Why We Don’t Use Sunscreen June 10, 2008

Kate and I are leaving tomorrow morning on a trip to Dallas to be with family and help out with the crisis that’s going on. While we are there, we will be spending some time in the pool, and going on walks.

So we’re going to get some sun. And lots of it! But we won’t be bringing any sunscreen. We will, however, be bringing our cod liver oil.

Some people think I’m crazy not to put any sunscreen on Kate. If we are out in midday sun or we are planning to be out for a long time, I do cover her with a hat and a shade. Otherwise I don’t worry about it — I want her to soak in the sunshine!

The more I read about sunscreen, I really don’t think it’s good for you. It’s carcinogenic! Plus the vitamin D from the sun is so good for you. So you don’t want to block that.

It’s so funny — reminds me of that Woody Allen quote from “Annie Hall” (one of my favorite movies of all time), “Sun is bad for you. Everything our parents said was good is bad. Sun, milk, red meat… college.”

How did they ever convince us all these things are bad?

Here are a few excerpts from a great article on The Healthy Skeptic blog:

… Sunlight is a major source of vitamin D. Insufficient levels of vitamin D can result in osteoporosis, autoimmune diseases and rheumatoid arthritis - among other equally unpleasant and life-threatening conditions. When you put on those high-SPF sunscreens, not only are you increasing your risk for melanoma, you are increasing your risk of developing all of the conditions that can arise from vitamin D deficiency because you are blocking your body’s ability to synthesize vitamin D.

And while it is possible to obtain vitamin D from food, it is only present in large amounts in certain kinds of seafood - which many people do not consume regularly. The highest sources for vitamin D in food are anglerfish liver, cow’s blood (I’m not joking) and high-vitamin cod liver oil (HVCLO). It is also present in more modest amounts in chum salmon, Pacific marlin, herring, bluefin tuna, duck eggs, trout, eel, mackerel and salmon.

I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that most Americans aren’t eating these foods on a regular basis. The lack of adequate intake of vitamin D in the diet, combined with habitual use of high-SPF sunscreen and/or lack of exposure to the sun is a perfect recipe for increasing the risk of cancer for children and adults alike.

I don’t know about you, but we don’t eat a lot of anglerfish and cow’s blood around here. We do take our cod liver oil, which turns out is a very good thing to do because you need the right ratio of vitamin D and vitamin A:

Before closing, I must mention (briefly) the issue of vitamin D toxicity. Vitamin D is widely considered to be the most toxic of all vitamins, and dire warnings are often issued to avoid excess sun exposure and vitamin D in the diet on that basis. The discussion of vitamin D toxicity has failed to take into account the interaction between vitamins A, D and K. Several lines of evidence suggest that vitamin D toxicity actually results from a relative deficiency of vitamins A and K.

So, the solution is not to avoid sun exposure or sources of vitamin D in the diet. Rather, it ensure adequate vitamin D intake (through sunlight and food) and to increase the intake (through diet and/or supplements) of vitamins A & K.

Interestingly, I have noticed that since I have been taking cod liver oil, I don’t burn anymore. Kate and I went for a long walk a while back — two hours in bright midday sun and I was not wearing a hat. (Kate was under a sunblock shaded cover I have for her stroller.) We came home and Seth commented on how red my face was. We were both sure I was going to have a bad sunburn.

A couple of hours later, the redness was gone. No burn! That has never happened to me before.

Before I started eating the WAPF way, I definitely would have gotten a sunburn in those conditions. I’m not sure what it is about my diet that is preventing the burn — but I think it has something to do with all the good fats I’m eating (whole milk, cream, butter, coconut oil, meats with skin and fat). I think it also has a lot to do with the cod liver oil.

My inlaws said something interesting recently. They went to Costa Rica last fall and for the first time ever, they did not burn. They insisted that the only thing they had changed in their diet was the inclusion of daily cod liver oil.

PS: Since we’ll be gone all week, I probably won’t be posting. See you next week!

Metabolic Temperature Graphs June 1, 2008

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that Seth and I are both suffering from adrenal fatigue (and possibly low thyroid function as well). I started supplementing with 50 mg of Iodoral per day, as well as dessicated adrenal gland a couple of months ago. Seth started taking the supplements a few weeks ago.

We are also off all sugar and starches (we have been on the GAPS diet for over a month). Seth is down to one cup of coffee a day and I’ve given it up completely. (This is all necessary for adrenal recovery.) We are also trying to get more sleep and relaxation (not so easy with two businesses and a baby, but we try.)

Additionally, we are taking a couple of grams of vitamin C per day. We are starting on licorice extract this week. We are also taking extra cod liver oil (for they thyroid), and sea salt in water (for the adrenals).

Dr. Rind has a great website with lots of information on how to recover from thyroid and adrenal imbalance. This page is all about how to chart your temperature.

We have been doing this for the past few weeks. All you have to do is take your temperature 3 times a day, ideally 9 am, 12 noon, and 3 pm. Then you take the average of those 3 temperatures and plot it on the graph.

If you take your temperature 3 times that day, put a 3 on the chart (put 2 if you only take it twice, and 1 if only once). There is also a space down below to make notes of any changes — for example, if something stressful happens or if you change something such as the amount of supplements you are taking.

Here’s my temperature graph:

The temperatures are along the left — on the vertical Y axis (in Celcius and Farenheit). The X (horizontal) axis represents each day. So you can see how I charted a number (usually 3, sometimes 2) on the X axis which represents my average temperature each day.

