Showing posts with label survival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label survival. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Do You Function to Eat or Eat To Function?

Welcome!  I am the managing director of Healthy Wealth for Functional Survival (HWFS). My approach to survival is called Functional Survival (FS).

In Functional Survival, we don’t just focus on your symptoms. Symptoms are the tip of the iceberg; we go for the whole iceberg! I take a thorough history, listen carefully to your concerns, consider results of lab work, take in who you are, and where you are in your life, and come up with a plan to gradually help your whole body get back into balance so you feel better. I work with you using individually designed survival plans, and individually tailored workable programs to support your body in healing itself. Here are some things you might want to know about Healthy Wealth for Functional Survival (HWFS) if you are considering partnering with us for improving your health.

Let Us Make Health Easier

Healthy Wealth for Functional Survival (HWFS) removes many of the obstacles that make a healthy lifestyle hard to achieve. We know, that simply being handed a list of “do’s and don’ts” doesn’t cut it as far as making permanent, dietary shifts. We focus on helping you go from knowing what to do, to actually doing it, from “information to implementation”.

Let Us Keep Latest Update To Date

We always keep up to date on current research, controversy and practice. Research and experience tells us that most people derive great healthy wealth benefits from reducing or eliminating refined carbohydrates and sugar from their diets, and focusing on a diet of clean, wholesome foods. How one does this depends on individual needs and circumstances.

Let Us Help You Identify Your Unique Body’s Needs
Image result for Dr. Daniel David Palmer
In 1914, Dr. Daniel David Palmer noted that “When Educated and Innate Intelligences are able to converse with each other … (a possibility which a not very distant future may disclose) we shall be able to make a correct diagnosis.”

Image result for Dr. Daniel David Palmer
In the statement he referred to two kinds of intelligence available to determine the health status and guide the healing of a person — the “Educated” intelligence and the “Innate” intelligence. The Educated intelligence is what we acquire in school and through life experience. Innate intelligence we are all born with and resides in our body whether we recognize it or not.

Innate intelligence is what allows every living thing to adapt to its environment in order to survive. For example, a plant will turn itself toward the sun if placed on a windowsill. A baby’s heart beats and her small body digests and uses nutrients for growth, without being taught how to do these things.

We can support our innate abilities by eliminating things that are harmful to the body and adopting behaviors that are healing to the body. It’s also important to approach healing in the correct order. If you cut your hand in the garden, you would clean it first, then apply a salve and then bandage it. If these things are done in a different order, the healing process can be impaired.

Let us use laboratory, academic, and research knowledge as the basis for educated intelligence. Nutrition Response Testing allows us to tap into innate intelligence. At HWFS let us use both to determine the root cause of health challenges. Nutrition Response Testing also shows us the exact right order to approach the healing process. It’s exciting to see the amazing successes that our patients report to us every day at Healthy Wealth for Functional Survival (HWFS). If you are not a Nutrition Response Testing patient, the technique likely won’t help you. But if you are a Nutrition Response Testing patient, it is my experience that you can achieve powerful results!

HWFS is natural-based health care that is focused on building health by restoring proper physiological functioning of the body. When you have multiple symptoms, they are clues to the ways in which your body is not functioning the way it should be. Rather than suppress those symptoms with natural or pharmaceutical agents, we want to “read” those symptoms to understand which systems of your body need support to get back on track and get you healthy again.

By looking at your whole picture -- diet, symptoms, illness history, medications, lifestyle, stress, lab work, toxic exposure, history of antibiotic use, etc., we are able to put together an overall plan. That plan serves as a trail map of the nutrition your body needs to regain health and prevent illness.

What can a consultation can do for me?

Help you identify the exact nutrition your body needs to get well and stay well. You are unique and your nutritional plan should fit you, your body, and your situation.

Give you a solution focused, dietary road-map for improved health and well-being.

Provide you with a realistic plan and steps for making changes.

Familiarize you with purchasing and using foods that may be new to you.

Refer you, as needed to other health professionals.

Provide you with the highest quality, concentrated, whole food nutrition products based on your body’s needs.

What health issues can Functional Nutrition help?

Our clients have reported improvements in these and other conditions:

ADHD
Anemia
Arthritis
Brain / memory
Children’s behavioral problems
Chronic digestive problems
Chronic fatigue
Chronic pain
Depression
Diabetes (or risk)

Environmentally induced toxicity
Fibromyalgia
Gastric reflux
Headaches
Hypertension
High cholesterol
Irritable bowel
Joint pain
Lack of energy
Low thyroid
Menopausal changes
Migraines
Mood swings
PMS
Skin conditions
Weight

How to get started

The first step is to make an appointment for an initial evaluation. This is followed 1-3 days later by a “report-of-findings” visit in which we go over the evaluation, your health history and the recommendations.

How much does it cost anyone?

Initial consult & report-of-findings $260
Visits 1-3 (45-60 min, includes lab review) $190 per visit
Follow-up visits (20-30 min) $150 in office
$60 over phone
Extended visits $125 per 1/4 hour
Email consultations $125 per 1/4 hour
Dietary consultations $150 per half hour
$195 per hour
HRV testing & report $120

Dietary consultations

We offer dietary consultations only to our Nutrition Response Testing clients who need additional support in making dietary changes.

Further questions


If you have any questions or are ready to schedule an appointment, please call: 9733 0932


Results
1. Judy, you’re a genius! The supplements you recommended worked. Within a few hours yesterday afternoon my black mood lifted, and today I felt great when I woke up and my joint pain is gone! - J.P.

