Important Brain Health PSA

Spiders are a critical part of our ecosystem.  Terminix posted 298 Million in revenue in the 4th quarter of 2013, in part for the service of killing spiders.  The chemical insecticide used for spider control was evaluated in the Journal "Toxicological Sciences" and discovered that exposure activates brain immune defenses and inflammatory chemicals.  When we observe the brains of alzheimers patients, we notice brain immune defense activation and inflammation.  We also recognize that sugar and aluminum cause the same effects in the brain. 

This brings to mind the concept of the "tipping point."  At what level of exposure to insecticides, aluminum, and sugar do we experience the tipping point, resulting in memory loss and confusion.  You'll never know until you get there! 

My recommendation is to use brain "sharpness" as your indicator.  If you have dulled a little bit...focus, memory, attention...it's time to tip the scales BACK toward sharpness.  Skullcap and chamomile are two plants that calm and clean the brain immune system.  Avoiding further exposure as much as possible (cancel that terminex membership, get rid of aluminum cookware, decrease sugar and refined carb intake) is indicated. 

Brain "sharpness" SHOULD increase with age, as wisdom is accumulated...but offset by immune activator accumulation.  Be SMART...and take this bit of advice for BRAIN HEALTH.  Do it for your sharpness, and the environment, which includes creepy spiders. 

The Intelligence of Omega Fats...AKA Dr. Stone (was) a Dummy

I was very average in school, had very poor basic recall/memory skills, and passed college by cramming all night until I could recite enough to pass the test, and of course forget it by the next day.  I sat in the back of the room and hid so I would never get called on.

Until…  After my first year of increasing omega three essential fatty acids, I said something I will never forget!  I said, “docosahexaenoic acid,” during a class to my patients.  It was like my brain finally “caught” the information I was giving it, and, to my own surprise, it was available for me to say, use, and even teach! 

Ever since that time, I sit in the front of the room during seminars, versus a lifetime of the very, very, very back seat…because it is fun when your brain captures information…and definitely not so fun when it doesn’t.  (Don’t call on me!)

When I started omega three’s, which are abundant in fish and flax, and some in walnuts and greens/grasses, the fact was that I hadn’t ever eaten an omega 3 in my life.  Seriously…I hated veggies well into my 20s, hated fish except for an occasional fish fry (deep fried oils will make you just as unable to catch information!), never heard of flax, and peanut butter was my only “nut” intake.  The rest of my diet was campbells soup, baloney sandwiches, cereal and milk (the good stuff, Cap’n Crunch), and tombstone pizza.

  

Go ahead, find an omega 3 in that diet!  

Here’s the story I heard…from a professor that knew a lot of big words…

Omega 3 oils must be in balance with omega 6 oils…ounce for ounce.  Most foods have some of each oil…omega 3, 6, and 9 (think olive oil).  I already mentioned the few foods with a higher ratio of omega 3’s…and it turns out that omega 6’s come from grains and seeds (except flax seed).  And the ratio of oils in these grains varies from 20 to 1 up to 60 to 1 (corn being the highest ratio).  

Professor smarty pants cited a study that showed that DISEASE IS GUARANTEED when the overall ratio of omega 6 to 3 reaches 4 to 1.  No, it is not the only cause of disease…but it WILL “light the fuse” to express your worst genetic potential.  And the higher the ratio, the faster you will achieve Grandpa’s disease.  

And light the fuse is exactly right.  At 4 times more omega 6’s than 3’s, it begins a cascade of inflammatory chemicals called prostaglandins and leukotrienes (who’s the smarty pants now?) that will cause a “sunburn” on your most genetically susceptible tissues…Intestines, muscles, joints…any –itis you can name (arthritis, gastritis, etc.).  And just like a sunburn makes your shoulders sensitive, inflammation makes whatever internal tissue it is affecting more sensitive…to foods, gravity, changes in weather, etc. 

In fact, I believe that the majority of people with gluten sensitivity or food allergies, are actually inflamed and sensitive…and some foods, like gluten, are more irritating to the intestinal lining (when sunburned), just like wool is a bit more scratchy on sensitive skin.  

So…keep your omega 3 to 6 ratio close to 1 to 1 and you defeat this inflammatory source, making you less sensitive…and more resilient.  PLUS…these fats build the “brain” of every cell in your body, including your brain cells.  It builds them more flexible (easier to catch information, hormones, and brain chemicals such as serotonin (the antidepressant chemical).  

In fact, Harvard medical published a study in 1997 showing that high dose fish oils caused greater “leveling out” of Bipolar patients than any of the current Medications!  

Another benefit…they are also helpful to cheat!  Think I avoid corn chips because they are so unbalanced!?!  Nope, I eat them and then take some extra fish oil to keep the balance.  (I generally get organic corn anything to avoid GMOs)  I add fish oils whenever my grain intake increases to keep the Omega 6 to 3 ratio under 4 to 1, and prevent activating my worst genetic potential. 

