Five Fingers of Pure Delight

I am reveling in my latest “try-it you might like it” Five Finger Vibram’s. However, this recommendation comes with a warning: you must keep a very open mind and have a willingness to try that which your mother would not approve of (or possibly your spouse) walking in the woods in your bare feet.

What are Five Finger Vibrams? They are a clever little pair of shoes that you can wear anytime and anywhere. They are defined by the company as “barefooting: the exhilarating joy of going barefoot without leaving yourself exposed; 2. any activity requiring unconventional foot wear offering the protection of a thin flexible Vibram skin; 3. an intelligent way to deepen your connection with your natural surroundings. …Our customers report an increased sense of balance, an expanded range of motion, and visibly improved posture.” I have to say that at times I found myself thinking this is deliciously naughty because I would never walk this trail in my bare feet yet it felt as if I were doing just that.

My test for my FFV shoes included shopping this morning for about 2 hours with the Injinji socks on my feet as well as it is 45 degrees here in Minnesota today. Since that worked just fine for me, I donned them again and took them out on rougher terrain for a 45 minute hike. They not only went through mud and over rocks they handled holes, pine needles and even the hard surface of my paved driveway. I am more pleased than I can say because taking this same walk on Wednesday in conventional walking shoes (Merril trail shoes) I actually turned my ankle more than once due to the uneveness of the walking path. Today my feet gripped the earth and other than the slippery feel of the occasional muddy patch they came through everything with flying colors. I can feel a little stress in my calves  but otherwise my feet don’t hurt and better than that the one toe that always screams after a long hike has no comment today other than “ahhhh!!”

I must be complete in my review of my FFVs and mention the cons. They were not the best in mud as it felt slightly slick underfoot. However, that said, I never fell or even slipped it was just the feeling of mud on your “barefeet” that was off putting. I occasionally looked down to see little flowers between my toes or a piece of straw but I never actually felt the flowers. The straw was poking me in the leg thus caught my attention but even that made me smile, so not much of a “con”.  Another possible negative is they are a bit hard to put on the first few times as you must assist each toe in to its finger but that is getting much easier and I have only put them on three times now.

Sizing was pretty true to your shoe size but you need to know what size you would wear if you bought a shoe that was made in Europe. For instance if you wear a woman’s 10-10 1/2 you need to order a 41 and the socks will fit if you buy a medium.

All in all, the shoes get a “thumbs up” from this nascent FVV wearer. It felt so good to exercise “barefoot” that I almost felt like dancing, only a certain amount of modesty held me back.

And the Hype Goes On

This morning’s headline yells “19 Children Dead from H1N1 Virus!” and I admit it raises some fear even in my mind but I have to take a deep breath and remember a few vital details.

First, it is true that more people are adversely affected by the flu vaccination than by the flu itself. According to an article by a Bill Sardi on Lew Rockwell.com “in 1993 the federal government hid a deadly flu vaccine that killed thousands of nursing home patients.” “The vaccine related mortality was so large that this set back the life expectancy of Americans for the first time since the 1918 Spanish flu!” This article, which is a must read, also points out that the vaccine administrated to children at the moment is a nasal spray of live virus. These children then go home and spread live virus amongst their family members and Bob’s your uncle, everyone has the flu. I’ll be damned.

Secondly, not one media source that I have listened to (and I admit I turn it off as soon as they start the vaccine hype) discusses what one can do to build up your immune system and thus avoid the flu. It is known that Vitamin D3 is very effective and I can tell you there is nothing easier to swallow than a D3 capsule or it even comes in a peppermint wafer that can be chewed. I personally meditate for 10 minutes every other day in front of my Sunsplash Renew Vitamin D lamps thus exposing my body to the benefit of Vitamin D producing rays.

If you don’t have the advantage of living near the equator or of possesssing a Sunsplash Renew Vitamin D lamp you need to take Vitamin D3. Generally the recommended amount of Vitamin D is 400 iu but this is simply inadequate to fight disease and increase your immunity to the flu and you should actually take 35 IU’s of Vitamin D3 per pound of body weight. That is for a child weighing 40 pounds about 1400 IU’s of Vitamin D3 and for an average adult male weighing 170 pounds the dose would be 6000 IU’s. When you expose your skin to summer sun 20,000 IU’s of Vitamin D are produced and there is no danger of overdose as your body can easily assimilate the unnecessary Vitamin D and or get rid of it. When taken in prescription form it is often Vitamin D2 which is much less effective and thus given in large doses in the range of 30,000 IU’s and 50,000 IU’s. In these cases the person has extremely low levels of Vitamin D3 and to prevent illness must get their levels up to at least 40 ng/ml. In any case, you need to have your Vitamin D levels checked with a simple blood test and then you want your levels to be between 50ng/ml and 65 ng/ml. If you are fighting cancer or a debilitating disease your levels should be closer to 90ng/ml.

Vitamin C is known to be very effective in building up your immune system. Vitamin C can be taken in large doses (to bowel tolerance) as what you don’t need will be removed in your urine. I know the joke about “all it does is produce expensive urine” but we know it helps you fight disease and if some is excreted so be it. I take 2500 mg of Quali-C every morning but it is a heart formula that also has L-lysine and L-proline. The Vitamin C Foundation sells a very high quality Vitamin C that is not sourced from corn and is made in the USA.

