Addiction Recovery and Biochemical Restoration. Function and Integrative Medicine via Inner Balance Health Center is GRATE!

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Mardy Ross's picture
Mardy Ross
Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole
Joined: Feb 16 2009
Posts: 2032
User offline. Last seen 46 weeks 2 hours ago.

I am pleased to see that there are a few innovative treatment facilities in the United States looking at the body, not just mind and spirit, when it comes to what causes addictions, and how to address them from a functional medicine perspective, looking for the underlying reasons and root causes and treating at 'that level'. It makes sense that there are physiological causes -- what those are might suprise you, as well as how many people are affected, who might not be identified as 'addicts'. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure so perhaps everyone will catch this information and tuck it away in case it comes in handy to know as it likely applies to someone YOU know. In the past, the conventional education system we have for students and the public (such as mainstream media) has fed us the psychological causes, while eventually saying there were genetic underpinnings.  But treatment that most people obtain does not include testing for biochemical issues the way that the innovative programs and providers do.  

I am pleased to offer Lumigrate's YOUsers a solution from my home state of Colorado (USA) that is innovative and cutting edge in the area of addiction recovery; Inner Balance Health Center in Loveland, Colorado, which I'd seen in the past when Searching for resources for someone in Colorado's Front Range with a loved one with significant alcohol addiction issues. I had someone recently inquire about inpatient treatment for someone they knew and were supporting/ helping, and they wanted Front Range area, so I pulled up Inner Balance's website and re-minded myself what they had, and I'm providing some of the core information from the home page so that your interests might be piqued enough for you to click and go see what I'm talking about at the link provided. Naturally, most people won't likely be in a position to contact them, but the information and education will likely be thought-provoking and useful. 

They have inpatient and outpatient services, which might be of interest to YOUsers but for most YOUsers, getting ideas from what they share at their website might just be the 'springboard' to things. I'm forseeing a lot of people finding this information and hopefully making some connections about where they're 'at' with what might be a very manageable issue. An example would be that I've seen the N.D.s (naturopaths) from our formative years speak and write at Lumigrate about blood sugar issues,  sugar consumption in various ways, diet and lifestyle in regards to alcohol addiction.

Update: In looking for a resource for someone who doesn't use alcohol particularly but who had other concerns and symptoms relative to brain wellness, I used this resource to find the type of nutritionists who would work with clients out of their private practices. In this case based on the person's needs and the two nutrition specialists at their website, I contacted Lynn at www.source-nutrition.com and had a wonderful initial conversation by phone. She was able and willing to help this person I was scouting for resources for, and they now have her contact information and the ball is in their court. (Learning to be a YOUser of their body and taking control of their life and well-being is something that the 'system' doesn't teach, but I and Lumigrate do.

Thank you, Lynn, for the generous amount of time and consideration you gave, and I'm pleased you could help this person if they proceed to pursue this line of learning and exploration with getting the testing done, melding that information with the history of them and their family (she looks at a couple of generations of functional information about people, I shared a bit about me and she was with her detective  hat on and I got a few great tips. ALWAYS ideal to personally know those I'm linking to which is not always possible anymore but in this case, here's a NEW link and resource to further this topic's resources for YOUsers).

Also, consider accessing the link to the "pyroluria/many names causing many things" topic in Lumigrate's Environmental Illness/Wellness forum, as there are other resources on that thread for DIY laboratory testing, pointing the way to consulting services by a group/clinic in Florida that works with people in the US and beyond via the phone or email, product provider ideas, etc. (An MD  joined the practice started by a PsychNP in the late 1990s, their rate / hour turns out to be $180/hour and they operate on 20 and 30 minute appointments for consultations. They sell the supplements for the specific mental health / biochemical issues and the test kits at what appears to me to be a 'normal' price. Naturally, do your homework and decide what type of business you wish to work with when purchasing products and services. Sometimes shopping by price alone is not the overall best strategy, and those who overcharge are often to be wary of.  

That link is: www.lumigrate.com/forum/pyroluria-kryptopyrroluria-kpu-or-hemopyrrollactamuria-hmu-many-names-causes-connections . (And there is a link in that topic to bring people here to this topic specifically about addictions so you can 'make a loop', so to speak. ~ Mardy (Added Aug 13, 2014).

Dr Young was/is a very conventionally trained psychologist in the allopathic medical building where I provided the OT services within a PT clinic (and could route people to ST if needed at an ENTs office) and back in 2005-8 when we collaborated extensively in various ways in that building and attempting to create an innovative integrative clinic, he was educating professionals and patients about how addiction to alcohol can creep up on people who get off of work and have 'a drink' because of the brain's registering the sugar rise from the beverage. It's been so interesting to watch how much it takes for information seeds planted to make it to harvest. I might guess by now he's had much more that he brings as he was always learning. (Last I saw him, his daughter was becoming a medical provider (osteopath) and had reinforced the things I had said in meetings and he came to record a podcast having turned over a whole new leaf -- a lettuce leaf that is! As it was on his lunch break, I'd said I'd provide lunch and his office director said he was eating a diet so I found out from him what it was -- it was how I eat, so I just made him a lettuce wrap sandwich and he at it in the car when I picked him up to drive him to the studio and back. Yes, we got that all done in under 90 minutes! You can find that at our iTunes channel or the podcasts here at the website (currently in the topmost forum in the list).

I had always wanted to see our team provide, within the integrative center we created to come together for 2008 and 2009, an innovative program about addictions related to alcohol and other commonly overused drugs, utilizing what the PhDs, ND, DAOM and MD and I were able to contribute. The providers were overall on the same trail heading in this direction, and maybe would then put the center 'on the map' for our region of Colorado. Unfortunately, it was too expensive to stick to the basics and the center turned in a more superficial direction, which is fine for those who want Botox and laser skin care and body sculpting, hCG for weight loss, etc. The MD continues with what he ultimately created the center to be, and they offer a wide variety of services, just without the rest of us and our collaborative core we had, unfortunately. We're each under separate roofs now, even the PhD psychologists had a shift and work collaboratively with Dr King referring to Dr Young's clinic from the more holistic wellness center, where she joined the DAOM which now has accomplished closer to what we'd all envisioned. The people of the Grand Valley of Western Colorado maximized as they have more options of clinics to fit their needs. But I don't know that anyone gets into addictions the way that I'd forseen our team could have and hopefull would have, along the lines of what Inner Balance or nutritionists who work in this type of clinic offer privately. 

I love the Inner Balance website and here's why: For starters, the video on the home page leads in with mountain biking at the place where I learned to mountain bike in 1992 and frequently rode in the years before I left the area in 1996 when I graduated from the occupational program.  My health became mysteriously precarious in 1994, and through IgG food allergy testing things were no longer a mystery. This was done at a little clinic about like the one I refer to above which survives without the rest of the team that came along in 2008. And it was right across the road from where Inner Balance is!

I have had enough balance problems in recent years and found out that I have some odd things going on internally and have opted to decrease my risk of injury despite how much I loved mountain biking (and roller blading and other things). It seems at that time I found solutions that, if I was very compliant, reversed symptoms but weren't getting to ALL the underlying causes, there were bugs lurking, and who know, perhaps undiagnosed pyroluria too! 

My priorities have, in middle age, been to reach people via the platform I created with Lumigrate in these very challenging times we're in. I feel Lumigrate, though having to adapt from what the original plan was, and keep rolling with the punches, continues to be a unique and sincere opportunity for people using the Internet to find a cache of information. I would suspect this topic will be of much value: I don't know anyone who doesn't verbalize chronic psychological stress lately, and I'm a student of history: alcohol and other drugs AND CANDY have done well in economically troubled times. As well as other things that would fall in the 'addictions' category. 

Perhaps one hidden message in this story, between the lines, is that there are a LOT of resources in smaller areas of the United States and it might be worthwhile for everyone who is looking for providers to consider turning over the stones in your 'back yard'.  

My History:

In 1992 I left my job of eight years at Colorado State University's foothills research campus where I'd been the right hand liaison assistant for all things administrative to Dr William Malm, who is now known to the world as "Dr. Visibility", as the project he headed up for the National Park Service essentially lead to the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. I had been waiting for the right 'hopping off point' and the research study causing the Amendments was waiting to be reviewed by the US Supreme Court; President Bush had cited it and used it as a platform for his re-election campaign and I'd gotten to work with the Secret Service and all kinds of cool stuff, but ultimately I'd said I'd work for him for two years and had intended on completing a bachelor's of science in occupational therapy long before I was in my 30s.

I walked past the job postings for the University one spring day in 1992, just as I was initiating a difficult separation and divorce as I'd married one of the researchers, the one that did the psychological and perceptual 'values' research, and there was an opening at the health education department of the University's student health center. The position closed that day so I hurried to HR and submitted an application and by the time I got back to the office, I was asked to come at 3 pm for an interview, they were very eager to fill the position and they were interviewing that day. In the interview was the director for the Center for Drug and Alcohol Education as well as the other leadership of the department. I got the job and was there for two years and it was invaluable experience.

Somewhere along the lines I got to know Joe Easley, who you see in the videos, now the clinical director of Inner Balance Health Center in Loveland, which is a 'bedroom community' to Fort Collins where Colorado State University is based. I don't know if he was involved with the course I took and became certified in called "Baseline Colorado State" or if he had come through to meet with the staff, or if he would present to students at things I'd go to listen or sometimes respresent the department ... I just know his name rang a bell and seeing him in video on the website, I know that I knew him 'when'..... back then..... 

Since most of the people who find information at Lumigrate have to extrapolate and translate the information into what will work for them with their reality in terms of geography, economic means, time, energy, insurance, etc., I look for websites that are more than an internet 'bulletin board', that will provide some education value, and InnerBalance's does that. Please watch the videos, the one at the home page is also at the videos tab.

I am also going to pull out some of the other information that I found the most intriguing from the website -- in order to help YOUsers learn a little about what I look at when I review a website to possibly 'grace the stage and page' of Lumigrate.com for YOU. I hope this is of value.  

The link the the home page:

https://www.innerbalancehealthcenter.com/

You'll see this in terms of the video summary: 

Summary: View our 30 minute video in its entirety to learn more about InnerBalance Health Center and our unique approach to treating drug and alcohol addiction. See how taking a more balanced approach can help improve your chances of achieving lifetime sobriety. Discover the "missing link" in traditional addiction treatment programs.


* Mardy's Note - at the bottom of this topic, I have taken the liberty to give an overview of what is said and shown at the video, with a few comments interjected by me and BOLDING and etc. to make this more streamlined for YOUsers AND to hopefully encourage YOUsers to GO and WATCH the 30 minute video and have notes written down for you to then refer to, read over, and then go from there .... as more fully educated, proactive consumers! 

From the home page, a good synopsis is this list:
 

22 Critical Questions to Ask When Choosing a Treatment Center

  1. Does the treatment center offer Biochemical Restoration and how do they define Biochemical Restoration?
  2. How do they plan to eliminate depression, anxiety, sleep problems, mood swings, and racing mind?
  3. How many different medical labs will they receive and ask if they would fax you a copy of the labs they do? Do they provide an explanation of each lab test?
  4. How involved is the Doctor with client care and how available is the Doctor is for client needs?
  5. How many individual, one-on-one counseling sessions will the client receive each week?
  6. How long has the treatment team been working together and what is their experience?
  7. Are the counselors Masters Level and licensed?
  8. What is the primary mode of treatment?
  9. Is the program Holistic in nature and what does that mean?
  10. Is the treatment plan customized to the client's individual needs and goals or a standardized treatment plan for everyone? Does the client participate in creating their treatment plan?
  11. Does the center prescribes addictive medications such as benzodiazepines or opiates?
  12. What kind of exercise program will the client participate in?
  13. Will the client go on any outings and what would these be?
  14. What kind of meals will be served? For example; no sugar, low carbohydrates, healthy, natural, or organic.
  15. Will the client meet with a licensed Nutritionist?
  16. What length of time does the client continue to receive counseling following the initial treatment phase, and is there is an extra cost?
  17. How often does the team meet to discuss the client's clinical and medical progress?
  18. Is the staff available 24/7?
  19. Is the treatment center licensed by the state?
  20. Will clients have access to their cell phones and laptops?
  21. Does the treatment center provide the client with a complete breakdown of cost for treatment in such a way that they can compare the cost with other treatment centers?
  22. Will the treatment center provide the client with legitimate names and phone numbers of past clients to talk with regarding their treatment experience with the center?

ALSO, at the home page --- this information:  

Researchers have found the drive to self-medicate using drugs and alcohol is directly related to:

• Genetic Factors • Nutritional Deficiencies
• Medical Conditions • Biochemical Imbalances

These imbalances will only be exaggerated when the dependant substances are removed from the body. This is why eighty percent of the time, a person will return to using drugs and alcohol in response to cravings, depression, fatigue and anxiety.

At InnerBalance Health Center in Colorado, we have a successful alcohol and drug treatment program that can help you live your life to its fullest potential- drug and alcohol free. Our holistic approach helps end cravings that cause addiction. Balancing the medical aspect of biochemical repair along with more traditional talk therapies and counseling have a profound effect on life long sobriety.

Studies have proven that chemical imbalances can lead to cravings and addictive behavior. Talk therapies are wonderful but when used alone, are ineffective if the root cravings still exist. Our alternative treatment program significantly increases the effectiveness of traditional drug and alcohol addiction programs.