2. I experienced a lot of inertia, feelings of overwhelm, digestive disturbances, weight gain around my middle, and numerous other symptoms. Judy gave me a program that right away had me feeling like my “real” self again. I have new energy, motivation, and enthusiasm for life. I lost 2” off my middle. When I went back over the symptom checklist 6 months later, I saw how many symptoms I used to have but have no longer. Thanks Judy! - L.M.

3. I am feeling better and better all the time! My digestion has improved and my sinuses are much better - they’ve never felt like this. I’m not getting sinus headaches or burning in my face. I didn’t know what it felt like to be this healthy! - D.C.

4. When I first came to Judy I was in and out of depression, had no motivation to do anything, and had terrible itching on my head and shins. I’d had hot flashes for five years that made it difficult to think and focus. I didn’t feel like exercising. Since working with Judy the hot flashes and itching are gone, I’ve joined an exercise club for women, and have built up muscle and improved my metabolism through exercise. My depression is gone and I have more control over emotional eating. - J.H.

5. I was feeling sluggish and slow, confused, forgetful, unmotivated, depressed—I suspected food allergies but lacked the mental clarity to identify them. After just five weeks, my mind is much clearer. I can get organized, prioritize; accomplish things I could only daydream about before. I have lost weight and feel more fit, and the “brain fog” is about gone! - J.L.


6. I had a bone density test in August of 2009 which showed Osteopenia. My doctor told me to take more calcium. Thank Heavens I made an appointment to see Judy Stone, thinking she could instruct me on foods high in calcium. Judy had me get tested and discovered that I’m Gluten-Intolerant, which (I’ve learned) is a major cause of Osteopenia. She had me start on a gluten-free diet and some supplements tailored for my needs so that I could absorb calcium and other nutrients better. Judy is very patient and makes sure you understand which foods to avoid and which ones will enhance your health. I noticed improvements in my health very soon: Digestive symptoms have improved; my mood is better (and I’m no longer jittery); I have more energy, fewer aches and pains (much decreased use of over-the-counter pain meds); my sinuses are healthier; and I sleep more restfully! -D.H.

7. When I first came to Judy I had low energy, was sluggish, and had a lot of colon and digestive issues. Within six weeks my energy is up, I’m coping with my allergies much better, and my colon is calming down. - A.Z.

8. For the last 4 to 5 months my 10-year-old son was tired, wanting to sleep a lot and had episodes of sudden stomach cramps. He’d get flush, hot and was just miserable. An episode would last 2-3 hours and he’d be even more tired afterwards. Since bringing him to Judy his sleep is much better—deeper and more restful—he’s more alert, has more energy and there’s an overall improvement in his mood and well-being. The stomach cramping episodes have stopped almost completely and if they do arise the episodes are much shorter and less intense and the recovery is much faster. My son says, “I like coming to visit Judy—it’s a good experience”. - R.S.

10. I was trying to eat “good” food but I was hungry all the time; I took vitamins and minerals but wasn’t sure how or if they were absorbing. After working with Judy I feel calmer than I have for years, and I’m not hungry all the time anymore. - S.K.

11. I felt tired all the time and had difficulty doing all I wanted to do, and was having pre-menopausal symptoms. After starting with the recommended supplements and making the suggested dietary changes I noticed an immediate improvement in my energy level. I’ve lost weight and am sleeping better. My pre-menopause symptoms are more manageable. - A.M.



12. I visited Judy for the first time just before Thanksgiving in 2009 with a primary goal of losing weight. After reading my health history, and hearing how my life was controlled by Colitis symptoms (I couldn’t leave the house until late in the morning and couldn’t go anywhere unless I knew there was a bathroom close by) Judy said that my first goal had to be addressing my colitis. She recommended that I avoid all grain products for a period of time so my gut could heal, and several other dietary changes, along with some supplements to calm the inflammation, repair the damage, and support my digestion. Everything she suggested was helpful to me. In three days my symptoms improved significantly which motivated me to continue with the diet. During the next 6 months, I had several setbacks and my colitis symptoms returned, but we worked with those, and each time the flare-ups were less severe and shorter-lasting. I have now been symptom-free for over 3 months but have been able to eat some grains again. For me avoiding gluten has not been too great a sacrifice because of the well-being that has resulted. Now I am used to feeling well and am better able to address my other nutritional goals. - D.D.

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Maintaining Life: Necessary Life Functions

Necessary Life Functions

We’ll take a look at what human body actually does.

Like all complex animals, humans must maintain a core set of necessary life functions to survive. These include maintaining boundaries, movement, responsiveness, digestion, metabolism, excretion, reproduction, and grow. In order to survive, humans also need nutrients, oxygen, water and an appropriate atmosphere. We’ll discuss these topics in depth below.

Maintaining boundaries

All organisms must be able to maintain boundaries and separate their internal environment from the external one. For example, each cell in the human body is enclosed by a selectively permeable membrane which allows it to take in substances and excrete waste, all while blocking potentially harmful substances. Additionally, the body itself is protected by the integumentary system, or skin. The layer of skin around our bodies protects our internal environment from the external world.

Movement
The muscular system propels our bodies and allows us to move from one place to another. The skeletal system provides the bony framework our muscles need to pull on as they work to produce movement. Without these features, humans wouldn’t be able to perform necessary life functions to survive.

