Blog for naturally healthy families

 Learn a Language for your health.


For  those of you who watch what you eat, here’s the final  word on nutrition and health. It’s a relief to know the  truth after all those conflicting nutritional  studies.

1. The Japanese eat  very little fat
and suffer  fewer heart attacks than  Americans.

2. The Mexicans  eat a lot of  fat
and suffer fewer heart attacks than  Americans.

3. The Chinese  drink very little  red wine
and  suffer fewer heart attacks than  Americans.

4. The  Italians drink a lot of red  wine
and suffer fewer heart attacks than  Americans.

5. The Germans  drink a lot of beers and eat lots of  sausages and fats  and suffer fewer heart attacks than   Americans.

CONCLUSION

Eat  and drink what you like.
Speaking  English is apparently what kills  you.

Now many of you probably got this as a joke via email, and it is pretty funny, but sadly it is true.  When my wife and I were in Portugal 3 years ago one of my favorite parts of the trip was eating.  Oh my goodness the food was so good.

Flavorful
Filling
  Colorful
Slow

Everything had more flavor.  Even the omelets I had for breakfast had something unique about them.  Something to try:

#1 Add some spices to your recipes tonight.
#2 Don’t have any ideas?  Try www.allrecipes.com for some new ideas.
Pick your meat and type it in and see what comes up.  Remember,
don’t use the artificial ingredients if they come up.  This isn’t a
natural health website.

I didn’t notice this until we got home, but we were never hungry.  Three square meals a day was it.  Snacking never even crossed my mind.  I think two things were happening.

#1 We never had any artificial food.  It was all real whole food, veggies, fruit, fish, eggs, etc.  Artificial (food in a box) has most of the real vitamins stripped out of it.  So, your body gets a little upset and wants its vitamins.  When you eat cheap processed food your body will crank up the food cravings.  You will eat more, and we all know what that looks like.  One of the early uses of Catalyn (multivitamin) was to help food cravings.  As food became more and more processed 80 years ago people started eating more.  Catalyn is a whole food vitamin made from 15 foods.  It was taken 30 minutes prior to a meal for people who were overweight.  Try 2 before a meal.

#2 There was fat in the foods.  Even the pastries we had for breakfast had eggs in them.  I wish I could get the recipe.  Fat makes you feel full and keeps you from overeating.
ie…Butter not margarine, whole milk not skim milk.

Oh so colorful,  I can remember ordering an omelet at a small restaurant.  It came with a tray of accessories: tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, and corn.  It was different, but that was the point.  It was so good.

#1 Try and have more veggies and fruit cut up at each meal.  The more colorful the better.
#2 Variety is the spice of life.  Sometimes in the midwest we are not very experimental.

Eat SLOW.  Meals were a sit down affair.   Meals weren’t seen as a necessary  break in the day.  They were prepared with time and eaten with pleasure.  Probably because it always tasted so good.  The one time we stopped at a fast food chicken place.  It was a small shop with about a third of the shop being a giant grill and to them fast food was the whole chicken roasting on a spit over the grill.  They took the chicken off, chopped it up and bagged it for us.  Not exactly KFC.

#1 Good meals take time to prepare.  This is probably the hardest part of being healthy, slowing down.  Many people under the age of 40 don’t really know how to cook anymore.  Cooking is becoming a lost art.  A package of this and a box of that nuked in a microwave is not cooking.  Cooking is learnable.  The best traditional cookbook on the market is “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon.

#2 Eat slower,  it takes at least 20 minutes for your body to figure out how much food you just consumed.  If you race through your meals you can easily over eat.

Sometimes even jokes have good lessons

Products marketed under various names

Pictures of more product labels

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that Clarcon Biological Chemistry Laboratory Inc. of Roy, Utah, is voluntarily recalling some skin sanitizers and skin protectants marketed under several different brand names because of high levels of disease-causing bacteria found in the product during a recent inspection. The FDA is warning consumers to not use any Clarcon products.