Some of the seeds that are appearing on the shelves more recently,…hemp and chia for example…are balanced sources of essential fatty acids.  I still haven’t incorporated them (I have tried the chia pudding, and adding the seeds to smoothies…but it was just too painful to form a habit)…so if you have a pleasurable (at least not painful) way of using them, let me know!

Weight Loss Experiment 4

Does this happen to you!??  Whenever you resolve to improve your life, especially through “being better” and doing what you know you “should be” doing…you break down.  I do.  

This is about how my commitments go…as soon as I start, something tries to interrupt.  After resolving to a new plan (in the past), I have had my back go out, I have injured my shoulder, and/or  I have gotten sick…some sort of disruption that I swear is my unconscious revolting against the change. 

No big disruption this time…but there was no big commitments.  (Maybe there is something to this small commitment thing!)  

I have been distracted, though, by a smaller disruption (to match the smaller commitment, I suppose).  After breakfast a couple weeks ago, I started having some stomach cramping.  It was bad enough that I had to lie down for a while after I ate…and again after dinner.  

The possibilities include food poisoning (which is eating infected food), or other infections.  It could be gall bladder or appendix, but the symptoms didn’t match up.  It could be an inflammatory bowel disease, but I think I would have seen that coming on.  

So I started with a general anti-microbial called Golden Thread…something I test for any type of infection…parasites, yeast, bacteria…it’s one of my favorites.  A few months ago, prior to committing to anything, I had an episode of bloating…no cramping…but my belly was huge.  (I actually took pictures it was so big…see below).  It took several days, but was totally resolved (see the after picture).  

This time it didn’t work quite as well.  As I have mentioned, life is an experiment, and so is treating health problems.  For our patients, I have a system of evaluation that is designed to maximize probability of success, but there is no such thing as a sure thing.  And this wasn’t my sure thing.  

Now, two weeks later, I have added a Goldenseal and Barberry mix, then Curcumin (Turmeric), then Rosemary, and then started having multiple green drinks, with spinach and kale (chlorophyll is really healing for the intestinal lining), and then some cabbage soup (cabbage is great for healing the stomach).  

So far the disruption is improved some, but still clearly there.  I am bloated… and I am scheduled to take an after picture in a couple days!  

What I do know is that this problem can and will be handled naturally.  There’s a lab in Georgia called Metametrix, who does stool analysis (very detailed), and if an infection shows up, they culture it in the lab, and then dump various botanicals into the culture and note what kills it.  Pretty cool.  If the bloating lasts too long, or creates enough suffering,  I would do that test.  First, I’ll do a more thorough diagnostic evaluation using kinesiology.  It’s really not too bad now…just a bloated tummy threatening to ruin my after picture. 

 

As far as the weight loss experiment…the disruption wasn’t enough to throw me off my commitment, even if I had to double up on exercise one day to catch up for another.  Seriously, this may be genius to set your commitment so low, that you cannot fail!  

I may take a couple extra days to take the picture, hoping to de-bloat.  The scales and little body fat measures say I am a complete failure.  I originally said I would shoot for a decrease in body fat of 5%, and I have been down almost 2%, but then back up…and down…and up.  I don’t know if that is reflecting whatever bug I am fighting off…or inflammation…or failure of the experiment!?   

Well it can’t be a failure, because I maintained all the variables…plenty of indulgence, greens, protein, and a little bit of exercise…plus my supplement regimen.  A scientist wouldn’t call an experiment a failure…it is always just learning…and in order to learn, you have to maintain variables consistently, for a long enough time to observe statistically significant results.  

If you don’t maintain variables and time, you learn nothing, or even worse…you THINK you learned something!  

In any event, I will report the final numbers and pictures in a couple days.  

Deeper messages by Dr. Stone

Remember the SNL bit…Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handy?  Just to remind you…

Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself. Basically, it's made up of two separate words — "mank" and "ind." What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why, so is mankind.

If you ever reach total enlightenment while you’re drinking a beer, I bet it makes beer shoot out your nose.

I believe in making the world safe for our children – but not our children’s children, because I don’t think children should be having sex.

                Deep Thoughts-By Jack Handy

Ok, that’s fairly random, and just for fun…but I do have a point here.  

THINKING DIFFERENTLY…yeah…that’s my point.  

If I am having a problem, and I have plenty…I try to attend to it by thinking differently.  Many times, this requires the help of someone to do the thinking (assessment) for me.  When I was struggling with mold allergies, I was completely stuck in trying to think outside my own box and figure out what was going on.  Only when I asked someone else to look at the situation (with a unique way of thinking and processing the situation), was I able to break the pattern.  

I will never stop asking for help outside myself, but I have made some discoveries that sure make my life easier.  

For instance…my shoulder has been bothering me all day…a really sharp pain when I bring it out to the side.  It was “grabbing” and “pinching” when I was driving if I brought my left arm up to rest on the window, or if I reached up to the top of the steering wheel.  I brag about my low tolerance of pain…so it may have been a 2 for the tough guys…but it was a 7 for me (rating pain 0-10).  It had my attention. 