Obviously my temperatures are pretty low. And they are not stable. This signifies low adrenal function (and possibly also low thyroid function). Low temperatures are indicative of low thyroid (or hypothyroid) function, but they can also be indicative of adrenal exhaustion. Unstable temperatures (up and down) indicate adrenal fatigue.

Here’s Seth’s temperature graph:

Seth’s temperatures are much lower than mine — and much more unstable. However, he started supplementing more recently. It also looks like his temperatures are beginning to stabilize — just in the past few days. We’ll see…

Here is what it says on Dr. Rind’s site about interpreting results:

Thermal activity reflects metabolic activity. A low temperature means low metabolism and vice versa. For example, the temperature typically found in someone who is old, frail, pale and weak is low and typically ranges from 95 to 97 degrees if no infection is present. A healthy person will have an average temperature of 98.6 degrees, but may have a 100 degree or higher temperature in a hyperthyroid state or as high as a 104 to 105 degree temperature if there is a fever present ­ these are high metabolic states.

Wide variability in daily temperatures indicates a weak adrenal function since the adrenal glands help the body maintain stability. Good adrenal function produces a stable temperature. As adrenal function improves, the temperature variability decreases and vice versa. As adrenals get stressed (either from emotional stress, excess metabolic stimulation such as excessive thyroid stimulation, or for other reasons), the variability increases.

In a hypothyroid state, the day-to-day averages are low and very stable. In a hypoadrenal state including adrenal exhaustion or adrenal stress, the temperatures are low and unstable — one day they may average 96 degrees and one to two degrees higher the next day.

It looks like Seth may be beginning to stabilize. I’m not really seeing any improvement in my chart yet — but I have been having some extremely emotionally stressful days, due to my current family emergency. So it may take me a while longer to recover. I’ll keep tracking it.

Note: It is imperative to get a good thermometer if you want to do this. Most thermometers are wildly inaccurate. Dr. Rind recommends the digital Lumiscope thermometer. I found it on Drugstore.com for $6.

Kate’s Dinner May 24, 2008

Chicken livers cooked in duck fat and butter, leftover Avgolemono soup, fermented yams with raw butter, egg omelet with avocado and a tiny bit of lacto-fermented salsa, cod liver oil, butter oil, Lugol’s iodine, and her Biokult probiotic.

Click on the photo to read more.

A is for Autism and Vitamin A April 17, 2008

And Aspberger’s, ADD, and ADHD!

On my morning walk with Kate, I listened to the most fascinating and moving lecture by Dr. Mary Megson, MD. She is a pediatrician who has been working with autistic children and seeing absolutely miraculous results with nutrition.

I was literally moved to tears listening to this woman speak. And totally dumbfounded. The connections she is making, the healing that is happening. It’s nothing short of incredible. In fact, I was so entranced by this lecture that I walked for over an hour! Poor Kate was home late for her morning nap.

She was talking about how vitamin A deficiency plays a role in causing autism. She explains physiologically why the lack of vitamin A and other nutrients causes problems with vision and language. She explains how autistic children see the world, and why they behave the way they do (the stimming, the flapping, the lack of eye contact). She explains what the physiological reasons are for those behaviors. She explains how nutritional deficiencies cause these behaviors — every single one.

There’s lots of scientific talk in it (some of it went over my head) but hang in there because the stories she tells are incredible.

She told one story about an 18-year-old girl who went to get her vaccinations for college. After the vaccinations, suddenly any bright light was very painful to her. Her father had to carry her out of the office. She had to stay in bed in a dark room for 6 months. Her father did tons of research and read about the vitamin A connection. He started giving her cod liver oil and within 3 days, she could tolerate light again. (She’s now doing fine — totally returned to normal.)

She told another story of a man she met who was in his late sixties. He said for the first 30-some-odd years of his life, he was autistic — and for the next thirty or so years he was just dyslexic. She said, “What did you do?” He said, “I ate a lot of fish.”

Fish! Vitamin A!

These stories are especially encouraging to me because these people were not children when they recovered — they were adults.

I can’t do her stories justice. You have to listen.

And yes, it fits with what Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride and Donna Gates are saying about how problems with abnormal gut flora fits with autism — because an inability to absorb nutrients causes deficiency! They both say you have to supplement with cod liver oil, too. And Dr. Megson also says you have to heal the gut with probiotics.

Here is a taste of Dr. Megson — this is an excerpt from her website. (You can download the PDFs here)

Our early experience with treatment with natural cis forms of Vitamin A in Cod Liver Oil (CLO) in these autistic children, followed by stimulation of blocked acetylcholine receptors for neurotransmitters affected with a blockage of G-alpha pathways in the cell, is promising. There are dramatic, immediate improvements in language, vision, attention and social interaction in some of these children, as evidenced by the following case reports.

My earliest evidence came from a ten-year-old boy diagnosed with autism by DSM-IV criteria (20). The patient’s parents suspect he has been reading since age four but his inability to communicate made this unverifiable. Over an eight-year period of regular visits I had never heard him speak. Standardized IQ tests revealed moderate mental retardation. His mother developed night blindness and hypothyroidism in college and had responded well to Vitamin A and thyroid hormone replacement. The patient’s mother’s sister was diagnosed in infancy with gluten enteropathy that had improved on a gluten free diet. She has had lifelong dry eyes and is night blind (treated with amber glasses.)

