In my last blog,  I covered how improving respiration in the cells by increasing Co2, helps with preventing and healing from cancer. Today you will read about how having an excess of estrogen can inflame the body and excite cells which can lead to developing cancer. I will also share some daily habits that you may be doing now that can increase your odds in developing cancer and hurting your metabolism

What is estrogen?

Estrogen has been described as the “hormone for beginnings, a sort of biochemical eraser which can eliminate recently recorded information, restoring the underlying primitive capacity for growth.” Meaning, estrogen stimulates cell division (this takes place mainly in the breasts, uterus, and prostate gland, and in the pituitary gland) and is normally produced in a monthly surge at the time of ovulation and during pregnancy.”

In excess, estrogen steals oxygen from mitochondria, the balance between what a tissue needs and what it gets will depend on the way that tissue functions.  When a cell releases lactic acid and free radicals ,it’s reasonable to assume that it isn’t getting everything that it needs, such as oxygen and glucose. With time, the cell will either die or adapt in some way to its low condition.

Despite the concept the pharmaceutical industry has pushed, estrogen is not just the “female hormone.” Men, in times of stress such as not eating enough, alcoholism, or dealing with liver damage can produce estrogen. In places dealing with famine, it has been known that men are capable of even  lactating. Why the philosophy of estrogen being a female trait? You see, If you knew that estrogen was more like a shock hormone and causes aging and disease, the estrogen industry wouldn’t be able to make its billions of dollars every year. Having an excess of estrogen is very dangerous and has been linked to health issues such as:

Breast Cancer, uterine cancer, ovarian cancer, fibroid tumors, pituitary tumors, lung cancer, liver cancer, bowel cancer, kidney cancer, malignant melanoma, meningioma and other brain cancers, cancer of other organs, osteoarthritis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, allergies, porphyria, optic neuritis, epilepsy, depression, suicide, accidents, anxiety, agoraphobia, amnesia, nerve cell damage, low blood pressure, fainting, shock, vessel spasms, intestinal spasms, inflammatory bowel disease, gall stones, gall bladder issues, blood sugar issues, hypothyroidism, blood clots, strokes, heart attacks, miscarriage, birth defects, endometriosis, excess hair and loss of hair, skin discoloration, thinning of the skin, water retention, and obesity.

Estrogen’ s harmful effects has been known since the 1930’s and ’40’s. Loeb, Lipschitz, the Shutes, Hans Seyle, L.C.Strong, and others showed that estrogen caused the above mentioned illnesses. However the drug companies were already pushing their inaccurate paradigm on to the world, to promote and push hormone replacement therapy.

A statement that I hear often from people is, ” Oh, my estrogen levels were normal on my blood work, I’m fine.”  There is 2 points I’d like to make about that :

1. Estrogen (also known as adipin, truly resides in our tissues, not in our blood. So the results on the blood work are not going to be 100% accurate.)
2. Even if your estrogen levels are in the normal range, it can still be a cause for concern if your progesterone levels are low. When getting bloodwork done,  check to see if  your progesterone level is 5-10 times higher than your level of estrogen.

Ladies, having a higher progesterone will aid in a healthy metabolism, depression, PMS, menopause, bloating, skin issues, and many other things.

Progesterone is anti- inflammatory, reduces cellular excitation, gets estrogen out of the cells into the bloodstream by destroying the estrogen receptor (binds estrogen to the cell), destroys the enzyme that releases estrogen from the glucuronic form, and then straight into the liver and then kidneys which helps your body excrete it.

In fact progesterone was used by many physicians to treat the types of cancer that were caused by estrogen, especially uterine, breast, and kidney cancers. In the 1950s, the drug industry had created the myth that their synthetic progesterone (progestin) were medically more effective than progesterone itself, and the result has been that medroxyprogesterone acetate ( Provera, Depo-Provera, and Depo-SubQ provera 104 ) and other synthetics have been widely used to treat women’s cancers, including breast cancer. Unfortunately, progestins, only add to health problems and metabolic issues such as cancer.

If you’re interested in supplementing with a progesterone, ask your Dr for a bioidentical and not a synthetic. You are able to order a good quality progesterone from https://www.healthnatura.com/category-s/1857.htm

http://www.idealabsdc.com/lab/ 

If you have questions about dosage, and how to take them you can contact me. Just post a comment or question and I will contact you.

Common cancer treatments can be making you sicker.

A simple google search when looking up “cause of uterine cancer” took me to a cite where it clearly states that doing estrogen therapy, taking tamoxifen, (this med is a risk even though it’s an anti-estrogen med!)  and radiation to the pelvis (which is a common treatment), can be a risk factor to getting uterine cancer. As you read the article, it mentions common treatments for uterine cancer to be surgery, radiation, hormone therapy, and chemotherapy. These treatments in themselves are estrogenic and dangerous! https://www.medicinenet.com/uterine_cancer/article.htm

“Radiation, estrogen, and a variety of chemical pollutants are known to be the major causes of breast cancer, but the efforts of the cancer establishment have been directed toward denying that these avoidable agents are the cause of the great increase in breast cancer during the last several decades. The cancer industry, including major producers of chemotherapy drugs, subsidizes the American Cancer Society and “Breast Cancer Awareness Week,” and it is in their interest to convince the public that early detection and conventional treatment with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation are winning the war against cancer. There is always light at the end of the tunnel, in the war against cancer, just as there was in the Vietnam war. Their consistent effort to dissuade the government from acting to reduce the public’s exposure to the known causes of cancer should make it clear that they are in the business of treating cancer, not eliminating it.”- Dr. Ray Peat; Breast Cancer

