Monday, November 8, 2010
New facility
Well, I am pleased to announce the opening of my new business. I am just down from our Amara Medical Spa in Ence's new Rio Plaza building. I have started Allie Blazzard, FNP-C, The Center for Anti-Aging & Aesthetics. We are excited to be doing HCG weight loss, hormone balancing (including, but not limited to: menopausal symptoms, andropause symptoms, testosterone replacement therapy, PMS symptoms, PCOS and much more), Botox, Dysport, Wrinkle Fillers, Teeth Whitening, Laser Skin Resurfacing, Fotofacials, Aesthetics & Skin Care. We are St. George's only authorized retailer for Bare Escentuals make-up. We are located at 558 E. Riverside Dr. Suite 205. Visit our new website at thecenterforantiaging.com or give us a call at our new number (435)-674-9355. We are running some great specials for the holiday season. Call and take advantage of them today! Join us on Facebook!
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Obesity is not the only health risk your child faces if he eats a diet consisting mainly of processed foods and snacks. As illustrated by this study, a junk food diet – with is a largely denatured diet, devoid of "live" nutrients such as healthy bacteria – can also set the stage for asthma, eczema, and a variety of allergies, inflammatory conditions and autoimmune diseases.
Sadly, as the Western-style diet spreads across the globe, much of the natural microbial diversity that is so crucial to good health is actually starting to disappear! Here, the authors stress the importance of "preserving this treasure of microbial diversity from ancient rural communities worldwide."
Indeed, the importance of eating a gut-healthy diet cannot be underestimated. Your gut plays a major role in your physical and even mental health, and having a healthy gut entails maintaining a balance of "good" and "bad" bacteria – something you simply will not accomplish by eating highly processed, "dead" foods.
Until recently, most doctors dismissed the notion that your digestive system did much of anything outside of breaking down food, but in recent years scientists have revealed just how inaccurate this thinking was.
For example, an estimated 80 percent of your immune system is actually located in your gut, so supporting your digestive health is essential to also supporting your immune system, which is your number one defense system against ALL disease.
Therefore, it should come as no major surprise to find out that lack of beneficial bacteria in your intestines will also allow allergies, inflammation and autoimmune diseases to flourish where they might not otherwise.
Common signs and symptoms that you may need to address your intestinal balance include:
* Gas and bloating
* Constipation or diarrhea
* Nausea
* Headaches
* Fatigue
* Sugar cravings, and cravings for refined carb foods
Chances are, if you or your entire family eats a lot of processed junk foods and fast foods, this list may be a description of a more or less an everyday "normal" state for you
So What Foods Should You Avoid Like the Plague?
Soda.
In my mind this is where most people will get the biggest bang for the effort involved. The average person is consuming more than one gallon of soda per week. This is one of the easiest shifts to make. Most diet sodas are worse than regular sodas as you can read in Dr. Mercola's recent review on aspartame.
While many of you are not likely consuming many sodas it is vital to understand the importance of this simple change on your friends and family who are not as health inclined as you. So gentle persistent encouragement of this principle will have massively profound implications on their health.
Fortunately there are simple alternatives that are relatively easy to implement. The best is pure clean water. For those who are really struggling you can purchase carbonated water and use flavored liquid stevias which tastes very close to most sodas. You can also use Turbo Tapping which is a highly effective free EFT tapping technique.
Doughnuts and Pasties
Overall these foods are worse than soda as they not only have sugar typically in the form of high fructose corn syrup, but they also have dangerous trans fats. The reason I did not list this one first is that they are not as consumed by as many people
French Fries
Oh they taste so good but are ever so bad for you as they are loaded with the worst types of fat on the planet. Typically highly refined GMO omega 6 oils that are bad enough if you eat them as unheated salad dressing but then they are heated to a high temperature to transform them into a health destroying mixture that is guaranteed to drag your health down.
Avoid these like the plague. Be particularly careful when ordering hamburgers and other similar foods in a restaurant as most will include fries as the default and once they are at your table they are very difficult to resist. So please sure and tell the server that you want an alternative.
Nearly All Breakfast Cereals
Breakfast is, without question, the single most challenging meal to eat outside of your home. Nearly all typical breakfast offerings will drag your health down. The most common one that many people use are breakfast cereals which are merely disguised forms of high fructose corn syrup loaded with GMO grains. But pancakes, French toast, waffles, scrambled eggs and rolls don't do much to improve your health.
The Many Health Benefits of Maintaining Healthy Gut Flora
The ideal ratio between the bacteria in your body is 85 percent "good" and 15 percent "bad." That's right – you need FAR more beneficial bacteria (probiotics) than you might think in order to maintain the right balance.
The key here is to avoid as many processed foods as you can. This is a challenge because over 90% of the foods that Americans eat are processed and the number source of calories is high fructose corn syrup. So the general principle is to avoid processed foods, but some foods are more particularly pernicious than others so let me give you some examples.
This ratio is essential for:
* The proper development and function of your immune system
* Protection against over-growth of other microorganisms that could cause disease
* Digestion of food and absorption of nutrients
* Producing vitamins, absorbing minerals and eliminating toxins
As you can see, probiotics perform a wide variety of functions, which renders them useful and beneficial for a number of health concerns, including the prevention or control of:
* Food and skin allergies in children
* Vaginitis
* Premature labor in pregnant women
* Inflammatory bowel disease
* Recurrent ear and bladder infections
* Chronic diarrhea
One of the ways friendly bacteria help prevent allergies, infections and inflammatory conditions is by training your immune system to distinguish between pathogens and non-harmful antigens, and to respond appropriately.
When you're deficient in these healthy bacteria, your immune system is ill equipped to address the many pathogens and antigens entering your system on a daily basis, and health problems can easily ensue.
Your Gut's Microflora Also Impacts Your Weight
The microflora in your digestive system is also emerging as a major player in weight management, and needless to say, junk food and weight gain typically go hand in hand.
Your gut flora is by no means the only underlying reason for this, but it does play an important part.
Multiple studies have shown that obese people have different intestinal bacteria than slim people, and it appears that the microbes in an overweight body are much more efficient at extracting calories from food.
Researchers have also suggested that certain bacteria may cause low-grade inflammation in your body, further contributing to obesity and difficulty to lose weight.
One such study found that the bifidobacteria counts taken from infants at the age of 6 months and 12 months were twice as high in healthy weight children as in those who became overweight, while S. Aureus levels were lower.
Interestingly, this finding may explain why breast-fed babies are also at a lower risk of obesity, as bifidobacteria flourish in the guts of breast-fed babies.
The breast-fed Italian babies in the study above were also the only ones harboring bacteria resembling the African children's, which indicates your "diet may dominate other factors such as ethnicity, sanitation, geography or climate," the researchers said.
Two previous studies found that obese people had about 20 percent more of a family of bacteria known as firmicutes, and almost 90 percent less of a bacteria called bacteroidetes than lean people. (Firmicutes help your body to extract calories from complex sugars and deposit those calories in fat.)
This latest study confirms those results, as here too, the African children had significantly higher levels of Bacteroidetes and far lower levels of the firmicutes linked to obesity.
How to Optimize the Bacteria in Your Gut
Fortunately, influencing the ratio of bacteria growing in your body is relatively easy. One of the most important steps you can take is to stop consuming processed and sugary foods. This includes cutting down on grains, as most grains are quickly converted into sugar in your body.
Keep in mind, of course, that if you or your children need to lose some excess weight, balancing your gut bacteria is only one part of the equation. Regular exercise and addressing any emotional blocks are also very important.
When you eat a healthy diet low in sugars and processed foods, one of the major benefits is that it naturally causes the good bacteria in your gut to flourish.
Yet, even with an extremely low-sugar diet, there are other factors that influence your gut bacteria. Antibiotics, chlorinated water, antibacterial soap, agricultural chemicals, pollution -- all of these things help to kill off your good bacteria. This is why it's a wise choice to "reseed" your body with good bacteria from time to time by taking a high-quality probiotic supplement or eating fermented foods.
In the past, people used fermented foods like yogurt and sauerkraut to support their digestive health, as these foods are rich in naturally beneficial bacteria. This is still the best route to optimal digestive health.
If you were to eat a diet rich in fermented foods that have NOT been pasteurized (as pasteurization kills the naturally occurring probiotics), then you would likely enjoy great digestive health without any additional supplementation.
However, if you simply do not like any of these types of fermented foods, your next best option is to use a high quality probiotic supplement.
Keep in mind, however, that processed foods in general will destroy healthy microflora and feed bad bacteria and yeast, so you can't use the drug approach to probiotics -- meaning, you can't maintain a diet high in processed foods while taking a probiotic supplement to counteract the ill effects.
You may be able to temporarily suppress some of the troublesome symptoms caused by that kind of diet, but it won't work in the long run.
Make better choices today!!!
Sadly, as the Western-style diet spreads across the globe, much of the natural microbial diversity that is so crucial to good health is actually starting to disappear! Here, the authors stress the importance of "preserving this treasure of microbial diversity from ancient rural communities worldwide."
Indeed, the importance of eating a gut-healthy diet cannot be underestimated. Your gut plays a major role in your physical and even mental health, and having a healthy gut entails maintaining a balance of "good" and "bad" bacteria – something you simply will not accomplish by eating highly processed, "dead" foods.
Until recently, most doctors dismissed the notion that your digestive system did much of anything outside of breaking down food, but in recent years scientists have revealed just how inaccurate this thinking was.
For example, an estimated 80 percent of your immune system is actually located in your gut, so supporting your digestive health is essential to also supporting your immune system, which is your number one defense system against ALL disease.
Therefore, it should come as no major surprise to find out that lack of beneficial bacteria in your intestines will also allow allergies, inflammation and autoimmune diseases to flourish where they might not otherwise.
Common signs and symptoms that you may need to address your intestinal balance include:
* Gas and bloating
* Constipation or diarrhea
* Nausea
* Headaches
* Fatigue
* Sugar cravings, and cravings for refined carb foods
Chances are, if you or your entire family eats a lot of processed junk foods and fast foods, this list may be a description of a more or less an everyday "normal" state for you
So What Foods Should You Avoid Like the Plague?