For these and other reasons I started the boy on cod liver oil (5,000 IU of Vitamin A, given in 2500 IU/b.i.d.) and a gluten free diet. After one week, he began to sit farther from the television and to notice paintings on the walls at home. He had always gone out of his way to follow the sidewalk and driveway to meet the school bus. On Vitamin A, he began to run across the grass directly from the front door to the school bus. After three weeks, he was given a single dose of Urocholine, an alpha muscarinic receptor agonist, to increase bile and pancreatic secretions and indirectly stimulate hippocampal retinoid receptors. It has minimal cardiac effect, is FDA approved, has been used safely in children since the 1970’s for reflux, and does not cross the blood-brain barrier, unlike secretin (21). It stimulates post- synaptic cell membranes via receptors for acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter in the parasympathetic system.

Thirty minutes after administration of the Urocholine, the patient, who was sitting in a chair, swung his feet over the side, pointed to a glass candy jar on my shelf and said, “May I have the red Jolly Rancher® please?” He had read the label on the candy in the clear jar. These were the first words he had spoken in eight years, and the first proof that he could read. We took him outside and he said, “The leaves, the leaves on the trees are green! I see! I see!” When I asked to take his picture he looked at the camera, smiled and waved. When he left the office I said, “See you later.” He asked, “What time?”

In this child’s case, after several weeks of treatment with Vitamin A in CLO 3500 IU/day, the Urocholine acted like a switch. When absorbed, he immediately became socially engaged, made excellent eye contact, hugged his mother tightly and said, “I love you so much,” looking at her face.

At that point we both realized that this child had a blocked pathway. The change in language and social interaction was dramatic and immediate. Yet he reverted to the pre-treatment state of silence when the dose wore off. On lower daily doses of Urocholine (12.5 mg bid) along with the Vitamin A, his language and social interactions have continued to progress, albeit slowly. Source

If you have autism (Anna, I thought of you!), have an autistic child or relative, or know someone who is autistic or has an autistic child, you must download this lecture. It’s $13 to download the mp3 on the Weston A. Price Foundation website. (They have it labeled as Dr. Campbell McBride but that is incorrect. It is Dr. Megson.)

This lecture is truly mind blowing. It made me want to go back to school and become a pediatrician.

PS: April (another A!) is Autism Awareness Month. Please spread the word on your blog if you feel so inclined.

PS2: A is also for Anna. And Ann Marie!

Look, Mom — No Cavities! April 8, 2008

I went to the dentist today. And guess what? No cavities!

This is the first time I’ve had no cavities in years. And you would think that I would be more prone to dental decay — considering the stress I’ve had on my body over the past year (childbirth, breast feeding).

Here’s the interesting thing… For the past six months, I have not used toothpaste. No fluoride.

My whole life I was told that you’re supposed to brush with fluoride toothpaste to prevent cavities. Yet I only used Tooth Soap and baking soda for brushing. Of course, I ate a very nutrient dense diet — cod liver oil, pastured eggs, raw milk, butter, cream, and cheese, and organ meats. I avoided sugar and any grains/nuts/seeds/legumes that were not soaked and/or sprouted.

But isn’t fluoride supposed to prevent cavities?

When I asked my dentist, Dr. Raymond Silkman, what he thought of fluoride, he responded with one word, “Bad.”

He’s probably the only dentist in Los Angeles who gives prescriptions like this: “Drink beet kvass and freshly juiced green vegetables and carrots — daily”. And he told me to get tested for heavy metals. He thinks I may have heavy metal toxicity. (Beet kvass and freshly juiced vegetables chelate heavy metals.)

But back to the fluoride… This Crest ad says that “Crest stops soft spots from turning into cavities.” Lies! Crest doesn’t do any such thing.

Here’s another lie:

Coke’s slogan proclaims it is the opposite of what it really is — a fake. For centuries, people have been producing naturally fermented soft drinks like kombucha, naturally fermented root beer, and ginger ale. These naturally fermented soft drinks are very high in B vitamins and probiotics — they are health tonics. Conversely, Coca Cola is artificially carbonated sugar water. Not only is it devoid of nutrition, but the sugar in it actually blocks the absorption of vitamins and minerals in the body.

Of course, nowadays Coke doesn’t even have sugar — it’s made with high fructose corn syrup. Which is genetically modified corn soaked in battery acid. YUM!

Here’s an ad for sugar from the ’60s:

I love how transparent it is. Looking at it today, it’s so obvious. You can see the lies.

This is how you have to look at ads. Ads are made to convince you to buy. That is their sole purpose. They don’t care about you. And they don’t care about truth. They are often saying the very opposite of what is true.

Ads also prey on your fears and insecurities.

Here’s a Heinz baby food ad:

The message is based on the idea that real food is not safe, and only food in jars is safe for babies. See what I mean? It’s the opposite of the truth.

Of course, not all ads are bad… here’s a neutral one for iodized salt (iodized salt is not good for you — sea salt is best — but the iodine is something we need):

In the 1920s, with the depletion of the soil in America, people in the midwest started getting goiters due to iodine depletion. This prompted a campaign for iodized salt. Many Americans today are cutting down on salt — but there is a bigger problem today. Soy.

Soy is a goitrogen, which blocks the absorption of minerals, including iodine. Most Americans are deficient in iodine today — due to widespread consumption of soy foods.

Think you’re not eating soy? If you eat in restaurants, you are eating soy. If you eat processed or packaged foods, you are eating soy. Restaurants cook with soybean oil or vegetable oil — which is almost always cut with soybean oil. Most processed and packaged foods contain soybean oil and/or soy lecithin. All baby formulas (not just the soy formulas) contain soybean oil.

Here’s one I like — a French advertisement for cod liver oil:

This next one is not a real ad — it’s a spoof — but it’s great:

Too bad lard is so maligned today. It is such a healthy fat!