Selenium, is a trace mineral that if taken can  prevent the worst forms of H1N1 where the lungs fill up with fluid and you literally drown in your own fluid. Selenium can be found in nuts such as Brazil nuts but can also be taken in supplemental form. You want to closely monitor how much Selenium you take in any given day as it can have adverse effects if taken in excess of 250mg.

Lastly, when they scream “19 children have died” you must ask at least two other questions. “Were these children in any way compromised?” and “Were all these children from one state or from across the United States?” The favorite statement to make now is “and there were no underlying health problems”. Perhaps the child didn’t have asthma, or cancer or diabetes all of which could weaken their immune system but one they never like to talk about is that children fed a diet high in sugar, trans fats and simple carbohydrates (like Wonder Bread) have weakened immune systems and are unable to fight off simple illness much less H1N1 viruses. Perhaps they should inquire about the child’s diet to be totally accurate when reporting “no underlying causes”. Not to mention asking if they had been given Tamiflu and/or the H1N1 vaccine.

While I hate the thought of children dying  just like anyone else does the facts are children die. Children do die of side effects of the flu. 19 children isn’t even one per state and that is a death rate that is not considered abnormal or alarming and definitely not of pandemic proportions. When the media go on and on about such mundane statistics they are simply attempting to create a panic and they are most certainly pandering to the federal government because it is known that our government has invested billions of dollars in developing a vaccine and they don’t want those dollars wasted.

I think it is undoubtedly time to turn off the hype. If you want to be informed read your news, read it online, read it in the newspapers and magazines. Then open a dialogue with intelligent well informed people and discuss the pros and cons of vaccination. We do not become informed citizens by listening to McNews and falling prey to their hype. All you really have to do is keep a running tally of the commercials run during the morning and evening news and you will know precisely who has paid for the hype you just heard and then you can dismiss in its entirety.

How to Use a Functional Medicine Practitioner

I have visited this subject in previous blogs but I have just read a very interesting case study of two patients with horrible fibromyalgia issues and I think the subject must be broached again and again. If you or anyone you know suffers from the wracking pain of fibromyalgia and the resulting exhaustion of the accompanying chronic fatigue you, too, would feel my fervor regarding the subject of functional medicine/integrative medicine. However, everyone or better said anyone with medical issues such as autoimmune disorders, cardiac issues, infertility, cancer, etc. can benefit from seeing a functional medicine practitioner, a licensed MD who specializes in functional/integrative medicine and will from here on out be referred to as a FMP.

Typically when a person visits their general practitioner or even a nurse practitioner the medical person will look at a brief medical history of the patient they see before them. They will have been given no more than 15 minutes to visit with this person and provide a diagnosis and I am told sometimes the doctor never takes their hand off the door knob. How much thinking or caring goes in to a diagnosis given on the run? The easiest path is always the path of least resistance and hardly anyone will or can resist taking a miraculous little pill, so guess what? This medical person will reach in to their pocket and pull out a pad of paper, scratch some words on it, sign it, give it to you with instructions to take it to your pharmacy of choice and send you on your way.

Do you know (or have you experienced it personally) that some people end up taking pharmaceutical products that actually counteract each other? Or that they end up with a cupboard full of pharmacy products that are costing them (or us) a bomb but they haven’t even addressed the medical issue? The case study I just read was depressing as these two women had been put on psychiatric medicines, pain medicines, acid reflux medicines, etc. (and I am not exaggerating about the etc.) and still their symptoms did not abate and both cases got much worse. They both thought they were losing their minds and the medical people they saw corroborated their suspicions instead of doing the right thing.

This is the point where you as the patient have to have done your homework. You have to understand that this physician means well but medicine is a big business now and there are bills to be paid and equipment to be used to pay those bills, so they want to use them be it in a surgical setting or elsewhere. They don’t or won’t take time to thoroughly examine your situation and if and when you start asking questions (because you have done your homework) they will get irritated and downright rude. I have heard that people are told “you aren’t a doctor” or “do not mention that name again in this office” if they ask questions or mention people like Joe Mercola. If this ever happens to you, excuse yourself, grab your clothes and leave. Go home, turn on your computer, Google “Functional Medicine Practioners” and make an appointment with the one nearest to your location.

Why? You will instantly see the difference because the first thing you will do is fill out a health history like no other you have ever filled out. I seem to remember that Dr. Rob Bruley’s was 24 pages long and included questions like “Do you clear your throat often?” or “Have you experienced any major life changes recently?” right down to the number of daily bowel movements you experience. These questions will be carefully examined by your FMP before you are even seen in the office and a course of action will only take place after you have also had at least one hour and a half appointment in their office, face to face. Don’t be taken aback by the offer of a glass of water, or even a tissue to wipe away your tears of relief. Someone is finally listening to you and they don’t even have their fingers on the door knob.