Consumers should not use any Clarcon products and should throw these products away in household refuse. Analyses of several samples of over-the-counter topical antimicrobial skin sanitizer and skin protectant products revealed high levels of various bacteria, including some associated with unsanitary conditions. Some of these bacteria can cause opportunistic infections of the skin and underlying tissues.  Such infections may need medical or surgical attention, and may result in permanent damage. Examples of products that should be discarded include:

–Citrushield Lotion

–Dermasentials DermaBarrier

–Dermassentials by Clarcon Antimicrobial Hand Sanitizer

–Iron Fist Barrier Hand Treatment

–Skin Shield Restaurant

–Skin Shield Industrial

–Skin Shield Beauty Salon Lotion

–Total Skin Care Beauty

–Total Skin Care Work

Findings from the FDA’s recent inspection of the Clarcon facility are particularly concerning because the products are promoted as antimicrobial agents that claim to treat open wounds, damaged skin, and protect against various infectious diseases.  The inspection uncovered serious deviations from FDA’s current Good Manufacturing Practice requirements.

Health care professionals and consumers may report serious adverse events (side effects) or product quality problems with the use of this product to the FDA’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program either online, by regular mail, fax or phone.

–Online
–Regular Mail: use postage-paid FDA form 3500 and mail to MedWatch, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20852-9787
–Fax: 800-FDA-0178
–Phone: 800-FDA-108

Pictures of more product labels

Alternative medicine, supplements, herbs, and alternative treatments are becoming more common with doctors and even hospitals.  There seems to be a lack of information and communication about quality and uses of medical alternatives.  Interesting article in today’s paper about alternative medicine.  It even lists the University of Maryland Medical Center as using Reiki therapy.  It must be working because “the anesthesia chief Dr. Richard Dutton calls it ‘mystical mumbo jumbo’.  Still he is a fan” -Associated Press 6-8-09

“People are turning to unconventional therapies and herbal remedies for everything from hot flashes and trouble sleeping to cancer and heart disease.  They crave more ‘care’ in their health care.  They distrust drug companies and the government.  They want natural, safer remedies.” -Associated Press 6-8-09

A study was done in 1990 by Dr. Eisenberg that seemed to highlight a sleeping giant.  This study was very eye opening to medical community and those of us in the alternative community.  They estimated visits to unconventional therapy provider at 425 million, while at the same time there were 388 million visits to medical doctors.  The majority of the use was for chronic conditions and not life-threatening thing.  83% were also seeing their medical doctor for the same condition and…

Here is the ringer…

72% of patients never told their medical doctors.  I actually experience this same phenomenon quite often.  I find that people are generally afraid to tell their medical doctors because they feel like they will be yelled at.

As more and more people turn to aternatives there are some integration problems.

One of the main problems we will all face with acceptance is highlighted in the article when medical schools are looking for “evidence-based, non-judgemental care”.  Alternative therapies aren’t cut and dry like medicine.  For example: a drug over rides the body and tells it to do a certain action.  A herb gives the body choices.  It lets the body choose what it wants from the herb.  Therefore doing double blind clinical tests will very difficult.  The medical world thrives on studies.  Alternative therapies are more clinically and history driven.

I know our herbal company, before they formulate a product they look at how it has been historically dosed for thousands of years and take that into account along with scientific studies.

Studying nutrition poses a similar problem.  It is very difficult to keep people locked up and monitor everything they eat.  The two studies I can think of were very dramatic.  One was right here at the U. of Minnesota.  It was a severe calorie restriced and carbohydrate based diet, that drove the participants crazy with many mental and physical problems.  The other was overseas, and looked at the opposite with a high fat diet and the participants had no physical or mental breakdowns.

One other note to keep in your back pocket about alternative therapies.  There are very few studies done.  Why?  Because drug companies have zero interest in studying them.  Government and doctors want supplements to be regualted and in a way I would like that too, but not by the medical community or the governement.  That is like the fox guarding the hen house.

“When it says ‘natural’ the perception is there is no harm.  And that is just not true” -Associated Press 6-8-09

Horse poop…

That’s natural!  By definition it could be in your supplement.  In the supplement industry there is a lot of deception and misguidance.  There should be some manufacturing guidelines and labeling guidelines.  The one thing I have learned over the years is that the labels on products are often wrong and I never buy herbs manufactured in America.  The guidelines are very sloppy and the studies I have seen have not been good, when they analyze the contents it often is less than the label would indicate.  Our herbs comes from Australia, where they have a pharmaceutical grade standard.  So what it says on the label is in the bottle.  Not so in America, where there is a food grade standard.  There are a lot of thing s to know about herb and I will write another post on those later.

