I am a huge proponent of real sun, but in moderation.  And we must take into account sunscreen when talking about sun exposure, but this can be laden with hormone altering chemicals, while still putting you at risk for cancer.  So what kind of sunscreen and where?  Using the most minimal amount, along with some extra nutritional influences can give you both the sun exposure and protection you need, ensuring that your skin will look its best and be at less risk for cancer.

I personally am not a fan of chemical sunscreens.  (I use a mineral one on my face and neck mainly- more about that later).   The SPF numbers are based on the UVB rays that give you sunburn, but not the UVA rays that penetrate deeper than the UVB and can do a lot of damage to your DNA.  I do recommend using a mineral sunscreen on the face, neck and the upper chest.  But there is something about slathering a chemical on my skin, knowing it is absorbing into the fat cells beneath (and, uh, hello thyroid gland…) with ultraviolet radiation thrown into the mix. Things like Avobenzone, Octyl-dimenthyl-PABA, Octinoxate, Benzophenone-3, Butyl-methoxydibenzoylmethane, and Octyl-methoxycinnamate are some of the many chemical sunscreens out there. These chemicals are endocrine disruptors that do affect our hormonal systems in various ways that no one knows for sure, and who knows what else. (and we are looking for a cure for cancer?!)

I have been known to say and I will say it again here:  don’t put anything on your skin that you would not put in your mouth.

Your fix:   Prepare for sun exposure externally and internally!

Externally:

Get small amounts of sun exposure gradually.  Try to get as close to full-body exposure as you can for 5-10 minutes a day for at least a few days a week.  This will not only supply you with a nice dose of vitamin D, but will also build the melanin in your skin.  Melanin is produced in response to UV rays, and when produced, offers excellent protection against UV damage. So when you build up to that moderate tan you will actually need less sunscreen to protect against sun damage.  Also, the darker the skin, the more melanin it has, and the less vitamin D it will convert from sun exposure. Melanin is made up of the amino acid tyrosine (which happens to be my favorite amino acid for reasons I will get into in another post).

Do use sunscreen on your face and neck; this is the most important for aging gracefully and looking your best.  But use a mineral sunscreen!  I am not talking about the old-school zinc oxide that turns your nose white, there are transparent micronized zinc oxide and titanium products out there that are invisible and block both UVA and UVB rays physically, not chemically.  I always get asked if I do not say, so I will here: My favorite is by DeVita <click here for info>.  But there are many available.

Internally:

This is a crucial compliment to your skin health if you have skin that has not seen any sun, and soon will see more than it needs to.  When I lived in Seattle, before sending my pearlescent skin south for spring break, I would take vitamin A and vitamin E as taught to me in school.  It always worked like a charm to help me not get burned.

Specifically, for a few days before leaving on that vacation, you would take 50,000 iu of Vitamin A (the palmitate form, not beta carotene which is not actually vitamin A), along with one cap of a gamma form of Vit E.*  You can continue it for the time you are in the sun.

This is not to be done during pregnancy of course because of the vitamin A, and is safe for a short amount of time.  If you have daily sun exposure, say with an outside occupation, then more individualized advice would be needed.

(*We have moved forward, far forward from the old school vitamin E known as ‘alpha tocopherol’.  If alpha E is still in your cabinet, throw it out and click here!)

I hope this has helped shed some healthier photons on your skin so you can have a wonderful summer or mid-winter vacation, with a lot less risk!

If only that was the case, how easy and guilt-free would that post-lunch coffee be! Are you someone who is dependent on that afternoon caffeine, or someone who fights that urge as you find yourself in need of an extra push?

But what if it really is super easy to increase your energy? Would you be willing to train your body off of that afternoon treat for the sake of improving your health, from your adrenals and liver function, all the way down the line to your sleep and immune system?

The three things I’m going to offer as easy solutions to look into first:
Water
B vitamins
Blood sugar control

Please allow me to elaborate.

WATER
Reading about water intake is hands down boring, but dehydration is the biggest buzz kill I know of, so I will offer some tips here that you may not have heard before.
The minute you start feeling sluggish in the late morning or early afternoon- ask yourself one question: How much water have I drunk?

