These car models have a Zero death rate....

I was just reading an article about the safety of cars.  Years ago, there were an average of 1,000 deaths from motor vehicle accidents per week, now, there are 40% fewer vehicular deaths, primarily as a result of improved safety features, according to research by the National Insurance Highway Commission.

In 2011, the following vehicular models recorded no deaths in accidents:

The nine vehicles are:

• Audi A4 4WD
• Honday Odyssey
• Kia Sorento 2WD
• Lexus RX 350 4WD
• Mercedes-Benz GL-Class 4WD
• Subaru Legacy 4WD
• Toyota Highlander hybrid 4WD
• Toyota Sequioa 4WD
• Volvo XC90 4WD

I think this is quite something and the above automakers should be congratulated.

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Problems with Almond Milk? Try This...

I've noticed that frequently our bodies build up a tolerance when eating/drinking a particular food over a prolonged period of time.  Many of our patients have developed a tolerance for olive oil, for instance, because that has been their sole source of fat.  Recently, someone in my family has noticed a digestive problem after eating food that was prepared with almond milk.  At this point, he is unable to tolerate any amount of almond milk and I have found an excellent replacement...Coconut milk.

Many of you probably use almond milk in your cereal or, as I do, in baking and cooking.  One of the problems with almond milk is that it is processed.  As we know any processed food can and usually does cause digestive disorders down the road.  Coconut milk may also be processed, especially if it's canned.  I have found that canned coconut milk contains additives, too.  I do use Hemp milk, but as it has a distinctive flavor, I needed another alternative that wasn't highly processed.

I spent quite a bit of time on Amazon.com, as we have few choices for unprocessed coconut milk in our area.  I found a product from Thailand that is 100% coconut milk...nothing else. It comes in 8.5 fl. ounce boxes, a size I find particularly convenient.  Additionally, it turns out to be a terrific replacement for the now defunct nut-based Healthy Top that I used to use as a substitute for whipping cream!  The flavor is mild and enjoyable. 

I don't recommend rice milk as it, too, is highly processed.  Hemp milk is not highly processed and contains naturally-occurring vitamins and minerals.  So for those with nut allergies and/or a desire to stay away from processed, additive ridden alternatives to dairy,  try coconut or hemp milk.

The particular product I use is "Aroy-D" 100% Coconut Milk in the 8.5 ounce boxes.  There are many products to choose from on Amazon in case  you don't like the individual box servings idea, just be certain to check that the label indicates it's, "100% coconut milk."  Oh, since it isn't processed, you'll have to "help" reconstitute the milk...the instructions are on the label.

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How to Substitute Recipe Ingredients

I had a patient ask me today about substituting products such as almond and hazelnut flour for regular flour in baking.  Here are some tips:

Have a source of gluten free flour as a substitute for white or whole wheat flour.... Pamela's Baking Mix and/or Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Flour

Bob's Red Mill offers alternative flours such as tapioca, spelt (not entirely gluten free but contains only tiny amounts of it and it's native to the spelt and not added or "GMO'd" like the regular flour),  almond meal, hazelnut meal/flour, coconut flour and the like.

When you wish to substitute, you'll need to "play around" with the proportions of gluten free flour and the nut flours according to your specific needs/tastes/desires.  I find that you can make the most incredible brownies, for instance, with spelt, alone.  If anyone wants that recipe, let me know.

If you're making a cake, unless you have a "flour-less" recipe (I do), don't use the nut meals but do use the Pamela's or Bob's gluten free flours.  I use a 1:1 ratio for the substitution.  Sometimes, you have to add a little more liquid to the recipe when using the Bob's GF flour.  Again, you'll have to simply try a recipe and see how it goes.  I have noticed that the GF flour cakes, breads and cookies and pie crusts brown more quickly than those made from regular flour.  I turn the heat down by 25 degrees (from what the recipe suggests) in order to make certain that the baked item won't burn/become too brown before it bakes through.

With pancakes, try using a combination of the nuts flours, coconut flour and GF flours....using more or less of the GF flour to nut flour according to how thick or thin the pancake...too much nut flour tends to allow the pancake to fall apart.  When making waffles, use mostly the GF flour, otherwise, you'll have a big mess in your waffle iron (hmm...how does she know that?).

My recommendation:  have fun and play around with your recipes.  I also use coconut milk as a wonderful dairy substitute.  I try to shop locally for all the ingredients, but when I can't find them, Amazon.com is my friend. 

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The Real Truth About Saturated Fats....Look out, Connecticut Children!

I have to admit that, when it comes to this topic, I have gone through quite a process of education, re-education and re-re-education (my spell check just went a little nuts on that one!)  When I went through chiropractic school, some xxxxxx years ago, we were taught that mono and poly unsaturated fats were "healthy" and saturated fats were "bad." 