Next the FMP will try to make things better as soon as possible but this may not be an overnight solution. They may prescribe pharmaceutical products to temporarily alleviate your anxiety or pain, after all they are MDs, so they do understand that once in awhile a pill really does help. What they will do that your GP doesn’t do is try to find the underlying problem not just apply a bandaid that will eventually fail and leave you with a gaping hole again filled with aches and pains that will require one more pill with all of its side effects and conditions. You will most likely have a full blood panel ordered, a 4 stage stool test, mucosal barrier tests and heavy metal tests. You may also need an Estronex test or Cortisal/DHEA test or even an Iodine loading test. The tests requested by the FMP will depend on how you filled out that lengthy questionaire and what tests they feel will peel off the layers and expose the underlying cause of your problem. Your insurance may or may not pay for all the tests but if you are seriously ill the cost of the tests is nothing when compared to giving in and losing this battle altogether. Don’t forget there are a plethora of case studies out there where people have sought treatment, been given treatment at great expense, the treatment fails and they go bankrupt trying to pay for failed allopahtic care. Bite the bullet and pay for the tests you need it will be cheaper in the long run.

Once the tests results are back your FMP will schedule up to 3 hours of time to thoroughly discuss a plan of action. You will walk out of the office feeling drained (admittedly of money as well as emotions) but positive. Someone has listened to you, taken action and hope reigns anew. In the case of these two women in the study I read they had both suffered for years with paralyzing pain, dizziness and anxiety. They both were on some of the strongest pain meds you can take and neither one got relief without increasing the strength or adding this pill or that pill and those just exacerbated other issues. When they finally found a FMP and followed through with recommended tests they found that they were both taking zero pharmaceutical products, their pain was gone and their future rosy. Just in case you are interested, one had undiagnosed autoimmune thyroiditis and the other had a bacteria that was harbored in the mucosal lining of her intestinal tract. Both patients were treated in very different ways despite having the same issue of fibromyalgia and both had successful outcomes.

When considering this recommendation remember I am a lay person just like you, I am not a doctor. I have health concerns much the same as you do and I see a FMP because he was the only one who understood that I understood and would listen to me and work with me. He was never threatening or condescending and I can honestly say I have never seen his fingers touch a door knob for anything except to keep  our discussion private and to allow me to leave when I feel all questions have been addressed.

Keeping Promises

Last night I found yet another use for zucchini and I can honestly say that my garden is now nearly devoid of the prodigious emerald green offspring of the dog days. As a result of cooler days I think my quest to find 1001 uses for zucchini may soon end but I can add one more recipe for your epicurean delight.

Yesterday, I thawed some grass fed beef from Pasture’s A Plenty and looked in my latest fascinating cookbook by Elana Amsterdam “The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook”. She had on offer a recipe for Turkey loaf because, of course, in some minds beef is equated with the word “BAD”.  I know grass fed beef is as healthy as any protein and probably better than factory raised turkey, so I thawed it with abandon. (I will let you in on a secret: despite being very well informed on the subject of grass fed beef every time I read an author’s denigrating words about beef I feel like a kid running with scissors when I eat it.) I guess if you believe turkey is better for you add 1 tablespoon of grapeseed oil, if like me grass fed beef is what you prefer skip the oil. I have altered the recipe to suit my needs.

Herbed Meat Loaf

1 pound ground grass fed beef
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 cup grated zucchini
2 large eggs
1/4 cup ketchup (Annie’sorganic)
1/2 cup blanched almond flour (Bob’s Red Mill is good)
1 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground Tellicherry pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh garden parsley
1 tablespoon minced fresh garden thyme

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine all the ingredients and prepare to dig in. I just love mixing meatloaf with my clean hands, so I blended all the ingredients ala Jamie Oliver, shaped it in to a loaf and put it in a glass bread pan patting it out to make it even. I baked it about an hour or until the juices were running clear, removed it from the oven and let it sit for 10  minutes before slicing and eating.

My husband (the spousal unit, sometimes referred to as “the SU”) actually asked me what we were eating at supper. When I told him meatloaf, I, expecting some snide remark about “mystery meat”  was pleasantly surprised when he simply replied “it’s really tasty!” That made my entire evening seem brighter.

End of Summer Excess

Yes, dear reader it pains me to say our summer days in Minnesota are waning. I am a worshipper of the cool, crisp nights of autumn and sunny arid days but I have grown to love summer or perhaps better put as I age summer has grown on me. I love sitting outside to have my morning cup of tea or my evening meal oh heck I love being outside doing just about anything this time of year. Thus it is with trepidation I face the curt days of autumn so I begin my mantra “All will be well, all is well” and finally convince myself that in fact there are many things I love about this time of year. The abundant garden is one of these blessed harbingers of the impending winter.

At times when yet another load of beans awaits my arrival, or my tomatoes are so laden they lay on the ground I heave a sigh of near resentment and then I realize what a gift this is and how I will enjoy the fruits of my labor well in to the winter and maybe for the entire year. I think what overcomes a person at this time of year is what to do with the abundant harvest to save it and relish it for months and I am gradually creating my very own veritable library of ideas for saving the harvest. What follows are a few of these ideas and perhaps you can add your bits of wisdom to be shared and enjoyed.