Image result for drinking water


Responsiveness
Responsiveness is defined as the ability to sense changes in the environment and then respond to them (also called excitability). Responsiveness is an extremely important necessary life function. For instance, if you cut your hand open on a razor blade, your body produces a reflex and you involuntarily pull your hand away from the razor. You don’t have to think about it, your body just naturally pulls your hand away. Many systems within the human body act in this exact same manner.

Digestion
In order for nutrients and minerals to be absorbed into blood , food we eat must be broken down into smaller molecules. The digestive system breaks down ingested food and liquid into smaller molecules our body can absorb. In turn, the nutrient-rich blood is then distributed throughout the body by the cardiovascular system.

Metabolism
Metabolism is a term that includes all chemical reactions that occur within the body. Metabolism is regulated by hormones secreted from (glands) the endocrine system.

Excretion
If the human body is to operate correctly, it must be able to get rid of waste and nonessential items. Several organ systems participate in the excretion of waste products. For instance, the urinary system disposes nitrogenous waste while the digestive system rids the body of indigestible food as feces.

Reproduction
In order to survive, all living organisms must reproduce. The reproductive system is responsible for producing offspring and is directly regulated by hormones of the endocrine system.

Growth
Humans must grow to survive. The scientific term for growth means “constructive activities must occur at a faster rate than destructive ones”.

Survival Needs

Survival needs include nutrients (food), oxygen, water and an appropriate atmosphere.

Nutrients
Nutrients contained in food and liquids contain chemical substances used for energy and cell building. Carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, proteins, and fats are all vital in maintaining a healthy body. For instance, calcium helps make bones hard and vitamin D is needed in order to produce sufficient amounts of calcium.

Oxygen
Human cells can only survive for a few minutes without oxygen. Chemical reactions that release energy from foods are oxidative reactions and require oxygen. In fact, oxygen is so vital to the human body that it would only last a few minutes without it. The respiratory and cardiovascular systems work in conjunction to make oxygen available throughout the body.

Image result for drinking water

Water
The human body is 60-80% water. Water is the most abundant chemical substance in the body and provides the environment necessary for life. We obtain water through food and liquids and loose it through bodily excretions and evaporation (from the skin).

Appropriate atmospheric pressure
Breathing and gas exchange in the lungs depend on the right type of atmospheric pressure. For instance, on top of Mount Everest (at high altitude), gas exchange can be inadequate for the human body to survive.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Chapter 7 VITAMINS, MINERALS, AND PHYTOCHEMICALS

Chapter 7

VITAMINS, MINERALS, AND PHYTOCHEMICALS

Why We Need To Supplement

You often hear doctors say that there's no need to supplement if you eat a balanced diet. If only that were true. Unfortunately, the food we eat today is not the same as the food we ate 50-100 years ago. We have to compensate for the loss of "value" in our food.

>It takes 80 cups of today's supermarket spinach to give you the same iron you'd get from just one cup of spinach grown 50 years ago.

>According to a Rutgers University study, it now takes 19 ears of corn to equal the nutritional value of just one ear of corn grown in 1940.

>There is less than half the protein in today's wheat as in the wheat our grandparents ate.

>Much of our soil is so depleted that our farm crops depend ENTIRELY on the chemical fertilizers they are fed to grow. That means that most of the food we eat is devoid of virtually all the trace minerals we need for survival.


>And on and on. 

  When you think about it, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what's happened. We've exchanged quality for quantity . You can't keep increasing your yield per acre, at the same time steadily depleting your soil year after year, and not expect to lose something in the process. And what's been lost is the quality of our food.

   Organic vs Non-Organic 

   As we've just seen, most of the food sold in our supermarkets is nutritionally compromised. Part of the solution lies in organic foods, which hearken back to the more nutritionally beneficial
foods of 50 years ago. Consider the following comparisons between organic and conventionally grown food.

> Organic snap beans have 30 times the manganese, 22 times the iron, and 23 times the copper of the conventionally grown variety.

> Organic cabbage has 4 times the calcium and 4 times the potassium of the cabbage you buy in the supermarket.

> Organic lettuce is 5 times higher in calcium, 50 times higher in iron, and 170 times higher in manganese.

> Organic tomatoes are 12 times higher in magnesium, 68 times higher in manganese, and almost 2,000 times higher in iron.

    And then there's the difference between organic and super organic. Super organic, when you can find it, has on average, twice the nutritional value of standard organic (which, as we've already
seen, has several times the food value of conventionally grown food). To give you a sense of the extent of these differences, consider:

> Conventional farms use no compost at all in the growing of their crops. Instead, they rely on chemical fertilizers that have a limited range of nutrients—just what the plant requires to grow, which is why they are so deficient in the nutrients that people need.
(And of course, we won't even talk about taste.)

>The average organic farm uses about 3-5 tons of organic matter/compost per acre per year.

>The average super organic farm will use upwards of 100 tons of organic matter per acre per year.

   Nutritional Stress

   A second factor we have to consider is nutritional stress. We're just exposed to far more environmental and pollution stresses than our bodies were ever designed to handle—more than the human body has ever before been required to handle in the history of the world. Even if you were able to consume an all-organic, optimized diet, it takes far more of the protective phytochemicals that food provides than we can possibly get in our diets—even if the food we ate was of the highest quality. Our bodies were never designed to handle:

  High levels of radiation from dental x-rays and high-altitude airplane flights.