Foods and habits that intensify estrogen’s harmful attacks:

• Polyunsaturated fats (grains, nuts, seeds, beans, raw green leafy veggies, cruciferous veggies, cold water fish like salmon, pork, corn, soy, safflower, flax, cottonseed, canola, peanut, sesame oil, mayonnaise, pastries, some candies ) Yes, you read that right.
• Iron Supplements, cooking with cast iron, and eating products with added iron.
• Taking birth control.
• Not eating enough calories throughout day.
• Living under too much stress.
• Exposure to chemicals.

Staying away from these foods and habits will greatly improve your health, by causing you not to produce a high level of estrogen.  For more information about how you should be eating, and what being healthy really looks like, please click on link.

https://youtu.be/y8mYQpzQnwI

References

Endocrinology. 2003 Dec;144(12):5650-7. Epub 2003 Sep 11. Distinct molecular pathways mediate progesterone-induced growth inhibition and focal adhesion. Lin VC, Woon CT, Aw SE, Guo C.

Lancet 1939, vol. 237: 420-421, Anti-tumorigenic action of progesterone, Lipschutz A, Murillo R, and Vargas, L Jr.

Mol Endocrinol. 2005 Aug;19(8):1978-90. Progesterone inhibits the estrogen-induced phosphoinositide 3-kinase–> AKT–> GSK-3beta–> cyclin D1–> pRB pathway to block uterine epithelial cell proliferation. Chen B, Pan H, Zhu L, Deng Y, Pollard JW.

When reading, hearing, listening, or maybe even experiencing cancer in some way, have you ever felt like all you wanted was the actual truth, but you were caught between the actual truth and big businesses lust for financial gain? It is insane the amount of money and precious time that goes into research, fundraisers, donations, telethons, documentaries, news slots, marathons, campaigns, apparel, treatments, surgeries, (to just name a few) that the war on cancer is still going on…!

The feeling of not knowing what to think led me to read subjects on fitness, physiology, biology, nutrition, and metabolism. I’m currently interested in the work of Dr. Ray Peat, endocrinologist Hans Seyle, Dr.Otto Warburg, and Dr.Broda Barnes. Reading their work has helped to see that the information around cancer can be very inaccurate.

What is cancer according to the medical industry?

According to The Cancer Institute:
https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/what-is-cancer

“Cancer is a genetic disease—that is, it is caused by changes to genes that control the way our cells function, especially how they grow and divide.
Genetic changes that cause cancer can be inherited from our parents. They can also arise during a person’s lifetime as a result of errors that occur as cells divide or because of damage to DNA caused by certain environmental exposures. Cancer-causing environmental exposures include substances, such as the chemicals in tobacco smoke, and radiation, such as ultraviolet rays from the sun.”  However,  this theory has been challenged and proven false throughout the years.

Frog Egg Tumor Transplants.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/165/3891/394

In 1969, researchers had transplanted frog tumor cells into frog eggs and found that despite the mutant cancer DNA contained within the transplanted tumor cells, from within the eggs emerged healthy tadpoles. Meaning, that mutated cancer DNA did not effect normal development.

This is just one of many observations. In Mark Sloan’s book, Cancer Cured, Victory Over the War on Cancer, he mentions studies like: Cloned mice from tumor cell DNA, and Cell cytoplasm-swapped ‘cybrids. They had proven once again that mutant cancer DNA didn’t cause cancer.

Another defect in the genetic theory is the claim that cancer cells are irreversible. There are many studies that prove that this is false, the links below are just a few of many of these studies.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9105051

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0169899#sec017

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12814947

There was also the 2005 monstrosity, The Cancer Genome Atlas Project. This multi-national “call-to- action” purpose, was to help people understand cancer genetics better and to really find the the pattern of genetic mutations that initiate the start of cancer formation. The goal of the study was that new drugs could be created to focus on each genetic mutation.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4322527/

What was the result?

Even though the project had access to millions of dollars and access to more than 10,000 tissue samples, from over 30 types of cancer, the results were not good for the genetic theory.

“They looked at cancer cells from different people with the same type of tumor, and scientists discovered the mutational signatures of cells were so different that they appeared to occur completely at random. Scientists also looked at the genomes of cells from within the very same tumor, but instead of finding a distinct series of mutations that could explain how cancer starts, every cell was found to have its own unique set of mutations. They didn’t see just one gene mutation that was responsible for starting the disease.

If it’s not genetic, what is it?

Scientists have found when it comes to cancer, it’s usually initiated by the same type of state or environment within the cell: Poor respiration (Hypoxia).They found that genetic mutations occur only after a cell has been deprived of oxygen. The first person to discover this, was Dr. Otto Warburg in 1923. In 1976, The Textbook of Medical Physiology had even quoted Dr. Arthur C. Guyton he said, “All chronic pain, suffering, and diseases are caused from a lack of oxygen at the cell level.”

When a cell has been deprived of oxygen it reacts by activating hypoxia- inducible factor – 1 alpha. That fancy name can be found in high levels in malignant solid tumors, but not in normal tissues or slow growing tumors. HIF-1alpha then stimulates a vascular growth factor into the tumor microenvironment, which gives a signal for it to grow. What’s the takeaway from this?