I do know from first hand experience how much more difficult this is said than done! When you are struggling to find the brain power to keep you focused, that is when it is hardest to actually remember a question, or my three things listed here.

The solution: Start your morning with a one liter bottle of water sitting in front of you.
Keep drinking it. Make your goal half of it gone by noon, all of it gone by 3pm. This is a minimum- increasing that to a liter and a half is even better.

You don’t care for water you say? No problem- add the juice of a lemon or lime to that liter along with a pinch of salt and/or potassium (salt substitutes available in the super market are ‘potassium chloride’ rather than sodium chloride, and this can be your ‘potassium pinch’). It makes that water taste like something you actually want. The first thing you will notice is how much more hydrating the water will seem to you- and that is because it is!

B VITAMINS:
These are either going to come to you from that incredibly nutritious breakfast and lunch you had that was loaded with veggies, or from a multi vitamin- no shame if that is the case. I’m going to discuss the multi vitamin supplement here for ease-of-use shall we say.

B vitamins are best taken all together (B complex) and with food, otherwise you might feel a tad nauseous from them. So breakfast and lunch are the perfect time to take that multi vitamin that is loaded with good quality B vitamins.

Have you ever noticed how some days you have more energy than others? And you do your little check in and can’t think of any reason why? It could be a toxic load from the night before, disguising itself as something as innocent as one glass of wine. That one glass of wine can be enough to use up all the B’s you had on hand and leave you with a deficit the next morning.

Your liver is a chemical factory, requiring a multitude of vitamins, minerals and amino acids to do its life-saving job. Without proper nutrition those toxins will build up and those toxins will get deposited in your fat and muscle tissue.

Your body does not store B vitamins for the most part (some are in fact stored, like B12 in the liver, but we’re not going to go into that minutia here).

A whopping dose of B vitamins can be the ticket to avoid that 3pm lull.
How do you know how much to take? Good question, but I cannot speak for the hundreds of varieties and combinations out there that you may have.
If it is a one-a-day multi, it is useless. So for that you will want a good 2 or 3 a day, then call me when the bottle is finished for some good ones.
If it is saying the serving size of your multi vitamin is 6 caps a day, now you have my interest piqued as it is probably getting into the realm of better quality. Three of these at lunch would be the place to start. Another three with breakfast is optional and preferred especially if you are hung over or have a stressful job. Stress will eat your B vitamins faster than you can.

I always tell my patients to take the multi vitamins with breakfast and lunch to take advantage of the energy and nutrients they provide your body during the most active times. But also know that you can take a partial dose of a multi vitamin/mineral at night. A little bit, like a quarter dose, is a perfect little amount to help your body do some great rejuvenation during the night, without being energizing enough to keep you awake. (Magnesium for instance, which helps calm you when taken at night, does better with a little B6 on hand).

If you don’t have a multi vitamin and mineral supplement that you or your doctor would consider ‘excellent’, then you should not be taking it. If you don’t actually feel different from taking your multi, then it is probably not a good one, and you need a better one.
They are not all created equal. That will be a future topic.

BLOOD SUGAR CONTROL
Too many of us are on a slippery slope toward diabetes as our bodies struggle to handle the changes which have come on too quickly in our evolutionary development. It may be that the mitochondria of our pancreatic beta cells is actually getting damaged by some yet to be discovered plastic molecule we are all consuming. But short of that, for now, we have to stop the madness of the refined flour products, the agave nectar, the corn syrup, the added sweeteners, and even the low calorie sweeteners. None of this is good for anything except greasing the wheel of ill health.

The quickie lesson for eating to keep the blood sugar in better balance:
Nothing made from any flour – no pasta, bread, crackers, etc.
Include protein and fats (olive oil, nuts, avocado) in each meal
Fill up on veggies: raw (with some cooked if you want) is great.

AND…
If you still find yourself sluggish even after trying the above, it is time to give your doctor a call. You will want to rule out the top three causes of low energy: anemia, thyroid deficiency, adrenal weakness. Don’t attempt this on your own as you will be spinning your wheels in mud.

and looking for the healthiest choice from the menu or maybe something sans meat as you don’t eat much meat, and order the salmon.