  Organo-phosphate nerve-gas pesticide residues.

  Totally artificial fats (hydrogenated oils, trans-fatty acids, and homogenized fat)
  
High levels of refined sugar (with the average American now consuming over 137 pounds a year)

  A totally fiberless white flour diet (including, breads, pastas, cakes, pop tarts, pastries, tortillas, etc.)

  Constant exposure to disruptive electromagnetic fields

  Chlorines and fluorides in our water

  Continued, unrelenting, high-stress jobs and living situations.

  The bottom line is that if you live in any industrialized country in the world today, you must supplement to maintain your health—to reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, degenerative diseases
of all kinds, retard the aging process, and protect against toxic injury.

  And What Do We Supplement With?

  Before we can actually determine which supplements we need to take, we need to take a quick look at the fundamentals of nutrition.

  Proteins, Fats, and Carbohydrates

  For many people, this is where their nutritional knowledge begins and ends. They count calories and compare ratios of fat calories to total calories. In most hospitals, the sole concern of the certified nutritionists who prepare hospital "food" is putting together a proper balance of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. As you will soon learn, this is tantamount to nutritional insanity.

> Proteins are essential for the growth and repair of all body tissue. Proteins are made of amino acids, some of which your body can produce by itself, and some of which must be included in your diet.

   A great deal is made about the need for protein, but the fact is our protein requirements are not really very large and are easy to fill. To figure out your protein requirement, just divide your weight in half. That's your daily protein requirement in grams. If you want to rough that out in ounces, it works out to about 30 grams per ounce. In other words, if you weigh 150 pounds, you need 75 grams (2 1/2
ounces) of protein a day.

    Theoretically, milk is a top-rated protein, but in reality it's not. As we've already discussed, it messes up the pH which results in incomplete digestion. Meat and fish are fine. Eggs are too. Surprisingly, though, some of the best sources are actually vegetarian. Spirulina and chlorella are both not only higher in actual percentage of protein (60-80% vs 20-25% for animal sources) but also in terms of bioavailablity.

> Fats are the ultimate energy storage system. Your body stores fat for long-term energy use. Think of bears who live off their fat for months at a time while they hibernate. On the other hand, if you're eating every day, your body doesn't really need to store fat for future use. Nevertheless, certain fats are essential for life and health.

   Essential Fatty Acids, or EFA's, are among the approximately 50-70 nutrients that have been "identified" as necessary to sustain human life and good health. Unlike saturated fats, EFA's remain liquid at body temperature and, because of their bent shape, they do not dissolve into each other and clog our arteries.

   In point of fact, all fats are actually fatty acids, consisting of one part fat (which is not water soluble) and one part acid (which is). What makes Omega-3 (the kingof EFA's), Omega-6[1], and Omega-9 so important is that not only are they good for you—they are, in fact, essential. And what's more, your body can't produce
them, which means you must get them in your diet. However, due to the extreme sensitivity of EFA's to light and oxygen, they have been removed from virtually all processed foods so that the foods have a longer shelf life.

   The sad fact is that our lack of the key EFA's has been linked to many of today's diseases and afflictions including hair loss, lack of energy, skin problems, heart and circulatory problems, and all of the immune disorders (including arthritis).

   The reason EFA's are so important is that they are the main components of all cellular membranes—inside and out—where they protect against viruses, bacteria, and allergens. They are the key building blocks of all fats and oils, both in our foods and in our bodies. They play a key role in the construction and maintenance of nerve cells and the hormone-like substances called prostaglandins and help decrease cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the blood.

   The bottom line is that essential fatty acids are vital to our health. They quite literally are the primary healing agents in the body and according to some estimates, as many as 90% of all people are deficient in at least one of them.

> Carbohydrates are the body's short-term energy foods. Simple carbohydrates, such as sugar and white flour are utilized by the body in a matter of minutes. Complex carbohydrates take time to break down and are, therefore, utilized over a matter of hours.

  The best carbohydrates are fresh fruits and vegetables—pure and simple. Buy organic. Wash thoroughly.

[1 Actually, Omega-6 (which is found in almost all of the refined oils we buy in the supermarket) we do get in our diet—too much in fact, which presents its own health problems.]

    Minerals

    Your body is actually made mostly of minerals and water. As it turns out, your overall health is determined far more by minerals than proteins, fats, carbohydrates, or even vitamins. Calcium, for example, is not only used to build strong bones and teeth, but is present in every single cell in the body and is instrumental in the transporting of nutrients in and out of those cells.

   Want some iron? Why not grind down a nail and eat the shavings. Want some calcium? Why not do what the Three Stooges do and shuck some oysters, throw the meat away, and eat the shells. Sound silly? Well what do you think is in most of the vitamin pills you buy?

  Well then, how about this as an alternative? Want some iron? How about eating some beets. Want some calcium? How about ground sesame seeds or collard greens or carrot juice?

  The bottom line is that your body can't handle straight minerals. They carry an electric charge which is opposite that of your intestinal wall so that they stick to the wall and can't pass through. Once stuck to the intestinal wall, they are "pushed" along and out of the body. In the end, you absorb only about 3-5% of the straight minerals you consume. Many supplement makers use chelation to mask the electric charge (thereby tricking your body into absorbing the minerals).

    On the other hand, plants pull minerals straight out of the ground, and then biologically transform them into the very substance of the plant itself. Not surprisingly, your body likes this form of mineral better.