Lastly, here is my favorite — calling for a boycott of Kraft genetically modified foods:

Boycott Kraft Foods! Krafted: Genetically Krafted Foods

Thyroid Recovery March 15, 2008

I’ve been thinking about this hypothyroid situation. Seth asked me today, “Why are you having a problem with your thyroid if you’ve been eating so healthy the past few months?”

Good question. I have an answer.

It’s due to the fact that I carried a baby for 9 months, then nursed her for 9 months. That’s 18 months of intense stress on my body.

I only started eating well (traditional foods) 5 months ago. However, I didn’t eat too bad before I got into traditional foods.

Ever since I cured myself of candida almost 15 years ago, I haven’t eaten much sugar at all. And I rarely ate fast food.

And I’ve been eating sprouted bread (Alvarado St. Bakery) most of the time since I was like 20 years old. I always liked the taste better than white bread.

I’ve also never been big on the whole low-fat diet thing. I’ve always eaten real butter and lots of cheese and meat and eggs. No margarine or low-fat cheese. And I always ate the skin on my chicken and ate full-fat meats.

This is probably why I was in relatively good health when Kate was conceived. I think the people who have a harder time are the ones who either eat lots of junk food and/or low-fat and/or are vegetarians — especially vegans.

And when I was carrying Kate, I ate a lot. I didn’t know about WAPF, so I ate stuff like donuts and burritos and cheeseburgers. But I was also eating a lot of things like eggs and steak and butter and drinking a lot of whole organic milk.

I ate this way when I was nursing, too. In fact, I think I ate even better after she was born (since I wasn’t suffering from morning sickness or heartburn). Every day, I would drink lots of milk and eat ice cream and every night I’d make a big dinner consisting of chicken or beef or fish, often with brown rice and butter and a big salad with oil and vinegar.

My health was fine until after I stopped nursing — in December. That was when I stopped eating well. I wanted to lose weight so I cut out grains and ate very low-carb. Not only that, but I really cut down on calories. I have only been eating one meal a day for the past few months.

Which may be fine under normal circumstances (before I got pregnant, I used to only eat one meal a day) but I think my body is run down now. I still need to rebuild my nutritional stores. Even though I am longer breastfeeding, I still need to eat a very nutrient dense diet — to rebuild what was depleted during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Pregnancy and nursing take a huge toll on our bodies. It’s no wonder that we are nutritionally deficient after pregnancy and childbirth and extended breastfeeding.

So… here’s what I think… in addition to the supplements I’m taking (the ones Dr. Cowan recommends, which I started on yesterday), I need to eat more, and more nutrient dense foods. I’m going to try to go back to 2-3 meals a day.

The problem is — maybe it’s the thyroid thing — but I’m just not very hungry. I will have to eat smaller meals and eat more often during the day.

Today I actually felt a lot better. I had two meals. For breakfast, we went to Dinah’s Fried Chicken. I know, restaurant food. Not optimal. But at least I was eating!

I ordered 3 eggs over easy and hash browns and I asked them to cook them in butter, not oil. With that I had 1.5 pieces of fried chicken (I know, not ideal — but it’s Dinah’s; I could not resist) and some fresh fruit. No white flour — so that was good.

I had a glass of kefir in the afternoon. For dinner, I made seared ahi tuna on a bed of steamed spinach with rice wine vinegar, with a salad of apples and pears with “crispy walnuts” dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. And brown rice that I made with chicken broth instead of water.

I’ll drink a big glass (10-12 ounces) of raw milk or kefir before bed.

I’m going to start eating something every morning — either toasted sprouted bread with butter and raw honey or eggs and cheese… or oatmeal with butter and raw whole milk.

I’m not a big lunch person but I’ll try to snack during the day with kefir or cheese or eggs. I’ll try to eat at least two eggs a day.

I’ll make a nice big dinner every night. Meat lasagna or steak or fish with salad or homemade soup. And potatoes or rice.

And I’m going to drink a lot more raw milk. I think I will make some raw milk ice cream tomorrow and try to eat that every night for dessert.

And I’m going to try to incorporate broth into as many soups and sauces as possible.

I’m going to hold off on doing the GAPS diet with Seth. Right now I need to focus on getting myself healthy. I don’t want to limit dairy or other foods for now.

And I’m going to be better about taking my cod liver oil. I’ve been lax lately. And incorporate more coconut oil.

Yeah, it may take me a while to lose the baby weight. But right now I need to focus on getting healthy. I don’t think my thyroid condition is going to improve until I build up my nutritional stores. And I need to be really healthy so before can even think about trying to conceive again.

My friend Marcia said she didn’t lose the baby weight until 4 years after she gave birth. I think sometimes your body hangs on to the weight because it needs to. And trying to diet too soon is risky.

The thing is, if your thyroid is screwed up due to nutritional deficiencies, you can’t lose weight anyway, not matter how much you try.

I didn’t realize how hard it is on your body to be pregnant and carry a child. Add nursing on top of that and it’s a huge undertaking. It’s like running a marathon — for over a year!

Weston Price Smile March 9, 2008

This is Yensi, our wonderful nanny, smiling her beautiful smile.

Look at those perfectly straight, white teeth! She never wore braces and has never had a cavity.

And look at her gorgeous bone structure. High cheekbones and a wide palate.