InnerBalance Health Center is an alcohol and drug treatment center located in Colorado and has been helping people suffering from alcohol and drug addictions since 1998. Our combination of Biochemical Restoration, Nutritional Counseling, Talk Therapy and Emotional Lifestyle counseling help separate InnerBalance Health Center from other alcohol and drug treatment centers and have resulted in successful sobriety in over 80% of our clients.

(Bolding added by me, and I broke up the paragraphs a bit for easier reading here for our YOUsers, again please see their wonderful website for all the bells, whistles, and videos, taps and resources such as biographies about the staff members and, as I said, intake form / application because it is a wealth of information!)


 

Featured Articles & News about InnerBalance Health Center are provided as well: (Notice the dates, 2007 to 2012 - in addition to my vouching for Joe's existence in 1992-94, this is information that I look for at website -- is this a stable organization, is always a concern. The addiction / recovery 'market' has had some difficulties with the economic downturn that coincided with the launch of Lumigrate, so we were able to be involved first-hand in learning some 'ropes'.)

Finding a resource that had enough education info on their website and that checked out as a resource to suggest people consider using as a treatment provider THAT WAS FUNCTIONAL and INTEGRATIVE as Lumigrate 'is' was not the easiest thing to do. And just because something's been there for time doesn't mean it's a shoe-in, naturally, but it is one thing to look at, as long as I'm showing YOU the ropes on this topic. 

Feature Interview on Eye on Addiction Radio
Joe Eisele discusses how to end the cycle of addiction.
- Eye on Addiction Radio, Feb 2012 

Feature Article in Bella Spark Magazine
Joe Eisele discusses why Biochemical Repair is the key to treating drug and alcohol abuse.
- Bella Spark Magazine, May 2012

Feature Interview on Fox News Radio 600KCOL
Al Malmberg chats with Tyson White and Lynn Smith, RN from Inner Balance in Loveland. Tyson describes his road to recovery and Lynn explains the nutrition involved for those recovering from drug and alcohol addictions
- Al Malmberg Interview, April 2012 

Feature Article in Alternative Medicine Magazine
"Know anyone who has ever tried to kick the habit? Then you've no doubt heard that talk therapy and 12-step programs don't always work, long-term. Alternative clinics like [InnerBalance Health Center], however, boast high success rates. They concentrate on healing the brain and balancing the body to help cure the urge to indulge." 
- Lisa Marshall, August 2006 

A sampling of what you'll find by Lisa Marshall at the link, above: 

 

BATTLING BRAIN CHEMISTRY

Beilhartz is among a growing number of addicts and alcoholics turning toward complementary and alternative therapies to address the physiological underpinnings of addiction. The programs are rooted in the theory that addiction is largely the result of skewed levels of certain chemical messengers in the brain.

With too much of some messengers and not enough of others, researchers believe, addicts are caught--often from childhood--in a state of chronic imbalance and turn to drugs and alcohol to self-medicate in an attempt to feel "normal."

Most addiction experts agree that talk therapy and 12-step programs--considered the gold standard for addiction treatment for decades--are a necessary component of a successful recovery. But in and of themselves, such methods have not proven terribly effective. Between 70 and 85% percent of addicts completing such programs will relapse within six to 12 months, studies show. Meanwhile, some alternative clinics that incorporate both physiological and psychological approaches boast six-month sobriety rates as high as 85 percent.

"If you have a broken leg and your bone is sticking out, you aren't going to want to sit around and talk about it. You are going to want to go to the emergency room, fix the physical problem, and stop the pain first," explains Joe Eisele, clinical director of InnerBalance and a recovering alcoholic. "Then you can sit down and talk."

REWARD DEFICIENCY SYNDROME

The notion that addiction is a biochemical disease dates back to the late 1980s when Texas brain research Kenneth Blum coined the phrase "reward deficiency syndrome." Blum theorized that for most people, the stimulus of everyday things like good food, sex, or a funny movie set off a cascade of feel-good neurotransmitters in the brain. But some people are born with either an inability to produce enough of these chemicals or a kink in the line that delivers them. For such individuals, the cascade of reward is hindered and pleasure muted, it if comes at all.

"[Addicts] are always looking for a way to feel better, and when they discover certain mood-altering substances--those things that fit into the same receptors in the brain that the deficient "feel-good" chemicals do--they feel like they are getting what they have been looking for but have never been able to find," says Merlene Miller, and addictions specialist and coauthor of the book Staying Clean and Sober: Complementary and Natural Strategies for Healing the Addicted Brain (Woodland, 2005).

Today, experts readily accept the notion that faulty brain chemistry plays a role in setting people up for addiction, but for the most part, addiction researchers have focused on correcting that brain chemistry with pharmaceuticals, rather than addressing it more holistically. Meanwhile, more and more clinics around the country use that same information to take a different, more holistic approach.

VITAMINS THROUGH A TUBE

Step into InnerBalance Health Center on any given Wednesday and you'll find a room full of resident patients, from grandmothers trying to quite binge drinking to musicians who want to kick cocaine. They're watching videos and chatting as orange liquid drips into their veins through intravenous tubes.

Alcoholism and drug abuse can ravage the gastrointestinal system, limiting its ability to absorb nutrients, so pumping vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, zinc, and b vitamins directly into the blood has a more immediate effect than administering them orally, says Eisele. And because underlying nutritional problems, such as hypoglycemia or B-vitamin deficiencies, often prompt cravings, IV therapy can often quell the withdrawal that leads addicts to relapse early on.

At Bridging the Gaps Inc. in Winchester, Virginia, patients begin treatment with a series of blood and urine tests to assess their liver and kidney function and nutritional status. They also fill out a psychological survey to determine if they might be lacking in certain brain chemicals. They then receive a customized cocktail of nutrients and amino acids--the building blocks for neurotransmitters--through an IV tube for six to 10 days.

The amino acid given depends on which neurotransmitter appears to be lacking. For example, clinic staff members presume that addicts who prefer sedatives or alcohol lack the calming neurotransmitter GABA, so they give them its amino acid precursor. Someone who gravitates toward drugs like cocaine, on the other hand, would get amino acids that stimulate excitatory activity in the brain.

James Braly, MD, medical director and attending physician at Bridging the Gaps, says the medical journals have published few studies about the benefits of IV and oral nutrient therapy specifically, largely because most research dollars support pharmaceutical approaches to treating addiction. But braly's clinic has produced some promising data. One study surveyed newly sober patients about the severity of 15 "abstinence symptoms" (such as cravings, anxiety, depression, insomnia, fuzzy thinking, and restlessness) both before and after six days of IV and oral nutritional therapy. It found that all 15 symptoms were radically reduced, making it easier for the patient to stick with the psychosocial counseling part of the program.

Once the body is better able to absorb nutrients and the brain chemistry is rebalanced, patients are placed on a daily regimen of oral vitamins, amino acids, essential fatty acids, and probiotics. At the same time, they receive nutritional counseling aimed at steering them toward lots of fresh fruits and vegetables; quality proteins such as fish, poultry, and eggs; and nutritional oils such as extra virgin olive oil and omega-3 fish oils. They are strongly urged to stay away from junk food and refined carbohydrates, which can cause blood sugar to fluctuate wildly, aggravating cravings.

Such nutritional approaches stem largely from the work of Joan Matthews Larsen, whose groundbreaking book Seven Weeks to Sobriety: The Proven Program to Fight Alcoholism With Nutrition (Ballantine, 1997) sparked many people to open clinics based on her Health Recovery Center in Minneapolis. One published study conducted there found that 85 percent of clients had remained sober six months after treatment. After three and a half years, 74 percent were still sober.

Another success story, Ty Curan, 29, a recovering heroin addict, experienced dramatic results by changing his diet and adding a supplement regime. A drug user since the age of 15, he had completed nine residential in-patient treatment programs before checking in to Bridging the Gaps in December 2005. "I would go to treatment for a month, stay clean for a month, and fall back apart," he recalls. The difference this time, he says, is after his stay at Bridging the Gaps, he's been able to stay sober: "It truly is the best I've felt in a long, long time."


 

Feature Article in Addiction Professional Magazine
"Biochemical restoration is the 'missing link' to why traditional treatment for addiction is ineffective." 
- Joe Eisele, CACIII, NCAC - Clinical Director, February 2007

LINKS are provided at each of these topics at the Inner Balance website in order to readily allow visitors to their website to listen or read. 


I encourage you to also go to the tab that would be the next step if a person were interested in 'going' physically, even if you're not considering applying to go to the program -- the questions they ask can be good homework activity for each one of us.

Which brings me to suggesting people look over and consume if they wish our "Load Theory" topic at Lumigrate, by Marc Spurlock, MD. Here's the link to the forum it is in -- and I encourage your going to see what's more in 'his' forum, he really has provided a great cache of information there (a fun tonic recipe, 3 steps, 3 things -- for inflammation vacation, or a gluten free watermellon cake from his birthday party recently). And to make it easy for YOUsers reading here now, I'm going to add the information below as well so that you don't have to click away to read it. www.lumigrate.com/forums/health-issuesdis-eases/fibromyalgia-chronic-pain-and-chronic-fatigueexhaustion/fibromyalgia/f

 

What is "The Problem"? Rates are soaring of many types of illnesses, and the average age of onset often is shifting to be younger than seen previously.

HEALTH DECLINE Everyone wants to believe that there is one thing causing the huge spectrum of ill-health disorders (to name just a few: autism, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, auto-immune disorders, connective tissue disorders) in America (and the world). Some say it is Lyme, some say it is vaccinations, some say it is GMO foods. I say "Phooey!" It is not one of these isolated "things". It is all of it! Plain and simple! We must work on EVERYTHING WE CAN if we expect better health for ourselves and for our descendants!

I believe in a "Load Theory", as Mardy and those who regularly use Lumigrate.com likely have read here. Each person must be addressed as a complete individual and their own particular "load" needs to be ferreted out so they can be treated. God (the Creative Spirit, G-d, The Great Author of All -- whatever you wish to call it) designed our bodies to tolerate a certain amount of abuse, but too much of a toxic load will shut us down.

So what do I believe is the problem? I could write an entire 900 page novel on this, and some day I may. I will briefly try to divide this up into categories so you can have some idea of where to start.

GENETICS - Some of us are born from families that possess certain weaknesses that play out in their biological lines. These cannot currently be corrected, and some people should invest in genetic counseling and make decision about having children, and I would suggest they not have children.

If you carry one gene of a specific disorder, make sure the person you're going to conceive with does not also carry this same genetic fault. Again, have genetic counseling if you have questions. Take a look at your family tree's health problems and see if you have a pattern of illness. Your family may not talk have talked about it with you, and still might not want to talk about it.

PRE-NATAL DAMAGE - Everyone knows about the dangers of cigarette smoke and alcohol on an unborn fetus, and some prescription drugs also. But for you expectant mothers, you need to be careful of everything you eat or put in and on your body to ensure that your unborn child is not getting toxicities in the womb. Those children will pay for your behavior and you will have to deal with their illnesses and mental problems caused by such actions. I have known of women who eat too much fish during pregnancy and their babies have mercury poisoning. Be aware of what you do when pregnant. It is very important.

ENVIRONMENT - Toxic chemicals, molds, gases, dirty electricity, bad food, and food allergies, to name just a few. Think about this when buying a home, taking a job, taking up a hobby. If a problem should occur, take care of it immediately. Let your nose be your "alarm system". Your body may adapt to the toxic environment for awhile, but eventually you will get very sick. Avoidance is the best choice.

If you have already had a large exposure, do detoxification programs to clean yourself out. Long term, properly performed sauna (or any form of healthy sweating) goes a long way in getting rid of toxic chemicals in your system.

The most awful forms of dirty electricity include, in order: Baby monitors, cordless phones, cell phones, laptop computers held on the lap or stomach (when in bed). Never, ever live or work close to high voltage electrical lines, nor let your children attend schools near them either. Smart meters for our homes are particularly bad for you also; go look if you're not sure what type of meter, it should have dials on it that a human has to read, not something recording and beaming data.

Treat mold in your environment aggressively with professionals or just get out! Most folks are clueless of how this can harm you. Secondhand cigarette smoke has the heavy metals arsenic, cyanide and cadmium in it. It leads to multitudes of problems in children and their mental function. There is also the residue that clings to everything inside, and that is also a factor to consider with the history of the housing you chose, which can be remediated or avoided the same as mold.

FOOD - All of us have learned about eating a 'healthy diet'. We just didn't do it historically and we survive, don't we? Well, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to "eat healthy", as our food products have so drastically changed in character in the past 40 years. Even though they look and taste similar, they have been so adulterated, with the consent of the FDA, that they a lot of foods most people eat now are either toxic or non-nutritious. We are surviving, but our health is deteriorating, at earlier and earlier ages than ever before! If at all possible, eat WHOLE FOODS! These include meats, vegetables, fruits and nuts (unless there's a known reason to not eat a certain food, obviously). Many people are following the paleo/paleolithic diet these days, which is essentially a whole food diet.