Soda.
In my mind this is where most people will get the biggest bang for the effort involved. The average person is consuming more than one gallon of soda per week. This is one of the easiest shifts to make. Most diet sodas are worse than regular sodas as you can read in Dr. Mercola's recent review on aspartame.
While many of you are not likely consuming many sodas it is vital to understand the importance of this simple change on your friends and family who are not as health inclined as you. So gentle persistent encouragement of this principle will have massively profound implications on their health.
Fortunately there are simple alternatives that are relatively easy to implement. The best is pure clean water. For those who are really struggling you can purchase carbonated water and use flavored liquid stevias which tastes very close to most sodas. You can also use Turbo Tapping which is a highly effective free EFT tapping technique.
Doughnuts and Pasties
Overall these foods are worse than soda as they not only have sugar typically in the form of high fructose corn syrup, but they also have dangerous trans fats. The reason I did not list this one first is that they are not as consumed by as many people
French Fries
Oh they taste so good but are ever so bad for you as they are loaded with the worst types of fat on the planet. Typically highly refined GMO omega 6 oils that are bad enough if you eat them as unheated salad dressing but then they are heated to a high temperature to transform them into a health destroying mixture that is guaranteed to drag your health down.
Avoid these like the plague. Be particularly careful when ordering hamburgers and other similar foods in a restaurant as most will include fries as the default and once they are at your table they are very difficult to resist. So please sure and tell the server that you want an alternative.
Nearly All Breakfast Cereals
Breakfast is, without question, the single most challenging meal to eat outside of your home. Nearly all typical breakfast offerings will drag your health down. The most common one that many people use are breakfast cereals which are merely disguised forms of high fructose corn syrup loaded with GMO grains. But pancakes, French toast, waffles, scrambled eggs and rolls don't do much to improve your health.
The Many Health Benefits of Maintaining Healthy Gut Flora
The ideal ratio between the bacteria in your body is 85 percent "good" and 15 percent "bad." That's right – you need FAR more beneficial bacteria (probiotics) than you might think in order to maintain the right balance.
The key here is to avoid as many processed foods as you can. This is a challenge because over 90% of the foods that Americans eat are processed and the number source of calories is high fructose corn syrup. So the general principle is to avoid processed foods, but some foods are more particularly pernicious than others so let me give you some examples.
This ratio is essential for:
* The proper development and function of your immune system
* Protection against over-growth of other microorganisms that could cause disease
* Digestion of food and absorption of nutrients
* Producing vitamins, absorbing minerals and eliminating toxins
As you can see, probiotics perform a wide variety of functions, which renders them useful and beneficial for a number of health concerns, including the prevention or control of:
* Food and skin allergies in children
* Vaginitis
* Premature labor in pregnant women
* Inflammatory bowel disease
* Recurrent ear and bladder infections
* Chronic diarrhea
One of the ways friendly bacteria help prevent allergies, infections and inflammatory conditions is by training your immune system to distinguish between pathogens and non-harmful antigens, and to respond appropriately.
When you're deficient in these healthy bacteria, your immune system is ill equipped to address the many pathogens and antigens entering your system on a daily basis, and health problems can easily ensue.
Your Gut's Microflora Also Impacts Your Weight
The microflora in your digestive system is also emerging as a major player in weight management, and needless to say, junk food and weight gain typically go hand in hand.
Your gut flora is by no means the only underlying reason for this, but it does play an important part.
Multiple studies have shown that obese people have different intestinal bacteria than slim people, and it appears that the microbes in an overweight body are much more efficient at extracting calories from food.
Researchers have also suggested that certain bacteria may cause low-grade inflammation in your body, further contributing to obesity and difficulty to lose weight.
One such study found that the bifidobacteria counts taken from infants at the age of 6 months and 12 months were twice as high in healthy weight children as in those who became overweight, while S. Aureus levels were lower.
Interestingly, this finding may explain why breast-fed babies are also at a lower risk of obesity, as bifidobacteria flourish in the guts of breast-fed babies.
The breast-fed Italian babies in the study above were also the only ones harboring bacteria resembling the African children's, which indicates your "diet may dominate other factors such as ethnicity, sanitation, geography or climate," the researchers said.
Two previous studies found that obese people had about 20 percent more of a family of bacteria known as firmicutes, and almost 90 percent less of a bacteria called bacteroidetes than lean people. (Firmicutes help your body to extract calories from complex sugars and deposit those calories in fat.)
This latest study confirms those results, as here too, the African children had significantly higher levels of Bacteroidetes and far lower levels of the firmicutes linked to obesity.
How to Optimize the Bacteria in Your Gut
Fortunately, influencing the ratio of bacteria growing in your body is relatively easy. One of the most important steps you can take is to stop consuming processed and sugary foods. This includes cutting down on grains, as most grains are quickly converted into sugar in your body.
Keep in mind, of course, that if you or your children need to lose some excess weight, balancing your gut bacteria is only one part of the equation. Regular exercise and addressing any emotional blocks are also very important.
When you eat a healthy diet low in sugars and processed foods, one of the major benefits is that it naturally causes the good bacteria in your gut to flourish.
Yet, even with an extremely low-sugar diet, there are other factors that influence your gut bacteria. Antibiotics, chlorinated water, antibacterial soap, agricultural chemicals, pollution -- all of these things help to kill off your good bacteria. This is why it's a wise choice to "reseed" your body with good bacteria from time to time by taking a high-quality probiotic supplement or eating fermented foods.
In the past, people used fermented foods like yogurt and sauerkraut to support their digestive health, as these foods are rich in naturally beneficial bacteria. This is still the best route to optimal digestive health.
If you were to eat a diet rich in fermented foods that have NOT been pasteurized (as pasteurization kills the naturally occurring probiotics), then you would likely enjoy great digestive health without any additional supplementation.
However, if you simply do not like any of these types of fermented foods, your next best option is to use a high quality probiotic supplement.
Keep in mind, however, that processed foods in general will destroy healthy microflora and feed bad bacteria and yeast, so you can't use the drug approach to probiotics -- meaning, you can't maintain a diet high in processed foods while taking a probiotic supplement to counteract the ill effects.
You may be able to temporarily suppress some of the troublesome symptoms caused by that kind of diet, but it won't work in the long run.
Make better choices today!!!
Monday, July 5, 2010
MSG: Is This Silent Killer Lurking in Your Kitchen Cabinets?
I recently signed up for Dr. Mercola's newsletter. This article was one he just sent out last week. It's important, so I thought I should share it with you:
A widespread and silent killer that’s worse for your health than alcohol, nicotine and many drugs is likely lurking in your kitchen cabinets right now.
[1] “It” is monosodium glutamate (MSG), a flavor enhancer that’s known widely as an addition to Chinese food, but that’s actually added to thousands of the foods you and your family regularly eat, especially if you are like most Americans and eat the majority of your food as processed foods or in restaurants.
MSG is one of the worst food additives on the market and is used in canned soups, crackers, meats, salad dressings, frozen dinners and much more. It’s found in your local supermarket and restaurants, in your child’s school cafeteria and, amazingly, even in baby food and infant formula.
MSG is more than just a seasoning like salt and pepper, it actually enhances the flavor of foods, making processed meats and frozen dinners taste fresher and smell better, salad dressings more tasty, and canned foods less tinny.
While MSG’s benefits to the food industry are quite clear, this food additive could be slowly and silently doing major damage to your health.
What Exactly is MSG?
You may remember when the MSG powder called “Accent” first hit the U.S. market. Well, it was many decades prior to this, in 1908, that monosodium glutamate was invented. The inventor was Kikunae Ikeda, a Japanese man who identified the natural flavor enhancing substance of seaweed.
Taking a hint from this substance, they were able to create the man-made additive MSG, and he and a partner went on to form Ajinomoto, which is now the world’s largest producer of MSG (and interestingly also a drug manufacturer).[2]
Chemically speaking, MSG is approximately 78 percent free glutamic acid, 21 percent sodium, and up to 1 percent contaminants.[3]
It’s a misconception that MSG is a flavor or “meat tenderizer.” In reality, MSG has very little taste at all, yet when you eat MSG, you think the food you’re eating has more protein and tastes better. It does this by tricking your tongue, using a little-known fifth basic taste: umami.
Umami is the taste of glutamate, which is a savory flavor found in many Japanese foods, bacon and also in the toxic food additive MSG. It is because of umami that foods with MSG taste heartier, more robust and generally better to a lot of people than foods without it.
The ingredient didn’t become widespread in the United States until after World War II, when the U.S. military realized Japanese rations were much tastier than the U.S. versions because of MSG.
In 1959, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration labeled MSG as “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS), and it has remained that way ever since. Yet, it was a telling sign when just 10 years later a condition known as “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” entered the medical literature, describing the numerous side effects, from numbness to heart palpitations, that people experienced after eating MSG.
Today that syndrome is more appropriately called “MSG Symptom Complex,” which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) identifies as "short-term reactions" to MSG. More on those “reactions” to come.
Why MSG is so Dangerous
One of the best overviews of the very real dangers of MSG comes from Dr. Russell Blaylock, a board-certified neurosurgeon and author of “Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills.” In it he explains that MSG is an excitotoxin, which means it overexcites your cells to the point of damage or death, causing brain damage to varying degrees -- and potentially even triggering or worsening learning disabilities, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease and more.
Part of the problem also is that free glutamic acid is the same neurotransmitter that your brain, nervous system, eyes, pancreas and other organs use to initiate certain processes in your body.[4] Even the FDA states:
“Studies have shown that the body uses glutamate, an amino acid, as a nerve impulse transmitter in the brain and that there are glutamate-responsive tissues in other parts of the body, as well.
Abnormal function of glutamate receptors has been linked with certain neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's chorea. Injections of glutamate in laboratory animals have resulted in damage to nerve cells in the brain.”[5]
Although the FDA continues to claim that consuming MSG in food does not cause these ill effects, many other experts say otherwise.