     Trace Minerals

     For years, trace minerals were virtually ignored when it came to nutrition. In fact, in the early days of vitamin/mineral supplements, it was rare to even find them included. Since then, however, primarily due to discoveries made in the large-scale raising of cattle, hogs, and chickens, we have learned that trace minerals are among the most important components of good health—and even
life itself.

   A full complement of the 72-84 trace elements is essential for optimum health.

     Vitamins

    The dictionary defines a vitamin as "an organic compound naturally occurring in plant and animal tissue and that is essential in small amounts for the control of metabolic processes." A simpler
definition is that vitamins are co-enzymes whose primary role is to help your body's enzymes do their job.[1] When vitamins are available in limited amounts, enzyme reactions are inhibited.

[1 For example, the enzyme responsible for breaking down alcohol, alcohol dehydrogenase, uses vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) as its co-factor.]

    Phytochemicals

    Phytochemicals are the hot "new" discoveries in nutritional science. They include things such as sulforaphane from broccoli, resveratrol from grapes, and lycopene from tomatoes. Another
way of looking at phytochemicals is simply as vitamins and antioxidants in the process of being discovered. This is not necessarily a quick process. It took 50 years for Vitamin E to be
declared a vitamin after it was discovered.

   It's Not That Simple

   You would think that supplementation would be pretty easy. Figure out just where people are likely to be deficient, then make a pill that supplements for those suspected deficiencies—sort of a
one-a-day multiple-vitamin kind of thing. Determining the best supplement to take would then be a simple job of reading the label.

  Unfortunately, it's not that simple. There are actually several problems.

1. Natural and synthetic vitamins are not necessarily the same thing.

2. In nature, nutrients do not exist in isolation; they exist in nutrient complexes. And as it turns out, our bodies require the complexes, not the isolates.

   Natural vs Synthetic

Actually, vitamins can be classified as either totally natural, co-natural, or synthetic.

  Totally Natural 

Very few vitamins that you buy are totally natural. Why? Quite simply, cost. Direct extraction of vitamins from foods is prohibitively expensive. For example, acerola cherries, the best natural source of vitamin C, contain only 1 percent of vitamin C by weight. Most supplements that list acerola cherries as their vitamin C source contain only a small percentage of vitamin C from the
cherries—the rest is synthesized vitamin C.

    Co-natural

   Co-natural vitamins are derived from vegetable and animal sources through the use of solvent extraction, distillation, hydrolysis, or crystallization—but, by definition, haven't undergone any conversion or chemical alteration during the extraction process.

   Synthetic

   Synthetic vitamins can be derived from either natural or chemical sources. What makes them synthetic is that they undergo a process of "conversion," either as a result of the extraction process or as the result of pure chemical buildup.[1]
Synthetics are, at best, about 50% as effective as natural vitamins and may actually suppress the body's ability to absorb the natural portion of the vitamin.

    What You Actually Get in the Store

   Many commercial-grade vitamin and mineral concentrates are synthesized by the large pharmaceutical and chemical companies from the same starting material that they make their drugs from (coal tar, wood pulp, petroleum products, animal byproducts, waste and fecal matter, ground rocks, stones, shells, and metal.)

> Most Vitamin B-12 (cobalamine) is made from activated sewage sludge—and then stabilized with cyanide (thus becoming, cyanocobalamine)


 > Most vitamin D is made from irradiated oil

 > The bulk of all vitamin E is produced in the labs at Kodak[2]

> Niacinamide is made by boiling sulfur in the presence of asbestos
Supplemental calcium, for the most part, is either mined from the earth, ground from old bones, or made by grinding up oyster shells

   Another surprise is that the term organic, when applied to supplements, does not mean the same thing as it does with food. For supplements, all the word organic means is that the molecule
contains at least one carbon atom (as in organic chemistry). In other words, a supplement can be labeled 100% organic and not be natural at all.

   Many so-called natural vitamins have synthetics added to "increase potency," or to standardize the amount in a capsule or batch. Many vitamins also add a synthetic salt form of the vitamin to increase stability. These synthetics are easily identified by the terms acetate, bitartrate, chloride, gluconate, hydrochloride, nitrate, and succinate.

     The Bigger Problem

    Modern medicine refuses to define the human body as a holistic entity, but rather as a grouping
of separate parts and pieces. Not surprisingly, that same paradigm has been applied to nutrition.
In other words, modern nutrition is based on the concept that key nutrients can be identified
and isolated. Unfortunately, the reality is quite different.

[1 Light passing through a natural vitamin always bends to the right due to its molecular rotation. Synthetic vitamins behave differently. That same ray of light splits into two parts when passing through a synthetic—one part bending to the right (d for dexorotary), the other to the left (l for levorotary). A natural vitamin E fraction, for example, is easily identified by the "d-alpha-tocopherol." the synthetic by "dl-alpha-tocopherol." (Incidentally, the body can't use the l-form of vitamin E, and the l-form may even inhibit the d-form from entering cell membranes.)]

[2 Kodak, Hoffman La Roche, etc]


> Fifteen years ago, vitamin C (ascorbic acid) was all the rage. Then, suddenly, after years of people scarfing down ascorbic acid, it was discovered that your body really couldn't absorb ascorbic acid very well unless the bioflavonoids, hesperidin, and rutin
were present. So, suddenly, all vitamin C was sold WITH the bioflavonoids, hesperidin, and rutin. Then it was discovered that you really couldn't absorb vitamin C very well (even if the bioflavonoids, hesperidin, and rutin were present) unless calcium was also present. So again, suddenly, all vitamin C was sold WITH calcium. Two questions that any thoughtful person might want to ask are:

  What value were people getting all those years they were consuming just ascorbic acid?