My Excalibur dehydrator has been running non-stop for at least a month drying everything from apples to zucchini and anything in between. At the moment I have sliced bananas drying on one shelf and Roma tomato halves drying on another. I have dried my Calendula blossoms to use in body oil and for tisanes and cayenne peppers for cooking this winter. Eggplant dries very nicely and it combined with zucchini and tomatoes will rehydrate in a delightfully fresh tasting Ratatouille in a few months. The beauty of the Excalibur is you can dry veggies at a temperature that allows them to reserve all their enzymes and vitamins to be used when you need them most, the winter solstice. Two excellent books I have found to supply me with ample ideas of food to dehydrate and recipes for using dehydrated food are Mary Bell’s “Complete Dehydrator Cookbook” and the Excalibur book “Preserve it Naturally”.

My freezer is going to burst with harvest treasures very soon and that has forced me to find other ways to preserve my booty but I still really like the freezer method as it is safe and contamination is virtually nonexistent in frozen food. Yesterday, for example, I peeled, cut in half and squeezed seeds out of large luscious red tomatoes and plopped them in ZipLoc freezer bags laid them out flat and froze them. It was a warm day with lovely breezes wafting through the house and I had no desire to warm the air with canning, so this solved the problem. On cool days, I might heat up a pan of water, dump in a load of freshly picked crisp green beans that have been topped and tailed, and parboil them. When I remove them I drain them and place them in a bowl of iced water let them cool completely and dry them on a clean cotton towel. I prefer to be able to use them as I need them, so I flash freeze them on a cookie sheet in one layer. As soon as they are firm enough to move I put them in freezer bags and pop them back in to be used as I see fit. Earlier in the summer I had loads of mesclun that I was about to add to the compost heap when a friend suggested lettuce soup. The soup was lovely and now I have several jars of pureed lettuce in the freezer ready to add to soup this autumn and winter.

Lastly and perhaps the one thing not everyone will partake in are my lacto-fermented vegetables I have bubbling away in the pantry. Lacto fermentation (look under lacto fermentation) is as old as the hills and in our modern world we are sadly lacking what lacto fermentation provided the generations before us, natural healthy gut flora. It is well known that if you have a healthy gut you will be healthy and instead of eating commercially prepared sugar laden yogurt (the sugar negates the healthy bacteria content) why not add salt and perhaps whey to your garden bounty and create your own healthy condiments. Cabbage is the obvious lacto fermented vegetable as almost everyone eats sauerkraut. Sauerkraut is also the easiest fermented vegetable to make. You simply grate your cleaned cabbage, dump it in a sturdy bowl with Celtic sea salt and bash until liquid forms. At that point, you stuff it tightly in a Mason jar, packing layer after layer of cabbage in to the jar until you have nearly filled the jar leaving perhaps 2 inches of free space to allow for the fermentation. Cap it tightly with your canning lids, place it in a cool dark place and wait two or three days. At that point you should see little bubbles bouncing around in your jar and if you open the jar it will pop with the pent up gases. The smell will be of sauerkraut, kind of vinagery and spicy. If it smells nasty throw it away and start over. Once you master the basic sauerkraut you can add a mulititude of ingredients like garlic, grated carrots, onion. If you like you can make sauerkraut from cauliflower instead of cabbage or make a mixture of root vegetables or late harvest tiny vegetables like eggplant, turnip and burdock root. The possibilities are endless and two very useful books are “Preserving Food Without Freezing or Canning” and “Wild Fermentation” by Sandor Katz. I think the latter book should be on every cook’s bookshelf for the name alone, talk about things that jazz up the kitchen, and Sandor Katz has loaded this book with a plethora of ideas for your autumn bounty.

As the dog days of summer trail behind you know that your garden will entertain you for the months to come if you have preserved your harvest. I guarantee you will be feeling quite smug when on a dark, cold winter day you can take a bite of your freshly made ratatouille, slurp a spoon of creamy lettuce soup or the piece de resistance swirl a fork of lightly dressed fettuccine against your pasta bowl put the entire thing in your mouth and simply savor the epitome of summer, the luscious taste of a sun ripened heirloom tomato.

Feeding Your Thyroid

My latest update on Facebook from Janie Bowthorpe was basically a continuation of her disagreement with Forest Pharmaceuticals and their changing the formulation of Armour Thyroid and Janie’s successfully getting many people to switch to Naturethroid and Westhroid. It is all getting old to me and I will apologize right now to any readers that offends and tell you that I am grateful to Janie Bowthorpe for her very informative book Stop The Thyroid Madness. I have a different take on the subject of the new formulation causing relapse in everyone and I will share it with my readers.

Early this winter I finally talked my very open minded doctor, Rob Bruley, in to prescribing Armour Thyroid instead of my compounded pharmaceutical T3 and T4 because we were not resolving my hypothyroidism issue after more than a year of constantly increasing my dosage. Admittedly he reluctantly did it, but he did it and told me I had to take a 3 grain dose of Armour Thyroid which by the way had to be special ordered at Target pharmacy (I tell you because it is useful information). 3 grains was equal to the T3 and T4 I was taking that wasn’t working very well although we had corrected several aspects of my thyroid malfunction. At that time I also started a bio-identical testosterone cream and progesterone tablet because those hormones were low in a recent hormone test I had taken.