According to Dr. Blaylock, numerous glutamate receptors have been found both within your heart's electrical conduction system and the heart muscle itself. This can be damaging to your heart, and may even explain the sudden deaths sometimes seen among young athletes.
He says:
“When an excess of food-borne excitotoxins, such as MSG, hydrolyzed protein, soy protein isolate and concentrate, natural flavoring, sodium caseinate and aspartate from aspartame, are consumed, these glutamate receptors are over-stimulated, producing cardiac arrhythmias.
When magnesium stores are low, as we see in athletes, the glutamate receptors are so sensitive that even low levels of these excitotoxins can result in cardiac arrhythmias and death.”[6]
Many other adverse effects have also been linked to regular consumption of MSG, including:
* Obesity
* Eye damage
* Headaches
* Fatigue and disorientation
* Depression
Further, even the FDA admits that “short-term reactions” known as MSG Symptom Complex can occur in certain groups of people, namely those who have eaten “large doses” of MSG or those who have asthma.[7]
According to the FDA, MSG Symptom Complex can involve symptoms such as:
* Numbness
* Burning sensation
* Tingling
* Facial pressure or tightness
* Chest pain or difficulty breathing
* Headache
* Nausea
* Rapid heartbeat
* Drowsiness
* Weakness
No one knows for sure just how many people may be “sensitive” to MSG, but studies from the 1970s suggested that 25 percent to 30 percent of the U.S. population was intolerant of MSG -- at levels then found in food. Since the use of MSG has expanded dramatically since that time, it’s been estimated that up to 40 percent of the population may be impacted.[8]
How to Determine if MSG is in Your Food
Food manufacturers are not stupid, and they’ve caught on to the fact that people like you want to avoid eating this nasty food additive. As a result, do you think they responded by removing MSG from their products? Well, a few may have, but most of them just tried to “clean” their labels. In other words, they tried to hide the fact that MSG is an ingredient.
How do they do this? By using names that you would never associate with MSG.
You see, it’s required by the FDA that food manufacturers list the ingredient “monosodium glutamate” on food labels, but they do not have to label ingredients that contain free glutamic acid, even though it’s the main component of MSG.
There are over 40 labeled ingredients that contain glutamic acid,[9] but you’d never know it just from their names alone. Further, in some foods glutamic acid is formed during processing and, again, food labels give you no way of knowing for sure.
Tips for Keeping MSG Out of Your Diet
In general, if a food is processed you can assume it contains MSG (or one of its pseudo-ingredients). So if you stick to a whole, fresh foods diet, you can pretty much guarantee that you’ll avoid this toxin.
The other place where you’ll need to watch out for MSG is in restaurants. You can ask your server which menu items are MSG-free, and request that no MSG be added to your meal, but of course the only place where you can be entirely sure of what’s added to your food is in your own kitchen.
To be on the safe side, you should also know what ingredients to watch out for on packaged foods. Here is a list of ingredients that ALWAYS contain MSG:
Autolyzed Yeast, Calcium Caseinate, Gelatin Glutamate, Glutamic Acid, Hydrolyzed Protein, Monopotassium Glutamate, Monosodium Glutamate, Sodium Caseinate, Textured Protein, Yeast Extract, Yeast Food, Yeast Nutrient.
These ingredients OFTEN contain MSG or create MSG during processing:[10]
Natural Pork Flavoring, Natural Beef Flavoring, Natural Chicken Flavoring, Soy Sauce, Soy Protein Isolate, Soy Protein, Bouillon Stock, Broth, Malt Extract, Malt Flavoring, Barley Malt,
Anything Enzyme Modified, Carrageenan, Maltodextrin, Pectin, Enzymes,
Protease, Corn Starch, Citric Acid, Powdered Milk, Anything Protein, Fortified Anything, Ultra-Pasteurized.
So if you do eat processed foods, please remember to be on the lookout for these many hidden names for MSG.
Choosing to be MSG-Free
Making a decision to avoid MSG in your diet as much as possible is a wise choice for nearly everyone. Admittedly, it does take a bit more planning and time in the kitchen to prepare food at home, using fresh, locally grown ingredients. But knowing that your food is pure and free of toxic additives like MSG will make it well worth it.
Plus, choosing whole foods will ultimately give you better flavor and more health value than any MSG-laden processed food you could buy at your supermarket.
I recently signed up for Dr. Mercola's newsletter. This article was one he just sent out last week. It's important, so I thought I should share it with you:
A widespread and silent killer that’s worse for your health than alcohol, nicotine and many drugs is likely lurking in your kitchen cabinets right now.
[1] “It” is monosodium glutamate (MSG), a flavor enhancer that’s known widely as an addition to Chinese food, but that’s actually added to thousands of the foods you and your family regularly eat, especially if you are like most Americans and eat the majority of your food as processed foods or in restaurants.
MSG is one of the worst food additives on the market and is used in canned soups, crackers, meats, salad dressings, frozen dinners and much more. It’s found in your local supermarket and restaurants, in your child’s school cafeteria and, amazingly, even in baby food and infant formula.
MSG is more than just a seasoning like salt and pepper, it actually enhances the flavor of foods, making processed meats and frozen dinners taste fresher and smell better, salad dressings more tasty, and canned foods less tinny.
While MSG’s benefits to the food industry are quite clear, this food additive could be slowly and silently doing major damage to your health.
What Exactly is MSG?
You may remember when the MSG powder called “Accent” first hit the U.S. market. Well, it was many decades prior to this, in 1908, that monosodium glutamate was invented. The inventor was Kikunae Ikeda, a Japanese man who identified the natural flavor enhancing substance of seaweed.
Taking a hint from this substance, they were able to create the man-made additive MSG, and he and a partner went on to form Ajinomoto, which is now the world’s largest producer of MSG (and interestingly also a drug manufacturer).[2]
Chemically speaking, MSG is approximately 78 percent free glutamic acid, 21 percent sodium, and up to 1 percent contaminants.[3]
It’s a misconception that MSG is a flavor or “meat tenderizer.” In reality, MSG has very little taste at all, yet when you eat MSG, you think the food you’re eating has more protein and tastes better. It does this by tricking your tongue, using a little-known fifth basic taste: umami.
Umami is the taste of glutamate, which is a savory flavor found in many Japanese foods, bacon and also in the toxic food additive MSG. It is because of umami that foods with MSG taste heartier, more robust and generally better to a lot of people than foods without it.
The ingredient didn’t become widespread in the United States until after World War II, when the U.S. military realized Japanese rations were much tastier than the U.S. versions because of MSG.
In 1959, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration labeled MSG as “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS), and it has remained that way ever since. Yet, it was a telling sign when just 10 years later a condition known as “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome” entered the medical literature, describing the numerous side effects, from numbness to heart palpitations, that people experienced after eating MSG.
Today that syndrome is more appropriately called “MSG Symptom Complex,” which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) identifies as "short-term reactions" to MSG. More on those “reactions” to come.
Why MSG is so Dangerous
One of the best overviews of the very real dangers of MSG comes from Dr. Russell Blaylock, a board-certified neurosurgeon and author of “Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills.” In it he explains that MSG is an excitotoxin, which means it overexcites your cells to the point of damage or death, causing brain damage to varying degrees -- and potentially even triggering or worsening learning disabilities, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease and more.
Part of the problem also is that free glutamic acid is the same neurotransmitter that your brain, nervous system, eyes, pancreas and other organs use to initiate certain processes in your body.[4] Even the FDA states:
“Studies have shown that the body uses glutamate, an amino acid, as a nerve impulse transmitter in the brain and that there are glutamate-responsive tissues in other parts of the body, as well.
Abnormal function of glutamate receptors has been linked with certain neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's chorea. Injections of glutamate in laboratory animals have resulted in damage to nerve cells in the brain.”[5]
Although the FDA continues to claim that consuming MSG in food does not cause these ill effects, many other experts say otherwise.
According to Dr. Blaylock, numerous glutamate receptors have been found both within your heart's electrical conduction system and the heart muscle itself. This can be damaging to your heart, and may even explain the sudden deaths sometimes seen among young athletes.
He says:
“When an excess of food-borne excitotoxins, such as MSG, hydrolyzed protein, soy protein isolate and concentrate, natural flavoring, sodium caseinate and aspartate from aspartame, are consumed, these glutamate receptors are over-stimulated, producing cardiac arrhythmias.
When magnesium stores are low, as we see in athletes, the glutamate receptors are so sensitive that even low levels of these excitotoxins can result in cardiac arrhythmias and death.”[6]
Many other adverse effects have also been linked to regular consumption of MSG, including:
* Obesity
* Eye damage
* Headaches
* Fatigue and disorientation
* Depression
Further, even the FDA admits that “short-term reactions” known as MSG Symptom Complex can occur in certain groups of people, namely those who have eaten “large doses” of MSG or those who have asthma.[7]
According to the FDA, MSG Symptom Complex can involve symptoms such as:
* Numbness
* Burning sensation
* Tingling
* Facial pressure or tightness
* Chest pain or difficulty breathing
* Headache
* Nausea
* Rapid heartbeat
* Drowsiness
* Weakness
No one knows for sure just how many people may be “sensitive” to MSG, but studies from the 1970s suggested that 25 percent to 30 percent of the U.S. population was intolerant of MSG -- at levels then found in food. Since the use of MSG has expanded dramatically since that time, it’s been estimated that up to 40 percent of the population may be impacted.[8]
How to Determine if MSG is in Your Food
Food manufacturers are not stupid, and they’ve caught on to the fact that people like you want to avoid eating this nasty food additive. As a result, do you think they responded by removing MSG from their products? Well, a few may have, but most of them just tried to “clean” their labels. In other words, they tried to hide the fact that MSG is an ingredient.
How do they do this? By using names that you would never associate with MSG.
