs' alkaline eating plan, I've found that I can drink two liters of water in the morning, two liters of water in the afternoon and another two liters in the evening. That's quite a change from barely being able to choke down 2-3 liters in an entire day! Their eating plan is foolproof and makes it possible. If you suffer from either dry-eye syndrome or cracking, achy joints, then a sensible alkaline diet and lots of water might help you.

Drink up!



* * * * * * * *
I am not a doctor and have no medical training.
The information in this blog is not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Statements made on this blog
have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Consult a healthcare professional before using any products,
treatments or exercises mentioned on this blog.

"Let food be thy medicine and
medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates

Avoid doctors to stay healthy & alive!

Have you read the recent Associated Press story about the cost of prescription errors? According to the article, 1.5 million Americans are injured every year because the wrong drug was administered. That figure is actually a conservative one! According to the report, it only takes into account the drug errors in hospitals, nursing homes and Medicare out-patients. Drug mistakes in doctors' offices should be added to that figure. Plus, patients also make mistakes and mix up their drugs.

For the most part, we can blame the doctors who prescribe the wrong drugs or the wrong dosages, pharmacists who fill prescriptions with the wrong drugs or dosages, and nurses in hospitals who give the wrong drugs or dosages to the wrong patients. We can also blame the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for allowing acceptable levels of human suffering and death in order to bring drugs to market. But, that's a whole other issue!

Two years ago, a report (Death by Medicine) showed that errors by doctors were the leading cause of death! Over 700,000 deaths were caused by medical caregivers. More than 100,000 less were caused by heart attacks. If you have a heart attack, you must now decide if you want to take a chance that the heart attack will kill your or the doctor. It looks like the doctor is the greatest health threat!

If you think drug errors are limited to the U.S., here's some food for thought.

Non-U.S. doctors kill people, too
In 2000, Israeli physicians went on strike to protest a wage contract the government was trying to impose on them. Emergency rooms and other essential care facilities did not close down. The result? A significant (and expected) decline in deaths. According to the article in the British Medical Journal, the same drop in deaths happened when the doctors went on strike in 1983.

During the 1960s, Canadian physicians went on strike, only to see mortality rates drop. As did the rate of deaths in a South American country when their doctors walked out.

You don't have to be a statistician to see the connection between NOT seeing a doctor and staying healthy!

3 ways to long-term health
We should be looking at long-term cures for our health problems. Our society has become enchanted with the concept of instant cures. Our bodies didn't instantly get the way they are, so we shouldn't look for instant gratification. Here are some things you might want to consider instead of running to the doctor with every complaint.

Change your lifestyle. Don't do things that cause anxiety. That includes friends, co-workers and relatives who drag you down or don't have a positive attitude.

Eat right. Stop eating food found in the center aisles of the supermarket. These aisles are loaded with prepackaged foods that are filled with preservatives, toxins and potentially harmful additives. Shop the perimeter of the grocery store. That's where you'll find fresh foods. Get most of your foods from the produce section. Buy as much organic food as you can afford.

Move. Get a rebounder (small trampoline) and start jumping. We purchased a top-of-the-line folding Needak Soft-Bounce Rebounder with a stabilizer bar. Go to Needak's site to buy one. Compared to other exercise equipment, the rebounder is a real bargain. Our rebounder, soft case and stabilizer bar was only $269.95. I'll tell you more about health benefits of rebounders in a future blog.

Real health comes from within, not from drugs and medical treatments. Read my blogs about ending acid reflux and GERD. The blogs are really about balancing your body's pH level, which also puts an end to acid reflux:

Burp! How to prevent & stop GERD

Acidic foods can stop acid reflux and GERD

More food tips to halt acid reflux

By balancing your pH, you will help create a healthy body for today and the years to come. Start now; it's never too late! If you continue to depend on doctors and drugs, you may live to a ripe old age but be miserable and have many health issues. Which scenario do you prefer?

Additional sources:
BMJ. 2000 Jun 10;320(7249):1561
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2004/mar2004_awsi_death_01.htm

* * * * * * * *
I am not a doctor and have no medical training.
The information in this blog is not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Statements made on this blog
have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Consult a healthcare professional before using any products,
treatments or exercises mentioned on this blog.

"Let food be thy medicine and
medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates

More food tips to halt acid reflux

My blogs about eliminating acid reflux and GERD (Burp! How to prevent & stop GERD and Acidic foods can stop acid reflux and GERD) received a lot of interest, so I thought I'd share some more tips about how to prevent acid reflux.

An apple a day...may set your esophagus on fire!
Apples are good for you, unless you have acid reflux. Not just apples, but most fruits. Fruit sugar (fructose) can generate large amounts of stomach acid. The sweeter the fruit, the greater the chance of acid reflux.

Fruits that aren't likely to cause acid indigestion are lemons, limes and grapefruits. They're not sweet, which means they don't have a lot of fructose. Dried fruits are really high in sugar, and highly likely to cause GERD.

Starchy carbs and grains leave an acid residue
If you're like most Americans, you probably love a big bowl of popcorn. You probably thought you were doing the right thing by eliminating butter. Well, at least you still get to eat your treat. Sorry, but all corn is acidic and can easily drive up your stomach's acid level.