That cancer is more of a metabolic issue and not genetic.

Cell Metabolism

Our body is made up of 37.2 trillion cells, and they all require energy to allow us to function and stay alive.  So while we live our day to day, working, sleeping, stressing, laughing, etc, our cells are hard at work using the food we eat (metabolizing) and converting it into energy. In turn, we use that energy to eat, sleep, grow, exercise, deal with stress and illness, and also reproduce.

The metabolism of a healthy cell involves a chemical reaction between glucose and oxygen in the mitochondria. The by product of cells metabolism is adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

Click link below to watch a video on cellular respiration

https://youtu.be/aA8d-tt6dII

Our cells go through a pretty detailed and complex cycle to create ATP, this is called cellular respiration. However, the 3 basic steps would be: glycolysis, krebs cycle and oxidative phosphorylation. Unlike a healthy cell, a cancer cell doesn’t go through the 3 steps, a cancer cell stays in glycolysis. Staying in glycolysis means sugar ferments, and produces lactic acid as a byproduct. For a cell to do this it means that the cell has lost its ability to use oxygen, and unlike the krebs cycle and oxidative phosphorylation, glycolysis doesn’t need oxygen. When a cell switches to behaving like this called The Warburg Effect, the cell becomes cancerous. Now for the interesting part, you can help your cells attain healthy cellular respiration again and repair your metabolism without expensive or radical methods that just make you sicker in the process.

How to help your metabolism

• Increase Co2

– Put 2 cups of baking soda in a bath and soak for 20 min.

– You can also add a pinch of baking soda in some orange juice.

–  Bag breathing ( put a bag over your nose and mouth and inhale through your nose and exhale

through mouth. Breathe for 15-20 breaths. Stop breathing exercise if you start to feel light

headed.

• Nutrition

– Increase sugar (add more fruit, juice, potatoes, maple syrup, honey, sugar or fructose powder

in your daily diet.

– Eat only saturated fats like coconut oil or butter.

– Make sure to eat regularly throughout the day, try to not skip meals.

Those are just a few things you can get started on to help your cells receive the proper nutrition, and allow your body to repair and heal. Of course this is not the end of the story, there is still a lot to be covered and questions to address. Such as: Does an excess of estrogen or Progesterone cause cancer?  There are many woman who have been prescribed estrogen and progesterone in the form of medications. The word on hormones and cancer is that progesterone can be involved in cancer. Is this accurate?

If you are someone who is on birth control or some type of hormone therapy please read my next blog. I will be covering hormone replacement therapy and how it can involve cancer. I’ll also be covering what you can do nutritionally, to help your metabolism.

If you would like to know the details to repairing cells and your metabolism please go to our website, checkout our “HEAVY THOUGHTS” series on YouTube, or simply contact us via our email.

Website: https://fitlifefusion.com

YouTube: https://youtu.be/y8mYQpzQnwI

Email me at : jennifer@fitlifefusion.com

Facebook: Fitlife Fusion

Instagram: Fitlife Fusion

 

 

 

 

My daughter is 11 years old and is an extroverted, creative, loving, sensitive, deep person. Because of these qualities, she was eaten alive in school. Was constantly being misunderstood by most of her teachers and peers. Being in a class room with sometimes up to 40 children (some grades) was really stressful and overwhelming for her. She would be stuck with teachers who were burnt out and frustrated because of there work environment. Dealing with a loud, distracting atmosphere in the classroom, poor food choices for lunch, ONLY 10 min for recess, and then sent home with a significant amount of homework, and then to have just enough time for a little free-time, and then off to bed to start the cycle again.

Needless to say my daughter started acting out in school and wasn’t her normally happy self. After a pretty heavy conversation with my daughter one evening, I decided we needed to make a BIG change. For us, it was putting my daughter in home school. Fortunately my schedule allowed it for me to have that option. Also, I wanted to show my daughter that her concerns and stress mattered to me, and her voice was being heard.

Something that I want everyone to learn, is that you have the power to say “enough.” It’s ok to take a timeout for yourself. There are times in our lives where we need a change, whether it’s a big or small change, sometimes we just need it for our sanity.  Same goes for our children. We need to start teaching our kids at an early age that their mental and physical health is a priority, especially our preteen/teenagers.

If you take anything from this article, please take the knowledge that you are not alone in this stage of parenting. That we will get through this “3rd level of hell” called “puberty” together. Before we know it, our children will be in their 30’s and they will be telling us that they love us again lol. Till then, us parents (especially Mom’s) need to stick together! It’s all about survival! I hope this blog will be a tool for you to use when you feel like grabbing a big bottle of whiskey, sit in the corner, and implode in…3…2…1.

Look at the foundation.