You see, it’s required by the FDA that food manufacturers list the ingredient “monosodium glutamate” on food labels, but they do not have to label ingredients that contain free glutamic acid, even though it’s the main component of MSG.
There are over 40 labeled ingredients that contain glutamic acid,[9] but you’d never know it just from their names alone. Further, in some foods glutamic acid is formed during processing and, again, food labels give you no way of knowing for sure.
Tips for Keeping MSG Out of Your Diet
In general, if a food is processed you can assume it contains MSG (or one of its pseudo-ingredients). So if you stick to a whole, fresh foods diet, you can pretty much guarantee that you’ll avoid this toxin.
The other place where you’ll need to watch out for MSG is in restaurants. You can ask your server which menu items are MSG-free, and request that no MSG be added to your meal, but of course the only place where you can be entirely sure of what’s added to your food is in your own kitchen.
To be on the safe side, you should also know what ingredients to watch out for on packaged foods. Here is a list of ingredients that ALWAYS contain MSG:
Autolyzed Yeast, Calcium Caseinate, Gelatin Glutamate, Glutamic Acid, Hydrolyzed Protein, Monopotassium Glutamate, Monosodium Glutamate, Sodium Caseinate, Textured Protein, Yeast Extract, Yeast Food, Yeast Nutrient.
These ingredients OFTEN contain MSG or create MSG during processing:[10]
Natural Pork Flavoring, Natural Beef Flavoring, Natural Chicken Flavoring, Soy Sauce, Soy Protein Isolate, Soy Protein, Bouillon Stock, Broth, Malt Extract, Malt Flavoring, Barley Malt,
Anything Enzyme Modified, Carrageenan, Maltodextrin, Pectin, Enzymes,
Protease, Corn Starch, Citric Acid, Powdered Milk, Anything Protein, Fortified Anything, Ultra-Pasteurized.
So if you do eat processed foods, please remember to be on the lookout for these many hidden names for MSG.
Choosing to be MSG-Free
Making a decision to avoid MSG in your diet as much as possible is a wise choice for nearly everyone. Admittedly, it does take a bit more planning and time in the kitchen to prepare food at home, using fresh, locally grown ingredients. But knowing that your food is pure and free of toxic additives like MSG will make it well worth it.
Plus, choosing whole foods will ultimately give you better flavor and more health value than any MSG-laden processed food you could buy at your supermarket.
Vitamin D:
It is estimated that 25 to 50 percent of any health care budget could be saved with adequate vitamin D serum levels
Vitamin D Dose Recommendations
Age Dosage
Below 5 35 units per pound per day
Age 5 - 10 2500 units
Adults
5000 units
Pregnant Women 5000 units
WARNING:
There is no way to know if the above recommendations are correct. The ONLY way to know is to test your blood. You might need 4-5 times the amount recommended above. Ideally your blood level of 25 OH D should be 60ng/ml.
Sources:
Grass Roots Health
As more and more scientific evidence emerges, confirming that currently recommended daily allowances (RDA) of vitamin D are grossly insufficient for young and old alike, many have asked me to clarify the recommended dosages, especially as it pertains to children.
General Information about Adult Vitamin D Requirements
Before I begin, I want to emphasize that under summer conditions it is frequently possible to generate about 20,000 units of vitamin D by exposing your skin to the sun. That fact makes these recommendations seem more in line with reality.
Currently, the U.S. RDA for vitamin D is 400 IU (international units) for the majority of the population. (IU is frequently shortened to just “units.”) This dose was recommended to prevent rickets, which works well, but does nothing to give the far more important protection from cancer, heart disease and infections.
To achieve the healthy blood levels in the graph below, most adults will need about FIVE THOUSAND units of vitamin D every day. Interestingly, the majority of people I see in my travels that are taking vitamin D are taking 1,000 units, and they believe they are taking “high” doses. Don’t fool yourself, as an adult, you likely need about 5,000 IU’s a day.
Some also worry that if they are in the sun that they will overdose on vitamin D.
However this is not typically the case, and here’s why: When you’re exposed to the sun, the UVB rays cause vitamin D to be produced in your skin while the UVA rays in the sunlight will tend to destroy excessive levels of vitamin D circulating in your body. It is somewhat of a natural failsafe mechanism that prevents overdosing.
HOWEVER, please understand that about 10 percent or more of the people reading this needs significantly more than 5,000 units. I have seen people requiring over 30,000 units of vitamin D a day to reach therapeutic levels of 25 hydroxy D in their blood..
Please remember that the ONLY way to know for sure is to get your blood level tested, which I’ll go over in just a moment.
Current RDA Guidelines for Vitamin D are Outdated in Light of New Research
At the end of 2008, the American Academy of Pediatrics doubled its recommended dose of vitamin D for infants, children and adolescents, raising it from 200 to 400 units per day.
Unfortunately this is still a woefully inadequate recommendation for children.
Recent research reveals children may need ten times that amount in order to receive the health benefits that optimal vitamin D levels have to offer.
As of right now, the conventional RDAs are only:
*
400 IU for infants, children and adolescents
*
200 IU for adults up to age 50
*
400 IU for adults aged 51 to 70
*
600 IU for seniors over 70
Recommended Daily Intake for Optimal Health
Based on the most recent research, the current recommendation is 35 IU’s of vitamin D per pound of body weight.
So for a child weighing 40 pounds, the recommended average dose would be 1,400 IU’s daily, and for a 170-pound adult, the dose would be nearly 6,000 IU’s.
However, it’s important to realize that vitamin D requirements are highly individual, as your vitamin D status is dependent on numerous factors, such as the color of your skin, your location, and how much sunshine you’re exposed to on a regular basis.
So, although these recommendations may put you closer to the ballpark of what most people likely need, it is simply impossible to make a blanket recommendation that will cover everyone’s needs.
So how do you ensure optimal vitamin D levels for yourself, your child, and aging parents?
Blood Testing is the ONLY Reliable Way to Determine How Much Vitamin D You or Your Child Needs
Yes, the only way to determine the correct dose is to get your blood tested since there are so many variables that influence your vitamin D status.
I recommend using Lab Corp in the U.S. If you get it done by Quest, you’ll need to divide your result by 1.3 to get the “real” number.
For your convenience, by year’s end we hope to offer a blood test that those in the U.S. can do locally and does not require a doctor’s order.
Step 1: Make Sure You Use the Correct Test
Getting the correct test is the first step in this process, as there are TWO vitamin D tests currently being offered: 1,25(OH)D, and 25(OH)D.
The correct test your doctor needs to order is 25(OH)D, also called 25-hydroxyvitamin D, which is the better marker of overall D status. This is the marker that is most strongly associated with overall health.
Step 2: Determine Your OPTIMAL Level of Vitamin D
Here again it’s important to realize the difference between what conventional medicine considers to be “normal,” versus what is optimal.
The “normal” 25-hydroxyvitamin D lab range is between 20-56 ng/ml. As you can see in the chart below, this conventional range is really a sign of deficiency, and is too broad to be ideal.
In fact, your vitamin D level should never be below 32 ng/ml, and any levels below 20 ng/ml are considered serious deficiency states, increasing your risk of as many as 16 different cancers and autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, just to name a few.
The OPTIMAL value that you’re looking for is 50-70 ng/ml.
This range applies for everyone; children, adolescents, adults and seniors.
These ranges are based on healthy people in tropical or subtropical parts of the world, where they are receiving healthy sun exposures. It seems more than reasonable to assume that these values are in fact reflective of an optimal human requirement.
It’s worth to clarify here that ng/ml are U.S. units of measure. Much of the world uses nmol/l. If your test results are measured in nmol/l, simply multiply the above values by 2.5 to get the correct ranges.
optimal vitamin d levels
Keeping your level in this range, and even erring toward the higher numbers in this range, is going to give you the most protective benefit. And the way you maintain your levels within this range is by getting tested regularly – say two to four times a year in the beginning, and adjusting your vitamin D intake accordingly.
Are Oral Vitamin D Supplements Your Best Choice?
The best way to optimize your vitamin D levels is through appropriate safe sunshine or safe tanning bed exposure. However, there are many times when it can be nearly impossible to get enough sun.
The darker your skin is, the farther away from the equator you are, and the further away you are from the summer months, the less likely it is that you will produce adequate vitamin D levels from sun exposure alone.
In these cases, supplementing with vitamin D is acceptable, but I strongly recommend you monitoring your blood levels regularly when taking oral vitamin D supplements to make sure you’re staying within the optimal range.
Only Supplement with the Right Kind of Vitamin D
There is one other thing you need to be aware of if you choose to use an oral vitamin D supplement and that is that there are basically two types – one is natural and one is synthetic.
*
The natural one is D3 (cholecalciferol), which is the same vitamin D your body makes when exposed to sunshine
*
The synthetic one is vitamin D2, which is sometimes called ergocalciferol
Once either form of the vitamin is in your body, it must be converted to a more active form. Vitamin D3 is converted 500 percent faster than vitamin D2, and is clearly a better alternative.
Vitamin D2 also has a shorter shelf life, and its metabolites bind with protein poorly, making it less effective. Studies have even concluded that vitamin D2 should no longer be regarded as a nutrient appropriate for supplementation or fortification of foods (although it continues to be used). So if you choose to use vitamin D supplements make sure it is in the form of vitamin D3.
Please be aware that nearly all the prescription-based supplements contain synthetic vitamin D2, so if you receive a prescription for vitamin D from your doctor, you’re most likely receiving the inferior vitamin D2.
Getting the Word Out about the Benefits of Optimizing Vitamin D Levels
When it comes to the benefits of optimizing your vitamin D levels, the evidence is simply overwhelming. Research shows you can drastically reduce your risk of cancer and countless other chronic diseases by getting safe sun exposure, using a safe tanning bed, or taking a high-quality supplement.
Yet, a great deal of people around the world have heard nothing of this great “discovery.” It’s even likely that your doctor is among them, which is why it’s so important to educate yourself.
As a result of flawed assumptions about sun exposure, and the subsequent recommendations, a vast majority of people are deficient in vitamin D. It’s thought that over 95 percent of U.S. senior citizens may be deficient, along with 85 percent of the American public.
