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.

PACE with Kathy Smith

I have had Kathy Smith’s DVD called Functionally Fit Peak Fat Burning (FFPFB) for sometime and enjoy working out to it immensely. It had occurred to me sometime ago that it fit very nicely in to the Progressively Accelerated exercise program that Al Sears devised and I thought it was worth a mention to those who like PACE.

Kathy Smith does it with a bit of humor as she does occasionally make mistakes that are not edited out but I enjoy a smile when I am exercising, so that is alright with me. She takes you through a stretch and warm up and then in to the exercise itself quite effortlessly. The exercises are accelerated for 2 minutes at a time for 6 different segments and following each accelleration there is a cool down that she uses to work your lower body. The total workout is 45 minutes ( longer than Al Sears suggests you need) but it flies by and you feel energized when you are done.  At the very end you can do her stretch or your own stretch. I happen to like the stretch she does on her DVD titled Power Walk for Weight Loss, so I choose to do that when I am done.

I do FFPFB every other day and mix it up with the Power Walk because she works your upper body in that program and it is shorter for those days when you don’t want to spend lots of time getting fit. It also does have you work out at different levels but it is not a PACE type of exercise.

If you  mix this exercise with 5 minutes in front of your Vitamin D sunlamp three times a week and 20 minutes in your Sunlight FIR sauna almost every day you have done everything a body needs to be healthy and you will feel fighting fit.

Cheese bites

I was online shopping the other day (something I am rather good at doing) and ordered my third wheel. Third wheel of raw milk cheese that is. I am truly chuffed that I have found the best cheese and it is made right here in Minnesota from the raw nectar of some really lovely pastured cows.

The dairy is in Carlton County near Duluth Minnesota and it is run by the Hedquist family. The dairy name is Green Pastures Dairy, Inc and their online site is Green Pastures Dairy. They rotate their girls, so they are always grazing a new pasture of green grass and they only make cheese in the spring, summer and fall from the richest possible milk.

What I can personally attest to is that their cheese is delectable and getting a wheel delivered to your front door is way too much fun. I have ordered the Gouda and the Cheddar and I love them both. The Carlton sounds positively divine and the aged Gouda is on my list but they are low on wheels of the aged Gouda at the moment. This time my daughter and I are sharing a wheel but the whole wheel will keep very well in the lower drawer of your refrigerator wrapped in butcher paper for a very long time. You simply cut away any mold that might form and feed the bacteria rich rind to your very eager canine companion who will benefit from the beneficial bacteria now occupying space in the lining of their healthier gut.

Why order raw milk cheese from grass fed cows who aren’t treated with hormones, antibiotics or rBGH? There are several reasons but first let me ask you this question.  Do you really want to eat cheese or any dairy products from cows that are fed hormones, antibiotics and rBGH? I don’t, and rightly or wrongly I think all those horrible additives are ruining the health and wellness of most of America (Who needs terrorists to bring us down when we are doing it so well ourselves?)

Now to the reasons offered in the brochure from the dairy. “Grass fed cows produce milk that is very high in CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) in fact, it contains as much as  5 times more CLA than cheese from grain fed cows. CLA is mostly concentrated in milk fat, so the more fat in a given dairy product, the more CLA it contains. Nonfat dairy products have virtually no CLA. Two new European studies link a diet high in CLA with a lower risk of breast cancer. Research has shown CLA to actually shrink cancer tumors.”

Another positive health benefit from eating raw milk cheese is that unpasteurized milk has the enzyme phosphatase that allows the body to absorb the calcium from the milk. This allows for the digestion of lactose. Milk before pasteurization is rich in colloidal minerals and enzymes, which are necessary for the absorption and utilization of sugars and fats in the milk. When milk is heated it becomes precipitated with minerals that cannot be absorbed contributing to osteoporosis, sugars that cannot be digested and fats that are toxic. Unpasteurized milk has a cortisone-like factor in the cream, which is heat sensitive. This aids in combating allergies. Lastly unpasteurized milk has beneficial bacteria and lactic acids, which implant in the intestines and contribute to a balanced immune system.

I feel like I just can’t go wrong with this cheese. I get to shop online which I enjoy. I get to eat cheese that comes from very happy cows, tastes wonderful, melts beautifully and is really good for me. All that and it is delivered to my front door for a very nominal cost.

P.S. This is completely unsolicited, I just wanted to share my incredibly good find.

The Raw Debate

I woke up this morning around 4:30 with “un” on my mind, unpasteurized, unhomogenized “raw” milk. It was not, as you might suspect, a hunger issue but an important issue that I really feel the need to share.

I was at a funeral in December and somehow (I always manage to spew forth) I mentioned my consumption of raw milk. A young man who was at least 30 years my junior proceeded to expound upon the dangers of unpasteurized milk. He knew all of this because his grandfather had told him about all the people who got Tuberculosis years ago from “bad” milk. It struck me at that moment that no matter the depth of my experience, no matter the level of my knowledge, there will always be the people whose lips have never and will never touch raw milk who know more than I do. That is just pure cow dung.

I have personally consumed raw milk both from cows and goats for three years and not one bad thing has happened. My lips have not fallen off, I have not gone blind, my lungs remain uninfected with the tuberculin virus, in fact, I may have a stronger immune system than I ever did before. Raw milk in my opinion is the only milk to drink providing it is from cows, goats, sheep, yaks, camels etc who have never been given an artificial big pharma pill or vaccination.

Did you know that many people (not all) with lactose intolerance find that if milk is unadulterated, unpasteurized and whole they can consume it with gusto and experience no tummy cramps and runny diarrhea? Did you know that pasteurization kills off all of the natural enzymes and vitamins that Mother Nature intended us to consume and we are left with this worthless liquid that has everything that was good for the human body removed? We don’t even absorb calcium as we should from dead milk due to the destruction of phosphatase in the process of cooking it.

Did the young man who knew all about the badness of raw milk know that tuberculosis didn’t come from the cow’s raw milk? Sanitation at the time was extremely poor everywhere and lack of clean hands and clean environment very likely spread that disease not the lowly cow and her lovely nectar.

Friends we have been very misled by the powers that be and it is time to arm yourself with knowledge. Read Ron Schmid’s “The Untold Story of Milk”, read Mercola’s “Total Health”, buy “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig and cook from it while you educate yourself. Insist by using the almighty dollar that we get the cow back in the grassy pastures living the good life and being milked under the best of sanitary conditions. Contact me if you have a desire to see for yourself the farms where cows are born and raised in pristine situations and milked with kindness and by caring people who let them live their lives out even when they are no longer useful. I will happily introduce you to these good stewards of the earth.

There is a plethora of reputable data out there to prove unequivocally that raw milk is not the devil’s drink and may, in fact, have very divine origins. Now go, drink raw and get healthy!