We have all done it.  And on that menu is nothing about the salmon being wild, and the waiter, when asked, tells you he needs to go ask someone.  Either of those outcomes are your answer- the salmon is farm raised.  No restaurant would be serving up the more expensive sought-after wild certified, or ecologically farmed, without telling you (unless they are daft restaurateurs).

Consider this:  Farm raised salmon, pound for pound, uses more antibiotics in its farming practice than any other farmed protein on the planet, land or aqua-farming.  That is just the start of its problems.  But in looking into this matter, I have found that not all farm raised salmon is created equal.  Whole Foods Markets for instance has strict standards which they tell us their farms adhere to.

Scottish Salmon, Marketing to the World

You can bet that anything labeled ‘Atlantic salmon’ is the bad stuff unless otherwise noted to be different.  “Color” is added, otherwise this salmon, feasting on pellets, would be grey.  The ‘color’ is actually a “trans” beta carotene.  You have heard of beta carotene as it makes carrots orange. And you have heard of trans-fats, which the city of New York has banned.  Combine the two, and you have the chemically produced (read: cheaper, unhealthy) beta carotene that they are feeding the fish.

I was at several restaurants in Aspen last summer.  The server in each establishment announced they had “Scottish Salmon” on the menu.  When asked, none of them knew the origin (farmed or wild).  It was July!  WHY were these upscale Colorado restaurants serving us fish imported a quarter of the way around the world from Scotland, and not wild from the Pacific Northwest, a three hour flight away (where the supply is at its peak in July!)?  This got me wondering.

Upon investigating I found that Scottish aquaculture is all about big industry.  No claims to be doing anything ecologically friendly or environmental beyond standard approved practices within government regulation and ‘trying’ to improve. Scotland is the EU’s biggest producer of farmed salmon and has had its share of growing pains at the expense of wild populations. Containing the farmed fish to their pens is just one such debacle they have not succeeded at.[1]

Sure there are going to be wonderful ethical farms out there, and in Scotland too, but if you aren’t buying it directly from the farm itself or a distributor like Whole Foods, who claim to take it upon themselves to monitor such practices, then do assume the worst.  By the way, there is no such thing as an organic certification for farmed fish recognized in the United States.  Here, its either wild, ethically farmed, or not.

Evolution and Genetically Modified, Shmodified

I tend to read faster when it comes to horrific lists of things I feel helpless in correcting. So with you dear reader in mind, I titled this segment what I did.  You know I’m getting at things being bad, and maybe that is all you need and want to know.  But there is a sad story here that I am not going to sum up adequately:  the huge ecological and environmental implications of farmed and genetically modified salmon on our wild salmon and on our seas.

There are volumes written already, all saying the same thing: the salmon farming industry has proved to be devastating to the wild salmon.

Take a certain parasitic blood sucking sea lice for example that attaches itself to salmon.  Wild salmon have adapted to these lice for over the last thousands of years enough to be able to withstand their injury and continue living.  All that evolutionary progress the wild salmon made is being thrown to the sea as the un-adapted farmed salmon escapes from their pens and cross breads. Wild populations have been diminishing as a direct result of the farming industry.[2]

Compound that with Aquabounty Technology’s current push to get genetically modified salmon approved by the USDA.  These salmon would grow at least twice as fast as wild salmon.  Additionally the USDA awarded this Boston-based company a half million dollar grant to study splicing a gene into the fish that would make them sterile and unable to reproduce with wild populations.  This starts reading like a sci-fi novel doesn’t it?!  Sure, there is no way for that sterile genetic material to make its way into the genes of our wild populations.  No way at all.  We know that for sure. Right?  We can control evolution.  We have the technology.  Right?

Chemicals, Shmemicals

But this article is really not about the environmental impact.  It is about your knowledge of what you may be ingesting.  Take the aforementioned sea lice.  This is controlled by a chemical known as Slice (emamectin benzoate) which the sea lice have quickly become resistant to.  As this resistance rises this chemical becomes ineffective, and at least three times the amount of Slice is now needed to control sea lice.  It just so happens that this same chemical is used to control the pine beetle in the Rockies (the cause of all those acres of dead trees if you have been to the Rockies recently), and when given to rats and dogs it causes tremors, spinal deterioration and muscle atrophy. (And that is just the beginning.  What progresses afterward?)  Do you think your government has you covered on this one?  Think again! The United States Food and Drug Administration does not test imported salmon for emamectin benzoate.[3]  This is only one of many chemicals commonly used by the industry.