Clearly, the word needs to get out but the mainstream media is slow to react. Plus, there’s no money to be made on selling vitamin D (it’s one of the most inexpensive supplements around) and sun exposure is free! So don’t count on any major corporations or drug companies to help get the message out (rather, count on them to try and suppress this lifesaving information).
The longer this information goes largely unnoticed, the more people who will die unnecessarily from potentially preventable cancers and other diseases.
Fortunately, GrassrootsHealth D*action is on a mission to get the word out and solve the vitamin D deficiency epidemic … in just one year’s time.
The D*Action Project: How YOU Can Make a Difference
GrassrootsHealth has launched a worldwide public health campaign to solve the vitamin D deficiency epidemic in a year through a focus on testing and education with all individuals spreading the word.
And you are all invited to join in this campaign!
With Dr. Garland at the helm, The D*Action Project will be monitoring, for five years, the health outcomes of individuals who get their vitamin D levels to the levels of 40-60 ng/ml. I would highly recommend that you optimize your levels to the high end of this spectrum, as optimal vitamin D levels are 50-65 ng/ml, or 65-90 ng/ml if you are treating cancer.
Says Carole Baggerly, director of GrassrootsHealth:
"We will be tracking the incidence of many diseases, from cancer to diabetes and muscular function as well as pain levels to see what effect the higher vitamin D levels may have.
We expect to see a significant reduction in the incidence of breast cancer (and its recurrence), colon cancer, diabetes and myocardial infarction, compared with the general population. With the expansion of the project by individuals, we could substantially reduce this epidemic in a few years!”
So how can you get involved? Join the D*action Project!
Simply complete a health questionnaire and test your vitamin D levels two times per year during the 5-year program to help demonstrate the public health impact of this nutrient.
GrassrootsHealth is sponsoring the use of blood spot test kits (laboratory analysis done by ZRT Labs) for a $40 fee to each individual. The tests are to be done twice a year by each individual along with the submission of some basic health data. The fee includes:
*
A vitamin D blood spot test kit to be used at home (except in the state of New York)
*
The results are sent directly to you
You will be asked to take a quick health survey and also to take action to adjust your vitamin D levels to get into the desired ranges, ideally in consultation with a knowledgeable health care professional.
If you are a physician, medical institution or other health group, please also get involved by contacting Baggerly directly at: carole@grassrootshealth.org. Baggerly was also instrumental in getting Canada to investigate the use of vitamin D against the swine flu.
The information you provide in the health survey will then be used in a five-year study to evaluate the results of the program in disease prevention, and to help create a long-term plan for public health.
This project depends on a true ‘grassroots’ health movement. Together we can stop the vitamin D deficiency epidemic in its tracks and improve the health of millions of people.
With only 100 of you joining today, and getting two friends to join in two weeks (and those two friends getting two more), by week 42 there could be 400,000,000 people who are vitamin D ‘replete’ (more than the United States population)!
To find out more about vitamin D, please watch my one-hour, free vitamin D lecture.
Then, do your part to end vitamin D deficiency and improve your own health by joining the D*Action Project, and encouraging your friends and family to do the same!
Marc Sorenson (who lives in St.George) is also an expert on Vitamin D. I have read his book "Solar Power". It's a great book and advocates regular sun exposure to increase your Vitamin D levels. We offer this blood test at Amara. Most insurance companies will cover the test. In the majority of the patient's levels that I am checking, they are coming back alarmingly low. If you don't know your level, you should get it checked!
It is estimated that 25 to 50 percent of any health care budget could be saved with adequate vitamin D serum levels
Vitamin D Dose Recommendations
Age Dosage
Below 5 35 units per pound per day
Age 5 - 10 2500 units
Adults
5000 units
Pregnant Women 5000 units
WARNING:
There is no way to know if the above recommendations are correct. The ONLY way to know is to test your blood. You might need 4-5 times the amount recommended above. Ideally your blood level of 25 OH D should be 60ng/ml.
Sources:
Grass Roots Health
As more and more scientific evidence emerges, confirming that currently recommended daily allowances (RDA) of vitamin D are grossly insufficient for young and old alike, many have asked me to clarify the recommended dosages, especially as it pertains to children.
General Information about Adult Vitamin D Requirements
Before I begin, I want to emphasize that under summer conditions it is frequently possible to generate about 20,000 units of vitamin D by exposing your skin to the sun. That fact makes these recommendations seem more in line with reality.
Currently, the U.S. RDA for vitamin D is 400 IU (international units) for the majority of the population. (IU is frequently shortened to just “units.”) This dose was recommended to prevent rickets, which works well, but does nothing to give the far more important protection from cancer, heart disease and infections.
To achieve the healthy blood levels in the graph below, most adults will need about FIVE THOUSAND units of vitamin D every day. Interestingly, the majority of people I see in my travels that are taking vitamin D are taking 1,000 units, and they believe they are taking “high” doses. Don’t fool yourself, as an adult, you likely need about 5,000 IU’s a day.
Some also worry that if they are in the sun that they will overdose on vitamin D.
However this is not typically the case, and here’s why: When you’re exposed to the sun, the UVB rays cause vitamin D to be produced in your skin while the UVA rays in the sunlight will tend to destroy excessive levels of vitamin D circulating in your body. It is somewhat of a natural failsafe mechanism that prevents overdosing.
HOWEVER, please understand that about 10 percent or more of the people reading this needs significantly more than 5,000 units. I have seen people requiring over 30,000 units of vitamin D a day to reach therapeutic levels of 25 hydroxy D in their blood..
Please remember that the ONLY way to know for sure is to get your blood level tested, which I’ll go over in just a moment.
Current RDA Guidelines for Vitamin D are Outdated in Light of New Research
At the end of 2008, the American Academy of Pediatrics doubled its recommended dose of vitamin D for infants, children and adolescents, raising it from 200 to 400 units per day.
Unfortunately this is still a woefully inadequate recommendation for children.
Recent research reveals children may need ten times that amount in order to receive the health benefits that optimal vitamin D levels have to offer.
As of right now, the conventional RDAs are only:
*
400 IU for infants, children and adolescents
*
200 IU for adults up to age 50
*
400 IU for adults aged 51 to 70
*
600 IU for seniors over 70
Recommended Daily Intake for Optimal Health
Based on the most recent research, the current recommendation is 35 IU’s of vitamin D per pound of body weight.
So for a child weighing 40 pounds, the recommended average dose would be 1,400 IU’s daily, and for a 170-pound adult, the dose would be nearly 6,000 IU’s.
However, it’s important to realize that vitamin D requirements are highly individual, as your vitamin D status is dependent on numerous factors, such as the color of your skin, your location, and how much sunshine you’re exposed to on a regular basis.
So, although these recommendations may put you closer to the ballpark of what most people likely need, it is simply impossible to make a blanket recommendation that will cover everyone’s needs.
So how do you ensure optimal vitamin D levels for yourself, your child, and aging parents?
Blood Testing is the ONLY Reliable Way to Determine How Much Vitamin D You or Your Child Needs
Yes, the only way to determine the correct dose is to get your blood tested since there are so many variables that influence your vitamin D status.
I recommend using Lab Corp in the U.S. If you get it done by Quest, you’ll need to divide your result by 1.3 to get the “real” number.
For your convenience, by year’s end we hope to offer a blood test that those in the U.S. can do locally and does not require a doctor’s order.
Step 1: Make Sure You Use the Correct Test
Getting the correct test is the first step in this process, as there are TWO vitamin D tests currently being offered: 1,25(OH)D, and 25(OH)D.
The correct test your doctor needs to order is 25(OH)D, also called 25-hydroxyvitamin D, which is the better marker of overall D status. This is the marker that is most strongly associated with overall health.
Step 2: Determine Your OPTIMAL Level of Vitamin D
Here again it’s important to realize the difference between what conventional medicine considers to be “normal,” versus what is optimal.
The “normal” 25-hydroxyvitamin D lab range is between 20-56 ng/ml. As you can see in the chart below, this conventional range is really a sign of deficiency, and is too broad to be ideal.
In fact, your vitamin D level should never be below 32 ng/ml, and any levels below 20 ng/ml are considered serious deficiency states, increasing your risk of as many as 16 different cancers and autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, just to name a few.
The OPTIMAL value that you’re looking for is 50-70 ng/ml.
This range applies for everyone; children, adolescents, adults and seniors.
These ranges are based on healthy people in tropical or subtropical parts of the world, where they are receiving healthy sun exposures. It seems more than reasonable to assume that these values are in fact reflective of an optimal human requirement.
It’s worth to clarify here that ng/ml are U.S. units of measure. Much of the world uses nmol/l. If your test results are measured in nmol/l, simply multiply the above values by 2.5 to get the correct ranges.
optimal vitamin d levels
Keeping your level in this range, and even erring toward the higher numbers in this range, is going to give you the most protective benefit. And the way you maintain your levels within this range is by getting tested regularly – say two to four times a year in the beginning, and adjusting your vitamin D intake accordingly.
Are Oral Vitamin D Supplements Your Best Choice?
The best way to optimize your vitamin D levels is through appropriate safe sunshine or safe tanning bed exposure. However, there are many times when it can be nearly impossible to get enough sun.
The darker your skin is, the farther away from the equator you are, and the further away you are from the summer months, the less likely it is that you will produce adequate vitamin D levels from sun exposure alone.
In these cases, supplementing with vitamin D is acceptable, but I strongly recommend you monitoring your blood levels regularly when taking oral vitamin D supplements to make sure you’re staying within the optimal range.
Only Supplement with the Right Kind of Vitamin D
There is one other thing you need to be aware of if you choose to use an oral vitamin D supplement and that is that there are basically two types – one is natural and one is synthetic.
*
The natural one is D3 (cholecalciferol), which is the same vitamin D your body makes when exposed to sunshine
*
The synthetic one is vitamin D2, which is sometimes called ergocalciferol
Once either form of the vitamin is in your body, it must be converted to a more active form. Vitamin D3 is converted 500 percent faster than vitamin D2, and is clearly a better alternative.