I don’t want to quote exact times here because it is all a blur of history but approximately 6 weeks later I was having heart palpitations and sudden jolts that would awaken me in the middle of the night. I started taking half a 3 grain tablet at that time and when I called Dr. Bruley he agreed that this was the right thing to do, so he prescribed a blood test  which showed my T3 was now too high, T4 was okay and the TSH was within range although on the low side. I continued on 1 1/2 grains and when I had the next blood test I didn’t take my Armour the morning of the test as it will affect the T3 reading according to Janie and I was not in the mood to take any higher dosage. I was now feeling rather hyper at times and for instance if I was writing something it would almost look scribbled because I was writing too fast (my own test) so I knew I was a little over medicated but the test would tell.

That test came back with both T3 and T4 within range but my total TSH was .3 which indicates suppressed thyroid. I have since cut my half tablet in to half which amounts to 3/4 grain of Armour Thyroid. I will need a blood test in a few weeks but I can tell you that I still feel a little hyperthyroid. On 3/4 grain my heart palpitations are almost non-existent but at times I feel agitated like I need to run a marathon but I don’t run anymore.

Now to my point, the newly formulated Armour has seemingly corrected my thyroid problem greatly reducing my need for thyroid stimulating hormone. I don’t take it sublingually anymore because most of my digestive issues are resolved by not eating grain of any kind and drinking kefir every day. Swallowing Armour allows for slow release of the thyroid stimulating hormone. If and when I did what Janie suggested and took the tablet sublingually I would get a jolt in the morning that was uncomfortable and if I took some early afternoon when it had worn off I was too hyper to relax by bedtime. Swallowing it with my morning tea works perfectly for me I have sustained energy during the day and I am ready for bed at night.

I am now taking Alpha Lipoic Acid (300 mg) twice a day (with breakfast and supper) as well as a B-Complex vitamin for energy and liver health. If you take ALA you must add a B Complex as the ALA lowers your levels of the B vitamins. I also take 200 mcg of a sodium selenate/selenomethionine supplement. When I feel an energy lag I have a great B12 supplement called ProBoneO by Life Enhancement (Dr. Wright). I eat a diet free of gluten, with lots of greens, fresh eggs, avocados, grass fed meat, etc. My conclusion is that by balancing my hormones and taking the right supplements (no excipients or fillers), following a gluten free diet and staying away from excititoxins I am healing my thyroid.

Instead of complaining about the reformulation of Armour Thyroid I would tell you to try it. If it doesn’t work or you start to experience hypo symptoms again follow this advice before you change to Naturethroid or Westhroid:

Balance all your hormones not just your thyroid hormone.

Eat a gluten free diet full of greens which can be from Barley grass and Alfalfa grass or greens from the garden that are raw or lightly steamed. Add homemade kefir with no sugar added for a health gut.

Throw away supplements that have excipients and fillers as they negatively affect your immune system and create a bio film that keeps you from absorbing the supplement.

Judiciously stay away from MSG which means making your own fresh food with no boxed convenience foods and reading The MSG Myth.

Exercise using the T-Tapp method as she concentrates on cleaning your lymph system and allowing your body to heal itself.

If you do all these things and still suffer from hypo symptoms then it is time to try something new. If you choose not to try these steps first don’t cry foul on Forest Pharmaceuticals point your finger at the real guilty party, you.

“Pre-Conception Healthcare”

If you are thinking about getting pregnant having a complete blood panel done BEFORE you get pregnant may be the best thing you can do to assure a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. In fact, many holistic physicians feel a complete physical should be required before you become pregnant as well as testing for metal toxicity, molds, electromagnetic fields and STD testing.

Let’s start with the most important test first. You should have your Thyroid tested. This does not mean getting just a TSH reading this means getting a complete thyroid panel including Free T3 and Free T4. Hypothyroidism in an expectant mother can lead to miscarriage of the fetus, a lower IQ of the child as they grow and potentially Down’s Syndrome.

Correcting your hypothyroid condition may be as simple as correcting underfunctioning adrenal glands (can be checked with a saliva hormone test) as according to Joe Mercola it is often the cause of an under functioning thyroid gland. If adrenal health is adequate but your T3 and T4 are not normal or your TSH is higher than a reading of 2 (normal is between 1 and 2)then you may need to take Dessicated Thyroid (Armour, Nature-Throid, Westhroid) but under most circumstances do not fall for the advice to take synthetic T4 only (Synthroid, or the generic Levothyroxine) as it has been my experience that that is a slippery slope to taking more and more thyroid medication with no possibility of resolution or improvement.

Next have your Vitamin D3 (25 OH(D)) levels tested. You should have a level near or exceeding 50 ng/ml to stay healthy and provide an environment that is healthy for the fetus to develop in. It is thought in certain circles that low Vitamin D3 levels in the mother could lead to autism in the baby and this would not be noticed until the child is nearing their third birthday.

If your levels are low it may be prescribed by your physician that you take doses up to 50,000 mg until your levels are 50 ng/ml or above. These are hefty doses and are generally only taken over a few months, a week at a time until your levels are normal. If your levels are low do not attempt to get pregnant until your levels are at least 50 ng/ml and do not take these high doses without a physician monitoring your D levels.