The main reason why I wanted to write this blog is to bring attention to the fact that there is a healthier and happier approach to helping our children through their adolescence.  I want to encourage a type of lifestyle that is enjoyable for families to do together. I feel that the nutritional advice for children is deplorable and needs to be addressed and stopped. The foods in schools today are disgusting and are extremely estrogenic and inflammatory, so by the time our child  is going through puberty their hormones are all over the place,

As parents we need to make a strong healthy foundation for our children. I think looking at our society as the example of what ” not to do” is a good start. We live in a culture that encourages an isolated, high stress, low activity, undernourished, type of  lifestyle. Our children get hit with this way of living starting in grade school. They are glued onto their iPads and game systems, spend most of their days inside, and eat highly processed foods laced with chemicals that their young developing brains can’t process. As a result, children today are angry, depressed, and now have a high rate of suicide. At an early age they end up being diagnosed with behavioral issues, and then put on different medications that they may not need.  I’m not saying that some children don’t need medications,  but i’m specifically referring to the children who just need a change in their environment. For example, nutrition or activity level.

Solid foundation, happy teenager!

In the past year I have been really reflecting on my daughter’s foundation, and have been working on ways to improve it. As my daughter matures, I want her to experience good quality nutrition, and learn and apply healthy habits. Such as:

• 6-8 hours of sleep every night.

 Sleep is crucial for a healthy metabolism and your child’s brain.         When they sleep their brain can recover from whatever stress it dealt with earlier in the day, repair what’s needed for the body, grow and develop, and also metabolize fuel.

• Eating breakfast every day.

After a 6-8 hour fast (due to sleep) our child now needs to re-fuel. Eating and drinking a good quality juice 30 min upon waking.

• Staying away from harmful foods.

Poly-unsaturated fats (PUFA) is a major culprit behind, acne, bad sleep, poor mood, weight gain, and bad or irregular periods and pms. Do your best to stay away from:

• Grains, nuts, seeds, beans, raw veggies, veggie and seed oils, cold-water fish.  

   Eat more of:

• Milk, butter, cheese, eggs, seafood, beef, bison, juice, fruit, gelatin and salt.

• Eating regularly throughout the day.

Eating regularly regulates your child’s blood sugar, increases focus and retention in school, helps poor mood, helps with sleep, and gives body sufficient fuel.

• Having a healthy social life.

As your child enters his or her teenage years, friends will become more important. Positive, accepting, and supportive friendships are an important part of your child’s development.

• Plenty of exercise.

Physical activity (especially in the sun)  has significant benefits to your child’s mental and physical health. Not only does it help with developing a strong body, but exercise can even be just as effective as antidepressants. Inactivity has been found to be associated with the development of psychological disorders.

• Making room for creativity.

Creativity is an awesome skill set that your child should tap into. Being creative will help with mood, self-expression and communication skills. Creativity will allow your child to become stronger in reflection and meditation, being able to step out of the box and add a new viewpoint or prospective on society, ultimately helping them to be a well rounded individual.

Doing these suggestions has helped my daughter tremendously! Plus our relationship has gotten even stronger, which is awesome! Don’t be afraid to make a big change in your child’s life. Whether thats in school, nutrition, or more exercise, sit down with your child and have a heart to heart and find out what they would like to improve in their lives.

 

Feeling Frustrated?

How’s your journey going so far….?

Do you feel stuck….?

Results aren’t coming fast enough….?

Are you losing weight but gaining it back….?

Are you losing your inspiration….?

Are you feeling lost within the process….?

Feeling frustrated…?

Be honest, is this how you are currently feeling? We all go through it. Whenever we bring on a new habit or lifestyle change we always start with the intent of a long term change. Are you someone who struggles with this? Are you able to stick to your new routine? Are you someone who starts off burning hot, doing everything perfectly and then after 14-21 days starts to slow down. That once big ball of burning motivation/inspiration/purpose is now quickly melting like a snowball….

Why do we do this ?! The “yo-yo’ing”, up and down, hot then cool, inspired then discouraged, eating good then eating crap, rested then tired, in pain to being in pain again…. know wonder you’re frustrated, its exhausting living like that! So whats the underlining issue?…

IDENTITY SHIFT

Your external and internal self are working against each other. Externally you start off by working out, eating right, going to bed on time, etc… but that only lasts for so long if you have not done the internal work.

Changing your internal self means you must change the way you think and feel about things. If you are still doubting the method, or not educating yourself on exactly what and why you are doing something, thats when the struggle begins. You cannot keep the same old philosophies and beliefs and bring on a new way of living and expect to get the results that you want. These old beliefs and poor habits is what got you sick and in pain to begin with. If you want something to change, you need to do it whole heartedly. It really is an identity shift.

If you are feeling frustrated because you feel that results aren’t coming fast enough, maybe you’re someone who is fixated on quick gratification? Do you have a hard time with the concept of long term gratification?

I was. I am someone who likes results fast. I lived in the fantasy that my life could be like Mary Poppins who would snap her fingers and the whole messy bedroom was cleaned with a *SNAP*. Oh how I wish that was true! Unfortunately thats not life. We must do the work. Not only do we need to work on the external self we need to change our identity in order to change your behavior.

The reasons why you may not be progressing is because of the identity you’re giving yourself currently. It’s not because you don’t have the tools, you’re just not absorbing the tools…make sense? Maybe your mindset is that you’re just an “average person”, that “learning some physiology concepts is just too hard”, “ I’m a lazy person”…. this is not the identity of a person who accomplishes their goals or improves there environment.

People who change their life and become leaders to their family and community absorb themselves in their tools and the internal and external self work unitedly. These people eat, sleep, breathe, their identity. They know why and how they are going to accomplish their task or lifestyle.