Do not eat processed foods at all! Try to get organic foods which are also non-GMO (genetically modified organism) whenever possible. Buying local grass-fed animal products is always preferred. Even buying local honey has multiple additional benefits. Read food labels, it is absolutely critical you know what you are putting in your body! Artificial sweeteners are basically sweet poisons, and therefore should not be consumed (aspartame, saccharin, Splenda). Do not use a microwave oven, as it destroys all the nutrients in your foods. Do your research. Grow your own food as much as you can. Be very careful with insecticides, fertilizers and other chemicals on your foods. Regular, non-organic strawberries in your grocery store typically have 14 separate toxic chemicals sprayed on them.

VACCINES - We know that vaccines have been helpful in the overall and historically, but now we are having real concerns. The vaccine infectious component is not the problem, it is usually the preservative component that causes problems. Children's blood-brain barrier is not completely established until age three. Prior to that age, toxins have a multiplied effect on our childrens' brains.

By now, so many vaccines have been developed that we are over-taxing the immune systems in children, and this may create terrible problems in certain subsets of children. There have always been problems with vaccines, but now these problems are escalating to unacceptable levels. Do your research and discuss your concerns with your doctors. Unfortunately, doctors truly lack sufficient training. Watch for any legislation that takes away your right to make decisions on vaccinations, for your child and generally.

INFECTIONS - Examples are Lyme, Epstein-Barr virus (mononucleosis), cytomegalovirus, mycoplasma pneumoniae, chlamydiophila pneumoniae, and candida infections to name a few. There are many chronic indwelling infections that "suck you dry" without killing you. These can be present and take a toll on your health without you suspecting it. They require treatment. If you suffer from chronic infections, you either have these problems or your immune system is compromised, or both. Seek treatment. If you have cyclical periods of exhaustion, consider these infections.

HORMONE DEPLETIONS - Thyroid, cortisol, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, pregnenolone, aldosterone, and growth hormone are all hormones that can become depleted, and when below certain levels, will prevent you from functioning properly. They can be evaluated and treated as needed. Think of your blood levels as your shoe size. The reference range for hormones is wide. An analogy to demonstrate this is clothing or shoe size .. say the hormone range is 5-10: if your normal size is a size 10 but your level is a size 6, you are going to feel bad. You need a size 10! But labwork will show you're in the range and some providers tend to rely on that date more than the symptoms a patient or their body is telling or showing. Consult a health care provider who is educated in these areas. Most primary care doctors are not currenly competent in these areas nor do they have much time in appointments to delve into things that are in-depth such as this. Get a provider who can help you, which often is a specialist of some sort.

SLEEP - Poor restorative sleep is one of the biggest causes of health deterioration. The causes of your sleep problem need to be addressed properly so that the restorative phase can be achieved. A simple sleeping pill rarely repairs this problem and always comes with potential side-effects, often making the problems worse, particularly if used longer than short-term. Search for the problem and repair it. If your problem is that you simply do not get enough sleep because you choose to stay up, then do a better job of managing your sleep time. Be sure to consider the type of light that comes from electronics. You may be able to put up with this for awhile, but it will harm you later. Count on it!

NUTRITION - We have discussed food issues, but with the difficulty in obtaining healthy foods, it is imperative that you supplement with good nutritional products that get your levels to health repairing levels. Start with a good multivitamin, a good omega 3 fatty acid, a good probiotic, and a good vitamin D3 as your core supplements. As you get older or you have health impairments at a younger age, you will need more. Obtain a health care professional who is competent in these areas of nutritional supplementation.

HYPOTHALAMIC DYSFUNCTION - This area of research is exceptionally new, but could be quite helpful in certain subsets of patients. There are four well know causes of hypothalamic dysfunction:

  1. brain injuries
  2. recreational drug usage (especially ecstacy)
  3. long term narcotic opiod usage, and
  4. antidepressants.

New treatments are being evaluated and produced. Hypothalamic dysfunction leads to lack of regulation of the body's chemicals, leading to improper functioning in multiple areas.

We have been taught through allopathic medicine (the system used conventionally/mostly in America) to believe in "1) symptom, 2) diagnosis, 3) pill"! Most providers and consumers alike are in this habit. It is not that simple, and somewhat negligent to not look at how our body really works correctly and what may be causing the underlying defects that lead to these symptoms. DO NOT JUST TREAT THE SYMPTOMS!

Please work toward your wellness and the health of your children, if you have them or are going to have them. It is your most important asset. If you have all the money in the world and do not have your health, you have "nothing"! If you have your health, you always have the ability to make money! As you get older, you will spend money on your health. You have no choice! But you do have a choice of what you spend it on........you can spend it on ILLNESS........or you can spend it on WELLNESS. But you are going to spend the money, typically! Consider this if you're fortunate enough to have insurance benefits: often what you're going to benefit from are health treatments that are not provided through insurance benefits.

Do not fall into the trap that one thing is the reason you are not doing well. Don't fall into the neighboring trap that you have just one disorder, it might be you're only aware of one thing and many things are interconnected more than you know.

There are multiple issues that comprise your LOAD. Work individually on YOUR LOAD! Your doctors cannot do this for you, nobody can do this for you .... only you can choose a healthy lifestyle and do it! Use doctors and other providers who address the body, mind, and spirit as your guides to help the whole of you!

                                                                                               

 And I always like to remind people of our YOU model, and the hope we have while lighting the path to health and well-being.   


* notes for those who want to read over what's at the video (I've added bolding):

 

The video opens with people mountain biking -- "are you ready to start feeling great?"
 
Would you like to stop the cravings, depression, anxiety?
 
At Inner Balance we're here to put you on a path to a happier, healthier life. 
 
End the cycle of addiction
 
Addiction is a physical illness. Researchers have found that genetic factors, nutritional deficiencies and a variety of underlying medical conditions (biochemical imbalances), which may have existed from before the use of drugs/alcohol, are the underlying causes. 
 
80% of the time with conventional therapies, the person will return to using drugs and alcohol for relief of symptoms, such as 
 
anxiety
irritability
confusion
depression
insomnia
cravings
fatigue
irrational thinking
 
------ this is the cycle of addiction that occurs with traditional therapy programs.
 
When sobriety is the goal, simply 'abstaining' is ineffective for a long-term recovery, since the underlying reasons have not been addressed.
 
Talk therapy is ineffective as a single treatment strategy because the biochemical repairs have not been addressed.
 
Combination therapy used at Inner Balance Treatment Center:
 
Treatment begins with a series of lab tests to look at biochemical factors. The results are used to create an individualized health plan with appropriate supplementation/therapy as needed for vitamins, minerals, amino acids and hormones, as well as nutrition for restoring health. 
 
Supplements (shown are well known, highly regarded brands and I noticed iodine was shown), the needs of the whole person -- body, mind and spirit are met. 
 
Joe Eisele (eyes - lee), program director at IBHC is introduced. He covers:
 
The three components of the Inner Balance program: 
Biochemical repair as the unique focus, which begins with a "good physical" by the doctor, then onto the nurse and get an IV drip for detoxing to help them feel better right away in terms of any detoxing.  (I question at this point if that might turn some people off and what contingency plans they have if people are averse to invasive procedures or needles...... but that's just my experience in the past talking with people who have different health issues, some just do not want to pursue IV nutrition therapy. Personally, I've given blood when I was able and have benefitted from IVs very much but this is a big factor for many people.) 
 
They go on to see a nutritionist, who goes over a "very extensive protocol" (which is shown in the video to appear to be a sensible, progressive nutrition approach model I've seen in recent years popularized -- NOT the stuff the government programs recommends, very important to note.)  He mentions specifically  sugars, starches, caffeine ---  white flour can set people up to have symptoms (feeling 'badly'). (I'm noticing I'm not hearing 'gluten' and so it appears they're still suggesting people eat whole wheat possibly, a question I would have for them perhaps.)
 
He states again that "the addicts that come in to us are very depleted in vitamins and minerals" and how they address that with their program with their unique vitamin regimen. 
 
The second part of the program Joe discusses is the mental health part and "talk therapy", which they include but they don't bring up things from the past, as that can cause depression and anger --  they focus on the person's thinking and how that affects their chemical use. The mind is a powerful tool to work for us or against, which it does in the addicts' case. They work to create a shift in how the person thinks. 
 
A typical "faulty belief system" exists, where the person thinks they can get away with it, they can handle it, they're not going to fall apart.  In their 'talk therapy" time, they work to help the person create a psychological shift so they start to think and feel about the chemicals as poisonous and a toxin that they'll never get away with it that they will always lose control and it will always damage their life. 
 
The third part of the program that is unique is the spiritual part of the program. The drug and alcohol use in the past has slowly or quickly damaged and severed important connections in the person's life -- with themselves, or because they caused damage in others' lives so they'll disconnect with themselves as they feel bad about that. They disconnect from others, nature, and/or a higher power and they'll have an absence in their life so they'll feel alone, and then go back to the substance .... 
 
He states that any addict who is going to have life-long sobriety has to reconnect with these relationships, and they need to feel loving relationship with themselves and others. This takes time, so they give the patient tools to stay sober in the short run while they're repairing all these relationships.   
 
Those are the three main components by treating the body, mind, spirit given patients to stay healthy for the rest of their lives.
 
The video's voiceover comes back in to say that .... it takes a world-class staff with experience about medicine, fitness, nutrition, psychology to provide the clients with the best chance at success in every aspect of recovery. 
 
They introduce Dr Roger Billica, former chief of medical operations at NASA. After 10 years he left NASA and opoened his own clinic in Fort Collins, Colorado for functional, nutritional, and environmental medicine. (I noticed in looking around the staff tabs he has a family member that is also an MD, appeared to me to be a sibling/brother possibly. There's also an Easley that I presume might be Joe's daughter... Just sharing what I have noticed in looking around the website since I'm putting this information here for YOUsers to glean from.)
 
Dr. Billica says that while looking at the emotional and lifestyle components, there's a focus on looking at the underlying, biochemical, physiological, physical causes that sets someone up to develop an addiction. Things like
 
food allergies
thyroid problems
adrenal hormone status
toxicities
heavy metals
nutrient deficiencies
and then very uniquely --
histamines and pyrroles that are tested for and when irregularities are found, corrected...
 
_______________
They go back to Joe's interview (showing the 'integration' in my opinion, since we have the 'mind' doctor talking about the physiologic and more 'body' components -- 
 
There are two ways to discern these problems ---
1) laboratory and
2) symptoms. 
 
Examples:  glutamine, tyrosine, triptophan go across the blood-brain barrier and convert to neurotransmitters in the brain.
 
If the person is low in these amino acids then this indicates the neurotransmitters in the brain will be affected and so that can be treated accordingly. 
 
Through stool samples, we can see if the gut has parasites, yeast overgrowth, or low hydrochloric acid. So treating the gut to get it healthy....
 
Bloodwork to look at histamine levelshigh histamines in the brain measured in the blood, but they also look at the symptoms and put it together to determine treatment. Symptoms of high histamine in the brain (measured in the blood): 
 
high risk taking
high sex drive/libido
allergies
prone to drug/alcohol dependency
racing thoughts 
difficulty sleeping
 
Another example is with pyroluria --  there are about 15 symptoms with that, Joe says, but an 'inner tension' is the key one mentioned in this short interview. 
 
Oh, man, was I wishing there was a way to back up this video the way you can on YouTube and listen to that part over again .... so since I had trouble with this part of the video and did the homework to look up just to see what word he was saying, it's likely a good place to interject some information about PYROLURIA.  
 
I chose this topic in the search that came up on the word for me --- as usual, with a link for you to go and encouragement to further investigate at the Primal Body, Primal Mind website, but for YOUsers ease of having the most ease of one stop shopping to get the core overview of a topic like this in one place, I'm bringing the whole topic here, below, for your learning pleasure.  
 
I recognized this resource from previous work I've done so was drawn to it in the Search results BUT mostly LOVED the way the author, Nora Gedgaudas, started this topic at the PBPM website, as it fits PERFECTLY here --- as I've said here, I was thrown off a bit and then thought: "... er... say WHAT?... is that kryloria, or pyroluria he just said?" : 
 
So, the link --- please go see the website and all they have there:
 

Do you have Pyroluria? 

 

Er….say WHAT?

If you’ve never heard of the condition, pyroluria, you’re not alone.  Chances are your doctor hasn’t heard of it either, or isn’t too interested in it, even if he or she does know anything about it.  Why?  Because there are no drugs to treat it.

What is it?

Pyroluria is a genetic metabolic condition long recognized by the field of orthomolecular medicine and orthomolecular psychiatry.  As many as 50% of those with autism, 40% of alcoholics, 70% of schizophrenics, 70% of persons with depression and 30% of persons struggling with ADD may have pyroluria underlying these conditions and make them very difficult to reach with traditional and even holistic therapies.  

But pyroluria isn’t limited to these populations.  As much as 10% of the population may have this metabolic condition and not know it…but may have lifelong symptoms associated with it that tend to worsen with age…and stress.

What are the symptoms?

In general, the symptoms of pyroluria have a mysteriously intractable quality to them and may lead to lifelong issues with severe inner tension, ongoing anxiety, poor stress tolerance (with added stress of any kind making the symptoms worse), digestive issues and difficulty digesting protein, frequent colds and infections, joint pain or stiffness, acne, eczema or psoriasis, mood swings and reactivity, poor short term memory, and a tendency in many to lean towards being a loner…among many other potential symptoms.