Yensi moved here from Guatemala when she was seven years old. As a child, she was fed raw milk from grass-fed cows, liver, egg yolks, bone broth, and cod liver oil. They made their own bread and tortillas and the grains and beans were always soaked. Yensi said they soaked the grains for their bread for two weeks. They also drank kefir (which they call bulgaros) and a fermented drink similar to kombucha (called chicha).

And no, it’s not just genetic. It’s the food! Her younger brothers have grown up on modern American food and have crooked teeth and lots of cavities.

Compare these two photos of Seminole Indians, taken by Weston Price (published in his book, “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration”):

The “primitive” Seminole girl (left) has a wide face with plenty of room for dental arches. The “modernized” Seminole girl (right), born to parents who had abandoned their traditional diets, has a narrowed face, crowded teeth, and a reduced immunity to disease.

Guatemalan Kefir and Cod Liver Oil March 7, 2008

I had a very interesting conversation this morning with our nanny, Yensi.

She told me that her husband asked why our daughter Kate is so much bigger than their daughter, Julianna. He had watched the videos of the two girls on YouTube.

Julianna is 15 months and Kate is only 10 months. Julianna is only 20 pounds. Kate is at least 24, maybe 25 pounds.

I told Yensi, “I think it’s all the liver and raw milk we feed her.”

She said, “I think you are right. We started giving Julianna the raw milk two weeks ago. We’re also giving her the chicken liver. In two weeks, she has gained two pounds.”

I gave Yensi the Weston A. Price brochure this morning. I printed off the Spanish version from the website. She was stunned when she read about “aceite de hígado de bacalao”. That’s Spanish for cod liver oil. She has been feeding Kate cod liver oil for weeks now. But she never knew what it was. When she saw the words “aceite de hígado de bacalao” she realized what it was. “My mother fed us this!” she said.

She bought a bottle of my cod liver oil — I always buy it in bulk to get a 15% discount. She is going to start giving it to Julianna.

She said her mother also fed them liver and egg yolks and they always drank raw milk. No wonder she has such perfect teeth! She has a very wide palette, perfectly straight white teeth. Never had a single cavity. Never had braces.

Her husband has a narrower palette. He snores, she said. She asked me how he could have a narrower palette when he was eating the same things she was as a child in Guatemala?

I asked her how old he was when he came to the US. She said he was only 4. She was 7 when she came. Makes sense — her jaw and palette were a lot more formed when she came.

It’s sad because now her younger brothers are having a lot of health problems. They all have cavities and crooked teeth. Yensi, too, started having chronic headaches only 5 years after she came to America. Her sister-in-law started having very bad digestion problems.

Meanwhile she and her parents and her grandparents never needed braces, never had a cavity. She said her ancestors all live to over 100 years old. It’s only the ones who have come here to this country who have started to experience health problems.

Coincidence? Or could it be nutritional deficiencies?

She also told me that the kombucha we drink tasted like the chicha they have in their country. We looked it up online and found that chicha is a name for a fermented beverage in South American countries. Then she told me that they make a drink like kefir. They call it bulgaros. It makes sense — the word bulgaros comes from Bulgaria or Bulgarian, and kefir comes Bulgaria. She said her sister-in-law had just gotten some bulgaros grains and they were using the raw milk to make the drink.

We were talking about the importance of soaking grains, nuts, beans and seeds before you eat them. In Sally Fallon’s “Nourishing Traditions” she says that eating grains, nuts, seeds or beans that are unsoaked or unfermented is not good for you. They are too hard to digest so your body can’t break them down, and hence, can’t absorb the nutrients. Furthermore, grains, nuts, seeds and beans have phytates or anti-nutrients. These phytates actually block absorption of the good nutrients!

So if you are going to eat any nuts, grains, beans or seeds, they need to be soaked in warm filtered water with either whey or kefir or yogurt. You can also use lemon juice or vinegar if you are allergic to dairy. They need to be soaked for a minimum of several hours and can be soaked up to several days. If you eat a diet rich in unsoaked/unfermented grains (what the USDA food pyramid currently recommends), all the vitamins and minerals you eat from other foods are being blocked and are not being absorbed.

I asked Yensi if they soak their grains in Guatemala. She said, “We never bought bread. We always made our own. And we always soaked it for two weeks.”

Today we’re going to bottle the kombucha. I’m going to give her some of my SCOBYs.

I will also ask Yensi if she will let me take a picture of her smile. You’ve got to see how gorgeous her teeth are!

10 Ways to Boost Immunity & 10 Ways to Damage It January 31, 2008

I have been reading “Gut and Psychology Syndrome” by Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride. She has had quite a lot of success treating children in her clinic in England, reversing autism, allergies, ADHD, and many other conditions. Her own son was diagnosed with autism. He is now in a regular school and is completely functional.

Dr. Campbell McBride recommends a special diet, what she calls the “GAPS diet”, as well as supplementation with cod liver oil and therapeutic-grade probitoics. I was very interested to learn this, as I have heard of many people having success with diet and probiotics with autistic children.

Including Jenny McCarthy, who, in her book, “Louder Than Words”, wrote about her son’s marked recovery after she changed his diet (to gluten-free, casein-free) and started giving him probiotics. Her son regained his language and social skills, and is now fully recovered.

If diet and probiotics can have this kind of affect on autistic children, what kind of affect can they have on other children? What kind of affect can they have on us? Those of us with food allergies and chronic fatigue and asthma and digestive problems and chronic colds and sinus infections? And auto-immune disorders such as arthritis, lupus, and MS.

How do we improve our immunity, and how do we avoid damaging our immunity?