So, choose as you will

I say this to you, the vegetarian who eats ‘some’ fish and never meat, and at a work or restaurant situation chooses the salmon as the ‘healthiest’ option.

I say this to you, the person choosing the salmon to reduce their cholesterol (know that dietary intake of cholesterol has little bearing on cholesterol numbers for most people anyway, and that cholesterol is not the bad guy you think it is).

And I say to myself, that my personal ‘even a little bit in moderation’ does not apply here.

(I recommend that any food be eliminated for at least 3-6 weeks. The longer the food is eliminated, the clearer the indication will be as to whether or not you react to it, as your body will be clearing the food)

Of the food GROUPS you have eliminated, decide which group you want to challenge first.

i.e.: Dairy challenge may include yogurt at breakfast, cheese at lunch, and ice cream at dinner, and a wheat challenge might include toast at breakfast, sandwich at lunch, and pasta at dinner…Do challenge with the foods that you eat (if you despise tofu and never eat it, do not include tofu as part of the soy challenge).

***eggs are not part of a dairy challenge, they are part of the egg challenge.

Day One (and Two, which is optional, and usually done if you did not think you reacted on day one): Have the food you are challenging as part of all three meals.

*You MUST start the challenge in the A.M.: this is important (NOT with an evening meal, as you could have a reaction and sleep right through it).

***Please note: if you felt aweful on day ONE from the food, there is no need to continue having that food for day two. Day two is more for those people who are not sure if they felt anything on day one.

Day Three, Four and Five: Revert back to the original elimination.

*Observe how you are feeling and if any symptoms are arising.

*You name it, it can be your symptom: itchy skin, nausea, headache, depression, bloating, gas, fatigue, foggy brain, etc.

* If you get sick with a cold/flu on day four, do suspect that the food you challenged on day one is the culprit (viruses take about three days to incubate). An intolerant food will weaken the immune system…hence why a virus would then be able to seed itself in your system at that time.

Repeat the above process for each food group that was eliminated

If you had no reaction, and are sure of that, then you can start incorporating that food back into your diet after the four day challenge is over. Just be sure not to overdue it on that food.

If you think you had a reaction, but are unsure, continue to eliminate that food and challenge again after about a week.

Any reaction is an indication to you that the food is not healthy for you and consumption of that food will stress your immune system, make chronic diseases worse, and generally not be good for a preventive health lifestyle.

Reactions include, and are not limited to : fatigue, mental fog, a cold or flu three days after having a particular food, skin rashes or an unexplained itch occurring up to 3 days later, the exacerbation of any chronic illness, insomnia, headaches or migraines, congestion, and anything at all!

***If you have ever had a severe allergic reaction or asthma attack that needed an epi pen or hospital treatment, do not do the challenge above without medical supervision.***

As a naturopathic physician I am constantly identifying food allergies. As you may guess, dairy and all of its forms, is one of the most, shall I say, controversial. You have the vegans who do not eat any of it, and a fair amount of people considering themselves vegetarians who eat some form of it, usually cheese or yogurt. Then there are some who have lactose intolerance (they lack the enzyme that breaks down lactose, the sugar found in milk). And of course there are those who are out-right allergic to all forms of dairy due to the casein molecule, which incidentally is a little different in goats’ milk, hence why some who cannot handle cows’ milk can tolerate goats milk. I previously wrote about the blood type diet, where O blood types have a particularly weak tolerance of cow’s milk but some goats milk cheese is fine. And then there are those who can consume dairy products till the cows come home with no problems at all. (These people are more likely to have B type blood by the way). And lastly there is my cat who will nibble on only the stinkiest cheese, obviously intending to inoculate his gut with some good bacteria.

And overlying our wonderful passion for all things gourmet and delicious, of which cheese is at the top right up there with a fine wine, is John Robbins, the vegan king. He is big proponent of eliminating dairy as a means to avoid arterial plaque and some do actually feel guilty about consuming dairy, for that very reason thanks to him. But the formation of arterial blockages is way too complex of a development to simply blame it on consuming milk. It is also highly dependent on genetics, lifestyle, and diet, but probably not the dietary things you would think (and there is the French Paradox which I discuss below).