If you've given up white bread for stone-ground whole wheat because you thought it was healthier, you're still eating an acid-producing grain. While bleached white flour isn't good for you in many ways, whole wheat (or rye or spelt or quinoa) also leaves an acidic residue and may be ratcheting up your stomach acid.

The same goes for potatoes. If you've given up french fries for baked potatoes, the only thing you've done is eliminate fried trans-fatty acids. When your stomach digests potatoes, the result is an acidic residue that increases acid reflux.

White rice isn't such a good deal either if you have excessive stomach acid. Brown rice is better, but you might consider giving up rice altogether.

Okay, so I've taken away every fruit that you love, removed your whole-grain breads and deep-sixed rice. What's left?

Good food that doesn't cause acid reflux
To replace the fruits you're used to eating, switch to grapefruit. If you like lemonade, try fresh-squeezed lemon juice combined with stevia, which is available from the indicated retailer in the left column. Same goes for fresh-squeezed lime juice. Do you feel deprived? Don't. Your esophagus will thank you. What's worse: not eating all the fruits you love or never having acid reflux again?

Bread can easily be replaced by sprouted bread, also known as Genesis or Ezekiel bread. Instead of grinding grain, ground sprouts are combined and formed into a dough. You can buy sprouted breads as a sliced loaf, hamburger buns, hot dog buns, tortillas or pitas. You'll find them in the freezer section, although one local store keeps them in the refrigerated dairy section. Sprouted grains are highly nutritious and do not leave an acid residue when digested. Make sure you don't buy sprouted bread that's sweetened with barley malt, sugar, cane sugar or any other type of "natural" sweetener. It will defeat the benefits of eating sprouted bread and may give you acid indigestion.

* * * * * * * *
I am not a doctor and have no medical training.
The information in this blog is not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Statements made on this blog
have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Consult a healthcare professional before using any products,
treatments or exercises mentioned on this blog.

"Let food be thy medicine and
medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates

Do dairy products increase your prostate cancer risk?

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in the U.S. For a number of years, there's been speculation that dairy products may increase the risk of prostate cancer. Was it due to the hormones pumped into dairy cows? Was it the milk fat? Was it the homogenization process that made the fat particles so small that they could more easily clog blood vessels? Actually, it was something quite different.

A welcome mat for prostate cancer
According to a number of studies, milk calcium seems to be associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer. I was not able to find studies related to calcium supplements and an increased risk for prostate cancer.

In a study that involved 2,776 men, French researchers found that 69 of the subjects developed prostate cancer over a period of 7.7 years. They determined that "a higher risk of prostate cancer was observed among subjects with higher dairy product" intake. Surprisingly, they "identified a harmful effect of yoghurt consumption upon the risk of prostate cancer." For the men who tended to eat yoghurt, the level of calcium intake didn't matter. It appears that the more yoghurt they ate, the better the chance of getting prostate cancer.

The University of California Department of Epidemiology also found an increased risk of getting prostate cancer if your diet includes dairy. They analyzed the diets of 1,202 men diagnosed with prostate cancer over a 10-year period and found that dairy (and, coincidentally, fresh tomatoes) was responsible for a small elevation in risk.

The Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia states that there may be a relationship between calcium and vitamin D. Researchers posed the idea that calcium might interfere with the natural protective mechanism of vitamin D, which is actually a steroid hormone and not a vitamin.

Vitamin D, which you can take as a supplement (D3 is the best type) or get from the sun, is usually included in calcium supplements (along with magnesium). It's an interesting proposition that calcium might stop vitamin D's activity.

Should you stop consuming dairy products?
If prostate cancer is in your family history or you've been diagnosed with the disease, it might make sense for you to avoid all dairy products. Even if it is only a small additional risk of getting cancer, are your dairy products more important than your health?

Additional sources:
Nutr Cancer. 2004;48(1):22-7
Br J Nutr. 2006 Mar;95(3):539-45
Cancer Causes Control. 2006 Mar;17(2):199-208
Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 May;81(5):1147-54

* * * * * * * *
I am not a doctor and have no medical training.
The information in this blog is not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Statements made on this blog
have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Consult a healthcare professional before using any products,
treatments or exercises mentioned on this blog.

"Let food be thy medicine and
medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates

Acai supplements

The acai berry is a native Brazilian fruit that's being hailed as the newest superfood for maintaining good health and fighting disease. Also known as Euterpe oleracea Mart., acai berries are very fragile and must be processed under strictly controlled conditions in order to maintain antioxidant properties.

Acai powders, pills and drinks have been promoted by numerous celebrities, including Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Nicholas Perricone, author of The Perricone Promise and The Perricone Weightloss Diet. Little is known about the fruit, as it's estimated that that there are 50 to 70 unidentified constituents that may help fight disease or fight the effects of aging. Let's take a look at what the research shows so far.

Leukemia cells die when they meet acai berries
The University of Florida's Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition recently published the results of laboratory tests showing extracts of acai could "reduce [HL-60 human leukemia] cell proliferation" by up to 86%. The anthocyanin and polyphenol extracts caused apoptosis (cell death).