However this shift in identity doesn’t happen over night. We need to take things on slowly, one habit at a time. Stop rushing the process, and enjoy the feeling of getting healthier. Allow your mind and body to repair itself. Except and be ok with the thought that, what you may have thought was truth, may not have been. Now, excepting that fact doesn’t mean that you’re an idiot and that you failed. NOT AT ALL! What actually happened is you have data. You now know that whatever it was that you were doing, or eating, it just wasn’t right for your body, and you need to try something else. It’s not a situation that you need to judge yourself over. Take a mental note and move on. Life is so much happier when we live life that way.

So if you are feeling frustrated with where you are currently, reach out to your friend, coach, or mentor, explain how you’re feeling and ask for feedback. It takes courage, but I believe in you. Sit back and reflect if you need to take some time and allow your internal self to catch up to your external self. Take on that identity shift.

For 32 years I got out of bed in the morning not knowing my “why.”
I can say that I am now on my 4th year of knowing my “why”…. AND I LOVE IT.

For me the reason I get out of bed in the morning is 1st, to take care of my daughter. The 2nd, is to educate people on how to attain the quality of life they may have lost or want to create, using methods backed by neurology and biology. These laws and principles help me to get my clients out of pain, feel and look better. Part of my why is to inform people of some of the strategic marketing lies that the medical and fitness empires like to spew out, disguising themselves as healers and a place where sick people can finally find answers and relief.

For most of my life I have been health conscious. What does that mean? I was physically active. I hiked, danced, rode horses, I did what the books said and ate clean. I have done almost every diet out there. I’ve eaten according to my blood type, counted points, ate only plants, went raw and sprouted my foods, did the thyroid diet, the rice diet (that’s when I ate a buttload of rice and broccoli ), took herbal pills, I even went to the extreme of only eating 400-500 calories a day while training for the Big Sur marathon (foolish I know). What was my result? By the age of 30 I had already experienced a miscarriage, depression, anxiety, poor sleep, difficulty losing weight, horrible PMS, dry and damaged hair, thyroid and liver issues, hip pain as well as nerve pain in my foot, bacterial infections, and just a lack of confidence. As I slowly got worse I would ask myself, “What am I missing?” I assumed that I hadn’t found the right program yet, or that I wasn’t working out hard enough… basically I was putting all the blame on myself. Was it my fault? I wasn’t a health professional, I had no understanding of basic human physiology at the time, I didn’t even know about what our brain and body uses as fuel. I had no idea about macronutrients and how much I needed daily. Society and high budgeted commercials told me I should trust what I was hearing and reading from the health and medical world. So I did…and I got sicker.

Thrilled to tell you my life turned upside down when I was introduced to Z health Performance and the research done by Dr. Ray Peat, Dr. Hans Selye, as well as many others. It took me time for me to be courageous enough to admit that my beliefs of health and what “healthy” looked like was wrong. Once I did that, my life took on a whole new meaning.

Instead of my life being centered on the abuse I had experienced when I was younger and as a married woman, my mission became to teach others that they could create a new story for themselves like I did. That their brain and body could mold and adapt to whatever It wanted and the outcome would be a life that they ACTUALLY WANT. I want to show people that they have options despite what they have been told by who they believe to be an authority.

Another thing that inspires my why is the death of my sister. She died of Cancer in 2017. I personally feel she was not given the many options that should have been given her regarding her health. She was handed the everyday protocol that one would get when going to the doctor. I also feel that her health wouldn’t have declined if she was taught what a healthy metabolism looks like and how to achieve one. When she was in pain and gaining weight she was given medications that only masked the issues, and that exxaberated her inflammation on a cellular level.

Again, my sister as well as many others would be alive today if they were taught what the warning signs of a low functioning metabolism looks like and how to repair it.

So many warning signs and symptoms are over looked and dismissed because of protocol in thousands of doctor visits and hospitals. This is why its important for me to educate my clients on how the body functions and to look at the whole picture. It’s important for my clients to know that they need to take control over their situation, and it’s not as daunting as one would think, when you have a team on your side ready to give you the support that they need at any given time. It brings me joy when my clients start to experience the happiness that comes out of feeling, moving, and looking better.

I want to show the person who is in pain everyday that their suffering can go away. Showing them options so they don’t have to rely or become addicted to pain meds or be accused of being a drug addict when trying to cope with their pain.  I want to find the person who is tired of their weight going up and down, or not moving at all.  I hope to help as many people as I can by giving them options so they can repair themselves. Leading them to a life they never thought would be possible.

I wanted to share with you a helpful tool I use when working with my clients… SALT.

I, like so many other people was convinced salt was a bad thing, and limiting your intake of it was a wise and health-conscience decision. We are told that a diet with a “high” salt intake could lead to issues such as high blood pressure, hypertension, edema, and heart disease. However, my personal experience with salt has been a positive one. In the past when I’ve cut salt out or decreased intake, it led to more health issues.  Finally, my confusion lead to a whole lot of researching and experimenting.  The following is my experience with salt.

Working with my clients and through research on how to help issues such as high blood pressure and edema, I discovered increasing salt intake was the answer to fixing them. The more I studied about the human body’s functions the more dumbfounding contradictions I found in the medical literature. For many years they have told us to stay away from salt, however, in an emergency situation, like dehydration, poisoning, or major blood loss,  you would be given an intravenous drip of saline… SALT!!