This should change but likely won’t. 

The definition of vitamins is so loose it considers antioxidants as vitamins, which is not true in the real world.  A recent study by Boston and German researchers found that “when young male exercisers took moderate amounts of vitamins C and E, the vitamins shut down the body’s natural defenses against cellular damage.  The study author Dr. Ristow says ” If you exercise to promote health, you shouldn’t take large amounts of antioxidants”.

To the average researcher and person shopping for supplements on store shelves they aren’t using healthy products or real products for that matter.  That’s why when the researchers studied the C and E supplements they caused harm.  If it is not a whole food supplement it is going to cause you harm.  Look on the label.  Do you see foods listed?  Or a bunch of names you can’t pronounce.   I  don’t buy vitamins off the store shelves because quality matters to me and the chance of finding a high quality vitamin off a store shelf is very, very low.

The researchers tried to nourish the exercisers with banana peels instead of the fruit on the inside.  The Antioxidants as they were used, and listed as vitamins, are like eating banana peels.  They are meant to protect the good fruit on the inside, not to nourish and heal a body after exercising.

Thats why Dr. Ristow recommends fruits and vegetables, “which provide a more moderate dose of vitamins and also contain natural micronutrients that help keep the body in balance.”

Alternative therapies are here to stay, but be smart about using them.

#1 If you are not using any alternative doctors.  The largest group of licensed professionals are chiropractors.  I get adjusted once a week and every time I get adjusted I think about how many people have no clue about how good they can feel.  I went from writhing in pain, unable to walk, to rollerblading in 2 weeks when I started.  Chiropractic is an experience.  Unless you have been, you don’t know.   In a survey we did, 70% of patients preferred to get adjusted once per week or more often if they could come whenever they wanted and had no time or money restrictions.

#2 I take whole food supplements, nothing off the shelf.  There are very few absolutes in health, and this is one of them.  As early as the 1920’s vitamin deficiencies were being documented in the general population.  In the 1940’s -1950’s when food processing began to really take off, vitamin deficiencies soared.  Now, it is even worse.  It was nice to see medical doctors embracing the fact that people need supplements.  The problem is that they don’t understand the difference yet between the current recommendations of mass-produced mega-dose vitamins and whole-food supplements.  This is why I take Standard Process supplements and Mediherb herbals.  I can tell from my own personal experience and my families, they work.  I don’t need a volume of scientific studies to tell me they work or that the foods in there are good for me.

#3 Don’t expect overnight miracles.  People see immediate effects with drugs because they take over the body, sometimes it is necessary.  There is a cost to this and all drugs have side-effects.  Alternative therapies don’t work like that.  For example: Herbs often take 3 months to start taking effect.

#4 Alternatives aren’t meant to be last ditch, life saving alternatives.  It is more about prevention and long-term management of chronic problems.  If you aren’t in a crisis, you might be surprised at how great your health can be with alternative therapies.

#5 The best source of information about alternatives are not medical doctors or the government.  You are obviously on our website (docaltman.com), you can also use mercola.com (the vitamins aren’t as good as Standard Process, but better than the grocery store) and my favorite is westonaprice.org.

Bruce West Review of newest articles

**Important office info **
Due to the ever increasing media frenzy outside the office at the Brown county courthouse, parking has been a little more difficult.  If the driveway is open, please use it.

**Additional Note**
Due to memorial day, we will only be open til 2:00 on Friday.  For those of you picking up Standard Process orders, please try and be here close to 2:00.  UPS generally arrives by 2:00

***One more***
I am switching the article notifications to Feedburner.  I will sign you up in the next few days.  The sign up is on our website if you want to do it yourself.  All you need to do is confirm it, that’s it.   As a bonus, I will give you my shopping list.  I will post it exclusively for the Feedburner subscribers next week.    The emails from here will be for office notifications only, like hours changes, holidays, and sales for internet subscribers only.

BACK TO THE GOODIES

Full March issue of Bruce West Here .

This months Bruce West has some pretty juicy stuff on the heart and those lovely medical studies.

Highlights in this month’s Bruce West Newsletter

Here we go again with a new study showing remarkable results from the statin drug CRESTOR^®.  This expensive statin drug was having trouble finding a market because of a lukewarm acceptance from doctors, so the drug company underwrites a study claiming the drug could save millions of lives if millions of people were using it.  The “medical experts” are calling it “paradigm shifting”.