The acai berry is filled with antioxidants that scavenge free radicals, which can cause disease. I'll keep you posted if any additional research is available on this fruit.

If you'd like to try an acai supplement to see if can help you recover from your medical problems, take a look at some of the products I've researched. Except as noted, none of the products are advertised as wild-harvested or organic. Prices are whatever I found on the web page and are subject to change.

Perricone's Super Berry Powder with Acai
Besides acai berries, this also includes extracts from raspberries, bilberries, blueberries, pomegranates, cherries, blackberries and cranberries. All these fruits and other berries have been shown to be high in antioxidants, ellagic acid, anthocyanins, polyphenols and other phyto-nutrients. $50 for a month's supply.

MonaVie juice
MonaVie comes in a wine bottle and is made from the juices of acai berry, pomegranate, white grape and purple grapes, nashi, acerola, pear, aronia, cranberry, passion fruit, banana, apricot, prune, kiwi, blueberry, bilberry and wolfberry. (Ingredients differ between the printed literature and website.) This formulation has a number of fruits in common with Dr. Perricone's product. Again, all these fruits are potent antioxidants. You can buy four bottles for $95 by clicking on the Amazon link below.



Acai Powerscoop
This powder contains guarana in addition to acai berries, which are wild-harvested and organic. They've used the entire fruit, not just an extract. A whole fruit powder can be more potent than just an extract because there's a synergistic effect that makes the whole more powerful than the parts. Instead of just getting the anthocyanins, you'll also be getting essential fatty acids and amino acids. Get a 16-oz. container by clicking on the link below.



Acai Berry Extract
This is available through VitaCost (link at left). Nutraceutical Sciences Institute makes this potent product, which is an extract of the acai berry. Two capsules deliver 1,000mg of acai berry extract. A month's supply (60 capsules) is only $7.44.

Best Acai by Doctor's Best
Available from iHerb (link listed at left), this is a freeze-dried product that contains only the ripe fruit (some other products listed here used the entire plant, not just the fruit). This is by far the most economical acai product I've found. A bottle of 120 capsules costs $11.50. If you take two a day, that's a two-month supply. According to literature from MonaVie (mentioned above), the freeze-dried acai berry has a very high ORAC (oxygen radical absorption capacity) level compared to a select group of other dried fruits and vegetables. That means freeze-drying doesn't significantly impair its antioxidant qualities.

Additional sources:
J Agric Food Chem. 2006 Feb 22;54(4):1222-9
Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2005 Feb;56(1):53-64

* * * * * * * *
I am not a doctor and have no medical training.
The information in this blog is not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Statements made on this blog
have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Consult a healthcare professional before using any products,
treatments or exercises mentioned on this blog.

"Let food be thy medicine and
medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates

"Silver" dental fillings: Part 2Ridding your body of mercury

In yesterday's blog ("Silver" dental fillings: Part 2...Are they dangerous?), I told you that I would write about replacement fillings, how to get your fillings safely removed, how to help your body remove mercury from your organs and how to find a dentist that doesn't use mercury fillings. Here's what you need to know.

How fast can you replace mercury amalgams?
Chances are good that your regular dentist will not be interested in replacing your mercury fillings. Plus, most dental offices don't have the right equipment to stop toxic levels of mercury from entering your body. Special suction equipment is used to prevent the staff and the patient from inhaling the vapors.

If the amount of mercury entering your body is too great, you may aggravate or display symptoms of mercury poisoning. If you have an autoimmune disease, it's very important that you don't have the fillings removed too aggressively. Blood tests taken before amalgam removal will indicate your mercury level. Another test after removing one amalgam will tell your dentist how your body handles the temporary load of additional mercury.

Depending on your dentist, you may have as many as five mercury amalgams removed in one session. Some dentists believe that removing only one amalgam at an appointment is the maximum the body can handle, especially if the patient is already suffering from an autoimmune disease or displaying symptoms of mercury toxicity.

What's going to take the place of your mercury fillings?
You might think that simply filling the big hole in your tooth with a white composite is the solution, but it's not that easy. Some composites may create other health problems. If you have an autoimmune disease, it would be wise to mention that to your dentist so he can properly evaluate your situation. He may use a different filling material than he would for someone without an immune disorder. In some cases, blood tests and other medical evaluations may be necessary in order to find a good match for a new filling material.

Removing mercury from your body
There are a number of things you can use to pull mercury from your blood, tissues and organs.

In 1995, a Vietnamese man ate some soup with approximately 100 grams of fresh cilantro (Chinese parsley) sprinkled in it. Although he had just been through a medical procedure that resulted in heavy mercury deposits in his body, he was just enjoying his soup and not expecting to remove mercury. Nevertheless, the fresh cilantro accelerated the excretion of mercury and other heavy metals through his urine. In another case reported by the Heart Disease Research Foundation in New York, researchers found that taking a 100mg tablet of cilantro four times a day for two weeks helped remove mercury. Besides cilantro, the patient also took EPA and DHA (essential fatty acids) to enhance the action of cilantro.

Large intravenous doses of vitamin C have also been shown to remove mercury from the body. You can receive these intravenous treatments from a naturopathic doctor or a mainstream doctor who understands and endorses the use of natural substances.