  Was there any source for vitamin C available for all those years that packed ascorbic acid with its bioflavonoids and calcium? And the answer is: of course! Oranges package the whole deal together. Grapefruits package the whole deal together. Acerola cherries package the whole deal together. Nature packages the whole
deal together! Several years ago, Beta Carotene was "discovered." Suddenly, Beta Carotene supplements were everywhere. At first the press was touting the anti-cancer properties of Beta Carotene. Then they were touting other studies that proved that it didn't prevent
cancer.[1]
 Then, forget Beta Carotene; suddenly, everyone was touting another carotenoid, lycopene. Lycopene prevents prostate cancer. Then there was Lutein, also a carotenoid.
Lutein prevents macular degeneration. But once again, if we turn to nature, we see that nature already packed all of these things together in a complex. The seaweed, Dunaliella salina, for example, contains all of the popular carotenoids plus a whole slew of others, such as Alpha carotene and Zeaxanthin. Carrots, for that matter,
contain approximately 400 different carotenoids in addition to Beta Carotene, and many of those carotenoids are far more powerful than Beta Carotene.

  A third example is the mineral chromium. Over the past few years, the synthetic versions of chromium, chromium picolinate and chromium polynicotinate, have been all the rage. They're even promoted as being "better" than the original, but as it turns out,
that's not entirely true. In its natural state, chromium comes packed with a whole complex of substances called GTF (glucose tolerance factor), which, among other things, protects against diabetes. Chromium picolinate and chromium polynicotinate, because they are isolates, do not contain GTF.

   I could go on and on giving examples, such as the B vitamins and vitamin E, where science has continually come up short in identifying the key factors that make it all work. The bottom line,
though, is that in nature, vitamins do not exist in isolation; they exist in complexes.

   And here's a final thought for you. Although it is conceivable that science may someday identify all of the key nutrients contained in nature so that we don't keep finding out what nutrients we forgot to include, it is an impossibility that science will ever identify how all of these nutrients interact with and support each other. The mathematical possibilities are just too immense.

[1 Both negative studies evaluated a synthetic Beta Carotene. For what it's worth, almost all of the Beta Carotene on the market today is an isolated synthetic made from acetylene gas. Yummy!]

   In the end, we will find that there are literally thousands of nutrients that our bodies require to remainhealthy,[1]
and the possibilities for the synergistic interaction of all of these nutrients is astronomical.

How Much To Take For Each

In the early 1940s a program was established to determine the Minimum Daily Requirement (MDR) you would need of each essential nutrient to prevent the onset of disease. Testing was
simple. Withhold a certain nutrient (let's say vitamin C) until disease (in this case, scurvy) appeared. At that point, the appropriate nutrient was introduced back into the diet until the disease disappeared. The amount that it took to make the disease go away was the MDR. The RDA(Recommended Daily Allowance) was then established as a small percentage(to allow a safety margin) above the MDR. Recently, RDA was replaced by the term DV (Daily Value), and even more recently by the term RDI (Recommended Dietary Intake).

   The problem with this whole approach is that it deals only with short-term deficiencies. What are the long term implications (10, 20, 30 years down the line) of nutritional deficiency? The answer
is now becoming apparent for all but the blind to see: an epidemic of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, etc. And what makes it all even more ludicrous, is that as pathetically low as the RDA/DV/RDI is a USDA government survey of 21,500 people found that not one single person consumed 100% of the US RDA, from the foods they ate.

     General Recommendations

    Overall Supplement

   So the question remains, what's the best overall (one-a-day kind of thing) supplement? The best way to look at the question of an overall supplement is to break it into three categories: Optimum,
Acceptable, and Avoid At All Costs.

   Optimum

   > One good choice is to use concentrated "food-based" vitamin complexes. Such supplements will contain concentrated forms of liver, yeast, and wheat germ for example.

   > Another good option is to use "food-grown" supplements. Instead of being chemically manufactured, food-grown supplements are cultivated using a live bio-dynamic growing process. Literally, by growing nutritional yeast in a "super-dense nutrient-broth," you end up with a "living" vitamin/mineral complex that is comprised of a highly complex interlocking system of vitamins, enzymes, minerals, active bio-flavonoid groups, microproteins, complex carbohydrates, and countless other naturally occurring food constituents.

> A third alternative is a superfood combination that contains things like spirulina, chlorella,flower pollen, nutritional yeast, wheat grass, barley grass, powdered beets, etc.

[1 As I've already mentioned, there are some 400 carotenoids that have been identified. Each day there are new phytochemicals, not to mention whole new classes of phytochemicals, being identified. And new antioxidants are being identified, almost daily it seems
to provide a full complement of vitamins and minerals. The actual amount of vitamins and minerals you get will be less than in other options, but the bioavailability will be good.]

  Watch out for fillers. Superfoods are expensive, and many manufacturers cheat their formulas down by adding large amounts of things such as low-grade rice bran and lecithin.[1]
 Also, it's important to make sure that your superfood provides
good sources for the B vitamins and for vitamin D.

  For many years, it was thought that edible seaweeds, fermented soya foods, and spirulina contained high levels of B12. They don't. What they contain are B12 analogues (chemical lookalikes) which your body cannot use. You'll need another source of B12.