Where are the double-blind studies comparing Crestor to cheaper drugs, or even non-drug therapies.   Why is the price so high?  What are the long term effects of these drugs.  Past 3-5 years people start to suffer.

Medical studies are just that—Medical studies.  They never compare them to anything alternative nor do they EVER study alternatives.

Dr. Altman here–If you want a true “paradigm shift” read my book coming out later this week.  Some of the most remarkable things about the heart are in there that I haven’t even seen Bruce West writing about.

Back to Bruce…

Add points of interest about CRESTOR^®
¤ For every 2 years of Crestor Therapy 991 out of 1000 will recieve no benefit

¤ 60% of statin drug trials failed to report side effects

¤ 25% of people in the trial stopped on their own.  Side effects are suspected

¤ Crestor is still patented for $105/month.  Generics are $10

¤ The disclaimer list at the end of the trial takes 1/2 page of tiny print.

Cholesterol functions you may not want to interfere with.

¤ It patches damaged blood vessels.
¤ Necessary for all hormone production.
¤ Vitamin D production.  (This is why statin users have a higher rate of osteoporosis)
¤ Brain cell function
¤ Proper health of every cell you have.

For some amazing heart attack prevention that has nothing to do with drugs check out page 2 of the full newsletter.

Prostate health on page 3

This is one of my new favorite subjects.  The great antioxidant hoax.

I had a banana this morning.  Many of you probably have had a banana this week.  The first thing you do is peel it, right.  The peel can be very deceptive.  Mine was brown and spotty, yet the banana on the inside was perfect.  Now, eat the peel.

The peel is the antioxidant protector of the good fruit on the inside.  Antioxidants are not for you.  They protect the valuable vitamins on the inside.  Supplement makers would like you to eat 10,000 chemical copies of that peel.

Stick to REAL whole food supplements and you won’t have to worry about any monkey business.

Read the full March issue of Bruce West Here .

If the function of the adrenal gland is compromised, many symptoms may appear such as:

• Fatigue,

• The need for more sleep,

• Irritablity,

• Anxiousness,

• Low libido,

• Sighing or yawning a lot

• Long standing poor immune system

If you have any one of these problems, you may want to keep reading. I am going to cover how fatigue starts to build, dietary guidelines, natural supplements, and herbal remedies.

Just so you know, I have had to work my way out of two adrenal crashes for myself.  You would think I would learn after one, but what I want you to realize is there are specific ways to drive your body in to the ground and specific things to do to bring it back to life.  The last straw that forced me to change my life was my wife kicking me out of bed.  I knew things were bad when I slept through 6 snooze alarms.  I literally could not get out of bed.  In case you need a red flag to look for, here it is.  I never use an alarm clock anymore, and depending on the type of job you have you may need one, but if you need a snooze alarm, you’re in trouble.  You can go many years with this behavior, but it is an early warning sign that your adrenal glands are fatigued.

The first cause of adrenal insufficiency and fatigue.

Stress

…yes, the little pest that we all seem to be annoyed by.  It is not possible to have zero stress, but how much we take on and more importantly, how well we handle stress will determine the effects on our bodies.   Stress to me — is conflict.  Not just an argument, but conflict in emotions, in how you live life, who your friends are or just your desires.  I know that sounds vague but it boils down to:

• Having things you don’t want.

• Doing things you don’t want to do.

• Desiring things you can’t have.

The adrenal glands allow us to adapt to stress.  Lots of stress can burn them out.  Fixing the stressors  in your life is the most critical job in getting out of adrenal fatigue.  I’ve done it twice.  Both times I had too many irons in the fire, and as they say I was burning the candle at both ends.  I made the changes you see here.

The second cause of adrenal insufficiency and fatigue.

Diet…

Eating a good diet in general helps but there are some very specific foods that directly affect the adrenal glands.  One interesting point that relates to stress and diet is the outpouring of adrenaline with a high stress level.  The adrenaline causes a rise in blood sugar, which if isn’t used in a “fight or flight”  now has to be lowered with the pancreas producing insulin.  It can perpetuate blood sugar problems.  Also, take care not to allow the blood sugar to go too low by skipping meals, that will just kick the adrenals into high gear to produce a hormone known as cortisol to raise the blood sugar.