Chlorella, a microalgae, has superior properties for removing mercury. It has the highest levels of chlorophyll of any plant and is frequently referred to as a superfood because of its dense nutrient content (high levels of beta-carotene, vitamin B12, iron, RNA, DNA and protein). It's raised on controlled ponds to make sure it remains pure and uncontaminated. It's available in most health food stores and through most of the retailers listed in the left column. Make sure you buy a brand that says the cell wall has been broken down. This ensures digestibility and that your body will be able to access its metal-removing properties.

A combination of humic and fulvic acids increases excretion of mercury. These two substances are natural products (3,000-year-old Hungarian peat) that act as magnets for mercury and will help to safely remove it from all your organs. Metal Magnet, made by Enzymatic Therapy, is available from iHerb or Amazon. Click on link below to buy it from Amazon or search for it by clicking on the iHerb link in the left column.



How to find the right dentist to safely remove your mercury fillings
As mentioned earlier, most dentists don't have the proper equipment to prevent mercury vapor from entering your system during amalgam removal. To find one with experience removing mercury amalgams, look for a biological dentist. I live in the Ft. Worth, Texas, area and have found that there are only two biological dentists in the metroplex. Here are some websites that will help you find a biological dentist in your area:

Dental Directory: Biological and Holistic Dentists
MercuryPoisoned.com
ToxicTeeth.org
Hg Free Dentists
Mercury Free, Biological & Holistic Dentists Directory

Symptoms of mercury poisoning
While the following symptoms are associated with high levels of mercury, there may be other causes, too. The following list is not complete. This is only a small sampling of the results of mercury toxicity. A blood test will tell you if you have too much mercury in your system.

Repeated vaginal yeast infections
Stubborn infections that do not respond to antibiotics
Multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia and other immune disorders
Adrenal fatigue
Hypothyroidism (slow thyroid)
Metal taste or a feeling of electricity in your mouth
Cancerous and pre-cancerous lesions
Clinical depression
Lethargy
Suicidal tendencies
Manic disorder
Numbness and tingling of appendages
Gastrointestinal disorders (colitis, Crohn's disease, cramps, etc.)
Ringing in ears
Drooping eyelids
Persistent cough
Allergies
Asthma
Joint pain
Subnormal body temperature

Good luck in finding a dentist to help you regain your health!

Additional sources:
Acupunct Electrother Res. 1995 Aug-Dec;20(3-4):195-229
Acupunct Electrother Res. 1996 Apr-Jun;21(2):133-60

* * * * * * * *
I am not a doctor and have no medical training.
The information in this blog is not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Statements made on this blog
have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Consult a healthcare professional before using any products,
treatments or exercises mentioned on this blog.

"Let food be thy medicine and
medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates

"Silver" dental fillings: Part 1Are they dangerous?

Have you heard about Dr. Hal Huggins? He's the dentist who has been fighting the dental establishment for over 40 years to force them to acknowledge the dangers of "silver" dental fillings. In case you didn't already know it, silver fillings aren't really silver. They're an amalgam (mixture) of metals, including 50% mercury. Dr. Huggins refused to use mercury fillings for any of his patients, so he lost his dental license.

Good mercury vs. bad mercury
Medical and governmental agencies have warned us about the dangerous levels of mercury in fish, going so far as to discourage eating fish more than a couple times a week (and not at all for pregnant women or small children). How is it that mercury planted in your teeth doesn't pose any danger?

Medical and dental professional organizations claim that dental amalgams are stable and do not release mercury into the body. Dentists have known for a long time that pulling a tooth that has an amalgam or removing an amalgam from a tooth will reveal an unmistakable mercury "tattoo" on the gum. Some of the mercury has leached out of the filling and left a residue on the gum. Your mouth shares blood with the rest of your body, so the mercury that left a tattoo on your gum will travel to the rest of your body.

This sets up a case of good mercury vs. bad mercury. Just for the record, there is no such thing as good mercury. Mercury, in any state, is bad. Medical and dental professionals have known about the health hazards of mercury since the 1800s. At that time, the mercury-laden fillings were known in Germany as "quacksilber." That's why we refer to charlatans as quacks. In the U.S., quacksilber eventually morphed to quicksilver.

Knowledgeable dentists in the U.S., Germany, England and other countries fervently campaigned against the use of mercury fillings. To prevent all dentists from being put into the same category as mercury-using quacks, a professional association was formed. Only dentists who refused to use mercury amalgams were allowed to join. Today, we know that organization as the American Dental Association (ADA). However, they eventually changed their tune about mercury fillings and now endorse them. When Dr. Huggins refused to use mercury fillings, the ADA revoked his license to practice.

Can mercury fillings make you sick?
Doctors now recognize that autoimmune disorders, such as multiple sclerosis, autoimmune thyroiditis, atopic eczema and systemic lupus, may be caused or exacerbated by mercury fillings.