In her book, Dr. Campbell-McBride made lists of how we can strengthen and weaken immunity. Here they are:

TOP 10 THINGS THAT BOOST IMMUNITY:

1. Cold-pressed oils - olive oil, fish oils (including cod liver oil), nut and seed oils (flax seed, sunflower seed).

2. Fresh eggs, particularly raw egg yolk. (Note: Raw eggs are safe as long as they come from healthy pastured chickens, not sick battery chickens from a factory farms. It is not advisable to eat raw egg whites, however. I usually boil my eggs for 3 minutes or fry them, and eat the yolk runny.)

3. Onions and garlic.

4. Freshly pressed vegetables and fruit juices (this means freshly juiced, not store bought).

5. Regular consumption of greens: parsley, dill, coriander (cilantro), spring onion and garlic, etc.

6. Probiotic supplementation and fermented foods (kombucha, kefir, cultured butter, yogurt, homemade sauerkraut, beet kvass, etc.).

7. Contact with animals: horses, dogs, etc. Having a pet in the family can do a lot for children’s immune status.

8. Physical activity in the fresh air.

9. Swimming in unpolluted natural waters: lakes, rivers, and sea.

10. Exposure to sunlight and sensible sunbathing.

TOP 10 THINGS THAT DAMAGE IMMUNITY:

1. Sugar and everything containing it: sweets, soft drinks, confectionery, ice cream, etc.

2. Processed carbohydrates: cakes, biscuits, crisps (chips), snacks, breakfast cereals, white bread and pasta.

3. Chemically altered and artificial fats: margarines, butter replacements, cooking and vegetable oils (including soy oil and canola oil), processed foods prepared with these fats.

4. Lack of high-quality protein in the diet from meats and fish, eggs, dairy products, nuts and seeds.

5. Exposure to man-made chemicals: cleaning and washing chemicals, personal care products, paints, fire retardants, petrochemicals, pesticides, etc.

6. Exposure to man-made radiation: electronic screens (TV, computers, play station, etc.), mobile phones, high-power electricity lines, nuclear station and nuclear wastes.

7. Drugs: antibiotics, steroids, antidepressants, painkillers, anti-cancer medication, anti-viral drugs, etc.

8. Lack of fresh air and physical activity.

9. Lack of exposure to sunlight.

10. Lack of exposure to common microbes in the environment. Living in a too sterilized environment is strongly associated with compromised immunity. The immune system needs constant stimulation from the microbes in the environment.

Surprising lists, huh? According to Dr. Campbell-McBride, pets, cod liver oil, fresh air, eggs, fermented foods, and sunshine all strengthen immunity. White flour, sugar, vegetable and soy oil, antibiotics, chemical cleaners, personal care products, and vegetarianism all weaken it.

Twenty Ideas for Healthy New Year’s Resolutions December 30, 2007

Christmas is over.

We are still on vacation, though, visiting family. It’s cold in Seattle, but it’s wonderful to be with our family.

I’m thinking about goals for the new year.

1. My first goal is to lose the extra 30 pounds of baby weight by her one-year birthday, April 13th.

2. I also want to get all my finances and paperwork in order (nothing short of monumental).

3. And get out of debt. This one is totally do-able. (I mean for all my credit card debt. The student loans don’t count.) And once I’m out of debt, I get to start investing in real estate, which I am really excited about.

4. Spring cleaning — I want to sell all of the accumulated junk in the garage on eBay and the like.

Those are the main things. I have lots of other smaller goals. Like expanding my vegetable and herb garden and composting and making more of my household cleaners…

Here is my question to you… Do you have any New Year’s resolutions that are related to your health and the environment? No?

Maybe you could add one or two. Here are some simple things you can do that would make healthy and/or green resolutions for 2008…

1. Stop eating high fructose syrup. It’s industrial corn soaked in battery acid. Read the labels and stop eating this.

2. Use cloth shopping bags. You can get them for a coupla bucks at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. I take them with me everywhere in my car these days — and I even use them at Target.

3. Stop eating soy or vegetable oil. It causes heart disease and cancer. Cook with butter, lard, coconut oil, palm oil, and/or olive oil (make sure it’s real olive oil — not the faux olive oil you buy at Costco or Trader Joe’s).

4. Start taking probiotics. Take a supplement. Drink raw milk. Make your own kombucha or kefir or kvass or sauerkraut.

5. Use cloth diapers. It’s really not so hard. I made the switch; so can you. If you don’t know how to do it, email me and I’ll post all the tricks.

6. Limit bread and refined flour. If you want bread, eat any of the following kinds:

whole grain (like Mestemacher German rye breads: http://www.germandeli.com/mebr.html)
sprouted (like Ezekiel or Alvarado St. Bakery)
REAL sourdough bread
best of all, freshly milled, soaked and sprouted homemade whole grain bread.

7. Eat grass-fed beef and dairy products. Grain-fed cows are sickly and pumped full of antibiotics. Grass-fed cows live 3-4 times longer and live happy, full lives.

8. Eat raw dairy products — NOT pasteurized! Pasteurization exists mostly to mask bad milk from unhealthy cows. Buy raw dairy products from trusted dairy farms. They are healthier and much more nutritious, since they have all the enzymes and probiotics intact.

9. Make your own cleaning products. All you need is Borax, baking soda, white vinegar, some Dr. Bronner’s, some essential oils, and some citric acid. If you don’t want to make your own, buy the healthy kind at Whole Foods.

10. Try to buy local. Is it really necessary to buy that foodstuff that comes from New Jersey when you live in San Diego? Think about all the miles traveled, all the wasted gas and energy. Buy local for the environment.