Vitamin D2 also has a shorter shelf life, and its metabolites bind with protein poorly, making it less effective. Studies have even concluded that vitamin D2 should no longer be regarded as a nutrient appropriate for supplementation or fortification of foods (although it continues to be used). So if you choose to use vitamin D supplements make sure it is in the form of vitamin D3.
Please be aware that nearly all the prescription-based supplements contain synthetic vitamin D2, so if you receive a prescription for vitamin D from your doctor, you’re most likely receiving the inferior vitamin D2.
Getting the Word Out about the Benefits of Optimizing Vitamin D Levels
When it comes to the benefits of optimizing your vitamin D levels, the evidence is simply overwhelming. Research shows you can drastically reduce your risk of cancer and countless other chronic diseases by getting safe sun exposure, using a safe tanning bed, or taking a high-quality supplement.
Yet, a great deal of people around the world have heard nothing of this great “discovery.” It’s even likely that your doctor is among them, which is why it’s so important to educate yourself.
As a result of flawed assumptions about sun exposure, and the subsequent recommendations, a vast majority of people are deficient in vitamin D. It’s thought that over 95 percent of U.S. senior citizens may be deficient, along with 85 percent of the American public.
Clearly, the word needs to get out but the mainstream media is slow to react. Plus, there’s no money to be made on selling vitamin D (it’s one of the most inexpensive supplements around) and sun exposure is free! So don’t count on any major corporations or drug companies to help get the message out (rather, count on them to try and suppress this lifesaving information).
The longer this information goes largely unnoticed, the more people who will die unnecessarily from potentially preventable cancers and other diseases.
Fortunately, GrassrootsHealth D*action is on a mission to get the word out and solve the vitamin D deficiency epidemic … in just one year’s time.
The D*Action Project: How YOU Can Make a Difference
GrassrootsHealth has launched a worldwide public health campaign to solve the vitamin D deficiency epidemic in a year through a focus on testing and education with all individuals spreading the word.
And you are all invited to join in this campaign!
With Dr. Garland at the helm, The D*Action Project will be monitoring, for five years, the health outcomes of individuals who get their vitamin D levels to the levels of 40-60 ng/ml. I would highly recommend that you optimize your levels to the high end of this spectrum, as optimal vitamin D levels are 50-65 ng/ml, or 65-90 ng/ml if you are treating cancer.
Says Carole Baggerly, director of GrassrootsHealth:
"We will be tracking the incidence of many diseases, from cancer to diabetes and muscular function as well as pain levels to see what effect the higher vitamin D levels may have.
We expect to see a significant reduction in the incidence of breast cancer (and its recurrence), colon cancer, diabetes and myocardial infarction, compared with the general population. With the expansion of the project by individuals, we could substantially reduce this epidemic in a few years!”
So how can you get involved? Join the D*action Project!
Simply complete a health questionnaire and test your vitamin D levels two times per year during the 5-year program to help demonstrate the public health impact of this nutrient.
GrassrootsHealth is sponsoring the use of blood spot test kits (laboratory analysis done by ZRT Labs) for a $40 fee to each individual. The tests are to be done twice a year by each individual along with the submission of some basic health data. The fee includes:
*
A vitamin D blood spot test kit to be used at home (except in the state of New York)
*
The results are sent directly to you
You will be asked to take a quick health survey and also to take action to adjust your vitamin D levels to get into the desired ranges, ideally in consultation with a knowledgeable health care professional.
If you are a physician, medical institution or other health group, please also get involved by contacting Baggerly directly at: carole@grassrootshealth.org. Baggerly was also instrumental in getting Canada to investigate the use of vitamin D against the swine flu.
The information you provide in the health survey will then be used in a five-year study to evaluate the results of the program in disease prevention, and to help create a long-term plan for public health.
This project depends on a true ‘grassroots’ health movement. Together we can stop the vitamin D deficiency epidemic in its tracks and improve the health of millions of people.
With only 100 of you joining today, and getting two friends to join in two weeks (and those two friends getting two more), by week 42 there could be 400,000,000 people who are vitamin D ‘replete’ (more than the United States population)!
To find out more about vitamin D, please watch my one-hour, free vitamin D lecture.
Then, do your part to end vitamin D deficiency and improve your own health by joining the D*Action Project, and encouraging your friends and family to do the same!
Marc Sorenson (who lives in St.George) is also an expert on Vitamin D. I have read his book "Solar Power". It's a great book and advocates regular sun exposure to increase your Vitamin D levels. We offer this blood test at Amara. Most insurance companies will cover the test. In the majority of the patient's levels that I am checking, they are coming back alarmingly low. If you don't know your level, you should get it checked!
Here is some help for our HCG clients who may be struggling on the maintenance phase of the diet:
The main goal of this phase is to stabilize and maintain your new weight. Many people are so enthusiastic about their weight loss in Phase 2 that they want to keep losing in Phase 3, the maintenance phase. If you have more weight to lose, your goal should be to maintain your new weight until your next round of HCG treatment begins.
A summary of Dr. Simeons' maintenance phase is as follows:
"It takes about 3 weeks before the weight reached at the end of the treatment becomes stable, i.e. does not show violent fluctuations after an occasional excess."
"Eat what you want, when you want (preferable when you are hungry, and listen to your body for when you have had enough) except no sugars and no starches, and weigh EVERYDAY. If you are 2 pounds over your last treatment (HCG) weight, perform a Steak Day*."
*Steak Day: " . . .the moment the scale goes beyond 2 pounds (the morning weight), even if this is only a few ounces, they must, on the same day, skip breakfast and lunch but take plenty to drink. In the evening they must eat a huge steak with only an apple or a raw tomato."
Review of the following sections of Dr. Simeons' manuscript is highly suggested to help you through phase 3:
* Concluding a Course
* Skipping a Meal
* Trouble after Treatment
* Beware of Over-Enthusiasm
* Protein Deficiency
Many people panic in phase 3 because how much can be eaten is not specified. Dr. Simeon wanted his patients to start to regulate themselves. Your metabolic test will also give you a calorie range to stay within that is specific to you, which you can follow if more strenuous monitoring of your intake is preferred.
There are four main rules that MUST be kept during this phase to successfully keep the weight off and reset your body's new weight. They are as follows:
1. No starches.
2. No sugars or sweets.
3. Do not eat until you are full. Follow the Hunger Scale.
4. Weigh yourself every day, and initiate a Steak Day if weight is up by two pounds or more (from the weight of the last day of injection).
Let's review each phase specifically.
1. No starches. No breads and crackers, cereals, pastas, grains and rice. Dr. Simeon was not specific about legumes (such as kidney beans, refried beans, etc.) so if you decide to eat them, they must be eaten cautiously and in small portions (1/4 cup). Nuts are also starchy and should be eaten with the same caution.
2. No Sugars. Stay away from the obvious sweets and goodies. Also, be careful with very sweet fruit, and no fruit juices. Avoid added sugars to unsuspected foods. Closely watch labels and be wary of fat-free or low-fat items that may be pumped up with sugars and carbohydrates. Stevia, sugar-free gum and honey are okay in moderation. Watch your labels.
3. Don't eat until you are full. Rather, stop when you are satisfied. This takes a certain degree of awareness while you are eating. It is very helpful to use the Hunger Scale as a tool to help track your physical response to the food you are eating.
4. Weigh Yourself Every Day. Dr. Simeon said it best when he stated in his protocol, "Relapses may be due to negligence in the basic rule of daily weighing. Many patients think that this is unnecessary and that they can judge any increase from the fit of their clothes. Some do not carry their scale with them on a journey as it is cumbersome and takes a big bite out of their luggage-allowance when flying. This is a disastrous mistake, because after a course of HCG as much as 10 lbs. can be regained without any noticeable change in the fit of the clothes." Take your scale with you!
Following are a list of foods that would be considered ok on phase 3:
Fruits - Most fruits and berries are ok. No fruit juices. Avoid canned fruits with added sugars or in heavy syrup. Be careful with grapes and bananas.
Vegetables - All vegetables are fine except the starchy ones (i.e., potatoes, yams, corn, peas, rutabagas, chicory root, or tomato sauces with added sugars).
Meats - All meats are ok. Trim the visible fats and go for the leaner choices. No hot dogs. All seafood's are fine, but no breaded items (or crab cakes).
Dairy - Aim for organic option. Cheeses are ok, but don't overindulge. Do not do yogurt unless it is sugar-free. Cottage cheese is fine. Eggs are fine, just focus on egg whites as much as possible. It's okay to have an occasional whole egg.
Starches/Breads - If you thought you were going to see anything listed as ok, it hasn't yet sunk in - No Starches!
Legumes/Beans - Edamame is ok. Most other legumes need to be eaten very carefully and in very small quantities. They are quite starchy and need to be eaten with caution. Chili should be avoided.
Nuts/Seeds - These are very starchy and need to be eaten with caution. Peanut butter in small quantities may be eaten. One serving a day of 10 -15 nuts is the maximum that should be eaten. If you are having a hard time controlling your weight in phase 3, cut nuts out completely.
Condiments - Watch for added sugars and carbohydrates. No jams and jellies. Remember to avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup in your condiments (it's in ketchup, mustard and some mayo). Honey mustard has too much sugar. No sweet pickles or sweet pickle relish. Watch out with low-fat salad dressings, many have added sugars - you may be better off going with the regular higher fat versions. Walden Farms has some good options for dressings. Shop at Natural Grocers, Dixie Nutrition or Harmon's Health food section for your better options.
Fats/Oils - Ok in small amounts.
Sauces - Be careful with starchy gravies made with a lot of corn starch or flour. If the sauce tastes really sweet, it probably has a lot of added sugars, and should be avoided. Remember that sugar goes by many names.
Three Sample Maintenance Phase Menus:
Breakfast: 1 whole egg with 3 egg whites, a fresh fruit.