In an experiment conducted by The Institute of Dental Research at the General University Hospital in Prague, doctors found that 71% of patients with autoimmune disorders "showed improvement of health" after they replaced their mercury fillings with composites and ceramic materials. The highest rate of improvement was among multiple sclerosis sufferers. Interestingly, 11% of the test subjects got worse after amalgam replacement. For some people, aggressive replacement of amalgams over a short period of time releases so much mercury vapor (the vapor is released when the dentist drills out the old filling) that it overwhelms their body. The vapor enters the lungs, where the blood carries it to the rest of the body. The huge toxic overload is too great for the liver to process and remove, so it stays in the body and makes symptoms worse.

Removing mercury amalgams isn't the only way the vapor is released. According to the Department of Oral Health Practice at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, "researchers discovered that amalgam restorations release mercury vapor during chewing." If you have a lot of mercury fillings, you could be causing serious health problems whenever you chew. Even worse, you may be doing the same thing while you sleep if you grind your teeth at night.

Dentists who use mercury amalgams suffer the most
Dentists have the highest suicide rate of any group of people. Mercury causes neurological disorders when it's in a "free state" (not in your tooth), so dentists have to handle mercury amalgams very carefully. Before mercury is put in your tooth or after a filling is removed, dentists must follow rigid, precise handling procedures as dictated by the Environmental Protection Agency to avoid contaminating the environment with the very substance that was in your mouth just a second ago! The EPA and the ADA should recognize that the mouth is also an environment.

Tomorrow, I'll write about replacement fillings, how to get your fillings safely removed, how to help your body remove mercury from your organs and how to find a dentist that doesn't use mercury fillings.

Additional sources:
Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2006 Jul;209(4):309-16
J Long Term Eff Med Implants. 2005;15(6):709-21
Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2004 Jun;25(3):211-8
Br Dent J. 1999 Sep 11;187(5):261-4

* * * * * * * *
I am not a doctor and have no medical training.
The information in this blog is not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Statements made on this blog
have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Consult a healthcare professional before using any products,
treatments or exercises mentioned on this blog.

"Let food be thy medicine and
medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates

Your attitude can cure you!

In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy was told that she had the power all along to return home. She didn't need the Wizard to take her home. It was her mind and what she believed that would make things happen. Can you harness that same power to cure your body?

Doctors already know that your mind can relieve pain and cure illness
Medical science has known for centuries that the mind is the most powerful healing tool we have. The placebo was invented to give patients something to take when the doctor had no other medicine to offer. Because people believed they were taking pills that cured their illnesses, they often got well. If the mind believes that healing is taking place with the drug or treatment being offered, the body often responds by healing itself.

Your own mind isn't the only one that affects your condition. That's why researchers often use double-blind clinical trials. A blind trial means the subjects (patients) don't know if they're being treated with a placebo or the real thing. A double-blind study means the doctors don't know, either. This is done for a variety of reasons, and preventing any type of placebo effect from the doctor is one of them.

Reject all negative thoughts about your health
Norman Vincent Peale is the 20th century's guru of positivity. The Power of Positive Thinking was not just a book about religion; it was also a guide book about the power of the mind to overcome the reality of any situation. This is not make-believe thinking; it's about the nature of a positive mental attitude affecting the physical body. Mind over matter.

On more than one occasion, I've worked with someone who had a flem-filled chest cold, a dripping head cold or a toilet-hugging intestinal flu. They often told me I was going to catch whatever they had because everyone in their family caught it. Just because a flu is in the room, it doesn't mean you have to accept it. You have the choice of accepting or rejecting someone else's negative outlook and pessimistic view.

Train your mind to be in charge of your body!
A positive attitude starts with positive thoughts. If your thoughts aren't positive, your words won't be positive. Let your mind guide your speech. When you start talking positive and stop saying things like, "I just know I'm going to get that cold that's going around the office" or "I get the flu every winter" or "I'm just like my father, and he died of a heart attack when he was 50," then you will know that your mind is under control. Once your mind and speech are under your control, you'll start having a noticeably positive effect on your health.

Having your mind under control has nothing to do with limiting your creativity, ability to think or ability to relate to others. It means you do not allow the negative thoughts that flow into your mind to set up house and dictate your life. In fact, a positive mental attitude will free you to live life more fully and enjoyably!

Be well!

* * * * * * * *
I am not a doctor and have no medical training.
The information in this blog is not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Statements made on this blog
have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Consult a healthcare professional before using any products,
treatments or exercises mentioned on this blog.

"Let food be thy medicine and
medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates

Acidic foods can stop acid reflux and GERD

Several decades ago, there was an urban myth about the cause of acid indigestion. It was so long ago, that the terms "acid reflux" and "GERD" (gastroesophageal reflux disease) hadn't been invented! The myth claimed that people with acid indigestion didn't eat enough acid, so the stomach had to make up for the acid shortcomings of the diet. While this is largely bunk, it does contain a small element of truth: some acidic foods can completely stop acid reflux.

My June 30, 2006, blog, Burp! How to prevent & stop GERD, introduced you to a few foods that could help you create an alkaline stomach and body. I'd like to expand on that.

Acid-causing foods you'll want to avoid
Foods that taste acidic are thought to be the cause of acid indigestion. It's not how the food tastes that determines its acidity - it's the final result of the food when it's digested. Lemons and limes are acid when you put them in your mouth, but they leave no acidic ash, which is the result of digestion (a highly simplified explanation). Even the preparation of food impacts its acid level after you've digested it. Fresh tomatoes are alkaline, but cooked tomatoes are highly acidic. Cut tomatoes into your salad, and you're fine; put tomato sauce on a pizza, and you'll have a three-alarm fire in your esophagus.