11. Join a CSA. It’s great to buy organic produce but when you join a CSA, you are actually making a pledge to the farm. Letting them know that they can count on you to support them for the next season. I believe everyone in America should be supporting a local farm through a CSA subscription. To find a CSA near you, go to http://www.localharvest.org.

12. Start taking cod liver oil. Dr. Oz called it the supplement that everyone should take. I agree. Not only does it prevent osteoporosis but it also prevents — and even reverses — cavities. I started my baby on cod liver oil when she was 5 months old. (Not all cod liver oil is the same. We buy ours here: http://www.radiantlifecatalog.com/)

13. Avoid genetically modified foods. Yes, this means most packaged and processed foods. You should give them up anyway because most of them contain soy oil and high fructose corn syrup and other toxic crap you don’t want in your body.

14. Buy non-Monsanto seeds. See my blogroll to the right for sources of seeds that are not tampered with by Monsanto.

15. Eat more organ meats. Don’t like liver and onions? Have some foie gras. Or take cod liver oil and desiccated liver tablets. But make sure you get your organs.

16. Stop eating soy. It’s an endocrine distrupter and seriously messes up your thyroid. It can make you infertile. Stop now.

17. Make bone broths. Beef broth, chicken broth, fish broth. Simmer in a big stockpot and freeze for later use. This is one of the healthiest things you can do.

18. Reuse and recycle. Don’t throw away plastic yogurt containers. Or glass mayonnaise jars. Or paper bags. Reuse them for something else. And recycle everything you can.

19. Stop brushing with toothpaste. The fluoride and glycerin are giving you cavities. Use Tooth Soap or Dr. Bronner’s — or sea salt.

20. Filter your water using a reverse-osmosis water filtering system.

Enough for now. That should give you some ideas. (The ones on this list that I have not done yet I am committed to doing in the new year.)

How to heal a leaky gut December 16, 2007

I am reading about how to heal Seth’s leaky gut.

Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride writes:

Gut Dysbiosis compromises the roots of your health and well being.

For example, two major body systems, The Digestive System and The Immune System, cannot function effectively. The damaged gut wall becomes “Leaky” affecting food uptake and bowel action.

It is no coincidence that susceptibility to allergy, illnesses such as IBS and Autism, and intolerance to certain foods is related to this condition.

(http://www.bio-kult.com/gutdysbiosis.html)

The suggested diet is:

No processed foods
No gluten
No dairy
No soy
No sugar

What is left to eat?

Natasha Campbell-McBride recommends the following (her diet is specifically aimed toward autistic children with leaky guts but it should work the same for adults):

Meat, fish, poultry, organ meats, and eggs, raw if possible
Fresh vegetables and fruit, raw if possible
Nuts and seeds (properly soaked)
Lots of garlic and onion
Lots of cold pressed virgin olive oil and coconut oil
Some whole grains: buckwheat, millet, and quinoa (once or twice a week, properly soaked)

She also recommends 1-2 teaspoons of cod liver oil daily. Cod liver oil is supposed to help heal the gut lining. Many people are concerned about overdosing on vitamin A but Dr. Campbell-McBride says it would take 4 teaspoons per day for an adult to overdose.

In addition, probiotics are recommended. We are using Threelac now but will switch to Campbell-McBride’s Bio-Kult.

She also recommends certain things you can do to help detoxify the body of the heavy metals and toxins (this is often what causes leaky gut):

Stop using chemical soaps, shampoos, toothpastes and laundry detergent.
Wash hair with an egg yolk and rinse with apple cider vinegar.
Take detoxifying baths daily alternating with apple cider vinegar and Epsom salts.
Eat foods with nitrilosides: buckwheat, millet, apricot kernels, peach kernels, grape seeds, apple seeds, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, bean sprouts, Lima beans, macadamia nuts
Juicing - lots of freshly juiced fruits and vegetables help the body detoxify — minimum of 2 cups per day

Campbell-McBride on juicing:

A combination of pineapple, carrot and a little bit of beetroot in the morning will prepare your child’s digestive system for the coming meals, stimulate stomach acid production and pancreatic enzymes production. A mixture of carrot, apple, celery and beetroot has a wonderful liver cleansing ability. Green juices from leafy vegetables (spinach, lettuce, parsley, dill, carrot and beet tops) with some tomato and lemon are a great source of magnesium and iron and good chelators of heavy metals. Cabbage, apple and celery juice stimulates digestive enzymes production and is a great kidney cleanser.

They say it takes 1-2 years to really heal. I am going to order Dr. Campbell-McBride’s book, “Gut and Psychology Syndrome” (available only on the Amazon UK site: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gut-Psychology-Syndrome-Depression-Schizophrenia/dp/0954852001).

We are going to start in the new year.

Links:

http://www.dietarysupport.com/detox(art).html

http://www.dietarysupport.com/essentialdiet(art).html

http://www.bio-kult.com/GAPS.html

What to do when you’re sick December 5, 2007

I woke up with a sore throat this morning. A friend with a cold came over yesterday. She figured she was past being contagious but I guess not.

It could have been her, it could have been someone else I caught it from. Doesn’t matter. This is a sign though that I need to get healthier.

The thing is, I’m very susceptible to getting sick right now. My immune system is compromised — obviously more than I realized. Ever since my OB-GYN put me on the birth control pill. Which I promptly stopped taking a couple of months later when I read that the birth control pill causes candida.

You see, I had really bad candida when I was in my mid-twenties. It was from all the antibiotics I got as a child. I had recurring strep throat, and every time I got it, they gave me more antibiotics.