Over the years, that opinion has been changed by valid research contained within refereed journals.  Those in the medical profession who choose to keep current with research findings, no longer teach their patients those old, inaccurate notions.  Unfortunately, it appears that not many doctors read their own research.

The March 2014 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine published an article entitled, "Current Association of Dietary, Circulating and Supplemental Fatty Acids with Coronary Risk."  This was a scientific meta-analysis of 76 studies on the effects of various fats (including saturated fats) on our bodies.  This was the conclusion:

"Current evidence does not support cardiovascular guidelines that encourage high consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids (processed foods, oils, margarine's, etc.) and low consumption of saturated fats (meats, fish, eggs, whole dairy, butter, cheese, coconut, etc.)."

If I were a betting woman, I would bet that none of you have been told this by your medical doctors.  The idea that cutting out all saturated fats from the diet will decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease just hasn't proven to be true.  In reality, after 30 years of this dietary advice, heart disease rates and mortality as well as diabetes have skyrocketed.  The truth is that our bodies truly need saturated fats because they carry critical fat-soluble vitamins that are lacking from the all-American diet:  A,D,E,F and K....all vital for proper heart function and healthy hormones, and so much more. 

What's really sad is that the medical establishment continues to support this wrong-thinking.  So much so that Connecticut law makers are considering a proposed law to ban whole and even 2% milk in day care centers.  Anyone who reads my blogs on a regular basis knows I'm not a fan of dairy, but not because of the fat content but because of the inflammatory response that it causes in our GI tracts.  But, if one is going to drink milk, it should be understood that the fat contained in the milk is necessary to absorb and utilize the calcium that it contains. (Adele Davis talked about this over 60 years ago!)  Without the fat, the child receives no calcium.  My father used to call low and non-fat milk, "grade D whitewash."  That was over 50 years ago...I still think he was a pretty smart guy.

Here's an acronym for eating fats that I recommend:  BACON

B=  Butter  (also, eggs, fish, meats etc.)
A=  Avocado and Avocado oil  (my favorite)
C=  Coconut Oil and Milk
O=  Olive oil
N=  Nuts (only very small amounts of peanuts, please)

And, once in a while, if you actually like bacon, turkey bacon is fine.

You can see that "BACON" allows for both saturated and mono-unsaturated oils.  Additionally, we love sunflower, grape seed and safflower oil...organic, when possible.

The next time your cardiologist or GP starts talking about the evils of saturated fats, you could tell him/her all about the article published in one of the medical profession's most distinguished journals.  Should make for a fascinating conversation (if they have time for one).

www.fixdhealthcare.com

Look Out...We Have a New "High-Potency" Flu Vaccine, Now!

After much study, the NEJM concluded that what we need is a, "high dose-inactivated vaccine preparation," in their August, 2014 issue.  The reason, simply put, is because of the poor performance of the existing flu shots. Of course, it couldn't possibly be because it's impossible to guess what flu strains will be "going around" this year or because as soon as a virus hits our systems, it begins to mutate to our DNA.

The vaccine, which contains four times the standard amount of antigen as the regular shot, is recommended for seniors.  Research that has been paid for by the maker of the drug/flu shot shows that the new vaccine is better.  Here, the word, "better," is relative. 

Both groups (high and regular potency vaccine) had the exact same hospitalization rate.  Rates for pneumonia were slightly less in the super-potency group.  However, two people in that group contracted "vaccination-related neurological sequelae,"  aka, nerve damage.  One contracted cranial nerve palsy and the other, acute encephalomyelitis. 

Personally, I'd rather strengthen my immune system in order to avoid any virus and MediHerb and Standard Process has some fantastic immune system builders.  I also recommend using the nasal colloidal silver spray on a regular basis to keep the sinuses and nasopharynx clean and happy. 

Happy Winter!

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Lyme's Disease: One Patient's Story

I begin this with both the facts that my patient has given permission for me to write this story and that it wouldn't have been possible without the protocol that was developed by MediHerb for this problem.

I must also say that I don't treat diseases or conditions, but, instead treat people who are in distress and happen to have been given a particular diagnosis by a medical practitioner.

This is a very unusual patient for a number of reasons.  She encountered her first tick bite and was diagnosed with Lyme's around 20 years ago.  She went through the same medical protocol then that is still prescribed, today.  She's unusual in that she will do just about anything to avoid those types of medications; she's also unusual because she has been bitten, to her recollection, about 8-10 times since her first encounter.