  Recent studies have found that more than half of all people have too little vitamin D in their bodies. The big surprise was that 1/3 of those who were deficient were taking vitamin D supplements. Make sure your superfood provides adequate amounts of vitamin D—and get some sunlight on your body.

> Probably the best choice, however, is to use "food-formed" supplements. Instead of being chemically manufactured, food-formed supplements are cultivated using a live biodynamic growing process. Literally, by growing nutritional yeast in a "super-dense nutrient-broth," you end up with a "living" vitamin/mineral complex that is comprised of a highly complex interlocking system of: vitamins, enzymes, minerals, active bioflavonoid groups, microproteins, complex carbohydrates,and countless other naturally
occurring food constituents.
  
    Acceptable

  It's possible to find high-quality vitamin/mineral supplements at the health food store that use only co-natural vitamins and no synthetics. The problem with supplements based on co-naturals is that they can never be complete. What co-naturals are useful for is "spiking up" a supplement based on one of our Optimum options. An example would be a "food-based" supplement augmented with co-natural vitamins E and C.

     Avoid At All Costs

   > Supplements made in whole, or part, from synthetics are not an option. At their best, they are only 50% as effective as a natural vitamin.At their worst, they actually may carry harmful side effects.

    Essential Fatty Acids

  Since the Omega-3 EFA's have been removed from virtually all of the foods we normally eat, supplementation is essential. The best sources for EFA's are:

[1 Don't get me wrong. These are not bad things; they're just not nutrient dense. Their primary value is that they're relatively inexpensive.]

 >  If you're taking your daily dose of ground flaxseed as recommended in Chapter 3, you will be getting all of the alpha-linolenic acid you need. Otherwise, you will want to
supplement with 1-2 tablespoons daily of organic, cold-pressed, high-lignan flaxseed oil.

> Borage oil is more potent and less expensive than evening primrose or black current oil and is the best choice for gamma linolenic acid.

> Fish oil provides DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid).

   Recently a variation of a long-chain fatty acid cetyl ester called Omega-9+™ has been discovered. Although not yet officially designated an Essential Fatty Acid, supplementation with this
fatty acid has shown a remarkable ability to reprogram the immune system, relieve pain, reverse the effects of arthritis, and relieve the symptoms of a whole host of diseases.

    Trace Minerals

   There are now many good sources of trace minerals available. You will see them described as "colloidal minerals" or "ionic minerals" or "sea minerals." Take your pick and use one. Trace mineral deficiency is epidemic in America because of the poor quality of our diets. Supplementation is essential. 
Note: you will find it almost impossible to get the trace minerals you need in an overall supplement. Trace minerals are hard to absorb unless they are in a "liquid" form that the body can use.

    Phytonutrients

  At the moment, the best source is still real food. Foods you will want to include in your diet include things such as:
>Soy products of all kinds for the genistein and the isoflavones

>Broccoli, brussel sprouts, and kale for the sulforaphane

>Garlic and onions for the allyl sulfides

>Red grapes (including seeds) for the proanthocyanidins and the resveratrol

>Green tea for the polyphenols

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Torn

There are times in our life that we experience the internal crossroad of doing what feels right in our heart and what external pressures expect us to do.
These challenges aid us in the development of our character.

"No! You are not amputating my hand! I will never allow you to cut off my hand! I need both of my hands! Please, please tell me that you are not going to cut off my hand!"

Silence, tears, and screams . . . she was in a state of disbelief and terrorized by the thought of amputation.

"If you want to take my hand, you'll have to wait until after I am dead! I am not some experimental animal. 
"Please, Dr. Ohno! Tell them not to amputate my hand! Please, please, I beg of you!"

This is a tragic story that I experienced at the same hospital three years later. She was a very young and talented girl with such a kind and friendly personality. She attracted many people, and everyone wanted to be her friend.  She was not only the promising star of her gymnastics team, but she was also a beauty with the heart of an angel.  She was as intelligent as she was lovely.  her parents had high hopes that she would enter medical school and become a doctor someday.  She mastered all of her subjects in school with high honors. Everything in her future seemed bright and promising.  No one could ever imagine that death was lingering beside her like a terrible , dark shadow. 

One day after she turned 15 years old, she began to feel a swelling and a hot spot in her shoulder.  At first she thought this was caused by an insect bite so she ignored it. However, the discomfort continued for over a month. She never complained about the symptoms to her parents or her gymnastics coach.  She was concentrating on her gymnastics competition that was soon to take place, and she didn't want to concern anyone needlessly. 
Although she continued to feel the pain, she ignored it, hoping it would eventually subside.

then, her bright future came to a halt.  It all became apparent during gymnastics practice, when in the middle of doing a routine cartwheel, she experienced a severe pain in her shoulder.  She ignored the pain and continued to practice another cartwheel.  This time the pain intensified and she felt a very strange 'crack' inside her shoulder.  The pain became severe.  It literally took away her breath .  She fell to the floor in excruciating pain, screaming, "Someone help me! I think . . .I think I broke my arm!"

Within moments she fell to the floor unconscious from the pain.  Her gymnastics coach and her friends immediately surrounded her. 
"Call an ambulance! Someone, quickly call an ambulance !"
The gymnastics coach then said, "No one move her!  Wait until the ambulance arrives.  We don't want to take a chance and cause more damage to her shoulder!"