Toxins are a very real threat to the health of your unborn child Mercury being chief among these toxins that can harm your fetus.  There are tests for heavy metal toxicity and if you have amalgam fillings you should have these safely removed and replaced before considering pregnancy.

Should tests for metal toxicity show that you have toxic levels you need to know the metals that you have accumulated and then follow detoxification protocol including removal of silver fillings. Taking chlorella, drinking Cilantro tea or taking Cilantro tincture is an easy thing to do and will cause your body to get rid of the heavy metals. Far Infrared Sauna will also aid the detoxification process and allows the toxins to exit via your skin instead of poisoning your already challenged liver.

Dr. Deitrich Klinghardt recommends an Electro-magnetic field test before getting pregnant. This means testing the areas where you sleep and work for EM fields and protecting yourself from the affects of EMFs. He recommends turning the fuses off to the electricity in your bedroom at night, he will not allow cordless phones in the homes of his patients planning on becoming pregnant and feels strongly that exposing the unborn fetus to undue EMF stress is a huge contributor to behavioral problems in children not to mention cancers and other devastating problems. He does recommend a netting that can be put around your bed much like a mosquito netting that will stop the onslaught of EMF waves which sounds exotic to me but I can see the benefit since I have a “techy” husband who will not turn off the cell phones at night and leaves them by his side at all times not to mention the cordless phones that dot our countertops throughout the house.

It all sounds terribly difficult but it is not impossible and going in to your pregnancy with a healthy body could and will save you years and years of problems or perhaps better said, challenges with your as of now unborn, hopefully unconceived child. You really must dare to conceive the inconceivable.

Boning Up on the Facts

I hope my friend Carla won’t mind if I take a cue from her for today’s blog but she was pondering osteoporosis and its affects on her aging mother. I have osteopenia which means when I had my Dexa scan done there was some thinning of my bone but not enough for my functional medicine doctor to concern himself with. To quote him ” it is a normal thinning of bone”. My mother had osteoporosis and this was evidenced by the change in her general height. That said, she really never did break a bone until she was 90, and she fell more than any other person I know. When she did tumble from her walker at the nursing home she fell right on her left elbow and it did break. It was surgically corrected, and once they took the darned pin out it healed and she acted like she had never had a break. Mother started taking one of the Pharma drugs in her 80’s and it may have helped but it also may have contributed to some wasting in her jaw bone that caused her to lose some teeth. I guess we will never know and that is what the Pharma world counts on. I am left pondering my mother’s osteoporosis thanks to Carla and here are my ruminations.

I believe that my osteopenia and my mother’s osteoporosis were primarily caused by undiagnosed Celiac’s disease. We were a family of bread eaters and cereals, you name it there wasn’t a grain that wasn’t eaten at our house all in the name of healthy eating. Mother had the ability to clear her colon in seconds as her doctor told her “with any kind of stress”. I think we would now call that IBS and mother had it her entire life but not one person thought to alter her diet. I think of all the nutrients she didn’t absorb and I am no longer in wonder at her osteoporosis or for that matter her dementia. I have blamed my similar issues on anything and everything, that is until I started reading and then took to heart everything that Joe Mercola and others were putting out there about grain consumption. Once I eliminated grain from my diet, allowing for the occasional treat, my digestive issues all but disappeared.

Calcium is supposed to build strong bones. Well milk was huge at our house and mother dutifully drank her glass of milk at almost every meal ostensibly “for her bones”. Mother also took her tums. Pasteurized milk is truly useless and that “healthy” drink, skim milk, is just pure sugar and does little more than cause insulin resistance in the individuals who drink it (my father drank gallons of the stuff but ate no sweets and little bread and died with undiagnosed diabetes). In other words, calcium is not the only answer and most of us get plenty of calcium in our diet from various vegetables and if not lactose intolerant from cheese, cottage cheese, etc. What is often is missing is Magnesium to balance the calcium intake and Ionic Fizz and Peter Gilham’s Calm both easily add magnesium to your diet. I love my raw milk kefir and have some most mornings in my smoothie. By the way, there is no pasteurized milk in my house if I can help it but that is a recent revelation (last 10 years) and pasteurized skim milk used to be a constant in our refrigerator and I, too, took Tums regularly.

Mother exercised in her fifties but only then and it was always walking. She worked harder than anyone I know and had more energy than anyone I know but she didn’t actually do weight lifting or any kind of exercise that would cause percussion of the bone and a pulling of muscle on the bones. Lesson learned is exercise your muscles and pound a little on your bones with exercise like running, walking, climbing stairs, etc. T-Tapp actually does it all and also improves your mirror image.

Mom ate a lot of fish especially in her later years as they lived on the shores of Lake Superior but fish is notoriously high in mercury and she was still eating her oatmeal and bread, so whatever goodness she was supposed to get from her fish was washed down the loo. Omega 3 oils are vital to healthy bones and the best kind of fish oil I know of is Vital Choice Salmon Oil. It is a deep orange it is so rich in astaxanthan from krill, has a pure taste and is undistilled and has undetectable levels of mercury.  Omega 6 oils need to be minimized at least in the summer (we may have increased need for some if we live in the northern climes).