Mid - Morning Snack: 10-12 almonds and carrots.
Lunch: Grilled chicken breast with sautéed peppers and onions, ½ cup cottage cheese.
Mid-Afternoon Snack: Apple with 1 tbsp peanut butter.
Dinner: Grilled steak salad with red onions w/ one of the above listed salad dressings.
Late-Night Snack: Never a good idea! (Try not to eat after 7pm)
Breakfast: 1 c oatmeal, ½ cup unsweetened berries with unsweetened almond milk.
Mid-Morning Snack: Peach with ½ cup cottage cheese.
Lunch: Large salad (with any of the above toppings).
Mid-Afternoon Snack: Celery slices with peanut butter.
Dinner: Ham slices with green beans and 1/2 c sugar-free organic yogurt for dessert.
Breakfast: any fruit (berries, grapefruit, orange, strawberries) 2 servings
Snack: broccoli and Walden Ponds ranch dressing
Lunch: large salad with approved toppings
Snack: apple and string cheese
Dinner: steak and vegetable medley
The purpose of the maintenance phase is to allow your body to stabilize to your new weight. In order to do this, you should follow the maintenance plan exactly, adding in more foods to allow your body to stabilize at your new weight.
When you stop taking the HCG, you need to continue the diet for another three days. At the end of the three days, you can start eating anything you please, except sugar and starch, provided you faithfully observe one simple rule. This rule is that you must have your own scale always at hand, particularly while traveling. You must weigh every morning as you get out of bed, without clothes, after having emptied your bladder, before breakfast or liquids of any kind.
It takes approximately 3 weeks before the weight reached at the end of the treatment becomes stable. For example, it does not show violent fluctuations after an occasional excess. During this period you must realize that carbohydrates, meaning: SUGAR, RICE, BREAD, POTATOES, PASTRIES, etc are by far the most dangerous. If no carbohydrates are consumed, fats can be indulged somewhat more liberally and even small quantities of alcohol, such as a glass of wine with meals, will do no harm. When fats and starches are combined, weight gain can get out of hand. This has to be observed very carefully during the first 3 weeks after the treatment is ended otherwise weight gain is very likely.
Weight gain of more than 2 lbs in one day:
As long as your weight stays within 2 pounds of the weight reached on the day of the last HCG dose, you should take no notice of any increase, but the moment the scale goes beyond two pounds, even if this is only a few ounces, you must on that same day entirely skip breakfast and lunch but take plenty to drink. In the evening eat a huge steak and 1 apple or 1 raw tomato - nothing else.
It is of utmost importance that this is done on the day the scale goes above 2 pounds and not postponed until the following day. If a meal is skipped on the day in which a gain is registered in the morning, this brings about an immediate drop of often over a pound. But if the skipping of the meal (and skipping means literally skipping, not just having a light meal) is postponed, the phenomenon does not occur and several days of strict dieting may be necessary to correct the situation.
Most people hardly ever need to do this and if they have eaten a heavy lunch they feel no desire to eat their dinner, and in this case no increase takes place. If they keep their weight at the point reached at the end of the treatment, even a heavy dinner does not bring about an increase of two pounds on the next morning, and does not therefore call for any special measures. You may be surprised at how small your appetite becomes! And actually how much you can get away with eating and not gaining a pound! You will find that you are much more satisfied with less food to eat! In fact, many people are usually disappointed that they cannot manage their first normal meal, which they have been planning for!
Beware of over-enthusiasm
After treatment has ended, most people are afraid to begin adding foods back into their diets, afraid they may gain weight. If you do not begin to add foods back in again, the opposite may actually occur and you may gain unwanted weight. So make sure you begin to add some of the foods again.
Relapses
Many people think that this is unnecessary to weigh daily and that they can judge an increase from the fit of their clothes. Some do not carry their scale with them while traveling, as it is cumbersome and takes a big bite out of their luggage allowance when flying. This is a disastrous mistake, because after a course of HCG as much as 10 lbs can be regained without any noticeable change in the fit of their clothes. The reason for this is that after treatment newly acquired fat is first evenly distributed and does not show the former preference for certain body parts.
Pregnancy or menopause may annul the effects of a previous treatment. Women who take the treatment during one year after the last menstruation - that is, the onset of menopause - do just as well as others, but among them the relapse rate is higher until the menopause is fully established. The period of one year after the last menstruation applies only to women who are not being treated with ovarian hormones. If these are taken, the pre-menopausal period may be indefinitely prolonged.
If you experience weight gain, coming back for a second course of HCG is completely acceptable. Repeat courses are often even more satisfactory than the first treatment and have the advantage that you already know that you will feel comfortable throughout treatment.
We recommend testing your Resting Metabolic Rate so you know how many calories you should eat specific for your metabolism (removes the guess work). We offer this test at our spa for $65 ($45 after a course of HCG through Amara).
If you are struggling to maintain your weight and you are doing all of the above you are either overeating, not exercising enough or your breaking the rules. You might also want to check with our Nurse Practitioner to possibly have a thorough health evaluation again (possibly a thyroid evaluation). Regular exercise will help you to maintain your weight in addition to the above protocol. Good luck! We are here if you have any questions or need any help. Many of our patients continue to see us monthly after their HCG to help them ensure their weight stays off. We are here for you!
The main goal of this phase is to stabilize and maintain your new weight. Many people are so enthusiastic about their weight loss in Phase 2 that they want to keep losing in Phase 3, the maintenance phase. If you have more weight to lose, your goal should be to maintain your new weight until your next round of HCG treatment begins.
A summary of Dr. Simeons' maintenance phase is as follows:
"It takes about 3 weeks before the weight reached at the end of the treatment becomes stable, i.e. does not show violent fluctuations after an occasional excess."
"Eat what you want, when you want (preferable when you are hungry, and listen to your body for when you have had enough) except no sugars and no starches, and weigh EVERYDAY. If you are 2 pounds over your last treatment (HCG) weight, perform a Steak Day*."
*Steak Day: " . . .the moment the scale goes beyond 2 pounds (the morning weight), even if this is only a few ounces, they must, on the same day, skip breakfast and lunch but take plenty to drink. In the evening they must eat a huge steak with only an apple or a raw tomato."
Review of the following sections of Dr. Simeons' manuscript is highly suggested to help you through phase 3:
* Concluding a Course
* Skipping a Meal
* Trouble after Treatment
* Beware of Over-Enthusiasm
* Protein Deficiency
Many people panic in phase 3 because how much can be eaten is not specified. Dr. Simeon wanted his patients to start to regulate themselves. Your metabolic test will also give you a calorie range to stay within that is specific to you, which you can follow if more strenuous monitoring of your intake is preferred.
There are four main rules that MUST be kept during this phase to successfully keep the weight off and reset your body's new weight. They are as follows:
1. No starches.
2. No sugars or sweets.
3. Do not eat until you are full. Follow the Hunger Scale.
4. Weigh yourself every day, and initiate a Steak Day if weight is up by two pounds or more (from the weight of the last day of injection).
Let's review each phase specifically.
1. No starches. No breads and crackers, cereals, pastas, grains and rice. Dr. Simeon was not specific about legumes (such as kidney beans, refried beans, etc.) so if you decide to eat them, they must be eaten cautiously and in small portions (1/4 cup). Nuts are also starchy and should be eaten with the same caution.
2. No Sugars. Stay away from the obvious sweets and goodies. Also, be careful with very sweet fruit, and no fruit juices. Avoid added sugars to unsuspected foods. Closely watch labels and be wary of fat-free or low-fat items that may be pumped up with sugars and carbohydrates. Stevia, sugar-free gum and honey are okay in moderation. Watch your labels.
3. Don't eat until you are full. Rather, stop when you are satisfied. This takes a certain degree of awareness while you are eating. It is very helpful to use the Hunger Scale as a tool to help track your physical response to the food you are eating.
4. Weigh Yourself Every Day. Dr. Simeon said it best when he stated in his protocol, "Relapses may be due to negligence in the basic rule of daily weighing. Many patients think that this is unnecessary and that they can judge any increase from the fit of their clothes. Some do not carry their scale with them on a journey as it is cumbersome and takes a big bite out of their luggage-allowance when flying. This is a disastrous mistake, because after a course of HCG as much as 10 lbs. can be regained without any noticeable change in the fit of the clothes." Take your scale with you!
Following are a list of foods that would be considered ok on phase 3:
Fruits - Most fruits and berries are ok. No fruit juices. Avoid canned fruits with added sugars or in heavy syrup. Be careful with grapes and bananas.
Vegetables - All vegetables are fine except the starchy ones (i.e., potatoes, yams, corn, peas, rutabagas, chicory root, or tomato sauces with added sugars).
Meats - All meats are ok. Trim the visible fats and go for the leaner choices. No hot dogs. All seafood's are fine, but no breaded items (or crab cakes).
Dairy - Aim for organic option. Cheeses are ok, but don't overindulge. Do not do yogurt unless it is sugar-free. Cottage cheese is fine. Eggs are fine, just focus on egg whites as much as possible. It's okay to have an occasional whole egg.
Starches/Breads - If you thought you were going to see anything listed as ok, it hasn't yet sunk in - No Starches!
Legumes/Beans - Edamame is ok. Most other legumes need to be eaten very carefully and in very small quantities. They are quite starchy and need to be eaten with caution. Chili should be avoided.
Nuts/Seeds - These are very starchy and need to be eaten with caution. Peanut butter in small quantities may be eaten. One serving a day of 10 -15 nuts is the maximum that should be eaten. If you are having a hard time controlling your weight in phase 3, cut nuts out completely.
Condiments - Watch for added sugars and carbohydrates. No jams and jellies. Remember to avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup in your condiments (it's in ketchup, mustard and some mayo). Honey mustard has too much sugar. No sweet pickles or sweet pickle relish. Watch out with low-fat salad dressings, many have added sugars - you may be better off going with the regular higher fat versions. Walden Farms has some good options for dressings. Shop at Natural Grocers, Dixie Nutrition or Harmon's Health food section for your better options.