Off and on she would awaken, scream out again in pain, and fall suddenly back into an unconscious state.

At the hospital, her X-rays were read by emergency room doctor, who told her, "Your humerus bone has been fractured. There is also a mass showing up in your X-rays and I feel we should take a closer look at it.  I suggest that we admit you into the hospital fora biopsy as soon as possible."

The next day the biopsy was taken and sent to the pathology department for analysis. When the doctor received the results from the biopsy, he went to the young girl and her family and reviewed the results of her biopsy.  They watched as the doctor opened the envelope containing the pathology report.  As his eyes scanned the report, the look on his face dramatically changed and he became very somber.  After what seemed like an eternity, he read the results to the young girl and her family.

"I am sorry to say that I have some very bad news.  The pathologist's report shows a tumor on the humerus."

Everyone was quiet for a moment.  Her father asked  , " Is the tumor benign . . . or malignant? 

"The tumor is malignant." The doctor added, "It is so far advanced that if we performed an operation to remove the tumor, her chance of living for five years would only be 20 percent. The X-rays also indicate that the cancer has already metastasized to the lung."

Her parents wept upon hearing the devastating news.  The young girl's eyes filled with tears, but she held her emotions. Upon hearing the news, the young girl and her parents went to another hospital to seek a second opinion.  Unfortunately , the prognosis was the same. They then proceeded to go to three more hospitals.  The prognosis from all the hospitals was virtually the same.  Finally, they returned to the University Hospital.

I was among the staff present when the young girl and her parents heard the recommendation from the professor, " We should amputate her arm from the shoulder immediately.  We need to perform the amputation as soon as possible, in order to increase her chances of survival."

The young girl responded emphatically, "No! This is my body ! My arm! My life!It's not your life! I will not consider amputating my arm, and I don't care what the consequences are! "

There was a long discussion between the girl and her parents and the professor over the amputation.  The tension in the  room was strong as the professor attempted to persuade her to have the amputation.  Her parents believed that if she went through with the amputation, it would help prolong her life. But the young girl was emphatic about her decision to not go through with the procedure.

"After I die you can amputate my arm for the tests you want to perform, but I will not allow the amputation while I am alive! Even though my mother is crying and trying to persuade me, I cannot agree with her. This is my body, not my mother's body. I am 15 years old and I will decide what is best for my body and my life!"

One last time the professor very sternly told her, " You should have the amputation and it has to be done immediately. If you do not go through with the amputation you will surely die very soon. You must reconsider!"

Once again, I was internally questioning the opinion of the professor.  I knew that her cancer had already metastasized to her lung and there was nothing that amputating her arm would do to help her live longer.  I wondered why he was so emphatic about recommending the amputation. 

I later realized that the professor wanted to perform the amputation because her tumor was very rare.  If the amputation were to be done while the girl was still alive , the tumor would also be alive.  The live tumor was necessary for his personal experiment research. 

The professor continued to pressure her to have the amputation.  However, she still refused.  The professor and her family finally gave up. The the professor offered his only alternative, the new anticancer drug.

The days to follow would present me with a similar scene of watching a patient in torment, as I would again be called upon to administer the anticancer drug to the young girl.  Once again, I was obeying an order from the professor.  An order to give a patient a painful drug that went against my personal and professional judgment. I struggled emotionally and mentally, moment by moment, torn between what i was expected to do and what I knew was the right thing to do. 

Three days after I had started injecting the anticancer drug into the young girl, the nightmare of her agony took hold. She had no appetite ; she experienced ongoing nausea and  vomiting. The fatigue from fighting her suffering was overwhelming. 

"Please, Dr. Ohno, please don't give me any more injections! I can't take the pain of the side effects anymore! My stomach feels like it's pushing its way up through my mouth.  i've had so many seizures!
"Please make this hell stop! Please! Stop giving me this drug!"

She was completely fatigued.  She was collapsing and sobbing. I watched as her face turned pale from the effects of the drug.  I witnessed her tough and fighting spirit fade into a lifeless agony.

She had huge sores in her mouth from the side effects of the drug.  the sores were so bad she could not swallow , let alone eat.  The seizures were intensifying. it was becoming more difficult for her to breathe.  Compounding her misery were other side effects of chronic headaches, fever and infection. medicine to help eliminate these was not  working.

"Help me Dr. Ohno ! I have already lost 20 pounds! I cannot eat anything, because nothing stays in my stomach. No one has any idea how much I am suffering ! Please stop giving me that drug! I know I am dying. I don't want to take this drug anymore!"

If the positive benefits had offset the negative side effects, I might have been more understanding and less resistant.  But this was not the case.  I began to feel that this drug was a monster. I felt that I was not a doctor, but I was being forced against my better judgment to administer this 'Devil's Drug' which was torturing and killing my patients !I would ask myself, "Am I really a doctor, or am I just a prisoner of the medical system?"

Question after question kept entering my mind , How can i stop giving my patients this horrible drug when I know it is torturing them? 
How can I stand by and allow myself to remain a part of this if I know it is wrong?
How can I continue to call myself a doctor when I think myself as a killer?

I knew for my own preservation and peace of mind that I had to do something else to help my patients.  I decided to commit myself to finding another way to help these people and hopefully by doing so, I would heal myself of the personal torment  I was living through.

Struggle can be a blessing in disguise.
There is no room to grow if the Universe does not present challenges. 

Dr. Yoshitaka Ohno. M.D., Ph.D.