Over the years, she developed numerous symptoms that were rheumatological and neurological in nature as well as a sleep disorder.  My husband had been treating her for problems which developed after a shoulder surgery some years back, and what she said brought her running to us was that she was developing the exact same symptoms in her other shoulder which lead to the original surgery and she just didn't want to go through that, again.

After doing a work-up and discussing the results, we both decided to approach the pain, diminished joint movement, sleeplessness and other symptoms from a completely different angle.  Within 5 days of her beginning the specialized protocol, she called me to let me know that she had slept through the night, for 8 hours, for the past 3 nights...the first time in more years than she could remember.  She also told me that, "It was working," because her shoulder pain in both shoulders had diminished, as well as her back pain and other long-term symptoms....she was ecstatic.

However, it was what she told me this past week that prodded me to write about her situation because of its unusual nature.  I have to say that she is about the most in-tuned-to-her-body patients I have ever had.  So, what she said, next, didn't surprise me, but might surprise others.

She said that she began to feel each of the sites where she was bitten, starting with the latest bite.  After the feeling at each site resolved, another site would begin to react, until a few days ago when the very first bite, over 20 years ago, began to burn and itch for 3 days.  She tried everything to diminish the symptoms, but nothing helped.  Then, she said that she remembered reading a book about true healing and that while an area was healing, the original symptoms were often reproduced.  I told her that that happens when the cells, that had been storing the toxins (sometimes a lifetime full of them), begin healing and part of that healing is getting rid of all the poisons.

The insidious fact about Lyme's is all the biochemical, physiological, neurological and emotional ramifications that it causes usually end up being worse than the original infection and that is what the MediHerb protocol addresses.

It's stories like the one I just related that make me feel as though I am relevant and have something worthwhile to offer....and that makes me smile.

A Few Tips for 2015

Many of us make New Years' Resolutions, only to fall flat in about a month or two.  We also are looking to the next best diet/fad/lifestyle suggestions to improve our lives.  Here are a few tips that I hope will help to simplify your life and take out some of the stress that we put onto ourselves.

1.  You have the rest of your life to live, so any changes you want to make should line up with that truth.  In other words, "lose 20 pounds in two weeks," sounds pretty good, but what happens after that?  Choose the lifestyle changes I have suggested to you over the past year and you'll be able to live a longer, healthier life without the "yo-yo" syndrome plaguing you, forever.

2.  Eggs and cholesterol
     No matter what the research says, the myth of not being able to eat eggs because of their cholesterol content lives on.  I'll share a little something with you.  A couple of months ago my husband( I have his permission to share this)  went to the VA and was given, "the works" in a physical exam...you name it, he had it....I think they took 8-10 vials of blood in all..whew!  Also important to know, he has been eating 2-3 eggs per day for the past 40 years that I've known him.  He doesn't exercise, as such, but likes to bike everyday and is very active...but no gym or exercise equipment.  His HDL-2 cholesterol levels (the good kind) were the highest I have ever seen on any lab test, by twice the amount.  I tell you this because it's very important to understand that it's oxidized cholesterol and a high stress lifestyle that are the problem, not eggs, per se.  I'm not advocating eating that many eggs,  but I'm including this as an example of how those who limit their egg intake with the reasoning that it, alone, is going to lower their cholesterol levels might want to rethink that idea.

Just an aside about cholesterol.  We need cholesterol because it is the foundational molecule for all androgen hormone production.  Those with very low cholesterol levels will not be able to produce DHEA, the precursor to estrogen, progesterone, testosterone and the other androgenic hormones.

3.  Exercise
    We are pretty certain that fast walking is just as advantageous to the body as other cardiovascular exercise and something that anyone can do, anytime.  Exercising with weights 2-3 times a week is very helpful in reducing waist size, but one has to cut down on the simple carbohydrates, too.  Without doing this, we can easily become insulin resistant, something I'm going to be writing about in the coming days.  Estrogen dominance has become the number one health problem in this country...for women and men.  If a man has low T levels, there is a significant chance that he's also insulin resistant and has become susceptible to estrogen dominance.  We'll speak more about that, later.

4.  High cortisol levels
    I have a number of patients suffering from very high cortisol levels.  Among the many changes we've made, is the change to their exercise routine.  You see, cortisol levels are raised by cardiovascular exercise.  So, for those people, it is suggested that they keep the CV exercise to under 40 minutes at a session and no more frequently than 2-3 times a week.

If I have one wish for everyone, it is to relax, not get so bogged down by the mundane things in life and breathe, deeply, as often as possible. I have a "five year rule," that states if something that you're dealing with (or with the kids or better half) isn't going to matter in five years from now, let it go...it decreases the amount of stress you have to deal with, significantly.

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