Chocolate - milk, dark or unsweetened - usually tastes pretty harmless, but it is quite acidic by the time your stomach's done with it. The same goes for most dairy products. One of the exceptions is goat's milk, which is alkaline. By the way, it doesn't matter if it's milk, cottage cheese, hard cheese, yogurt or butter - if it comes from a cow, it's going to leave an acidic residue and burn you.

Sugar and artificial sweeteners also cause an acid stomach. So do natural sweeteners, including honey, maple syrup, barley malt syrup, corn syrup, turbinado sugar, brown rice syrup, cane juice and fructose. One of the exceptions is stevia. I buy a very pure form of stevia called stevioside and use it in place of all sweetening agents. Stevia won't taste as good as sugar, but at least you won't burn after eating it. High-quality stevioside can be purchased online from Emperor's Herbologist. I've been buying stevioside from them exclusively for almost ten years. Click on the link marked "High-quality stevia" in the left column.

Alcohol, black/green teas, sodas, fruit juices and coffee are acid. If you can't give these up, then you might want to consider adding baking soda to each serving you swallow. Read more about baking soda's ability to short circuit acid reflux in the blog linked above. Adding about 1/8 tsp to 1/4 tsp may be all you need to stop acid indigestion from occurring when you drink these liquids.

Eggs and meat are highly acidic. So is most seafood. That doesn't sound like there's much left to eat, huh?

Alkaline-causing foods you can eat
When I first went alkaline, I thought I would starve to death! However, I've come to realize that there's a world of food that's very tasty. I've tried new recipes and foods that I'd never eaten before. Acid indigestion wasn't a huge problem for me, just an occasional one. But, I didn't like it even then, so I decided to put an end to all acid indigestion. No sense in putting yourself at risk if you can avoid it so easily. Here's what you CAN eat.

Wild-caught freshwater and ocean fish are mildly or moderately acidic, respectively. Most vegetables in their raw state are alkaline. So are grasses (e.g., barley, rye and wheat) and sprouts (e.g., mung, alfalfa and radish). Coconut and coconut milk/water are staples for alkaline dieters. I'm not talking about the sweetened coconut you use for pies! Raw coconut and canned coconut milk are alkaline. Raw and unsalted almonds are alkaline, as are most seeds. Beans and legumes are very alkaline and provide protein.

Some salts are acidic. Our family switched to sea salt several years ago. It's harvested from the Mediterranean and dried in the sun. Ordinary table salt is artificially heated to very high temperatures. This changes the salt and makes it acidic. RealSalt, which is salt that has been buried under volcanic ash and is filled with essential minerals, is not heated, is very alkaline and will not cause acid reflux. We switched to RealSalt when I discovered the alkaline diet.

Many of the oils used for salad dressings, mayonnaises and frying are acid. Good oils to use include coconut oil (my favorite), flaxseed oil, and fish oils.

Where to buy the good stuff
RealSalt is available in many stores. It's even carried at the gas station's convenience store down the street from my house! If you can't find it locally (it comes in a plastic packet with a twist-on pour spout), you can order it from Amazon by clicking on the link below.



Make sure the coconut oil you buy is UNrefined. Tocotrienols: a tastier & healthier vitamin E! was a blog I posted in June 2006, and it has more about the benefits of coconut oil. Several of the retailers in the left column carry unrefined, virgin coconut oil if you can't find it locally. Below is a link to Nutiva, which is the brand I use.



If there are no natural food stores or vitamin stores in your area, you may want to consider growing your own organic produce. It may be necessary to make a trip every three months or so to a town that has the non-perishable alkalizing supplies you need or simply start ordering these items through the internet.

Going "cold turkey"?
If you can't stop eating all your fun foods and eat only alkalizing foods (I can't), then start eliminating acid foods little by little. Maybe you could replace one acid food with one alkaline food every week. Or, one food group every week.

Convert as slow or as fast as your schedule or time allows. You may even find that eliminating one food or group puts an end to your acid reflux. If you continue to have acid reflux, then you may need to be on a 100% acid-free diet all the time. Does that sound awful? The next time that fire rises up from your stomach and scorches your esophagus, an alkaline diet will sound like a blessing instead of a curse!

* * * * * * * *
I am not a doctor and have no medical training.
The information in this blog is not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Statements made on this blog
have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Consult a healthcare professional before using any products,
treatments or exercises mentioned on this blog.

"Let food be thy medicine and
medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates

Migraines? Magnesium!

There's a slight pressure behind your eyes. You know what it means. A migraine will soon explode in your head. You won't be able to work, eat, sleep or drive your car. You'll become so sensitive to light that neither sunglasses nor closing your eyes will be dark enough. One by one, the other symptoms start arriving. In just a few minutes, you'll need to lie down in a very dark room and pass in and out of a surreal existence until the migraine ends.

Your migraine may not start the same way, but the end result is the same: unforgiving, unrelenting pain that is so unbelievably severe that life is unbearable.