I’ve also included a screening tool at the end of this article outlining many of the most common symptoms reported you can use to help you determine whether it is worth additional testing to pursue a more definitive diagnosis.  The test is a simple urine test anyone can order for themselves using the resource I’ve provided at the end of this article.

OK…so what is pyroluria (in more detail)?

During the synthesis of hemoglobin in the body there are waste products generated called kryptopyrroles.  Kryptopyrroles don’t really serve any useful biological purpose and are normally excreted by most of us uneventfully.  In someone with pyroluria, however, these kryptopyrroles don’t get excreted and will tend to build up–even more so under stress of any kind. 

It turns out that kryptopyrroles have a tendency to bind very strongly with things like zinc and vitamin B6, making them largely unavailable to the body…which is a very big problem.  Zinc and B6, of course,  are nutrients critical for the functioning of your entire body and mind–including your digestion, immune system, cognitive functioning and emotions.

Over time deficiencies can really take their toll on the way you feel and function and have serious consequences.  Often people will go for years suffering the effects of pyroluria regardless of what therapies they try or how well they eat.

Pyrolurics also have a greater than normal need for omega-6 fatty acids, particularly dietary arachidonic acid (AA–found readily in eggs, butter, red meat and liver) and the essential fatty acid GLA (gamma linolenic acid– found in supplements like black currant seed oil and evening primrose oil).

The really good news is that once diagnosed, pyroluria is very manageable with the use of disciplined supplementation – typically requiring large doses of zinc and B6 (liquid ionic zinc and a co-enzymated form of B6 known as “P-5-P” tend to work best).  Also typically some supplementation with GLA is also needed, along with a diet somewhat higher in sources of arachidonic acid.  

Sufficiency for zinc can be determined using a “zinc tally” test and B6 sufficiency can be subjectively determined by the return of regular (remembered) dreaming.  The “bad news” is that some ongoing supplementation is needed indefinitely in order for symptoms to remain manageable long term…a small price to pay for real relief. Without appropriate supplementation symptoms ten to return again in a week or two.

With appropriate supplementation and stress management mild cases of pyroluria tend to respond quickly.  More severe cases tend to experience gradual and incremental improvement over a period of several months.

Additional considerations for the pyroluric include the need for improving digestion and hydrochloric acid status (see chapter on digestion in my book, Primal Body-Primal Mind), avoidance of phytate-containing foods such as grains, legumes and soy, and the susceptibility to heavy metal toxicity from mercury, cadmium and copper. 

Where the restoration of zinc sufficiency is highly resistant one may need to pursue further testing to see if heavy metal toxicity is an issue.

The following includes the most common symptoms associated with the condition Pyroluria.  If you answer “yes” to 15 or more of these then further testing may be worthwhile:

PYROLURIA QUESTIONNAIRE

 1. Little or no dream recall

 2. White spots on finger nails

 3. Poor morning appetite +/- tendency to skip breakfast

 4. Morning nausea

 5. Pale skin +/- poor tanning +/- burn easy in sun

 6. Sensitivity to bright light

 7. Hypersensitive to loud noises

 8. Reading difficulties (e.g. dyslexia)

 9. Poor ability to cope with stress

10. Mood swings or temper outbursts

11. Histrionic (dramatic) tendency

12. Argumentative/enjoy argument

13. New situations or changes in routine (i.e., traveling) particularly stressful

14. Much higher capability and alertness in the evening, compared to mornings

15. Poor short term memory

16. Abnormal body fat distribution

17. Belong to an all-girl family with look-alike sisters

18. Dry skin

19. Anxiousness

20. Reaching puberty later than normal

21. Difficulty digesting, a dislike of protein or a history ofvegetarianism

22. Tendency toward being a loner and/or avoiding larger groups of people

23. Stretch marks on skin

24. Poor sense of smell or taste

25. Feel very uncomfortable with strangers

26. Frequently experience fatigue

27. A tendency to overreact to tranquilizers, barbiturates, alcohol or other drugs (in other words, a little produces a powerful response)

28. A tendency toward anemia

29. History of mental illness or alcoholism in family

30. Easily upset by criticism

31. Sweet smell (fruity odor) to breath or sweat when ill or stressed

32. Prone to acne, eczema or psoriasis

33. A tendency toward feeling anxious, fearful and carrying lifelong inner tension

34. Difficulty recalling past events or people

35. Bouts of depression or nervous exhaustion

36. Prone to frequent colds or infections

Again, if you have answered yes to 15 or more of these then consider testing further using a urinary screening test for the presence of elevated kryptopyrroles via Bio Center Lab in Wichita, Kansas (Phone: 316-684-7784 or 1-800-494-7785). Here is their website for more information. Pyrroles 1 Collection Test Info.

Testing for this condition is simple, relatively inexpensive and readily accessible to anyone without a prescription.

NOTE:  It’s important that a clear laboratory diagnosis is determined before attempting high dose supplementation with zinc and/or B6.  Working closely with a qualified health care provider knowledgeable about this condition is strongly suggested.

For additional reading or research:  ..........

AGAIN, the link to this website's topic on this .. PLEASE GO.... is www.primalbody-primalmind.com/do-you-have-pyroluria/

 

 (Above information with additional paragraph breaks added by me due to our YOUsers often having functional brain/learning differences with smaller visual chunks beneficial.)


Excerpts/highlights that I thought would be great to feature here from the About Nora information:

It all started in a hospital in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on June 10th, 1961…

I was raised in a prominent medical family, steeped from the get-go in sciences and obsessed even as a small child with interests in biology (I was reading and absorbing advanced college textbooks on invertebrate zoology at the age of 7). Both my parents were Lithuanian immigrants who had first moved to Munich, Germany, then Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada before finally moving to and settling in St, Paul, Minnesota. My father was a world renowned radiologist (his department at the University of Minnesota hospital was the first in the country to obtain full-body CAT-Scan and MRI due to his influence). He was president of the Roentgen Ray Society, Chair and Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota medical school in its hey-day. He has a wing of a medical library there named after him. He literally wrote the book on Radiological Cardiology. He passed away on July 25th, 2006 of a sudden heart attack. My older sister also went on to become a radiologist and she and her radiologist husband are in medical practice in Atlanta, GA. I became acquainted first-hand with the conventional medical paradigm and mind-set at the earliest possible age and learned very well what it meant to be part of that system. As the most science-oriented child in the family and the most like my father in many ways, I was fully expected to follow suit into the field of medicine.

My parents dutifully and with considerable discipline followed what the medical establishment had advised them was a “heart healthy diet” and they endeavored to eat foods that were low fat, low sodium and cooked with only vegetable oils and margarine. They both exercised daily. Neither was ever overweight. My mother (a former “prima ballerina” with the Kirov Ballet) had cancer twice–managing to survive both bouts, many years apart, severe arthritis,spinal degeneration and osteoporosis, and suffered depression and instability issues. My father suffered undiagnosed (but obvious) depression for years, had his gallbladder removed (along with a massive, mysterious abdominal cyst), high blood pressure, severe prostate enlargement and surgery, a silent heart attack and cardio myopathy, a kidney transplant, a large aneurism on his aorta that needed surgical intervention, a couple of bouts of skin cancer and, finally, suffered a massive and fatal heart attack. Clearly, the dictates of the AMA and USDA food pyramid had not led either of them down the primrose path to greater health and vitality. The best that medicine and its conventional philosophy was able to do was keep them patched up as things fell apart along the way.

My earliest passion for diet and nutrition began back in about 1978 as a college student while in a university pre-med program. My interest in the subject of nutrition magically sparked through a series of serendipitous events and I became a voracious reader on the subject, devouring volumes and volumes of carefully selected sources of information I thought would give me the strongest and most solid scientific background.

 
.......
A new found passion for information and answers led me to the field of Neurofeedback–a scientific and non-invasive process designed to restore healthy timing to the brain and nervous system. Though it is a much longer story, suffice it to say that after Neurofeedback session #2 all those life-long feelings of helplessness and hopelessness simply evaporated and never returned. Forty sessions later I was immeasurably transformed…and utterly prepared to devote whatever it took to become the best Neurofeedback practitioner I could possibly be. I studied with the most talented, passionate, gifted and deeply humanistic leaders and scientists in the field of Neurofeedback, Dr. Siegfried and Susan Othmer. My profound regard and respect for these two human beings and their incredible work has only deepened and grown over many years. Twelve years later (still depression, anxiety and panic-attack-free) I continue to practice Neurofeedback very successfully in conjunction with nutritional therapy as a means of bettering the lives of hundreds of individuals. It is the most rewarding and gratifying work I can imagine.

One thing I have learned, however, is that all the best quality Neurofeedback training in the world cannot put a nutrient there that is not there and cannot override some toxic or offending substance that doesn’t belong. The brain and the body need certain raw materials in order to function. I have consistently found that where there is an issue with poor quality of diet that Neurofeedback is nowhere near as effective or lasting in effect. As time goes on, new research emerges in the field of nutritional science and my understanding of the workings of functional processes deepens, the more important and prominent a role diet and nutrition plays in my approach to addressing the health and well being of my clients. Today I fervently believe that at least 70% (or more) of all mental and physical ills can be prevented or reversed with appropriate diet and nutrients. Neurofeedback is the powerful synergist that resets the timing mechanisms and phase relationships in the brain so that flexibility of functioning is restored and the nervous system’s stress-threshold is considerably raised. With healthy dietary practices in place, I expect my clients to go on to lead happy and fulfilled lives, no longer in need of my services. I am happy to report that the feedback I get from many of them years later remains positive and inspiring. I LOVE the work I do.

 

This brings me to today…and to a book that I have written that was more than 10 years in the making. It is the culmination of more than 25 years of dedicated personal research and understanding that was uncontaminated by the varied agendas of educational, economic or political institutions. From the beginning I have sought the truth. I intentionally avoided conventional interpretations of that truth, as I am inherently mistrustful of the “agendas” of conventional paradigms. By seeking out the least “mainstream” sources of quality, science-based information I was able to think outside the confusing and economically-driven mainstream box. I have sought to understand the most foundational principles and aspects of what makes us all function…and dysfunction. My understanding of diet and nutrition stems from a solid insight into the fundamental workings of human physiology (something mainstream medicine has forgotten…or forsaken) and our evolutionary history. I believe that real restoration of health can come ONLY with a restoration of a healthy foundation…and that prevention (as opposed to passive dependency on available treatments) is key to our long term survival and longevity. I believe in self-empowerment of individuals and I believe that total health is our Primal birthright.

It’s why I do what I do and what has brought me here. It is an honor for me to share all of this incredibly important, life transforming information with you.

To your total health and well being,

Nora T. Gedgaudas, CNS, CNT 


AND I got a LOT out of following the link that Nora has in this topic, which is an interview with Julia Ross, author of The Diet Dure and The Mood Cure. Julia's clinic for treating people with various types of disorders is in the hills outside San Francisco and she and Nora just speak the same language and flow well -- I encourage YOUsers to find / schedule time to listen if these things are seeming applicable to YOU. (Julia's in the first half, the second half is about neurofeedback and has an equally interesting guest --- Nora G's got some GRATE stuff!).... so here's that information / link 

 
 

 

 
 
Back to more of the interview at the Inner Balance website with Dr P:
 
Diet has a huge part in the IBHC program. 
The way the person's genetics are expressed is determined by the food the person eats. This is very powerful.
You really are what you eat and what you eat really can control everything about your health .. or your disease .. It can be managed through your nutrition and can create amazingly positive results. 
 
Traditional rehab programs that do not address diet are missing out on one of the most powerful tools ..... and if they let their patients continue with sugar and junk and caffeine are continuing to perpetuate and promote the biochemical imbalances... they're missing key nutrients too, and it perpetuates the problem. 
 
And they go back to the brain chemistry again -- by understanding the imbalances of neurotransmitters, particularly
 
dopamine
serotonin
GABA
 
And how they address this through pharmaceutical grade amino acids.
 
Some of the drugs people take ---  amphetamines, cocaine, methamphetamine --  and are addicted to deplete the dopamine receptors, which can take weeks to regenerate if the person is drug-free. If the addict doesn't go back to the cocaine or meth, the patient can not well, with cravings and depression. So they address it with amino acids given in IV or capsules to make a person feel better and end the craving and depression. 
 
GABA is a neurotransmitter, when someone is low in it, they'll feel anxiety. We know this, they've studied this ... medications like Valium , Librium, and the benzodiazapines are used conventionally as they work on the GABA receptors.  
 
Inner Balance program uses the natural GABA itself, in capsules, or L-glutamine (amino acid) which converts "very nicely" to GABA in the brain and reduces the cravings for alcohol. 
"We believe a majority of the cravings come from anxiety."
 
As for serotonin - triptophan and 5-HTP can replace, in a natural way, the serotonin very quickly, so we use these natural, pharmaceutical grade supplements relative to helping balance serotonin levels. 
 
They elaborate on: When you restore the proper chemical balance the person will not only be free of their addiction, the mood disorders will go away, they'll feel good and have good energy and be healthy again.
 
Why do people relapse? 
Traditional rehab doesn't address the underlying problems, so all the biochemical imbalances setting the person up for the addiction are still there influencing them ... 
 
Joe E goes over the information this way:
When someone comes into rehab programs or otherwise stops using they feel 2 on a 10 scale.  After traditional treatment a person might be at a 5/6 -- they'll feel better and 'good' by comparson, but from a traditional program they'll (more often than not) stay sober for a period of time but eventually go back to the alcohol/drug to self-medicate. 
 