Mother judiciously avoided sunshine. She slathered on sunscreen, put a large brimmed hat on her head and covered every inch of her body with thick fabric. In her last years she was seldom exposed to sunshine and when she was she squinted and asked to go back inside. I never had her Vitamin D levels checked but I wish I would have as it is easy to do and is so important. Vitamin D levels should be at least 50-60 ng/ml and even higher if you have any health challenges like cancer or even a virus. My functional medicine doctor ordered the test for me originally but now you can order your own online at the Vitamin D Council site. It is so cool that at my local Healtheast hospital (Woodwinds) you can walk in to the hospital lab and ask for a Vitamin D3 test without doctor’s orders and for $40 find out for yourself. It may be true of a lab near you and it pays to ask. Once you know your D3 levels you may need massive amounts of D3 to get your levels up (up to 50,000 mg temporarily) but you might just need daily exposure to midday sunshine. Sunshine prescription: 15-20 minutes midday sun on as much exposed naked skin as you can decently manage. In the north our sunshine is only effective from May-September unless you live at high altitude so another option is the Sunsplash from Mercola not only will it help your body produce its own Vitamin D all year you will also walk around with a healthy glow.

Lastly, Mom took a daily multiple vitamin but we know now those really aren’t adequate and with her digestive issues it was mostly a waste of her time and money. What she really needed were a host of minerals and vitamins that would have helped her keep her bones strong. Vitamin K2 is vital, selenium, boron, copper, zinc and B12 (a vitamin many of us have unhealthily low levels of) are all necessary to build and keep bone strong. Recently, I found quite by accident a product developed by Jonathon Wright called ProBone-O by Life Enhancement. It has no fillers or magnesium stearate and is easy to use as you just drop it in the vestibule of your mouth, let it sit 20 seconds and then swallow, even the digestively challenged will absorb the nutrients.

I can’t change things for my mom as she died in March at the age of 91 but maybe my ruminations can help you or someone you love. All of the experts I mention have numerous articles about bone health on their websites and they have all proven to be quite reliable. It really is up to you to bone up on your health.

A Gutsy Move

Speaking of guts may not make you think of probiotics but they are all about a healthy gut and a healthy gut is all about a healthy body. If you have ever been treated with the ubiquitous antibiotics prescribed by your primary care physician you need probiotics. The good news is probiotics are simple to make and will be fresher than anything you can buy and certainly freer of additives, fillers and gelatin. How? You make kefir.

Kefir is a combination of bacteria and yeasts in a matrix of protein, sugar and lipids. This matrix forms a characteristic cauliflower like “mushroom” and this “mushroom” is placed in a quart canning jar of milk, hopefully “real” milk, capped with a non-metallic canning jar lid, set in a warm place out of the sunshine and allowed to ferment for 24-48 hours. You will know when it is done because the resultant mixture is thick like yogurt but eminently drinkable. If you let it sit 48 hours it will separate in to curds and whey and will have an altogether different composition and much more sour taste (for instance kefir that is fermented for 48 hours has a much higher folic acid content). When the fermentation is complete to your satisfaction you remove the grains of kefir and start a new jar of kefir.

Often when I make kefir I need to let the grains rest in between batches, so the last jar is placed in the refrigerator with the grains still in place. Cooling the grains, slows the fermentation but the grains are still being fed and will stay healthy and useable for a very long time. As soon as I use up one jar and need the next I just transfer the grains to a new jar of “real” milk. If you use whole “real” milk the grains may need the occasional rinse with non-chlorinated (chlorine will kill the grains) cool water as the fat may coat the grains and stop the fermentation from occurring. Also another secret to success with kefir grains is if you don’t need them for awhile you can rinse them, dry the grains off with a cotton towel, powder them with dry milk powder (organic if possible) and freeze them. When you need them again you dust them off, place them in milk and let them warm up and start causing their signature fermentation again. This may take a change of two of milk, so start with a small jar and wake them up gently.

The magical elixir you will have produced has antimutagenic (capable or reducing mutation which is important in cancer control) and antioxidant properties (something that inhibits oxidation and is vital to a healthy body). Many lactose intolerant people find they can digest kefir with no problems as it aids in lactose digestion as a catalyst. It has been found to lower serum cholesterol and blood pressure in rats according to Wikipedia. If you want more history of kefir Google it and you will find there is a plethora of information on various sites dedicated to kefir and kombucha (a fermentation done with tea, sugar, water and a kombucha mushroom).

Kefir has a decidedly tart taste but a delightful sparkle due to the fermentation and very slight alcoholic content (less than 1%). I love it plain but if the tartness doesn’t please you it is easily added to your morning smoothie or you can simply add agave nectar, honey, maple syrup, xylitol, stevia, fresh fruit, etc before you drink it. Years ago I did read that it is advised that you take one day off a week to allow your system to take care of itself but I don’t think the horseback riders in the Caucasus did that as it was a source of calories and liquid for them as they crossed the mountains that formed their region between Asia and Europe. They would carry a small bladder full of mare’s milk and the magic mushroom and let it shake around inside the bag as they rode and then enjoy the sparkling beverage and all of its healthful properties.