How I banished my migraines forever
As I write this, I'm about a month away from turning 58. When I was a teenager, I had so many migraines, that it was easier to count the days without a migraine than to count the ones with them! There was a pattern, but no one was interested. In my case, the migraines came just before my period and ended about a week after my period. That's about three weeks out of every month. I was miserable most of the time.

Around the age of 14, I became interested in eating a proper diet and bought my first Adele Davis book - Let's Eat Right to Keep Fit. Davis suggested that women who have severe menstrual cramps (which I also had) could benefit from magnesium supplements. My mother wasn't about to buy magnesium supplements, so I was left in a lurch. When I finally left home after college, I took my first magnesium supplement and saw my migraines virtually disappear. I'd get a few every now and then, but the severity was minor and the duration was usually less than a day. As of today, I haven't had a migraine for 19 years.

Doctors aren't interested in natural cures for migraines
When I was a teen, I told a doctor that I had severe headaches. His response? You need a boyfriend to get your mind off yourself. Not much has changed. About five years ago, I read an article that migraine sufferers should stick to prescribed drugs and not "take a chance" with magnesium. The article was in a well-known headache journal for migraine sufferers, was written by a medical doctor and was published by a world-famous medical clinic located in a northern US city. The doctor explained that magnesium might not work or could possibly interfere with prescribed drugs. If that's the case, then patients should have been advised to stay clear of all foods with high magnesium levels. Of course, they weren't.

It seems that most doctors are interested in treating patients (or, rather, symptoms) without giving non-drug alternatives any consideration. That's probably the reason you're reading this blog. You've got a pounding in your head, and no one's been able to make it disappear.

Start with low magnesium dosages and work your way up til you find YOUR level
The magnesium I take is a 400mg capsule. I get additional magnesium with my calcium supplement. My total daily magnesium intake is 967mg a day. I get 189mg in my calcium supplement with each meal, and I take my 400mg magnesium supplement with breakfast. Before I entered menopause, I took 1,400mg a day. Some people need even more. If you decide to give magnesium a try, do so in small dosages. Too much magnesium can cause diarrhea. By working your way up the dosage scale, you'll be more likely to find the optimum level for your body.

I don't know everything about migraines, but I know someone who does
What Your Doctor May NOT Tell You About Migraines was written by Alexander Mauskop, MD, and Barry Fox, PhD, and will give you several alternatives to expensive prescription drugs - including magnesium. Click on the Amazon link below if you're interested in this groundbreaking book!



Additional sources:
Magnes Res. 2005 Jun;18(2):109-22
Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2005 Jun;9(3):202-5
J Am Acad Nurse Pract. 2004 Jun;16(6):251-6
Vitam Horm. 2004;69:297-312

* * * * * * * *
I am not a doctor and have no medical training.
The information in this blog is not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Statements made on this blog
have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Consult a healthcare professional before using any products,
treatments or exercises mentioned on this blog.

"Let food be thy medicine and
medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates

Pycnogenol reduces muscle pain by 72%

"No pain, no gain" often leaves me wondering how much pain is too much.

One reason you feel pain when you exercise or over-exert yourself is the presence of a higher level of waste products. Usually, your body washes them away, and you don't feel pain. When you overdo things or are involved in bodybuilding, the waste products build up faster than they can be removed. Tree bark might help your body recover faster from muscle pain.

Aching muscles? Wipe out the pain!
Pycnogenol is a natural extract from Maritime pine tree bark, and Italian scientists have proven that it makes sore muscles feel better faster. Doctors at G. D'Annunzio University in Chieti, Italy, tested Pyncogenol on athletes as well as patients suffering from various blood vessel disorders (e.g., intermittent claudication and diabetic microangiopathy). Test groups received either a placebo or 200mg of Pycnogenol for four weeks and then were tested for muscle pain or cramps during the fifth week. Muscle cramps in the athletes decreased 72%, while patients suffering from blood vessel disorders had a 59% decrease. The placebo groups had no significant reduction in pain or cramps.

According to the researchers, "Pycnogenol prevents cramps, muscular pain at rest, and pain after/during exercise in normals, in athletes prone to cramps, in patients with venous disease, in claudicants, and in diabetics with microangiopathy. The difference is statistically significant." Imagine the improvement in your quality of life if you could relieve your muscle pain and cramps by almost three-fourths!

Stop blood clots from long-term sitting or inactivity
Have you ever sat for long periods of time - either at home, at work or on a plane - and found your ankles had swollen so badly that you could hardly walk? It's a common problem, especially with the number of people traveling longer distances by plane. Besides being unsightly, it causes pain and stiffness. It takes a lot of walking (which is difficult when you're in pain) and usually a good night's sleep to get back to normal. Pycnogenol may help relieve that problem, too.

Doctors at G. D'Annunzio University and L'Aquila University (both in Italy) studied 169 travelers on long-haul flights to determine if Pycnogenol could stop their ankles from swelling. Ankle-swelling is caused by fluid accumulation and can be an early warning sign of more serious health problems. Scientists found that the swelling of ankles in the control group increased by 58.3%, while the group receiving Pycnogenol had an increase of only 17.9%.