Some doctors have been known to use salt to reduce inflammation, improve sleep, aid muscle recovery and function, increase insulin sensitivity, improve thyroid function, and stabilize blood pressure. So why is there so much conflicting information our there?!

When and How Did Salt Get Its Bad Rep?

In the 1950s drug companies marketed newly discovered (thiazide) diuretics to the general public.  This new drug was being sold as a solution to deal with swelling, edema and hypertension.  Pregnant women found themselves as a big market for the sale of diuretics.  The one noticeable side effect of taking the drug was the loss of sodium in a person’s urine.  This raised a few flags, but instead of questioning the safety of the drug, the diuretic company claimed this excessive sodium loss must be a result of too much salt consumption in the diet.

It is the belief of several doctors, including Dr. Ray Peat, that the diuretics industry convinced a whole generation of doctors that pregnant women should limit salt in their diet, take a diuretic for preventive measures, and restrict calories to prevent “excessive” weight gain.  The advertising campaigns created also created a strong belief that salt was the culprit in hypertension.

Millions of women and their babies were harmed by these claims.  The prescribed diuretics intended to treat high blood pressure, pulmonary edema, heart failure, “idiopathic edema,” orthostatic edema, obesity, and other forms of water retention, including pregnancy.  The loss of all this sodium in their systems caused various disfunction in their bodies.  And since they caused sodium to be excreted in the urine, their sale was accompanied by advising patients to reduce their salt intake to make the diuretic “more effective,”  compounding the problem.  Modern diuretics use new chemical mixtures, but still have a damaging and negative side effects on the kidneys.

The Study…and 50 deaths… or maybe more.

What about the actual studies regarding salt and the effect on the body? David McCarron, M.D., (professor of medicine and head of the Division of Nephrology, Hypertension and Clinical Pharmacology at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland) looked at the government’s recommendations and the figures they were based on.   He found that people who limited their sodium intake had the highest blood pressure.  In contrast, people who consumed more sodium had lower blood pressure or became  “healthier”.  [McCarron found this to be inaccurate and in his research he claim a calcium deficiency to actually be the cause of  hypertension. Sadly, even though Dr. McCarron wrote 150 articles on the subject, the CA university where he taught, asked him to leave. Sodium was just an innocent bystander, but we’ll come back to this in a moment.]

Dr. Michael Alderman, a blood pressure researcher at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and editor of the American Journal of Hypertension, said medical literature on salt and health effects were inconsistent.  Allow me to explain…

The study was published in the May 4, 2011 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association. http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/899663.  The objective of the study was to see whether the amount of urinary sodium excretion in a 24 hour period could predict blood pressure and health outcomes.  The initial study only involved participants without high blood pressure.  The results were considered at best suggestive and not conclusive.  It included 3,681 middle-aged Europeans with high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease who were followed for approximately 8 years.

The researchers analyzed the participants’ sodium consumption at the start and end of the study, and  measured the amount of sodium that was lost over a 24-hour period.  All the sodium a person consumes is lost in urine within a day, so this method is the most precise way to determine sodium consumption. However, that may have been inconsistent as well.

Dr. Peter Briss, a medical director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, “its subjects who seemed to consume the smallest amount of sodium also provided less urine than those consuming more. This acted as an indication that they might not have collected all of their urine in an 24-hour period.”  Briss thought the urine samples of those with lower sodium levels weren’t properly collected.

A follow up was implemented on all 3,681 participants over a period of around 8 years.  Researchers found that the less salt people consumed, the more likely they were to die of heart disease — 50 people in the lowest third of salt consumption died during the study.  24 in the medium group, and 10 in the highest salt consumption group. Those eating the most salt had, on average, a slight increase in systolic blood pressure — a 1.71-millimeter increase in pressure for each 2.5-gram increase in sodium per day — they were no more likely to develop hypertension.

“If the goal is to prevent hypertension” with lower sodium consumption, said the lead author, Dr. Jan A. Staessen, a professor of medicine at the University of Leuven, in Belgium, “this study shows it does not work.”

What’s the cause for high blood pressure then?

Dr. Ray Peat teaches  how low-salt diets have been shown to increase inflammation and activate the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone (RAA) system, stimulating greater activity of the sympathetic nervous system. Meaning, that low-salt diets trigger the stress and inflammation chain reaction in the body that can lead to hypertension.

Also having a deficiency in calcium causes an increase of the para-thyroid hormone to pull calcium out of the bones and moves into cells. When too much calcium enters a cell it activates many enzymes, prevents muscle, blood vessels, and nerve cells from relaxing, and eventually kills the cell.

How to fix the problem

Having a diet with a good amount of salt and calcium will relieve symptoms of hypertension, high blood pressure and edema. Sodium stimulates energy production and protects against inflammation and other stress reactions. It also activates thyroid function and pushes calcium from the cells and helps cells to relax.

Dr. Ray Peat recommends  2,000 mg of calcium and other alkalizing minerals: magnesium, sodium, and potassium to relieve your symptoms.  Sodium also aids in the production of CO2. Increasing carbon dioxide  eliminates calcium from the cells which will relax the blood vessels, allowing  the calcium to move out of the blood vessels, and back into the bones, ultimately decreasing blood pressure, water retention and more symptoms of hypertension. Other ways to increase carbon dioxide in the cells, is to breathe into a bag, add a pinch of baking soda to your drink, or  baking soda to your bath.