A common thought process would be a rotator cuff problem…or I slept on my arm funny (I hear this explanation all the time and still don’t know what the heck it means!)…or bursitis…tendonitis…maybe even a pinched nerve.  

A common action would be to take a –itis pill…-itises are inflammation, so advil or aspirin.  (I wonder who taught us that association!?)  If it lasts a week or month (depending on your pain tolerance), call the orthopedist, because it is a joint problem, or maybe a sports doctor, or a chiropractor.  If the joint specialists can’t fix your joint problem… “well, I am 40 something…I guess this is how 40 feels.  I’ll just drive with my right hand.” 

But I think differently…and one of those different thoughts is that symptoms are messages.  From eastern medicine associations, I know that shoulder pain is often immune stress.  And I know that association well, because I had an autoimmune disease at age 1, allergies most of my life…and curiously, my shoulders always hurt.  

And I DO differently…so when all the kids were in bed, I sat down and checked in.  

One of the major…and I mean biggest…stressors of the immune system is adrenaline.  Most people think of infections, allergens, even toxins…but fix adrenaline (if it’s a problem) and most of your immune problems fade away.  

As I checked in…I found a weakness of the infraspinatus muscle.  This is one of the rotator cuff muscles, and  it is also associated with the thymus gland.  When I tested adrenaline over the thymus reflex point, a strong muscle I was testing weakened.  When I held a supplement called AdrenalCalm, which is a constant in our “medicine” cabinet, the muscle strengthened.  

Now whether you understand muscle testing or not, here is the result…  I massaged the AdrenalCalm behind my knees, tapped a point for the adrenals, rubbed the thymus reflex…and the PAIN WAS GONE.  I can fling my arm up to the side, pain free.  

How is that for instant gratification…compared to Advil…orthopedist…chiropractor…massage therapist…and finally… admitting I’m old!?  

But, I’m not done!!  Are you kidding me…I just had a 7 out of 10 pain message.  It said I was stressed out.  It said I was suppressing my immune system.  Is a dose of AdrenalCalm and tapping ENOUGH?  Heck no…I have to soothe that stress response into optimal balance.  With a quick look at my stressors…I had doubled up on caffeine the last two days.  I almost always drink coffee, but I had a Monster energy drink the last 2 days on top of my coffee.  

I’m not recommending Monster energy drinks for health…I do it for pleasure and understand the consequence.  In fact, I almost always pour the drink over ice, and squirt a shot of Passion Flower in to “pay off the indulgence.”  Regulation had reported to me that I was still in debt…with the shoulder pain.  Thank you regulation for the warning…I don’t want to get into the allergy bit again!  

So…I may lay off the Monster drinks (I don’t do it too often more because of the splenda than the caffeine)…and I will definitely stay on the AdrenalCalm for awhile.  (Which you should have in your medicine cabinet too!)  And keep checking in on the infraspinatus weakness, which is a “sign” that I missed until the pain directed me to look.  I bet if I would have looked closely in the mirror, my shoulder would have looked slightly drooped and the hand would have been turned inward…long before the pain began.  

I don’t perseverate or agonize over my health (clearly…since I was busted drinking poisonous energy drinks for a “buzz!”)…I trust that Regulation will give me a message (like the shoulder pain), and if I know how to listen…and respond…Regulation won’t have to kick my butt to get my attention.  

Now…Deeper Messages by Dr. Stone…

If your hands get numb and some orthopedist names it Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, a “bad” condition that needs scalpel discipline, perhaps you should love your pancreas, because this is an insulin problem.  (An extra dose of fish oils and protein every couple hours is a good start for insulin problems)

If your knee aches, and your orthopedist says a shaving and cleaning are required, perhaps you should be kind to your adrenals, because this is a cortisol problem.  (AdrenaCalm works on cortisol and adrenaline) 

If your low back “goes out,” consider inflammation or infection of the colon…especially if you have some bloating.  I have a product called Inf-Fighter in our medicine cabinet that is a good go to for tummy infections.  

Also, always consider your lifestyle.  Just a quick look at what I was doing revealed I wasn’t being very care-ful.  Don’t be perfect, but note where you are not “caring for” Regulation.  If you are like me, these little (or big) messages are there to adjust lifestyle as well as respond to the imbalance created with the lifestyle choices.  

  

These Deeper Messages will save you from feeling old (or coming to the conclusion that you ARE old)…suffering for great lengths of time…and wasting tons of cash on docs and therapists who will only consider your problem based on their specialty.  And I bet the knife doctors will find a “need” for surgery… and the pharmaceutical doctors will have a med for you…that’s the old, “if you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail” process.  

I…I will simply ask what regulation wants…and provide it (or recommend it).  Sometimes the need is an adjustment…or muscle work…or nutritional/herbal…and once I did find a need for surgical repair in one of my patients.  Most often, I find the associations I describe above…plus a little body work to heal the physical damage of being “out of balance.”