Fats/Oils - Ok in small amounts.
Sauces - Be careful with starchy gravies made with a lot of corn starch or flour. If the sauce tastes really sweet, it probably has a lot of added sugars, and should be avoided. Remember that sugar goes by many names.
Three Sample Maintenance Phase Menus:
Breakfast: 1 whole egg with 3 egg whites, a fresh fruit.
Mid - Morning Snack: 10-12 almonds and carrots.
Lunch: Grilled chicken breast with sautéed peppers and onions, ½ cup cottage cheese.
Mid-Afternoon Snack: Apple with 1 tbsp peanut butter.
Dinner: Grilled steak salad with red onions w/ one of the above listed salad dressings.
Late-Night Snack: Never a good idea! (Try not to eat after 7pm)
Breakfast: 1 c oatmeal, ½ cup unsweetened berries with unsweetened almond milk.
Mid-Morning Snack: Peach with ½ cup cottage cheese.
Lunch: Large salad (with any of the above toppings).
Mid-Afternoon Snack: Celery slices with peanut butter.
Dinner: Ham slices with green beans and 1/2 c sugar-free organic yogurt for dessert.
Breakfast: any fruit (berries, grapefruit, orange, strawberries) 2 servings
Snack: broccoli and Walden Ponds ranch dressing
Lunch: large salad with approved toppings
Snack: apple and string cheese
Dinner: steak and vegetable medley
The purpose of the maintenance phase is to allow your body to stabilize to your new weight. In order to do this, you should follow the maintenance plan exactly, adding in more foods to allow your body to stabilize at your new weight.
When you stop taking the HCG, you need to continue the diet for another three days. At the end of the three days, you can start eating anything you please, except sugar and starch, provided you faithfully observe one simple rule. This rule is that you must have your own scale always at hand, particularly while traveling. You must weigh every morning as you get out of bed, without clothes, after having emptied your bladder, before breakfast or liquids of any kind.
It takes approximately 3 weeks before the weight reached at the end of the treatment becomes stable. For example, it does not show violent fluctuations after an occasional excess. During this period you must realize that carbohydrates, meaning: SUGAR, RICE, BREAD, POTATOES, PASTRIES, etc are by far the most dangerous. If no carbohydrates are consumed, fats can be indulged somewhat more liberally and even small quantities of alcohol, such as a glass of wine with meals, will do no harm. When fats and starches are combined, weight gain can get out of hand. This has to be observed very carefully during the first 3 weeks after the treatment is ended otherwise weight gain is very likely.
Weight gain of more than 2 lbs in one day:
As long as your weight stays within 2 pounds of the weight reached on the day of the last HCG dose, you should take no notice of any increase, but the moment the scale goes beyond two pounds, even if this is only a few ounces, you must on that same day entirely skip breakfast and lunch but take plenty to drink. In the evening eat a huge steak and 1 apple or 1 raw tomato - nothing else.
It is of utmost importance that this is done on the day the scale goes above 2 pounds and not postponed until the following day. If a meal is skipped on the day in which a gain is registered in the morning, this brings about an immediate drop of often over a pound. But if the skipping of the meal (and skipping means literally skipping, not just having a light meal) is postponed, the phenomenon does not occur and several days of strict dieting may be necessary to correct the situation.
Most people hardly ever need to do this and if they have eaten a heavy lunch they feel no desire to eat their dinner, and in this case no increase takes place. If they keep their weight at the point reached at the end of the treatment, even a heavy dinner does not bring about an increase of two pounds on the next morning, and does not therefore call for any special measures. You may be surprised at how small your appetite becomes! And actually how much you can get away with eating and not gaining a pound! You will find that you are much more satisfied with less food to eat! In fact, many people are usually disappointed that they cannot manage their first normal meal, which they have been planning for!
Beware of over-enthusiasm
After treatment has ended, most people are afraid to begin adding foods back into their diets, afraid they may gain weight. If you do not begin to add foods back in again, the opposite may actually occur and you may gain unwanted weight. So make sure you begin to add some of the foods again.
Relapses
Many people think that this is unnecessary to weigh daily and that they can judge an increase from the fit of their clothes. Some do not carry their scale with them while traveling, as it is cumbersome and takes a big bite out of their luggage allowance when flying. This is a disastrous mistake, because after a course of HCG as much as 10 lbs can be regained without any noticeable change in the fit of their clothes. The reason for this is that after treatment newly acquired fat is first evenly distributed and does not show the former preference for certain body parts.
Pregnancy or menopause may annul the effects of a previous treatment. Women who take the treatment during one year after the last menstruation - that is, the onset of menopause - do just as well as others, but among them the relapse rate is higher until the menopause is fully established. The period of one year after the last menstruation applies only to women who are not being treated with ovarian hormones. If these are taken, the pre-menopausal period may be indefinitely prolonged.
If you experience weight gain, coming back for a second course of HCG is completely acceptable. Repeat courses are often even more satisfactory than the first treatment and have the advantage that you already know that you will feel comfortable throughout treatment.
We recommend testing your Resting Metabolic Rate so you know how many calories you should eat specific for your metabolism (removes the guess work). We offer this test at our spa for $65 ($45 after a course of HCG through Amara).
If you are struggling to maintain your weight and you are doing all of the above you are either overeating, not exercising enough or your breaking the rules. You might also want to check with our Nurse Practitioner to possibly have a thorough health evaluation again (possibly a thyroid evaluation). Regular exercise will help you to maintain your weight in addition to the above protocol. Good luck! We are here if you have any questions or need any help. Many of our patients continue to see us monthly after their HCG to help them ensure their weight stays off. We are here for you!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
I stole this info. from a friend, but thought that it was worth sharing. (I am learning a lot of the same things in Suzanne Somers new book on cancer prevention and treatment, called "Knockout". Suzanne has gone through damaging radiation. She lives with the harmful effects of post-radiation treatment on a daily basis. She turned down chemotherapy and looked to alternative treatments. She beat breast cancer and wanted to share what she's learned along the way with us.)
AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY
IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY ('TRY', BEING THE KEY WORD)
TO ELIMINATE CANCER,
THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY.
1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer
cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have
multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients
that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after
treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the
cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable
size.
2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a
person's lifetime.
3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer
cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and
forming tumors.
4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has
nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic,
to environmental, food and lifestyle factors.
5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing
diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune
system.
6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing
cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells
in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract etc, and can
cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.
7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars
and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.
8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often
reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of
chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor
destruction.
9. When the body has too much toxic burden from
chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either
compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb
to various kinds of infections and complications.
10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to
mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy.
Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other
sites.
11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer
cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.
*CANCER CELLS FEED ON:
a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off
one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar
substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made
with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute
would be Manuka honey (a New Zealand Honey - can be found
at some health food stores or online {Amazon.com}), Stevia or molasses,
but only in very small amounts. Sea salt is much better than table salt for you!
b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the
gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting
off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk cancer
cells are being starved. Other good alternatives would be rice milk or almond milk.
c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based
diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken
rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock
antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all
harmful, especially to people with cancer. Organic meat is a much safer alternative.
d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole
grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into
an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked
food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live
enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to
cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance
growth of healthy cells.. To obtain live enzymes for building
healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most
vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw
vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at
temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).
e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high
caffeine Green tea is a better alternative e and has cancer
fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or
filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap
water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.
12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of
digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the
intestines becomes putrefied and leads to more toxic
buildup.
13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By
refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes
to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the
body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.
14. Some supplements build up the immune system
(IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals,
EFAs etc.) to enable the bodies own killer cells to destroy
cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known
to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's
normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or
unneeded cells.
15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit.
A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior
be a survivor. Anger, un-forgiveness and bitterness put
the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to
have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy
life.
16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated
environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to
get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen
therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer
cells.
1. No plastic containers in microwave.
2. No water bottles in freezer.
3. No plastic wrap in microwave.
Eat the way Nature intended us to!!!
AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY
IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY ('TRY', BEING THE KEY WORD)
TO ELIMINATE CANCER,
THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY.
1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer
cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have
multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients
that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after
treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the
cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable
size.
2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a
person's lifetime.
3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer
cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and
forming tumors.
4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has
nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic,
to environmental, food and lifestyle factors.
5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing
diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune
system.
6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing
cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells
in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract etc, and can
cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.
7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars
and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.
8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often
reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of
chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor
destruction.
9. When the body has too much toxic burden from
chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either
compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb
to various kinds of infections and complications.
10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to
mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy.
Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other
sites.
11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer
cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.
*CANCER CELLS FEED ON:
a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off
one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar
substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made
with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute
would be Manuka honey (a New Zealand Honey - can be found
at some health food stores or online {Amazon.com}), Stevia or molasses,
but only in very small amounts. Sea salt is much better than table salt for you!
b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the
gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting
off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk cancer
cells are being starved. Other good alternatives would be rice milk or almond milk.
c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based
diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken
rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock
antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all
harmful, especially to people with cancer. Organic meat is a much safer alternative.
d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole
grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into
an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked
food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live
enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to
cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance
growth of healthy cells.. To obtain live enzymes for building
healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most
vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw
vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at
temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).
e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high
caffeine Green tea is a better alternative e and has cancer
fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or
filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap
water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.
12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of
digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the
intestines becomes putrefied and leads to more toxic
buildup.
13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By
refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes
to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the
body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.
14. Some supplements build up the immune system
(IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals,
EFAs etc.) to enable the bodies own killer cells to destroy
cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known
to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's
normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or
unneeded cells.
15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit.
A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior
be a survivor. Anger, un-forgiveness and bitterness put
the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to
have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy
life.
16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated
environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to
get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen
therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer
cells.
1. No plastic containers in microwave.
2. No water bottles in freezer.
3. No plastic wrap in microwave.
Eat the way Nature intended us to!!!
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