 

 

References

http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/899663

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/health/research/04salt.html

http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/salt.shtml

http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/calcium.shtml

 

You had a stressful day at work and you just wanted to treat yourself to your favorite flavor of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. On the drive home you begin the mental debate  “should I take that gamble?” You think about the last time you had dairy and rationalize why  this time won’t be as bad. That last time was just an fluke. So you take the leap, go to the store, and buy your ice cream. Already starting to regret your decision, you take that first bite. You wait a couple seconds waiting and listening for your stomach to let you know how your night is going to be. After awhile you finish your bowl and you lay on the couch and settle in for a nice night… Then it happens.. your stomach comes alive!. You sit up right away clutching your stomach and your doing the dash down the hall.

Sound familiar? Many people deal with a dairy sensitivity today.  If you are someone that personally struggles with this issue, you’re in luck.  It can be fixed!

First let me go over what milk is.  As you already know, milk comes from mammals.  Milk from cows, sheep, and goats have great nutritional value.  Milk contains magnesium, potassium, selenium, and vitamins A,B,D,and K, as well as high levels of Calcium.  Whole milk contains about 87 % water, 4.6 percent lactose (sugar), 3.4 % protein, and 4.2 percent fat ( about 70 % saturated fat, 25% monounsaturated fat, and then less than 2% is polyunsaturated fat).  Did you know that higher milk consumption has been linked to lower body fat, lower levels of hyperglycemia (high blood sugar), improved bone density, bone mass, and healthier teeth?

Something to keep in mind..

The media, cultural morals, and the way we were raised, have all had major influence on our thoughts and beliefs about nutrition.  From time to time it’s good to step back and question or test the beliefs that we have taken on through the years.

When reading research relating to nutrition and health, we should ask what alternative possibilities are being neglected for “practical” reasons, cultural preferences, and business interests.

For example those who pay for research are those with an investment in or a commitment to the preservation and expansion of the existing systems of production and distribution. Producing a cheap product, and ensuring its durability and long shelf-life are more important than the effects of these foods on your health. The biggest companies are usually able to keep public attention away from the harm they do. Dairy products definitely fall under this category.

Where does the intolerance come from?

Some people with digestive milk issues have found just changing brands have helped with their problem.  Milk with a reduced- fat content is required by U.S. law to have vitamins D & A added.  The methods used in the vitamin preparation, and the chemicals that come in the “pure” vitamins themselves, are  possible sources of allergens in commercial milk.  So when choosing a milk, whole milk would actually be a better option as it commonly found to be less irritating amongst my clients.

A thickening agent found in many dairy products is carrageenan.  It is a powerful allergen that has been found to cause a “pseudo-latex allergy” (Tarlo, et al.,1995).  Carrageenan has given good reasons to believe that its toxic effects are the result of the human body having issues with metabolizing calcium. (see for example Abdullahi, et al., 1975; Halici, et al., 2008; Janaswamy and Chandrasekaran, 2008).

In my experience with people, I find the common problem of digesting dairy is actually a sugar sensitivity.  Lactose, or milk sugar, requires the enzyme lactase to digest properly.  A hormonal condition that may contribute to someone having a lactase deficiency is being deficient in progesterone. A lack of progesterone in the body can come from stress and an increase of estrogen and cortisol. When this happens, a common problem is that the production of the enzyme lactase decreases.  When a person is  deficient in the enzyme lactase, symptoms such as diarrhea, constipation, bloating, gas and more severe distress for some, such as a “shards of glass” feeling in the intestines.  Lactase is produced in the microvilli of the small intestine, and is released once lactose enters the intestines.  The problem starts when the gut and intestines become inflamed and damaged (usually happens over time with the consumption of alcohol, drugs, poly-unsaturated fats (PUFAs), grains, processed foods, additives, etc.) and lactase production shuts down.  When this happens, lactose cannot be broken down and what we develop is intolerance to anything containing lactose.

So how do you fix this…. 

Since the issue is inflammation within the gut, cutting out foods that irritate the stomach and intestines would be a good move. Foods that are in high in fiber cause more damage and increased inflammation and irritation to our already damaged guts.  So cutting out or minimizing raw veggies, and fibrous fruits would be ideal. When we consume that much fiber on a daily basis on a inflamed gut, the fiber, which is essentially wood pulp, just sits in the gut and ferments.  This encourages unhealthy bacterial growth and brings stress on the body.  By limiting or cutting out consumption of alcohol, nuts, seeds, grains (PUFAs), and junk foods, you’ll give your stomach and intestines a break allowing them to heal.

To help with the healing process, add good sugar to your diet such as fruit, juice, honey, and even at times table sugar to your daily diet. Sugars can reverse the damage of stress that your body is under.

Today I consume probably 24-32 0z of milk daily, as well as eating plenty of cheese and good quality ice cream.  Whenever I have a few extra pounds i’d like to lose, dairy is the first thing I increase.  

You may find adding dairy into your life will simplify things.  A glass of milk with a little added honey contains a sufficient ratio of protein, fat, and sugar to qualify it as a small meal.  It’s the easiest meal you’ll ever prepare.  Adding a small amount of milk with your meals is a good place to start when attempting to build up your production of lactase.  We’re talking 1 or 2 ounces of milk with a complete meal consisting of protein, fat and sugar.  For example, I may eat a small piece of steak, a side potato, some melon and a glass of sparkling water. I’ll then just add a couple ounces of milk to chase the meal.