Whether you consume dairy or not, like it or hate it, it is here to stay and a force to be reckoned with. For one, if you do eat dairy and intend to be on this planet for another twenty or more years, you owe it to yourself to figure out if you have a dairy intolerance. <Click here for instructions on how to do that>

And there is support for dairy being needed to actually feed the world, as it is one of the top five ecologically friendly protein sources that exist, having one of the lowest carbon footprints per gram of protein supplied. ¹

But what if we found dairy to actually not cause arteriosclerosis? Would that have you thinking differently about it? It could literally re-write the Ornish and Pritikin protocols, and have many consuming dairy once more with less guilt, knowing that they are not creating one of those horrible blockages. Hence my excitement when I discovered just this.

I was listening to a conference recently where it was mentioned in passing that there was a dairy source that was not implicated in arterial blocking. I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t this be huge news? Wouldn’t the whole world be jumping on this?” So I sent my friends Brook and Rose Levan at Sustainable Settings (my heroes for raw milk and all things farming) an email asking if they heard of this cow thing that I couldn’t even explain because I knew so little about it. They, of course knew all about it for years now, and had created their entire dairy heard to be of these arterial-friendly cows.

The Find

The particular gem that I am talking about here is an “A2 beta casein” molecule found in some milk, verses an “A1 beta casein” molecule found in other milk.

When I was doing my pre-med, we did some chemistry lab hocus pocus that isolated the casein molecule. What we were left with was this very hard piece of white rubber, not unlike hardened chewing gum. That was casein. That experiment alone should have had me clutching my heart, but the gourmand in me won out.

Casein is the very molecule that causes some immune systems to go into attack mode on their lunch.

So, this research is finding that there is a strong correlation to consumption of A1 beta casein and the incidence of ischemic heart disease (arterial blockage).² But not only that, there is a finger pointing to the development of type 1 diabetes³, as well as autism and schizophrenia. It is very difficult to prove a true cause and effect relationship in any study, as we humans have so many different factors playing roles in our health. The studies merely point to higher incidences of these diseases among populations consuming more of the A1 beta casein milk (“correlations”), and almost no increase of these diseases in populations consuming the A2 beta casein molecule.

So how could a food, like milk, potentially cause diabetes? Well, in children who react to the casein molecule, their immune systems create an antibody against casein. This antibody can cross react with the beta cells of the pancreas that produce insulin, destroying them, and create a life-long need for insulin. I want to point out that this has not been proven to be a true cause and effect relationship, and never will be proven as such, as that would be impossible. Also, type 1 diabetic children are predisposed to more allergies and autoimmunity in general, so please read carefully: not all children consuming cows milk are at risk of developing type1 diabetes.

So why has the American Dairy Association been so hush hush over the discovery and potential benefit of A2 casein over A1 casein? I am sure it is due to the hundreds of dairies out there who do not have these particular cows and would be at risk of losing business if the consumer got too curious. But since you are reading this, you can take it upon yourself to contact the ADA or your local dairy on the endangered species list.

The French Paradox and the Mediterranean Diet

Guernsey cows, from the same named island in Great Britain, are A2 beta casein producers. And there must be many more, as they were imported from French lineages in the 1700′s. Perhaps this is the sole reason for the “French Paradox” which is that France has a lower incidence of heart disease than the US, despite a higher saturated fat diet. There are over 800 breeds of cow by the way and France is postulated to have mostly A2 producing cows whereas the U.S. may have more like only 50% A2 producing cows. (how could we know- surely the ADA is not going to take on this testing). I wonder how much of the Mediterranean diets are consuming A2 over A1 dairy? Have you noticed all this talk of the Mediterranean diet being so healthy never mentions the Caprese salad?! I would be willing to bet those water buffalo are A2 secreters, as are goats apparently.

So what are we to do?

Consume “the other white milk”(!)

For now that may be only goats’ milk products, unless you have a local dairy in the know with certified A2 cows.

And before you ask, yes, I am a proponent of raw milk and cheese made with raw milk…all those wonderful enzymes.