In a related study conducted by the same two universities, they found that Pycnogenol reduced deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and superficial vein thrombosis (SVT). Thrombosis means you have a blood clot, which can be deadly. Subjects received 100mg of Pycnogenol two to three hours before their flights, another 100mg six hours later and a third 100mg dose the next day. In the group receiving a placebo, there were five thrombosis events, while the people receiving Pycnogenol had NO thrombosis events.

In the clinical trials I reviewed, all stated that users of Pycnogenol experienced no side effects from use. How many prescription drugs can make that statement?

Dosage & how to shop for Pycnogenol
In some of the studies, only 100mg of Pycnogenol was given, but one study administered 200mg to subjects. It might be a good idea to start with a lower dose to determine if it's enough to relieve pain or cramps. If it doesn't, you might want to increase the dosage to 200mg.

While Pycnogenol is usually pricey, I've found a product sold through VitaCost that's bargain-priced. In comparison to other brands, you'll be paying less than half!

Click on the VitaCost ad in the left column and enter Pine Bark Extract 95% OPC in the search box. You can copy the words from this blog and paste them in the search box at VitaCost.

So, get on that plane and visit family and friends. If you take Pycnogenol, you'll arrive almost as fresh as when you left!

Additional sources:
Angiology. 2006 May-Jun;57(3):331-9
Clin Appl Thromb Hemost. 2005 Jul;11(3):289-94
Clin Appl Thromb Hemost. 2004 Oct;10(4):373-7

* * * * * * * *
I am not a doctor and have no medical training.
The information in this blog is not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Statements made on this blog
have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Consult a healthcare professional before using any products,
treatments or exercises mentioned on this blog.

"Let food be thy medicine and
medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates

Pomegranate kills colon & prostate cancers

If you've been diagnosed with either colon or prostate cancer (or they're in your family history), pomegranates may be able to stop these dreaded diseases in their tracks.

Is ellagitannin the ultimate cancer killer?
Antioxidants help your immune system stand up to invaders such as germs, viruses, cancers and other microbes. Your body produces some of its own antioxidants (e.g., melatonin and superoxide dismutase), but Mother Nature is a vast storehouse of them.

Ellagitannin is one of the more powerful antioxidants, and it's found in a number of fruits, including raspberries and pomegranates. Research shows that it's able to decrease and even eliminate some deadly forms of cancer.

Is ellagitannin the ultimate cancer killer?
In animal tests, researchers at the University of Wisconsin in Madison discovered that pomegranate fruit extract (which contains ellagitannin) inhibited cell growth and promoted apoptosis (cell death) of "highly aggressive human prostate carcinoma PC3 cells." Besides reducing the deadly prostate cancer cells, pomegranate fruit extract also reduced the "secretion of prostate-specific antigen (PSA)."

Pomegranate juice is also a powerhouse when it comes to fighting colon cancer. The Center for Human Nutrition at UCLA conducted laboratory tests on HT-29 human colon cancer cells to determine if ellagitannins from pomegranates could inhibit the growth or promote the death of the cells. The test results are nothing short of astounding. They found that NF-KappaB cells (read "Curcumin: a delicious spice that kills cancer cells" for more about these cancer cells) were suppressed from binding (which prevents growth and spread) by a factor of 10 when exposed to pomegranate tannin extract! Furthermore, ellagitannin "abolished TNFalpha-induced AKT activation, needed for NF-KappaB activity." That means the cancer cells were stopped in their tracks by pomegranate ellagitannins, making it difficult for them to get a foothold.

Other benefits of pomegranate ellagitannins
UCLA scientists found that pomegranate juice also helps protect nitric oxide (NO), a gas produced by your body. NO helps relax blood vessels, which is essential for lowering blood pressure levels. Blueberries and Concord grape juice also protect nitric oxide, but not nearly as well as promegranate juice. Protecting NO from oxidation also helps men get and maintain erections, as nitric oxide allows the blood vessels of the penis to more readily accept blood.

Pills or juice - your choice
Personally, I can't stand the taste of pomegranates. If you like the taste, you can easily juice the fruit. Remember to use organic pomegranates! If you can tolerate the taste a little bit, then you might try Jarrow Formulas Pomegranate Juice concentrate. It's inexpensive, and you take only a tablespoon or two daily. Click on the link below if you want to try a liquid formula.



If juicing or taking a liquid supplement is inconvenient, try NOW brand's Pomeratrol. It's standardized to guarantee that a certain amount of the antioxidant is in each pill. Click on the Amazon link below to buy this brand.



Additional sources:
Nitric Oxide. 2006 Apr 18; [Epub ahead of print]
Nitric Oxide. 2006 Jan 11; [Epub ahead of print]
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Oct 11;102(41):14813-8. Epub 2005 Sep 28
Cell Cycle. 2006 Feb;5(4):371-3. Epub 2006 Feb 15
J Agric Food Chem. 2006 Feb 8;54(3):980-5

* * * * * * * *
I am not a doctor and have no medical training.
The information in this blog is not intended
to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Statements made on this blog
have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Consult a healthcare professional before using any products,
treatments or exercises mentioned on this blog.

"Let food be thy medicine and
medicine be thy food" - Hippocrates