Another great way to add milk into your day is by drinking it in your coffee.  So many people find they can handle milk when it’s in coffee.  

Give it a shot!  Be sure to leave a comment and keep me posted on your progress.  

Did you know that nearly 1 in 4 U.S. households include someone with migraine pain?

That’s equal to 36 million men, women, AND children in the United  States.

If you are one of these people, you have seen and heard it all when it comes to how to get rid of a migraine.  I had a close friend who suffered from extremely debilitating migraines.  One day I walked into her house to find her lying flat on the floor in a dark room with potato slices wrapped around her head! Needless to say it didn’t help…

Because I work with the public I have had to tackle this beast named  “Migraine” on a number of occasions.  When working with people it’s pretty common to either immediately relieve some of the pain as well as take it away fully by using a few simple movement techniques or dietary adjustments.

The 2 things I have personally seen to help people is feeding your body with nutrient rich foods to support thyroid and metabolic function in addition to some focused mobility sessions.

When it comes to nutrition the first thing you will want to do is increase your daily sugar intake and minimize polyunsaturated fats in your diet.

Why will adding sugar to your diet help you? Let me explain…

First, I’m talking about sugar found naturally in foods (with the exception of table sugar which I’ll talk about) that contain fructose, glucose, lactose, and sucrose. Such as organic fruits, organic root vegetables like potatoes and carrots, organic dairy, some pulp-free fruit juices, raw organic honey, and even refined white sugar. Starchy foods like breads, pasta and grain tend to cause issues so stay away from them.  White refined sugar isn’t an optimal source of sugar, but it isn’t the demon everyone would like you to believe it to be either!

When the body is under stress the demand for glucose increases, if glucose is low in the blood the body will release adrenaline from the adrenal glands to convert glycogen, to provide additional glucose. The issue with this is, is that adrenaline will mobilize free fatty acids to use as fuel. Free fatty acids disturb the production, transport, and signaling of thyroid hormones. Also, when glucose is in short supply, more cortisol is produced to provide glucose. It does this by the breakdown of structure of muscles and the Thymus Gland in order for glucose dependent systems get what they need. When these stress hormones are released in the body it happens at a “sympathetic state.” In this state your body creates extra tension especially in the neck and shoulders.

Where to get the sugar:

Here’s our hierarch of sugar listed Optimal to Least Optimal but acceptable none the less…

1. WHOLE FRUIT – FruitsMelons, oranges, cherries, grapes, cooked apples, fruit juices, honey, as well as adding white sugar to your coffee or milk.
2. FRUIT JUICES – orange juice, grape, apple, lemon aid, etc.  These are normally like having the whole fruit, but have less fiber.  Insoluble fiber in fruits and veggies can be hard on a person’s gut especially if they’re dealing with metabolism problems.
3. HONEY and SUCROSE (table sugar) – these are even easier to digest and therefor might be the best source of sugar when someone is just getting started on the path to healing their metabolism.

Why avoid polyunsaturated fats?

Polyunsaturated Fats actually inhibit the natural burning process of glucose (sugar) and get in the way of integrating glucose in it’s other functions throughout your body. And from what you read earlier when the body doesn’t have enough glucose to keep your blood-sugar level, it uses stress hormones like adrenaline to do the job which again can cause increased pulse, blood pressure, and tension.  This leads to tight muscle tone, limited mobility, and headaches.  Just about every migraine we’ve ever dealt with there has been some link to moments of low blood-sugar.  Eating something sugary at the start of what seems to be a headache usually makes it go away with 20 minutes.  Chronic

Think about the last time you had to be in a position where mobility was limited… Such as a plane ride, road trip in the car, 8-10 hrs a day in an office chair staring at a computer… When you got up, how tight and stiff were you? Maybe you felt pain in your neck or back? Same thing happens when we have a lack of proper nutrition in our body. When our body can’t function like it needs too and needs to depend on stress hormones to keep us alive, it impacts our body in a negative way.

Examples of Polyunsaturated Fats (PUFAs):

PUFAs can be found in large or small amounts in everything we eat. PUFAs are found in Vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes (like grain and soy), cold water fish (Salmon), poultry, beef, and pork that have been poisoned by a diet rich in PUFAs (grain, soy, and corn fed animals). The worse place where you can ingest PUFAs are the oils. Such as: vegetable, nut, seed, and fish oils.

Your probably shocked on hearing about the Fish oils! I know I was when I first found it out… A great Read that explains why we should stay away from these oils as well as other things is “How to Heal Your Metabolism” by Kate Deering. It’s an easy and informative read that I recommend you read.

Another step I recommend our clients take is to get their protein from Eggs, Beef, Beef liver, Bison, Shrimp, Crab, and Oysters. Making soups of beef bones are another great source of protein which will improve the amino acid profile of your daily intake.  Bone broth has a lot of glycine in it.  Most people lack it in their diet and when they add it in can half a very calming effect.

Just by doing this you will be providing your body with enough nutrients to start the healing process, and as a result can decrease the occurrence of migraines, headaches, and pain and tension in general.  Other cool symptoms of healing your metabolism are increased energy, better sleep,  happier, calm, collected mood, and just a better quality of life.

If you’re suffering from migraines we can help!  Call 702-220-8222 for free, no obligation consultation with me, today.