As I write this, it seems that “everyone” is saying the same thing, “everyone is sick”! At least this year things seem a lot milder and a lot less virulent than in other years, probably from the drier winter going on across the country. So with all this activity, I was thinking about that one thing that can help the most.

Zinc!

My favorite one thing, if I were to have to chose just one thing, for enhancing the immune system. Zinc is an excellent anti-bacterial for the throat. In addition to that, it is one of the stronger immune supports one can utilize when sick. Women can get deficient during their periods, and sexually active men are in need of more zinc, as it is used for prostate fluid, which is what sperm swim in. Additionally, zinc is found in high amounts in the macula (part of the retina) and in even higher amounts in our auditory system. It is used by over 200 enzymes in our body and is also a component of collagen synthesis, which is essential for wound healing. And this is just touching the surface really.

Women – look at your nails. Do you have tiny white spots on them? That can be a zinc deficiency. When women get their periods they have a greater need for zinc. When women come in complaining of ‘always’ getting sick the first thing I do is look at their fingernails. This is only a novel way of assessing zinc status. Another way is the zinc tally test.

Our taste buds use zinc, and when the body gets deficient in zinc, guess what is lowest on the totem pole? You guessed it. So there is this zinc sulphate solution that you can hold in your mouth for 30 seconds to see if you taste the sulpher. When you can’t taste the sulpher, then we are to assume your body is not keeping up with its need for zinc. I don’t do this in-office test anymore. I used to, as it costs almost nothing to do. Instead I just go right to the zinc.

One of my favorite studies on zinc looked at zinc levels of 668 hospitalized subjects, aged 70 or over, with 104 healthy controls of the same age and from the same geographical area. Those sick and needing hospitalization had significantly lower zinc compared to the healthy control group. Low zinc was found in 35.7% of those with respiratory disease, 20%- 27% for cancer, infectious disease, trauma, blood diseases, and genitourinary diseases, and less than 20% with other diseases.¹

Our thymus gland uses zinc for the hormone called thymulin which is crucial for the creation of those most important white blood cells, the T cells.

And there are a plethora of studies, far too numerous to mention here, siting positive outcomes with HIV and immune enhancement with zinc.²

I started this post with the title “How to Avoid a Sore Throat This Winter” as I do use zinc as my first line of attack against a sore throat. And for many colds and flus the sore throat is the first sign of something coming on, so not a bad idea to hit this the hard immediately when it happens.

That said, the throat can be a petri dish for microorganisms as it is an extension of the nasal passages . The overload of bacteria on the throat can cause irritation that manifests in a horse voice or outright pain from an infection. As soon as I was a little run down or pulled an all-nighter in school, wha-la, a sore throat would quickly ensue.

That was then. Now I have these zinc lozenges that work wonders.

Supplementing with Zinc

Taking some extra zinc is very safe. I don’t know any doctor who has ever seen excess zinc in a person. No doctor would even know what that looks like without looking it up.

The USRDA of zinc in an adult is a mere 15mg. Double this is not a problem and in fact is probably closer to optimal for our busy high-productive lives. When we are sick and needing that extra push, 60mg to even 90mg a day (divided as much as possible) for a few days is not a problem (see “Caveat” below!).

When taking zinc in a pill, always stick to a capsule over a tablet when possible. The picolinate, citrate and gluconate forms of zinc are much better absorbed than zinc oxide. Poor quality zinc, like zinc oxide, will tend to not absorb and cause stomach upset. Higher amounts of zinc regardless of the quality can also cause stomach upset. This is no problem and immediately remedied by eating.

What I use in my practice is a 10mg lozenge of zinc gluconate, as I think it is a good idea to do some direct throat maintenance since you are taking it anyway. But what is most crucial about the use of zinc for the throat is the amount of time the zinc is in contact with the throat tissue. The longer the time, the more it can put it’s anti-bacterial and anti-microbial activity to work against the staph and other organisms you may be growing. So what I recommend is to do the zinc lozenge while you are laying on your back. Barely sucking the lozenge means that it will dissolve very slowly, and the zinc will pool in the throat more.

The 10 mg lozenges are also a nice complement to some multi-vitamin/mineral formulas that may already supply 10 or 15 mg, allowing you to more accurately dose.