Candida is an overgrowth of yeast in the digestive tract and it is caused by a lack of good bacteria. The good bacteria normally fight of the yeast and other “bad” bacteria. If you don’t have enough good bacteria in your gut, the yeast grows out of control. Antibiotics kill all the bacteria in your gut — which causes candida.

I guess the birth control pill does the same thing. I stopped taking it back in September. I think I only took it for about three months. That’s long enough to cause an overgrowth of yeast. I have sores in my nose that won’t heal — same thing I had when I had candida in my twenties.

Obviously with a shortage of good bacteria, you are more susceptible to getting sick. You don’t have the good guys to help you fight off the bugs.

The ironic thing is, when people get sick, they go to the doctor and the first thing they do is give you an antibiotic!

We live in a backwards upside-down society.

And most of us are living these days with a chronic shortage of good bacteria. Jenny McCarthy (as well as Donna Gates of the Body Ecology Diet, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, and many others) believe that this is what causes autism. I think there are tons of diseases and disorders that can be traced to a lack of probiotics in the digestive tract.

What to do? How do you fight a cold or a flu?

Do what your grandma would have done. Chicken soup.

And I’m not talking about Campbell’s from a can. That stuff is useless. Plus it’s full of MSG.

You need real homemade bone broth. Bones from animals (poultry, beef, bison or fish) that are simmered in water for 8-24 hours. With a little sea salt and parsley for minerals.

I could try to list all the benefits of broth here but it would take too long. Just read this: http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/brothisbeautiful.html

In addition to bone broth, animal organs are one of the best things you can eat. When I had candida in my twenties, I was working with a chiropractor-nutritionist. She had me on a supplement called Congaplex, which is made from bovine (cow) thymus gland, as well as crushed up bone. The thymus gland is one of the main parts of the immune system in the body.

Anyway, even though my immune system was compromised, I still recovered from the flu in a matter of a few days. Everyone else in my office who caught it was out for WEEKS.

However, I looked up the ingredients in Congaplex and it has yucky stuff like soy lecithin (sludge waste product from industrial soybeans). Here is a better product: http://www.drrons.com/organ-delight.htm I think I will order some to help me improve my immune function. I need to get Seth on this, too.

I don’t happen to have any bovine thymus gland on hand, but I do have frozen liver. Liver is chock-full of B vitamins, which help to build and repair immune cells in the body.

The best way to eat liver is raw. You can freeze it for 14 days (this destroys any pathogens) then simply grate it into some milk or broth or put it into fresh vegetable juice.

More information on liver: http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/liver.html

Cod liver oil is another excellent way to take liver. I could go on and on about cod liver oil. It is the one supplement everyone should take. Even Dr. Oz on Oprah said so!

Remember, our grandmothers were always telling us to eat our liver and take cod liver oil.

Another thing that helps is coconut oil. It is antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal and helps to support the immune system. You can put it in a smoothie and also use it as a lotion. The pores in your skin absorb the nutrients. (http://www.mnwelldir.org/docs/nutrition/coconut.htm)

I am going to start taking a high dose of a quality probiotics supplement to battle my candida. I ordered some ThreeLac which is what Jenny McCarthy used to help her son. Regular probiotics supplements you get in the store are not effective on candida because they are only a “maintenance” dose. With candida, you have to bring in the big guns.

However, I think I’m also going to order some Bio-Kult. This is the probiotic developed by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. She reversed her son’s autism as well. Here is their story: http://www.bio-kult.com/nicholas.html

Unfortunately I don’t have any of these yet! My ThreeLac has not come in the mail.

So today I will drink a quart of colostrum kefir (from Organic Pastures — chock full of probiotics). Colostrum is the cow’s first milk which is loaded with antibodies. Kefir is fermented milk.

I am drinking a big glass right now. I added a heaping tablespoon of some over-the-counter probiotics I got at the health food store, as well as some coconut oil. I also just took my cod liver oil.

I am also going to drink at least a quart of chicken stock and take my liver supplements. I have some frozen liver I can also grate into a glass of freshly juiced fruits and vegetables. I have some kale here, as well as tomatoes, broccoli, beets, carrots and strawberries. All high in antioxidants. I know, sounds like a nasty drink but I bet it will taste better than a V-8.

The highest ranking fruits and vegetables are prunes, raisins, berries, oranges, pink grapefruit, grapes, kiwi, spinach, kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, beets, red peppers, carrots and tomatoes.

(http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art29448.asp)

If I feel well enough, I may have to make a trip over to Rawesome today to get some more high-antioxidant fruits, veggies and more colostrum and kefir. I need to stock up on eggs anyway. (They are only open today and Saturday.)

Oooh! I also have my beet kvass. I should try to drink a quart of that as well. Beet kvass is a lacto-fermented beverage that is super high in antioxidants as well as probiotics. All you do is cut up 6 medium sized beets, put them in a gallon of pure filtered water with a little sea salt and some homemade whey. Then you let it sit on the counter for a few days before you move it into the fridge.

Apparently foods that are lacto-fermented have a LOT more vitamins. The fermentation helps increase the vitamins. Here is an article on kvass: http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/kvass.html

I will also drink lots of hot tea with lemon, and do a steam bath. As recommended by Alla, our nanny, who just arrived. The steam bath helps you detoxify.

And rest of course.

I’m actually glad this happened. When you get a cold, it’s just a sign that your body is fighting. And this tells me my immune system is compromised. Now I will take the steps I need to take to strengthen it.

I will let you know how I recover.