Dr. Sue Shephard experienced regular and debilitating intestinal gas and because of that, her research led to her coining the term and development of the FODMAP diet in 1998. FODMAP stands for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols. These short chain carbohydrates are incompletely absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract and then become easily fermented by gut bacteria. The resulting gas causes severe bloating and IBS symptoms. FODMAP’s also increase fluid to the large intestine and can cause diarrhea.
Others have had similar observations about carbohydrates. Elaine Gottshall wrote a book called Breaking the Vicious Cycle even earlier in 1994, after her daughter who was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in the 1950’s was saved from the surgical removal of her large intestine. By following the diet prescribed to her by Sidney Haas M.D., her daughter recovered and Elaine went on to attain degrees in biology, nutritional biochemistry, and cellular biology. Her diet called The Specific Carbohydrate Diet, only allows monosaccharides. Disaccharides and polysaccharides are not allowed
Fibromyalgia was a condition first noticed and described in the early 1900’s by Sir William Gowers. Over the next seven decades more physicians were noticing similar findings and in 1987 a diagnostic code for Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) was instituted along with a consensus of diagnostic criteria to meet that diagnosis. The consensus was that 11 out of an agreed upon 18 diagnostic points would be tender to less than approximately 2 lbs. of finger pressure. These bilateral points were the inner knee, hips, gluteus muscles, trapezius muscles, lower cervical vertebra, lateral epicondyle, second rib anteriorly, occiput bone, and supraspinatus muscles.
In 1992, The Copenhagen Declaration added that FMS was a painful, non-articular condition. It is often associated with persistent fatigue, non-refreshing sleep and that women were 10-20 times more likely to suffer from it than men. It was also associated with headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, cold sensitivity, patterns of numbness and tingling, exercise intolerance and complaints of weakness. Depression and anxiety are also associated with the diagnosis. Keep reading
In recent weeks we have heard disturbing news about lead contaminated water in Flint Michigan. The city changed its water source to the Flint River instead of Lake Huron and the Detroit River. The water from the Flint River didn’t have corrosion control treatment on the aging lead pipes that delivered the water for use by its residents. It’s estimated that 6,000-12,000 children were exposed to high levels of lead. Because the Flint River was so high in bacteria, higher levels of chlorine were used in treating the water resulting in higher than normal carcinogenic byproducts such as trihalomethanes. The health risks from this exposure is vast and there will be scores of lawsuits that will follow. The chain of command that played a part in this tragedy seems to go as high as the governor of Michigan and possibly into the EPA.
In the book Lead Wars, the authors Moskowitz and Rosner give a detailed history of the lead problem in the U.S. For example, between 1900-1950 all paint was 50% lead carbonate. A child ingesting a chip consisting of a gram or two could be enough to cause convulsions. ( keep reading)
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HRV is emerging as an important way of measuring our overall level of health, our ability to handle exercise and stress, and more.
HRV is not heart rate. Heart rate is how many beats our hearts beat in a given period of time. If your heart rate is 60 beats per minute, it is assumed that our heart beats one time each second for 60 seconds. Not necessarily. Your heart may beat 1.2 seconds one beat and .8 seconds the second beat and 1.25 seconds and then again at .9 seconds. This inconsistency is heart rate variability and the importance of measuring it came out of Russia in the mid 1970’s.
In March of 2015, 60 minutes aired a segment about ongoing medical research at Duke University treating brain cancer with an injection of polio vaccine. The virus had been weakened to avoid causing a complication to the patient and the therapy is having remarkable success. Once injected into the cancer cells it activates an immune response within the body that kills the virus along with the cancer cells. This 21st century therapy has already saved lives that would not have survived if those patients had followed conventional treatments for their brain cancer. If you would like to read the transcript click here:http://www.cbsnews.com/news/polio-cancer-treatment-duke-university-60-minutes-scott-pelley/
What is old is new again
I was thoroughly impressed with the story and the way the researchers tricked the patient’s immune system into attacking the brain cancer. I thought “now here’s a shining example of 21st century medicine”. That feeling was tarnished when I recently found out that CBS failed to mention that this therapy has been used before. keep reading
Fire Cider has a long history as a traditional folk remedy cure for digestive complaints, circulatory problems, and as a preventative for winter time colds and flu's. It isn't too late to make this home remedy to use for yourself and or your loved ones this winter. Of course you can also buy it at a local health food store. The ingredients vary for the making of fire cider, but here is what I included in my first homemade batch and why. The Ingredients... (keep reading)
Both men and women undergo changes somewhere in the 4th and 5th decade of life when the major sex hormones diminish for each. In women it is estrogen and in men it is testosterone. In a previous newsletter I talked about the role that the dominant form of estrogen, (estradiol) played in maintaining bone health. It turns out that estradiol serves to protect more than just bones in women, and testosterone does more than just maintain physical strength for men.
Here are some of the conditions that increase when there are lower levels of estradiol and testosterone.
On November 1st we change the clocks back to Daylight Standard Time. It is an annual reminder of the natural process that results in less daylight in the coming few months. We sometimes forget how much sunlight plays a part in our overall health. Aside from the manufacturing of vitamin D, there are other aspects to the light spectrum that researchers are just beginning to understand and this mainly centers on melatonin production.
What is Melatonin?
Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland which is located at the base of the brain. It is secreted during the night time hours and has a great impact on our ability to sleep. Diminishing light that falls onto the eye’s retina then stimulates the pituitary to message the pineal to produce melatonin. It also acts as an antioxidant and research is now showing that it may be instrumental in helping depression, and also reducing tumors. keep reading
Yeasts and molds One of the most common problems I see in practice is associated with the overgrowth of yeast. Many physicians over the past several decades have linked several forms of yeast to many common health issues. One common yeast is Candida Albicans. However there are several others and they can cause symptoms such as mood disorders, concentration problems, fatigue, headaches, depression, back pain, digestive problems like bloating and irritable bowel, persistent coughs, itchiness and skin problems.
Perhaps the first doctor to talk about yeast and its associated problems was Dr. William Crook and his book, The Yeast Connection, published in 1986. Traditional medicine has long relegated yeast problems to those with severely compromised immune systems and not for those people with functional chronic health issues. It appears that this is one more example of traditional medicine failing to see the immune stress that is appearing all the more frequently in our fast paced, toxic, and overstressed society.
Where does yeast come from?
Yeast that are potentially dangerous live within our guts in small amounts and never present a problem unless we live a lifestyle that allows it to reproduce into numbers that cause us harm. The most common causes are from: <keep reading
AFish Story
I've always chosen to eat wild fish over farmed raised fish. I had read that farmed fish were raised in overcrowded pens, fed antibiotics and in the case of Atlantic Salmon, given artificial dyes to give this fish its distinctive coloring. In some cases this is true but my opinion on farmed fishing has changed after reading an article in Outside Magazine by Tim Zimmermann. The article gives some grim statistics about the amount of fish the world is harvesting, but also how improved practices in aquaculture, and labeling can help restore wild populations to sustainable numbers.
Some Disturbing Fish Facts
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 90% of wild marine fish stocks are either fully exploited or overexploited due to a worldwide 4.7 million vessel fishing fleet. Unfortunately many fleets use practices that include trawling nets and longlines: lines that stretch 40 miles with a baited hook every three feet. Unfortunately this efficient method of catching fish also bycatch as many as 150,000 sea turtles, and tens of thousands of whales, sharks, and dolphins. Trolling only drops a few lines behind a boat and therefore reducing bycatch ... keep reading