The Major Caveat

Taking too much zinc can deplete the essential trace mineral copper. It is assumed by many that we get most of our copper from the copper pipes our water runs through. But with the increasing use of plastics and PVC, we are switching this mineral out for an increased risk of cancer from these plastic toxins. So if you take a lot of zinc, like 30-50mg or so a day, consider taking a couple milligrams of copper also. It also helps the immune system and will help keep your arteries more elastic, and that means a lot for your aorta!

***

If you still find yourself in a dreadful state in spite of taking enough zinc to look like a dime, then do call me-  I can help with phone, Skype or an in-office appointment to get you back on your feet faster than anything else available to you!

1Serum Zinc and Copper Status in Hospitalized vs. Healthy Elderly Subjects J. Am. Coll. Nutr. December 1, 2007 26: 650-654

So why are these little bugs so important?

They detox and help remove toxic heavy metals from your body, they produce vitamin K along with some B vitamins, as well as help the absorption of minerals like calcium, magnesium and zinc.

They also fight many other microorganisms like E coli, clostridium and H.pylori, the causitive agent for stomach ulcers, helping to keep the numbers of those undesirable bacteria at lower numbers.

(if you want to see a much larger list of what probiotics do, click here to see a very comprehensive PDF I created about my probiotics).

The difference between someone who experiences a lot of gas verses someone who does not is usually from the bacterial balance of the GI system. Probiotics for treating gas- indeed! But know that this can require a few months or more to turn someone around, depending on their situation.

How to Choose Probiotics

I have my own brand of probiotics as I take them very seriously, having so many patients depending on what I prescribe to improve their health. So I know the species in the bottle and know they are viable, I know the manufacturer, and I know that I get fantastic results, or I would be out of business! I can’t trust to have a patient just go to any health food store to get just any probiotic. That said, get your probiotics solely from a naturopathic doctor or nutritionist you trust and work with. (and you can click here to order my brand of course).

But if you are shopping for probiotics at your health food store, know they are not all created equal, and this is where you have to be more diligent.

Each bottle you pick up will contain its own blend, at varying levels of potency. You will see probiotics containing 2 billion per capsule which sounds like a lot doesn’t it? But there are probiotics that contain 25 to 50 billion per capsule and that is what you want to be looking for.

In addition, the species must pass through the stomach without being killed by the acidic environment down there. Certain species will pass through stomach acid nicely, and others may be more vulnerable to it. To further complicate matters not all products have as many live bacteria in them that are promised on the label, or they have species that are contaminants from the growing process that are not listed on the label…Confusing to say the least.

Dosage

Probiotics are staying inside the gastro-intestinal tract and not crossing over to get into your bloodstream. For that reason they are still part of the outside world. Know that there is absolutely no toxicity involved in using probiotics. You can take any number of capsules for however long you want and never have to worry about negative affects. They are also safe during all stages of pregnancy.

Cultured Dairy and the Like

And lastly, what about yogurt, kefir, and various cultured vegetables? These are excellent and will offer you good results while you are consuming them. However, these are usually more transient bacteria, meaning that the species that culture dairy do not necessarily want to take up residence in your intestines. So three days after eating the cultured products, those bugs are usually gone, whereas three months after taking an excellent quality probiotic capsule, those bacteria are hopefully still there growing, happily taking over the neighborhood and pushing out the undesirables.

And Lastly, When to Take Probiotics:

There has always been an area of controversy about when to take probiotics. Empty stomach or with meals?

Some labels still say to take on an empty stomach, but when the stomach is empty it can be at its most acidic level, somewhere down around pH of 2, which can kill bacteria. When you add food to the mix, the pH goes up, closer to neutral (but still acidic) to anywhere from 3.0 to 6.0.

I suggest about an hour to two hours after eating, as that is when the stomach is emptying, so that should mean the least amount of time in the stomach and the least exposure to acids for the probiotics.

The ones I carry do have a technology to ensure they survive the stomach acid, so you really could take those at any time that is convenient for you, not just an hour or two after a meal.

I’ve been there in that self judging space around food, and specifically organic food. How perfect I thought, a topic to write about. And we’re in the Thanksgiving season. Perfect timing.