At their clinic, they went the person to be at an 8/9/10 and do that by treating the biochemical imbalances in the system. Hence the improved rate of success they have. 
 
About "addictive personality".
They believe it's different, not a genetic factor or trait that is different from other individuals. 
They use this example (Joe E again): A leg is broken but never repaired, that person is seeking out ways to alleviate the pain in their leg. In an addict they're in pain because of this (underlying biochemical out of balance..... ) illness and they get in habits of things they've found how and  seek out to feel better.
 
Often they've had these imbalances before they started doing the substance -- alcohol, illegal drugs, prescription drugs.  "Any normal human being, if they had that kind of pain (discomfort), they'd seek things to alleviate it." 
 
The Inner Balance approach to biochemical renewal/restoration takes time --- for these things
 
  • Progress monitored by board-certified physician and the clinical staff. 
  • Classes taught by the clinic staff -- clients learn how to manage stress without lying on drugs or alcohol. They focus on positive problem solving. 
  • There are group sessions to help clients and their families to transition into the new substance-free lifestyle
  • Their research has found their clients are 2-3x more likely to achieve sobriety than talk therapy alone. (There is only a 20% success rate for talk therapy alone). 
Joe E. elaborates on how the IB program recognizes the clients are giving up something very important in their life. They've given up jobs, families, health to be in this relationship (with the drug).... Yes, it's destroying their life, but it also makes them feel better. So they're giving up something very important .... so they have to work through the phases of grief. 
 
Denial - "I'm glad it's out of my life I never want to see it again" but they actually would like to be a social drinker ... So we help them see that's okay
 
Anger - They can't be in a relationship with alcohol and be around friends drinking and going to parties, so they have a lot of anger ... 
 
Bargaining -- they're not "using" the substances but they might hang out with people around it or keeping it in the home to serve to others, and many other ways to hold onto that relationship with alcohol. They can stay in this phase the longest sometimes, because they maybe feel the next phase coming, which they can feel really lost without having the sustance in their life.
 
So if they keep talking about these phases and the feelings connected through all these phases, they'll work through to the next phase which is acceptance -- they can't use, they can't drink, and then acceptance that they'll go through these phases for coming years and maybe forever, with less intensity. 
 
It's just like if someone lost a loved one. Maybe 20 years after their dad died they'll be fishing and think about the dad and those feelings come back up, but it's not as intense as it was 20 years before. It's the same thing with an alcoholic or addict.
 
They show video of more biking, this time on city trails while the voiceover elaborates on how it is their experience that after actively living a healthier lifesyle for five weeks people can go on successfully. Therefore their program is a 34 day program with ongoing support for an additional 12 months. It's designed to be an outpatient experience but there is a house at Cattail Creek Inn -- casual elegance, on a golf course with various rooms ..views of Rocky Mountain NP to west and Lake Loveland to the east.  (if you're wanting all the details, please watch the video, I'm just transcribing the nuts and bolts and adding a few of my interpretations here for YOUsers to read.)
 
Regular exercise plays an important part -- they include a full membership at nearby Orchards Athletic Club for the time of their stay... pool, raquetball courts, weight room. 
 
Golf at two nearby courses - Cattail Creek and the Olde Course at Loveland. 
The Benson Sculpture Park nearby. "One of the most unique sculpture parks in the nation." 
 
Lake Loveland and Park -- horseshoes, fishing, boating, etc. 
 
Then we hear new voices -- first an endorsement statement from a male client who had been in treatment at another center seven years before. "In my opinion this is the very best thing you can do." Show up here ready to do what they're going to ask you to do ..... 
 
A woman who talks about her long bout with depression, and coming here was the only hope she'd had in many years. She's talked to a lot of people thinking of coming to the program and always tells people 'how much is the rest of your life worth?' and 'to what degree are you suffering at this point?' and says "It was priceless for me to get reconnected with me and my life."  (as long as I've gotten to the end .... the # is 877 900 QUIT (7848). Inner Balance Health Center logo rolls, and then Willoughby Productions, Fort Collins, MMV copyright.) (2010)

 

 

__________________

Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!

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Weston A Price Foundation's Joanie Blaxter Interview at YouTube
There's a real nice, concise but informative viceo at YouTube that's from OurVentura dot com, as in Ventura, California (USA), which has only been there about a month and I was about the 50th viewer. I hope to help that number increase by posting about it here. Here's the link: www.youtube.com/watch
 
YOUsers who read around the Forums will find that in 2012 I became a 'fan' of the Weston A Price Foundation's way of looking at things to do with nutrition (and other things related to health, such as anything dental --- and now we see it's mental too!).  The video is titled Helping People Off Addictions Through Nutrition.  It was published Feb 24, 2014, and the website for OurVentura is http://www.ourventura.com. Here's the description at YouTube:   

Joanie Blaxter speaks about helping people recover from drug and alcohol addictions through healthy food, supplements and nutrition, instead of changing their biochemistry through more drugs. 

Blaxter is the Ventura Chapter Leader of the Weston A. Price Foundation, which is a nonprofit, tax-exempt nutrition education foundation.

She also discusses adrenal exhaustion, serotonin deficiencies and especially pyroluria, including a simple nutritional remedy, which includes use of vitamin B6 and zinc. 

Scientists know that serotonin is involved in making people with depression feel sad, but not exactly how.

Pyroluria could be described as the abnormal synthesis and metabolism of the oxygen carrying molecule in blood, called hemoglobin. Pyroluria inhibits zinc and vitamin B6, as well as other nutrients, rendering these unavailable to your body.

Blaxter emphasizes the importance of animal fat in health, stating that it's fat that stabilizes blood sugar levels.

She further states that it's not fat that makes people overweight, it's carbs and sugars.

She also touches on cortisol and its relation to the adrenal gland. Cortisol is a hormone that aids stress response and has many other important functions.

The Weston A. Price Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt charity founded in 1999 to disseminate the research of nutrition pioneer Dr. Weston Price, whose studies of isolated nonindustrialized peoples established the parameters of human health and determined the optimum characteristics of human diets. Dr. Price's research demonstrated that humans achieve perfect physical form and perfect health generation after generation only when they consume nutrient-dense whole foods and the vital fat-soluble activators found exclusively in animal fats.

The Foundation is dedicated to restoring nutrient-dense foods to the human diet through education, research and activism. It supports a number of movements that contribute to this objective including accurate nutrition instruction, organic and biodynamic farming, pasture-feeding of livestock, community-supported farms, honest and informative labeling, prepared parenting and nurturing therapies. Specific goals include establishment of universal access to clean, certified raw milk and a ban on the use of soy formula for infants.


 

If you're interested in and article Joanie Blaxter has written about pyroluria, she invites people to email her at wapfventura@gmail.com. 

The article will tell the reader how to get in touch with a laboratory to find out if you have it and a list of providers who can help advise about what to do about it. I liked the way she was interviewed, as the man doing the interview is open and honest about his level of knowledge and Joanie does a very nice job of explaining it in a low key, but thorough way. And he even asks about eating chocolate ..... 

Please also consider accessing the link to the "pyroluria/many names causing many things" topic in Lumigrate's Environmental Illness/Wellness forum as there are other resources on that thread for DIY laboratory testing, pointing the way to consulting services that work with people in the US and beyond via the phone or email, product provider ideas, etc.  That link is: www.lumigrate.com/forum/pyroluria-kryptopyrroluria-kpu-or-hemopyrrollactamuria-hmu-many-names-causes-connections . (And here is a link in that topic to bring people here, as I credit the addiction question/issue someone asked me for someone seeking treatment in Colorado with having me go to the InnerBalance website and hearing the pyroluria word and information and thus creating these new topics for our YOUsers). 

__________________

Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!

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New Terms for the Same Concepts - Histamine, Methylation, Pyrole

This is an excellent article to read from an experienced and thoughtful psychiatrist who has been using the various tools of the trade --- and I appreciated having found it and the helpfulness of explanations of the old terms and new terms for the same thing.  This actually came up for me when using the Search words "Type A" with these other words such as pyroluria, methylation and etc.  

www.balancingbrainchemistry.co.uk/40/histapenia-histadelia-under-methylation-Pyroluria.html

Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! ~ Mardy

__________________

Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!

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Pam Killeen - Author of Addictions: The Hidden Epidemic also WAP

Health and wellness coach Pam Kileen is yet another gem I found by digging around where I might find a good 'root'... the One Radio Network website.  A 2010 interview by the wonderful interviewer Patrick Timponi with Author Pam Killeen about addictions branched out into all kinds of information -- dental / tooth loss and how difficult it is to restore bone growth once it's damaged from improper diet for that person's needs, for instance --  allowed me to see the breadth of her knowledge and she was just 'point on' with what I believe to be the information to be getting into our heads and wrapping our heads around!

So I really wanted to add her to the Lumigrate topic about addictions so our YOUsers are aware of her consulting services, other books, website resources, etc.  

Here's the link to the ORN topic where I 'discovered her'.  And below it will be the written information there so you see what they had to say about Pam there.   This became a TWO PART interview, so it's 2 hours (plus has their commercials which are very informative and easy to listen to, I think).  I thought it was well worth BOTH hours and hope you find it to be so as well.  

oneradionetwork.com/health/from-the-archives-pam-killeen-addictionthe-hidden-epidemic-september-15-2010/


 

Author of Addiction: The Hidden Epidemic: Common Sense Solutions for our #1 Health Problem

In the book, Pam writes about Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and how almost everyone today is sedated into compliance through various drugs, especially the legal ones! Addiction and mood disorders are the proverbial “elephant in the room.” People don’t like to talk about them.

Since substance abuse is our #1 health problem, it’s crucial to start talking about it so that we can find effective ways to resolve this problem.

Pams’ book includes interviews with some very progressive therapists who are using nutritional protocols, along with psycho-spiritual approaches, to help cure both mood disorders and addiction.

Pam Killeen is the co-author of the New York Times bestselling book, The Great Bird Flu Hoax (2006) and author of Addiction: The Hidden Epidemic (2010)

 

Website: http://pamkilleen.com/


 

Unfortunately they didn't do an overview of what's included at the interview and this will require my time to come back and listen to the interview and do the overview and transcribe the parts that I think are the most relevant for Lumigrate YOUsers to be able to look over, refer back to, etc. 


After calling Pam's number, she returned my call very promptly and we had a very good conversation.  She's such a great fit for Lumigrate YOUsers -- she expects people to show up 7 days a week, 365 days a year and get through all the information she has to teach them and has a contract formalizing things and she says turns several people away every week because they aren't a fit for her method.  I tell people all the time my method is not for everyone but for those who it appeals to, and we work together, we get results.  Always. (To whatever extent we do is largely up to their efforts, naturally, I hope I bring my A game all the time.) 

So this is worth sharing here, the followup she sent me: 

Hello Mardy, It was nice speaking with you today. You might be interested in going through some of the following links:

1) http://www.liveto110.com/78-heal-adrenal-fatigue-pam-killeen/


2) Scroll down to hear this one too -- http://michealhilton.com/how-to-kick-start-your-vitality-and-happiness/


3) Here is an interview I've done about the Five Prongs of my program, Nutritional Balancing -- http://www.pamkilleen.com/app/download/7175343604/FiveProngsPamKilleen.mp3


4) Here is an article I've written about the nutritional aspects of my program -- http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/nutritional-balancing-basics/


5) Here's my YouTube seminar, How To Fix a Broken Brain -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Viwlh9o2VPk


Keep up the great work!
Best,
Pam

Transcription of the first of the two-part interview (general transcription/overview as much as I could catch and also simplify it for reading). THIS IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION SO CHECK BACK UNTIL THIS IS GONE AND UNTIL THEN KNOW THAT THIS IS YET TO BE COMPLETED AND certainly GO LISTEN to the PODCASTS.  It's a very easy interview to listen to. Naturally, they're here to really focus on the book that was new in 2010 (there's another new one out new in Kindle (and other devices can download Kindle important to note) about addictions more focused away from things such as drugs and alcohol, such as sex).  The book this interview is focused on is

Addiction: The Hidden Epidemic. 

Pam talks about how Aldous Huxley wrote about addiction.  He experimented with drugs to see where the mind will go, he believed in the use of drugs but only under supervision.  Timothy Leary endorsed the use of drugs for experimental use.  Detrimental side effects come from all drugs, she said -- they stunt man, they don't help man 'grow'.  A lot of people studied Timothy Leary's work and believed Aldous Huxley was in the same camp, which isn't the case.  

Once you get a 'hit' of something and your brain likes it .... 

Is there more addiction now than before? We have more things to become addicted to, today.  Thousands of drugs on the market, for one thing (which is just the drug facet of addiction) and then also  we have a pro-addiction diet.  We see huge rates of depression, and depression is one of the leading causes of addiction.  So other activities or drugs are turned to in order to make people feel better.  Since we're talking about mood disorders and addictions  .... it's like the elephant in the room. 

This generation of children is very much at risk.  

Patrick asks about how many people are with addiction problem.  In the US and Canada she states it's about 10% that are struggling with addiction to drugs.  Due to the other addictions, such as 2 million in the US with gambling addiction, she cites, it's very problematic to our society. 