Carbs…

Eating refined carbohydrates and sugars can lead to a blood sugar roller coaster.  As insulin floods into your bloodstream it often crashes the blood sugar below acceptable levels.  Your adrenal glands have to come to the rescue and raise the blood sugar by increasing cortisol output again.  As a reminder, refined carbs are things like cereal, most bread, muffins, donuts, most pastas and stuff that comes in a box.

Fat…

This is one of my favorite topics because it is often the most misunderstood.  One of the greatest myths of all time is that of a low fat diet.  It has caused more disease and problems than almost any other dietary advice ever given.  The adrenal hormones that are in such precious demand to combat the stress of life are made from FAT and most specifically cholesterol.  Yes, you read that right.  Now look at this scenario.  A forty year old, in a high stress job / life, kids, taking cholesterol drugs and following a low fat diet recommended by his doctor.  That’s pretty common.  Now look at the symptoms above and they are pretty common as well.  Hmmmm.  Fat as I refer to it is good fats not just any old fat.  The best fat an adrenal fatigued person can consume would be cod liver oil.

Salt…

This could almost be as controversial as eating fat.  Salt isn’t as evil as it is led to be.  Once again this refers to unrefined sea salt, most specifically Celtic Sea Salt.  I will have more articles on this later but for now I will relate to clinical cases.  The adrenals use salt in abundance for many things.  We see this very clearly with people when we do the purification program and salt is eliminated from the diet.  If people are suffering from moderate to advanced adrenal fatigue and we deprive them of salt, they get more tired and lethargic.  As soon as we add Celtic Sea Salt back into their diets they spring to life like a man crawling through the desert who finds a bottle of water.

Caffeine…

Caffeine is a stimulant to the inner part of the adrenal gland.  It causes a rise in adrenaline, which in turn causes the outer adrenal parts to kick in to calm you down.  Constant caffeine intake can lead to adrenal gland burnout.

As you fix some of these things you may be wondering what else you can do.  Here are some of the whole-food supplements and herbal supplements I have used over the years.  When it comes to the adrenals there are quite a few things that you can use this is not an all-inclusive list, but some of the major things I have used and why.  Best to talk to me about specific problems if these problems relate to you.  As a side note, what always makes me feel better than any supplement–an adjustment.

The two supplements I am currently using that you can see on the front desk anytime are:

1. Adrenal Complex Tablets:  I use these for fatigue, sleep, irritability and any anxiety.  I mostly use them to combat general fatigue.

2. Rhodiola and Ginseng Tablets: I take one everyday to give my body a little boost of energy and truth be told I have another secret.  I did a little research into lactic acid build-up and I use this to help prevent this.  Just exactly why this is so important I will let you read the much longer explanation in my new book coming soon.

3. Cataplex B:  I take this every day.  The wheels of energy manufacturing (Kreb’s Cycle) need the specific natural B’s in this supplement.  It also helps with my nerve conduction and as a chiropractor, I love it when my nerves are humming along at top speed.  If you also read Bruce West’s articles , you will appreciate how important and powerful this is for the heart.

4. Withania Complex:  I used this many years ago during my first adrenal crash.  When I was in chronic fatigue and just generally run down this helped pull me out and then after I felt better I used the next one.

5. Eleuthero:  This is Siberian Ginseng, and is typically used to maintain resistance to stress.  So, that is how I used it.

6. Drenamin: As an ongoing adrenal food supplement.  This has been good for overall maintenance.

7. Astragalus Complex: This goes back about 10 years ago, after we started the office I was so busy with a new family, new business, new home and lots of constant stress.  I was sick and had a low grade illness that wouldn’t go away.  I think I would have done even better if they had the Adrenal Complex back then, but that is fairly new.

If you need to get better these things aren’t that difficult to change.  A life of energy and vitality is worth it.  Most of us have some adrenal fatigue and could benefit from some of the suggestions here.

Remember: Identify and fix the stressors in your life.  Eat fewer refined carbs, more good fats, get some Celtic sea salt and less caffeine.  If you are feeling some of the effects I was you may want to try some of the supplements.  For questions, just post a comment on the bottom of this page.

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