Most mornings I make a smoothie with my kefir by putting in a blender 1/2 cup of my freshly made kefir, 1 cup of filtered water, any supplements I want that day that are in powdered form but lately it has been T-Tapps Premium alfalfa blend, Dr. Ron’s multi-vitamin powder, powdered CoQ10, 1/4 teaspoon Taurine powder, a scoop of Cardio-C, a scoop of Coco Mojo, a dropperful of Viragon, and a dropperful of my own blood cleansing tincture,  three emptied capsules of turmeric, a scoop of chia seed, 3/4 teaspoon of salmon oil , and maybe some xylitol. I mix that all up and as the machine is running I can add fresh spinach leaves, parsley, kale anything green from the garden. Sometimes I then add frozen berries or half a frozen banana, a fresh raw egg, and half an avocado. This mixture can be varied by adding coconut milk powder or simply substituting some coconut milk for water. I like my smoothies thick like a shake but this too can be adjusted for personal taste. My spousal unit is happy that I let him leave most mornings before I make my concoction but I enjoy it and it is a powerful combination. You can make your own creations but it is important to know that the base is kefir.

I have introduced many people to kefir, some have turned their noses up in disgust but many have benefitted from their daily dose of kefir and often share the “mushroom” with friends and family and have found it helped them become healthier (from ending lifelong constipation to healing IBS). The “mushroom” will multiply and is easy to separate out of the kefir to give to friends and family, so you will never lack for kefir grains. Go ahead, make a gutsy move, make some kefir and enjoy a new healthier you.

P.S. When first starting on any probiotics you need to start out carefully. Unhealthy gut environs are strongly affected by probiotics and diarrhea may initially result from drinking kefir. Often this is a result of your body getting rid of something bad it was harboring like Candida overgrowth, so the diarrhea isn’t always a bad occurence but it may be uncomfortable. It is recommended that you start with a tablespoon and try more as you can tolerate it.

My Dear Miss Piggy

As the so-called swine flu continues to hit the newspapers and television every other day or so I am sure pork producers suffer the wrath of the media. I haven’t heard specifically but I can only imagine that people won’t buy pork for fear of getting this much dreaded H1N1 virus. Why is that? Because people listen and/or read for a nanosecond and let’s face it you can only get so many facts in a nanosecond and it is usually all garbled and incorrect. I would like to say a few things to clarify and defend the much maligned porcine community.

First of all, you may or may not have heard or read this small, insignificant detail but YOU CANNOT GET THE H1N1 VIRUS FROM EATING PORK. Secondly, I do not support large hog operations (the H1N1 virus may have started on a 950,00+ hog confinement farm in Mexico) where the hogs are raised in filth, never see the light of day, are filled with hormones and antibiotics and never have a life.I do support and consume healthy pasture raised pork.

Conventionally raised pork that you buy in your local supermarket is not raised under humane conditions. They are literally crammed in to buildings where they cannot move, they never see the light of day much less feel the sun on their backs. They are filled with antibiotics to keep them healthy. Their manure which is collected in gigantic cesspools pollutes the surrounding areas often even contaminating the ground water and the reek of  toxic fumes can be inhaled for miles (I used to live a mile or two from a pig operation run appropriately enough by a family called Sewer). Those fumes have been found to cause high rates of disease on factory farms especially respiratory diseases like bronchitis. If a person should have the misfortune of falling in one of these cesspools they will most likely die of asphyxiation from the toxic fumes.

Pasture raised pork is a nutritious, humanely raised “other white meat”. Pastured pork is high in vitamin E and healthy Omega-3 fats. Pastured pigs get to enjoy the freedom to behave in natural ways even being able to create nests for their piglets and live in family groups. They spend their day rooting and grazing in the sun and fresh air and even in winter they are raised on deep beds of straw in hoop houses that enable them to be exposed to fresh air and sunshine but protected from the extremes of winter.

If  you would like to enjoy pork again, barbecue some succulent pork ribs, roast a nitrate free ham or make Cuban Spiced pork shoulder roast I can highly recommend Pasture’s A Plenty in Kerhoven, MN. It is a farm run by the VanDerPol family and they make monthly trips in to the Twin Cities and sell their wonderful pork to local co-ops and restaurants but also have drop offs for individual orders. They make about 5 stops in different parts of the Twin Cities and I am lucky enough to live close to one drop off point. If you do not live in Minnesota but have an interest in buying humanely raised pork check out CawCaw Creek and U.S. Wellness Meats. I have personally dealt with US Wellness Meats and found their products to be wonderful. I know nothing of Caw Caw Creek meat but their site is too cute.

We are so lucky here in the Twin Cities to have farmers like the VanDerPols bring our food to us. How wonderful is it to be able to buy your food directly from the farmer? Wouldn’t you like to know how your food is raised and know the people who raise it? The VanDerPols offer an open house every autumn and you can attend and check out the environs that your meat is raised in. I think this is as close to perfection as you can get and even Miss Piggy would give Pastures A Plenty and the other farmers who are dedicated to humanely raising pigs a big thumbs up for making a pigs life happy.