People she's working with who are taking a biochemical approach to addiction, so when a person with addiction comes to them they test for neurotransmitter deficits, for heavy metal deficiency, thyroid disorder, adrenal, blood sugar problems .......

Once you identify these deficiencies and problems, you can go in and treat them. The addictions are minimized or disappear. 

They're doing the standard psycho-social and spiritual in these treatment programs too, but talk therapy alone does not work, and there are cravings going on, so this brings in the biochemical and is more effective.  

It's also a blood sugar issue, Patrick says.  She says it's particularly the case where alcoholism is concerned.  Patrick says how low the number seems, 10% for drug addiction (which includes alcohol).  (I agree!)

What the therapists in her book do to see fastest results is amino acids therapy.  They can target the neurotransmitters that are depleted, then you can give them the correct amino acids to

Example: Triptophan is an amino acid that feeds the neurotransmitter serotonin.  Serotonin is a feel-good neurotransmitter. With depletion, you'll feel depleted about life, sad and no robustness of life.  You might gravitate to a substance to superficially boost the serotnonin but your body will then rely on that substance to make yourself feel better.  Alcohol is asked about.... 

GABA neurotransmitter in the brain has to do with sleep and gets messed up, and that has to do with sleep. 

It's a very comprehensive approach.  They sit down and have three square meals a day in order to regulate blood sugar.  Historically when we were eating 3 square meals a day we were healthier.  And some people today don't even know what a 'square meal' is.  

Before WW2, it was before the marketing people and scientists came in and scared us about fats or etc., and then in the 1970s it was really getting more common and that's when more of these mood disorders started.

70% of people don't even seek care for depression and it's not all 'stigma' it's that the people don't want to take the things that are offered from conventional treatment.  A lot of these people have to turn to something to feel better so they self-medicate.

Westin A. Price Foundation is talked about, and the fats ... our brains need certain fatty acids and these are found in animal foods.  We evolved eating animal foods.  If we just ate plant foods we'd still be monkeys and gorillas, so to get our brains to develop to where we are today we had to eat animal foods.  

The healthiest people he saw were eating fish and shellfish.  DHEA is critical for the construction of your cell membranes.  So getting the fatty acids make the cell membranes structurally sound.  The problems occur with the weakened membranes of the cells.  

Grass fed chickens and beef and buffalo and lamb... as we migrated inland, and we also started eating wild game because it was high in these crucial fatty acids.  When you take these animals and factory farm them instead of being wild then that changes the fatty acids they have.

They customized their own science... the marketing-based science is discussed relative to the way products were marketed to the public like hydrogenated fats, margerines.  100 years ago we'd eat about 18 pounds of butter a year, and today we're eating 5 pounds of butter a year. The displacement of these good fats. To have shelf stability for products ... they're not in their for our health, they're profitable, they're shelf-stable.   

Zinc deficiency is not pretty, it is not something you want, and it's very difficult to correct it without eating meat. Zinc is crucial for neurotransmitter creation

Zinc deficiency will affect digestion

She puts people on supplements for 3 to 6 months depending upon how sick they are, it restores things by bringing the biochemistry back into things. Get the diet corrected .. "I want them to use food".... and then they don't need supplements anymore.  

Protein is made of amino acids. If you don't have enough zinc in your diet you won't produce enough hydrochloric acid.  Salt is crucial for producing hydrochloric acid.  So if you're eating enough protein --- through three square meals -- complete protein from animal sources -- you'll have enough amino acids to target the neurotransmitters.  You'll have enought fuel for the fire, so to speak. 

The salt phobia is discussed (similar to we'd been lead to fear fat at other times, etc.)

Highly processed salt such as what's on the tables at restaurants, like Mortons brand, is sodium chloride and it will throw off your potasium and other things. 

Proper / good/ real  sea salt will have 80 minerals in it. 

You don't want to stay on hydrochloric acid ongoing, but you might need it to start to absorb amino acids -- which leads to better neurotransmitter production and then sleep, like Patrick saw as a result of taking it.  "It's a chain of events" Pam says.  

She talks about how she used to believe everything contrary to the establishment at first.  Then you do some digging and you see you weren't getting the whole story.  She spent years digging and traveling and interviewing people who get REAL results .... 'we can't afford to ignore them'.  It's a lot of work to get well.   By the time they come to her, they've spent so much money and time on other things, they're ready to work and get results. 

She teaches 30 hours of classes to get people to understand the fundamental diet information. 

Because of the systems we have learned from, they're looking often for a 'silver bullet', like a pill (whether supplement or medication) and that's just not how it happens.  

Society is constantly trying to get us addicted to something --- cell phones, video games, sex, drugs, rock and roll.  Addiction is "customers for life", Pam says.  So the more we turn to substances, the easier we are to control.  In South America the coca plant is still used to control workers.  

Caffeine can cause depression and anxiety; it depletes the body of B vitamins of neurotransmitters, it is in the literature.  And the mental health providers inside the box/system are not getting their patients off of caffeine. 

"Marketing-based science" (instead of evidence-based science) -- if you're a healthy person and your adrenal glands are healthy, you can have some coffee without bad effects. But if you're having depression or fatigue then you'll not want to.  It's really great if you have an exam or something, but shouldn't be used on a regular basis.   

Coffee is a stimulant. If you wake up and, to get the "brain fog out", you're feeling that way because you stressed your adrenal glands the day before and if that was from caffeine then you're, in essence, in withdrawal.  It may make you grumpy and irritable.  You might not sleep well.  80 (or 85) % of the population is using caffeine on a daily basis.  It can have serious consequences when it comes to your mood and sleep.  

Headaches can be from withdrawal too, and from caffeine use. 

Patrick said he, like anyone, can go down the garden path with addictions and mentions 'addictive 'personality'', but he likes to pay attention to a spiritual approach. He says that if he feels he 'needs' to have caffeine that is when he WON'T do it, but to have some as a treat with some cacao as they do in one of his groups, he has it then.   

Pam answers that since the dawn of civilization, we've been curious and drawn to experimenting or to seek out pleasure. Now it's become an epidemic and it's crippling society.  It's 1/2 a trillion $s a year in the US economy .. health care, productivity, all things associated with substance abuse.  In the health freedom world where you and I work ... we think it's all about cancer, heart disease and diabetes and it's ultimately also addiction.  

Having 3-4 Starbucks a day just to get through the day was used as an example. When we started drinking coffee in the Western world, such as during the industrial revolution, we'd have had a small cup 1-2 x a day.  Pam had heard that certain coffee chains increase the nicotine in the coffee they serve... (yes, nicotine, I didn't mistype that! She said a 'little birdie' had told her that once and she'd not looked into it though). 16 oz cups of coffee people having now ... and it's really devastating to the immune system. 

Clear cut coffee plantations in South America are very problematic.  Coffee was meant to grow in the shade, not the sun.  

The other reason she wrote Addiction: The Hidden Epidemic is that we already have a huge problem and now this new generation is very much at risk for addictions --- they're addicted to carbohydrates, loading up on caffeine .. the % that are going to be diagnosed with a mental disorder of some sort is 20%. (NOTE, that is going to be that have sought or gotten a diagnosis which is way less than what would be found if you randomly sampled and appropriately screened/tested/diagnosed). 

Patrick talks about 8 year olds having a cell phone. She talks about the materialistic society we have now.  Limited media in old days went to an explosion of media, and it has taken away from close contact and times with friends and family. 

For our little ones, they have to start out the mornings stabilizing their blood sugar.  Bacon and eggs -- don't be afraid of that.  High quality animal protein, don't be afraid of animal fat. Sourdough bread if you want, because it's more easily digested in the digestive track.  Butter is good, slap it on, she says.  

A lot of nutritional deficiencies happen at lunch, the kids might not get complete proteins and animal fats.  Make a roast on Sunday and use that on the sandwich so they're getting a good amount of animal protein.  Whole milk adds in extra nutrients, even though they've done such a good job of demonizing dairy -- "I was mislead on that one in the past too", she says.  

On her website, she has links to articles that describe meal plans. 

End of interview hour 1, now onto hour 2 ---- they continue ..... 

Patrick directs the conversation to talk about rows of patented medicines you'll find walking into a drug store, and asks about addiction with them ... in some it's a psycyological addiction for it to have a power over our health, or with vaccines thinking it has this power over our immune system when in fact it is a flawed science.  What they have is better than nature is what they promote, and what they've done over the last 50 or 60 years.  

After the second world war the chemical companies came into power .. pesticides, pharmaceutical industry.  Thos entities were the sign of 'progress' and if we rejected them it was rejecting progress.  But people are now seeing things differently as we're seeing that we're seeing we're sicker now than when these things appeared on the marketplace.   "Living better through chemistry" or science was a saying that was put out by marketing people that Patrick makes reference to. 

Sherylynne called in from Toronto to comment and offer a little story that proves everything that Pam's saying is absolutely correct.  She'd become a vegetarian and remained one for 13 years and really harmed her health and that of her children.  She'd become vegetarian two years before her first child was born. She became a carbotarian she called it, and gained a lot of weight.  She also ruined her teeth -- she had very good oral health before that, her first cavity at 15, a total of 5 in her whole life to this time and being a vegetarian whe thought put it over the edge, she got severe gum disease.  She had thyroid issues, etc.   Chronic infections in her gums, bone problems and now is having teeth extracted, unfortunately (five so far). She'd  referred to having straight, pearly white teeth before, and how Westin A Price would have been very pleased by her teeth. 

Pam says that when she works with 'recovering vegetarians', doing hair analysis, you can see the body is not right with copper balance.  She'd interjected that Sherylynn's symptoms indicated copper toxicity.  It's reversible fortunately and then the gums heal and the bones heal, Pam said.  

Copper toxicity is elaborated upon by Pam: The body's not using the copper, it'll be in the hair, it becomes such a toxic level in the body that to save the body, the body starts storing it in the tissues and you don't use it -- you'll see the bleeding gums bone degeneration, aches and arthritic pains, Pam teaches those listening.  She uses the hair analysis and then supplements (initially) to remove the copper and doesn't use EDTA chelation therapy in her approach to rectify issues, as she believes it can be very dangerous, but rather uses the opposite / "antagonistic" minerals to push out the metals that are in excess and bring the ratios where they need to be.  

Another student of Dr Westin A Price was another dentist, Dr Melvin Page, who confirmed Dr Price's research, and then saw that as we displaced the nutrient-dense animal foods and started eating more of the processed foods, what was seen was a change in the calcium - phosphorus ratio. And he and other dentists have seen that you do get this degeneration in the teeth when the calcium/phosphorus ratios change, and that happens very commonly, especially with vegetarians and vegans.  

Without copper being available you can't take the calcium into the bone,  it's a synergy of things that goes on. With the balance of the calcium and and phosphorus being off even after going back to animal foods it can be "many many years" to get things rebalanced correctly, and she does hair analysis to see where people are at with things. 

Copper antagonists include things like zinc.  Someone can try to balance their copper or bring it down by taking zinc, but it's very tricky and there's more than meets the eye.  She uses supplements that are very targeted and specific. (Mardy's note: When I spoke with Pam by phone I emphasized that this is one area I really insist people get someone on their team to help guide them. A lot of nutrition things people can learn on their own if they put in the time but this stuff is very complicated and can wreak havoc if not done properly.) 

Sherylynne talks about how difficult it is to turn things around with advanced gum disease, and she was using pulsed electric frequencies to try to get the bone building and has a good holistic dentist.  Once you have 14 mm pocketing and recession, and food getting into the pockets it's very difficult to get things turned around. (Mardy's note, I thought about the EMF-educators who have noticed that ALS appears to them to have a connection with electromagnetics, and reflected on just how much there is to research when a person gets into a complex medical situation such as Sherylynn has with her oral health problems). 

Pam suggested high vitamin butter oil mixed with cod liver oil; Westin A Price would see the bones build back when people used this. Eating lots of butter was also a suggestion of Pam's.  Patrick asks about fermented cod liver oil, but sometimes the cost is high, Pam said and it's good to just do the best you can with the funds you have. The caller was doing so much but was reminded by the high vitamin butter oil. 

Your mouth is the window to the body, Pam reminds and goes into the history when Dr Westin A. Price started seeing the degeneration of the oral cavity in the 1920s, he'd treated their parents of these children and they had wonderful dental health and then in one generation they were seeing crooked teeth, narrowing of the jaw, and cavities and so he started looking at primitive tribes and villages and would take pictures of their smiles and then correlate this with their physical and mental health by living with them for weeks.  

They enjoyed wonderful health and few signs of cavities when they were primitive tribes out further from where transportation pathways were for goods.  Then those tribes you'd see the physical degeneration in these more 'westernized' regions of the world.  Now, it's exaggerated beyond belief.  Chronic disease is how most people in the US die.  The more we spend on health care, the sicker people are.

We have this illusion out there that someone else is going to take care of us, and in reality they make profit on us.  The more we become ill (fatigued, depressed), the more dependent we become on the government.  We have to have enough energy and clarity to object to things we might object to in the government or industry so we can progress as a society. And do it rationally.  Now we're going backwards as a civilization (this was a 2010 interview, I remind YOUsers reading this, the momentum is very different in 2015 from my vantage point!).  

Patrick talks about the confusion, the fright, the fatigue that so many people have and they can't get there.  They're angry or brain fogged or brain starved, Pam says, they're angry and anxious and they want to express their anger and they do it in a very inappropriate way. She sees that very commonly, as well.   