So here is where the work was for this patient, and perhaps for you too, being the health conscious person you are: transcendence, for your food, for your thoughts, for your life- for any situation you find yourself in. Please read on, I have a real solution to do this easily.

Many years ago I was on a road trip and I had an experience like the woman above that had such an impact on me that I was forever changed. Living in Seattle made it super easy for me to eat just about everything as organic. So there I was, peeling an orange in the car one day and thinking, “Hmm, this is not organic.” As I started eating the orange, I could feel this reluctance from deep within me that I was eating something that was not good for me, like I was eating poison. That was my wake-up call and I only had to learn that lesson once: give thanks for my food, any food, and accept it as the wonderful gift of abundance that it is. I have been doing that ever since, regardless of the source. There are people living off of land fills in Calcutta. Organic is not in their vocabulary.

Say you are pregnant and craving red meat. In this case that meat is pure medicine for your body. You are rushed and do not have access to some organic grass fed beef and give in to eating a burger from a drive through window (but not the bun of course!). So what are you going to do?

Is it healthier to have the non-organic asparagus rather than no asparagus at all? I believe so, as long as you can accept that beef or asparagus as the gift that it is for your body.

I heard one of those many Buddha stories once, something about the Buddha eating whatever was put in front of him. (How do we know, right? He lived so long ago…) The point being that we should appreciate the gift of any food- including that non-organic turkey that your friends are serving up!

Transcending our negative thoughts is crucial to relieving stress and to stopping the disease process.
Let’s consider food for a moment on this Thanksgiving holiday, as so many are concerned about organic this or that. What are your thoughts are about what you put in your mouth? This is a good inventory to take, especially as this can be a pivot for what causes disease and what does not.

Another patient this week had been in turmoil for months now about her decision to not take tamoxifen for the next five years as a preventive for cancer reoccurring. She is getting pressure from her oncologist and from her friends and family, and each time gets more and more stressed about her decision to not take the drug.

“I don’t want to put that poison in my body everyday! It has so many side effects and how do I know it will even work, or make things worse?”, she has said in countless emails with me. The truth is that she is treating her cancer from recurring as she is doing every natural remedy available that I would have my own mother on.

I asked her, “How would you feel each time you swallowed the tamoxifen?”

She got it and very quickly and was confident in her decision. Stress relieved.

I’ve heard once or twice that stress causes cancer by the way, have you?

The Magic Tool

Don’t you want to tell the pregnant woman stressing over the beef patty to just enjoy it and not worry about it? But we have all been there, and trying not to think of something can be a challenge depending on what we have going on, regardless of it being about food or stressing over your bills.

You see, we hear all the time that stress is the cause of a multitude of diseases. And along with that comes the advice to relieve our stress. Dah! If only it was that easy.

Well maybe it is! The tool here is to give gratitude. It changes everything, and I do mean everything!

This is one of the biggest tools you can use in every aspects of your life. It has the power to change a bad day into good, and a blah day into something worth remembering, and a great day into pure magic.

It will no longer matter who or what has done this or that to your Wheaties. By taking a few minutes to think of things you are grateful for will bring you right around, all the time.

How to do it

It is as simple as giving thanks for three things when need to put it into overdrive in order to get to another state of mind. Then three more, and three more. However many times it takes to get you to that warm feeling of love in your heart. Doing this daily is preventive health for the soul.

Sometimes when you are in the midst of insanity you know you couldn’t imagine being thankful for anything. Understandably. To prepare for this, I often have patients write a list of things that they are grateful for, adding to it everyday, trying to get to one hundred. This makes it easy, almost passively so, to change any negative thought patterns. All you have to do is simply read your list for a few minutes and your thoughts will be on auto pilot, on their way to nirvana.

This changing of gears is one of the most useful and crucial tools for your health. The faster you change feeling anger or dissatisfaction into contentment and true happiness, the less time the cells in your body will have a chance at developing any disease. Feeling love and appreciation is the true key to a happy life, or at least to a happy few minutes or hours if that may be your case. Eventually it will become second nature and you yourself will become one of those über-happy people who annoy your pessimistic current self.

From here on out, I’m changing the old saying, “You are what you eat” to “You are what you think (about what you eat)”!