So she was glad to see people objecting to G20 when in Canada, but they'd get more progress if they were more savvy in their approaches.  Though the media is very good at sensoring what they cover, she realizes.  

She does things (activism, education) through a very rational, cogent manner and wants to focus on the solution not the problem.  Because it's very difficult for people when it's all fear-based things they're having exposure to.  (She uses radio interviews as an example of her activism.) 

Then they have a good laugh about if they're going to do another bird flu scare that upcoming fall. There are three investigations going on around the swine flu hoax.  One was out of Britain, and it pointed out the conflict of interest in those that were working on the projects.  

She said they have vaccines in the works for cocaine abuse, for laziness -- "they'll create anything they can to make a fast buck."  All the money that goes into vaccine development means they have to sell a lot of the product.  (Mardy's note, please refer to our vaccine thread at Lumigrate, search at the search bar on vaccine plan, vaccine rights, vaccine injury, vaccination animals, dogs, cats, we talk about it all!)

They have to mass market it, they don't keep someone on it for life like with pills, they only do it once ... this is marketed to the public as well through very official looking organizations they create that are part of it. Public health organizations are now involved heavily.  And she doesn't think anyone who goes into public health did it to be helping the vaccine industry.  The industry is scrambling to try to please their shareholders. 

They talk about how few people went to get the last vaccine the programs were trying to get people roped into running out to get it (again, this is a 2010 interview, so that was H1N1, I believe).  Very transparent, very wicked marketing plans is what she says they'll have up their sleeves. Patrick talked about how they'll come up with some outbreak that occurs on an airplane or something like that as an example of the setups they come up with. 

It's a very sophisticated marketing plan they had for the bird flu that she wrote about in the book she co-authored about flu/ vaccines.  Paul for Profit Offit (sp?) is someone that promoted the swine flu 'pandemic', she brings up.  

Patrick talks about a radio show he was hearing where they very calmly said 'it's the start of school, time to get your vaccines'...  

If you really look at the research, it shows that these vaccines are not working.

She refers to a man from Canada she thinks Patrick should have on, name sounds like "Ship-shope-rah", who used to work for Health Canada, and one of his jobs was to work on the vaccines project to approve them, and his book is goign to be about if people need them at all so he's very credible and hopefully people are reading some of the critical voices like  Tenpenny, Mercola, and Barbara Lowe Fisher from the NVIC - National Vaccine Information Center, who has looked into things and are getting the information out. 

We now had filtered and clorinated water, and knew to wash our hands and etc., that's what helped drop the infectious diseases.. We have sanitation and hygiene measures in place.  But when infectious disease went down, the vaccine industry took credit for it, but it was because we had better sanitation and hygiene.  

Many of the illnesses were almost gone already before the vaccines for them hit the market, she said. Dying of an infectious disease today is about 6.7% of the population (in the US). 

It's a real 'bowl of soup' that they put in vaccines, Pam describes it as.  Formaldehyde, mercury. How can these ingredients replace your immune system?  If your mucosal lining or lining of your gut isn't strong, it will wreak havoc on your body .. the vaccine is putting a protein into your blood stream, so we need to do things  that will affect your ability to fight things off, the vaccine doesn't support helping that.

So eat kephir and yogurt, or take probiotics, but she likes to endorse formented foods.  Cheap medicine to make your own.  70 or even up to 80% of the immune system is the actual gut lining.  Dr Shopra's next book she thinks will be a huge threat to the vaccine industry.  shipchopra.com she said was his website.

The paradigm about vaccines just doesn't make sense Patrick said.   

He then does a very nice station break where he talks about the funding of OneRadioNetwork without 'pushy', and he talks about how it's all a big picture thing and works out so if you can't donate, no worries. Then gets back to talking about Pam Killeen .... an email from a woman with adrenal exhaustion. What foods to eat and not was the question. 

Cod liver oil and butter are two of the best to support the adrenal glands, and to get the brain getting enough protein to get the glands and brain. (Mardy's Note, adding onto the bottom, below, about cod liver oil from Price-Pottinger Nutrition Foundation's August 2015 article about cod liver oil, from a historical perspective). 

The foundation is three square meals a day, having nutrient dense meals.  Amazing what happens with fatigue and depression when you start eating this way. Where some people have adrenal exhaustion, they might need a little more.

The most critical thing is first thing in the morning is stabilize the blood sugar and support the adrenal glands, lace the sourdough bread with butter if you want bread and can handle the carbohydrates, and have bacon and eggs .. don't be fat phobic.

Your sleep schedule is usually off with these individuals, with serious insomnia -- she didn't sleep for 12 years when she had chronic fatigue.  And every five waking hours you should have a main meal, and a high animal fat and protein snack in between if you have adrenal fatigue.  Having some fruits and vegetables is okay with every meal if you're eating wholesome meals.  

She's not a huge fan of juicing but that's a whole other subject Pam said.  People with adrenal problems has to be careful with the sugars from juicing, so probably dont' want to do any kind of juicing. It's a lot of sugar in juices, which is hard on the blood sugar (and hence adrenals). 

She recommends to all her students and everyone that they read the book Life Without Bread by Dr Wolfgang Lutz, who was a genius in her mind and had a clinical practice for 40 years as an MD, and if he had people limit themselves to carbohydrates to 72 grams a day is when he saw them having their best results.  She suggests not getting to fixated on counting and formulas, but to do it for a couple of days and get an overall idea of how many grams you're consuming and adjust from there. 

Fasting blood sugar of 85 or below is something Patrick asked about, and Pam said she finds it's difficult to test for blood sugar.  The clinicians in her book would use a five hour glucose tolerance test but the people can get into delirium, angry, dizzy because they're so compromised biochemically (if they're severely hypoglycemic).  She does hair analysis and can see if someone's having trouble digesting carbohydrates  just strictly from looking at minerals and the ratios in the body.  

Patrick reveals he was confused about copper in the hair and how you interpret it -- it's the ratios he and she say/confirm.  

She talks about the MD she consults with on all her cases she takes who has tested on 15,000 people the way they interpret the hair analysis that she is a proponent of.  You can look at the results and see what is hidden in the body.  The lab that is used is ARL -- Analytical Research Lab in Arizona, which is Dr Paul Ekk, (Sp) who studied the work of Dr Hans Selye, who did the foremost research on the adrenal gland.  Dr Ekk was able to figure out the ratios that one of the major things for the adrenal glands is to keep minerals in balance.  So when you start studying his work you realize it's really VERY simple.  

Patrick summarizes, questioningly as if he's not sure he has it right in his mind yet: The adrenal fatigue folks get into problems with depression because the mineral balance is one of the jobs of the adrenals. Pam says "Right, and second to that is that your heavy metals do not get eliminated properly, so where you see autism or chronic fatigue which is also called adult autism .. so I know what autism feels like after the many years I had chronic fatigue.  

So what happens is the adrenals become very weak and they're responsible for dumping heavy metals into the bile, so digestion is very important.  If your adrenals are weak you'll hold onto heavy metals rather than eliminate them.  

Next question is how can we have so many different opinions on how to eat/what is the best diet?

Pam was one of the first people in Toronto to teach how to do wheat grass and sprouts ... and juicing and studied under Ann Wigmore, the grandmother of that movement, and went to the Boston clinci she had before she died, and Pam was a diehard vegan and also went to California to study with Optimum Health Institute, twice, so she really believed in a raw food, vegan diet.

 "It's hard to summarize in a telephone call (interview) but I can tell you that everyone I started a raw food vegan diet with is no longer a vegan, they all developed very serious health problems from that diet. If you look at the work of Marilyn Diamond and her now ex-husband Harvey Diamond who wrote Fit for Life and promoted natural hygiene, they are not longer raw food vegans.  If you look at (another expert I didn't catch the name of to transcribe, Herbert someone I think she said) who was also a founding father of raw food vegan, he went on record to say at home he was not a vegan he ate animal foods." 

Patrick refers to people who promote eating raw animal foods, and Pam says that she knew whose work that is and Patrick said he's a frequent guest on this show, and he said how he likes almost raw meat.  Patrick asks Pam if it's easier to digest than cooked meat and Pam laughs a bit nervously and responded that when you 'gently heat meat', a piece of steak for instance, you soften the proteins and make them then more digestible.  The second effect of eating gently heated meat is that you release more endorphins in the brain because it tastes better and you like it better, and she LAUGHS.... 

Question about a 50 year young woman who was thinking of looking into raw food education to become that professionally.  Westin A Price Foundation dot org is where she suggests people look as people all over teach the concepts; Pam teaches once a year in Toronto.  There are books to become educated through as well, and Pam puts things on her website that she thinks people should look into. She believes in the three square meals now. 

Long term the raw food vegan causes problems but short term there appears to be good results.  All the staff where she went to learn about raw food vegan did NOT follow the diet. It's okay for a week or two weeks but you don't want to stay on it. 

Looking multigenerational is the only way to assess a diet.  Are the babies healthy? Are they fertile (when older), are they mentally healthy kids, are they aging gracefully, so you have to look at many many generations to determine if a diet is healthy.  And when Dr Westin A. Price set out to examine the diets of healthy cultures, he was really hoping he would find a vegan culture that was healthy and he didn't find one.  

But aren't WAP advocates risking putting their eggs in one basket? What if he just made it up? (Patrick asks)

Pam responds: He documented it pretty thoroughly. And also if you look at Sir Robert McHarison and  Robert Stephenson..... not sure if I got those names right) back up the work of Westin A Price.  She writes about them in her book.  

What about the gluten thing?  Patrick said he'd love to eat a piece of sourdough bread but "I'd not poop for about a week" he said.  The gluten thing is tough, he said.  He grew up on pasta and can't eat it now.  

To be continued... 

Agriculture was invented after the last ice age which ended 12,500 years ago, we ate a lot of animal foods, and when we then displaced animal foods for plant based foods.  When we started agriculture you started seeing degneration in the human body.  We shrunk about 6 inches, our brains shrunk, and life span went from 26 years to 19 years -- that happened at the advent of agriculture.  Dr Jarod Diamond documents this and calls agriculture the worst mistake man has made.  Nutrient dense foods were changed. 

Cookies, crackers, bread occurred before the 1800s.  Then in the 1800s, the canning industry occurred. The end of the 1800s you see cracker jack, coca cola, pepsi, condensed milk, a version of margarine was coming up.  1909 was when they invented hydrogenation.  Catapulting from bad to worse, and these nutrient deficient foods was occurring.  

An influx of immigration into the United States cause a problem as the beef industry didn't have enough meat to feed them, so wheat started replacing meat. With  more time and rationing that occured, and then 'the food guide' being around the first world war, and then it progresses  .. ... and 

The less nutritious foods are in the bottom of that now where we are told to eat more of them, and they're less nutrient dense.  Not to say we shouldn't eat them at all, just not in high quantities.  

What we learned is that wheat needs to be soaked and fermented before we use it.  So to  use a quick-rising yeast has created this rather than fermenting the dough.  Some celiacs can tolerate sourdough bread.  Even things like schizophrenia can be reduced or eliminated 

When people have really poor digestion, gluten can be very difficult to digest, even possibly in the form of a sourdough bread.  What people are feeding the animals is what Patrick brings up next.  Pam says it's important to do sustainable agriculture and for people to go to local farms and look at what their practices are.  Lots of people don't have the wherewithall to do all that.  So just do the best you can.  Some chickens get GMO soy fed to them, and she said she gets her milk which is half milk and half cream so she gets all the fat, so it's wonderful.  

A man in Bird In Hand, Pennsylvania Patrick brings up and then Pam cautions him to not say the man's name on the radio because of regulations (and so I did not add the name here but he had said it).  It's safe to eat organ meat raw if it's good quality but there's a way to take organ meat and make a smoothie with tomato juice and spices -- she said it gives a lot of energy.  

Life Without Bread by Wolfgang Lutz is recommended by Pam again.  Carbs are physiologically addictive without question.  They both talk about the Wheaties Patrick was hooked on as a kid and she was raised on sugar she said and told more tales of her upbringing and past diet that she could not eat today.  If you are eating some cereals remember to get some high quality protein in there as well, sausage, eggs, some turkey.  Yogurt if it's high fat is a good breakfast.  You never want to to do low fat, ever, Pam said. 

Lactose intolerance is only about 4% of the population but people become intolerant to dairy from the pasteurization, particularly improvements come from doing raw and if it's fermented.  

He says how she was a blast as they take off and give the information to get people to her website as they head off.  "I love you all very much, it's an honor to be here with you all (listeners), my name is Patrick Timoni." he says in closing. 

And I love YOUsers of Lumigrate so much, I've spent the time to type out the overview/ overall of what was said on this very informative and easy to listen to interview so YOU can READ / refer back and hopefully make CHANGE in your health and that of your family. 

Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! ~ Mardy

 

 

The Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation has this new on August 6, 2015, regarding COD LIVER OIL, and a historical perspective. I feel the challenge for those of us aware of, and subscribing to the information that is conveyed at Lumigrate and the other sources we collect resources from is to incorporate all that we know overall relative to the environmental health information and food sources, combined with this innovative information and then decide what YOU think.

 Things that were safest in the past might not have been safest relatively recently, currently, or going forward.  Things that were not the better choice in the past might be the better choice now. 

blog.ppnf.org/cod-liver-oil-a-historical-perspective/


 

Cod Liver Oil: A Historical Perspective

Mardy's note: GO to the link, above for the great image they have managed to make cod liver look nice!

Oil from the liver of Gadus sp. (particularly G. morhua, or Atlantic cod) has helped humankind for centuries—in the tanning of hides, as a fuel for lamps, in liquid soaps, and even as a base for the red ochre paints frequently used on buildings in the picturesque fishing villages that dot the shores of the northern Atlantic Ocean.

Cod liver and its oil have also long been used as foods in this region, as can be seen in traditional dishes such as Norwegian mølje, made from separately cooked cod flesh, liver, and roe, with drizzles of the fresh oil. The Russian zakuski tables—sumptuous buffets of hors d’oeuvres—often included salat iz pecheni treski, a salad featuring cod liver and its oil. Dishes using various parts of the cod, such as the heads, stomachs, and even the roe stuffed with the livers, were common in Newfoundland, Scotland, Iceland, and other Northern European cultures—with the oil adding flavor and a nutritional boost.

History of Cod Liver Oil as an Internal Remedy

Folklore and tradition tell us that cod liver oil has also been used therapeutically in poultices, salves, and ointments by people indigenous to those areas, and written records document its use in the last few centuries. English doctor Samuel Kay of the Manchester Infirmary is credited with being the first to introduce the internal medical use of cod liver oil (from Newfoundland), around 1776.[1] Thomas Percival and Robert Darbey, also doctors at the infirmary, chronicled its spectacular effects in the treatment of chronic rheumatism, and Percival reported their results to the Medical Society on October 7, 1782. Experiments and observations by other doctors, especially ones in Germany, followed. By the 1830s, cod liver oil was also being used to treat tuberculosis,[2] rickets,[3,4] malnourishment, osteomalacia (softening of the bones), and some eye conditions.[5,6] Its popularity continued to grow in the next century, as the health of the general population improved, no doubt due to a combination of factors, including a better understanding of nutrition and hygiene.

The two world wars hampered the importing and exporting of cod liver oil, resulting in reduced supply throughout the European continent. The precious oil was understood to be a nutritional powerhouse, containing ample amounts of vitamins D and A, that could help with wartime malnutrition in children. In 1943, Pope Pius XI inquired about the possible procurement of Newfoundland cod liver oil “to be kept at [the Vatican’s] disposal so it can be distributed at the end of the war in those regions where the health conditions of poor children demand it.”[7] As a result, six tons of the oil were shipped to continental Europe in 1946.

Author and journalist Mark Kurlansky reports that during World War II, the British Ministry of Food “provided free cod-liver oil for pregnant and breast-feeding women, children under five, and adults over forty…. The British government, believing that the oil had produced the healthiest children England had ever seen, despite bombings and rationing, continued the program until 1971.”[8

Legacy of Dr. Weston A. Price

Today, many health-conscious consumers know cod liver oil to be a valuable nutritional supplement, containing not only vitamins A and D but also omega-3 fatty acids, including eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). For those familiar with the history of the oil, it is inexorably tied to the legacy of Weston A. Price, DDS.

Price traveled the world in the 1930s, searching out indigenous peoples who maintained their traditional diets and comparing their health with that of groups who had been exposed to modern, processed foods.[9] Without exception, those groups who maintained their traditional diets were healthier than their modernized counterparts. One of Price’s important findings was that traditional diets—rich in foods from animal sources, such as eggs, organ meats, dairy products, and fish, with their abundant fat-soluble vitamins and unidentified “activators”—contained much higher levels of vitamins A and D than the modern diets of the US and Europe. To address the shortcomings of contemporary diets, Price recommended nutritional supplementation with cod liver oil, as well as avoidance of processed foods.

Just as myriad uses for cod liver oil have been discovered since the first fish liver was rendered, so have many methods of extracting the oil. Of course, these various processes result in different types of oil. Although Price conducted numerous experiments with cod liver oil, his most well-known published works do not mention specific brands or manufacturing processes. This has left much room for speculation about what type of cod liver oil he used. Fortunately, his unpublished work housed in the research archives of the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation sheds some light on this, as will be discussed later in this article.

Which Type is Best?

Discussion about which process results in the best quality of oil is not new. As early as 1841, questions were being asked about the differences between various types. That year, John Hughes Bennett produced a treatise on cod liver oil, in which he described four types of oil (white, yellow, red, and brown) and their traditional preparation methods.[10] Pale (light-colored) oils—those most commonly marketed for internal use—were obtained by cooking fresh livers with water at low temperatures, after which the oil was strained and filtered. The Scots macerated the livers in cold water, then heated them just until the pale oil separated out. In Ireland, the livers were heated in iron pots, then the pale oil was expressed. The process was repeated with the remains, resulting in a secondary brown oil. Bennett’s inclusion of testimonies on the benefits of cod liver oil from European doctors has been credited with furthering its acceptance among the population at large.

In 1839, Dr. Robley Dunglison, a British-born doctor who became the personal physician to several US presidents and was later known as the “Father of American Physiology,” wrote in his book New Remedies about the introduction of cod liver oil therapy to England.[11] In the first edition, he referred to Thomas Percival’s report,[11] and by the fourth, he had expanded the information, commenting on Dr. Samuel Bardsley’s 1807 published update on the Manchester Infirmary treatment.[12] In 1835, reported Dunglison, a monograph penned by another noted doctor had upheld the experiments and observations of nearly a dozen English and Continental doctors and scientists, showing that cod liver oil was “a remedy of great and specific efficacy” for rheumatism.[12(p457)]

Dunglison described several methods of extraction, one of which involved slicing fresh livers and simply exposing them to the natural warmth of the sun, thus causing the first oil to run out. This is what we would call “extra virgin oil” today and, like olive oil, it was of varying shades of yellow and varying degrees of transparency. The clearest type of oil, wrote Dunglison, was ”more used [as a remedial agent] than the darker variety, although several physicians affirm, that they have found the latter more efficacious.”[11(p339)] He added, “If the livers are running gradually to putrefaction, the oil becomes of a chestnut brown colour…; and, again, after the oil has been obtained by the above methods, some can still be procured by boiling the livers.”[11(p339-340)]

Dunglison explained that the properties of the oil were said to differ among the varieties and stated, “According to Messrs. Gouzee and Gmelin the brightest oil ought to be employed internally; but MM. Trousseau and Pidoux think that the limpid [clear] oil has no medical virtue. They prefer either the second [the secondary pressing, or brown variety], or that which is obtained by ebullition [boiling], and has a disagreeable acrid taste.”[12(p455)]

In 1843, Ludovicus Josephus de Jongh, MD, of The Hague, Netherlands, published a lengthy discourse, titled in English The Three Kinds of Cod Liver Oil, in which he outlined what he understood at the time to be the main differences between three types of oil.[5] He wrote with great specificity of each type and their effects on patients suffering from rheumatic ailments, sciatica, rickets, tuberculosis, diseases of the eye, cardialgia (pain in or near the heart), henicrania (a chronic headache disorder), and a plethora of other health conditions.

The 1895 book Cod-Liver Oil and Chemistry, by Frantz Peckel Möller, PhD, makes the point, however, that de Jongh’s results “were not particularly accurate,” with his measurements of some constituents being 100 times higher than what others found later.[13] “Of course it should be remembered that the analysis of organic compounds was then in its infancy, and the methods he employed were very faulty,” wrote Möller. It should also be remembered that Möller was, at the time, the head of a firm that competed with de Jongh’s cod liver oil company.

De Jongh discovered that much of what was marketed as “cod-liver oil” was adulterated, and some was not cod (Gadus sp.) at all. His book was very detailed in its descriptions of the then-current testing for true cod liver oil. He concluded that some of the finest oil came from Bergen in Norway, and he spoke highly of oils from Newfoundland. He also stated that two of the three types previously categorized (pale and light brown) were actually one and the same—“The light-brown is only a pale oil which has become old.”[5(p80)] In practical terms, this left two types: light or pale oil (usually extracted from fresh livers, using low or no heat) and dark brown oil (from the second pressing or from decomposing livers, or rendered with high heat).

Although de Jongh seemed to prefer the pale oils, he warned that unscrupulous manufacturers could bleach the secondary dark oil to pass it off as the more desirable (and expensive) pale type. His conclusions were not definitive beyond showing that all types of cod liver oil were beneficial in moderate use, with some taken internally and some used as an ointment.

Eventually, de Jongh traveled to Norway to procure and market what he claimed to be the best product available. A pamphlet he published in 1854 sang the praises of the low-heat, steam-extracted light brown oil, leading some reviewers to note that his conclusions may have been prompted by his business venture.[14] Another review of this pamphlet stated bluntly that “in it gross errors and misstatements are put forth.”[15]

Nevertheless, his product was exceptionally successful—so much so that its name lives on today in a humorous Irish folk song popular on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. “Oh doctor, dear doctor, oh Dr. de Jongh, your cod liver oil is so pure and so strong,” cries a husband whose formerly ailing wife is filling his house from floor to ceiling with empty bottles from the cod liver oil she is consuming. “I’m afraid of me life, I’ll go down in the soil, if me wife don’t stop drinkin’ your cod liver oil.”[16]

Processing Methods

Meanwhile, in Norway, chemist Peter Möller (father of Frantz Peckel Möller) invented a steam process for extracting fresh cod liver oil. He built a lined cauldron in which he steamboiled the fresh cod livers, greatly improving the oil’s quality.[17] His invention received many awards in Norway and elsewhere. At the time of his death in 1869, no less than 70 processors were using his steam-rendering method.

However, in 1859, a competitor selling “pale Newfoundland cod liver oil” claimed to have the best product, quoting the assertion of Jonathan Pereira, MD, that “the finest oil is that most devoid of colour, odour and flavour.”[18]

The Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute for 1884-85 sang the praises of Newfoundland’s award-winning cod liver oil, explaining that the oil “from Norway is almost white, being bleached, and supposed by most persons to lose in that process its most beneficial properties.”[19] The pure Newfoundland refined, straw-colored oil was said to be unbleached and used for medicinal purposes.

An 1895 report of cod liver oil manufacturer W. A. Munn’s visit to the Newfoundland factories stated that “as soon as the fish are landed the jelly-like, cream-colored livers are removed and taken to the oil works.”[20] There, the fresh cod livers yielded the medicinal oil, then the residue was pressed to produce tanner’s oil. At the height of the season, with too many fresh livers to process immediately, the account continued, “the livers in excess are placed in barrels and allowed to putrefy in the sun, yielding a dark brown oil which is also used for tanning.”

An 1896 trade publication praised Munn’s Newfoundland refined cod liver oil, made by a freezing process that “produces an article rich in medicinal properties” that “will surpass the Norwegian article.”[21] Much of the Newfoundland product was exported to England, where the taste for cod liver oil continued to grow.

By the end of the 19th century, there was no doubt that cod liver oil was beneficial. The big question, however, remained: Which type held the most benefit?

Vitamin Potency

The early years of the next century saw the identification and isolation of vitamin A, followed shortly by the discovery of vitamin D. Both were found in cod liver oil, and this fact helped shed light on some, but not all, of its benefits. Even modern science cannot fully explain all the interactions and processes that make it so valuable.

Arthur D. Holmes, PhD, reported on the “vitamine potency” of different types of cod liver oil in a 1922 issue of Journal of Metabolic Research.[22] The “vitamine A” content of crude cod liver oil, cold-pressed cod liver oil, and cod liver oil stearin was compared, as were their effects on laboratory rats. Holmes explained that “medicinal cod liver oil is obtained by ‘cold pressing’ high grade crude cod liver oil that has been prepared by rendering fresh cod livers under carefully controlled conditions. By the ‘cold press’ process, about 80% of the crude cod liver oil is converted into ‘pressed oil’ and 20% remains as cod liver stearin, a by-product of low commercial value principally used by soap manufacturers. After the ‘pressed oil’ is filtered it becomes ‘medical cod liver oil’ without further treatment.” These oils, he concluded, were all capable of meeting the vitamin A requirement of the growing albino rats, but he found that the pressed oil had a higher potency. It is worth noting that his “cold pressing” referred to the process of removing the slightly cooled, hardened stearin after the oil was rendered via the steam process.

Four years later, Holmes published an article in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal stating that cod liver oil had been used for two or three hundred years for the treatment of rickets, during which time various theories attributed its success “to its phosphorus or iodide content, to the unusual fatty acids that were liberated during digestion, and to its value as a source of energy.”[23] Currently, he said, it was believed that cod liver oil was largely of value as a source of the essential fat-soluble vitamins.

In this publication, Holmes described only two types of oil processing. The “rotted” oil, he said, was prepared from livers undergoing decomposition and was “of a rather nauseating odor and taste … due to a number of secondary products such as butylamine, amalyamine, hexylamine, and dihydrolutidine, which may be produced by decaying cellular matter.”[23] Holmes contrasted this with the “thoroughly modern process” that “involves the use of steam kettles, specially designed separators, brine cooled presses, and other equipment designed particularly for the manufacture of medicinal cod liver oil.” He observed, “Thus it is now possible to produce cod liver oil of a light yellow color, of low free fatty acid content possessing a wholesome odor and flavor and possessing a high vitamin potency.” Holmes asserted that this pale oil produced by “methods developed by science” was the better option. He also determined that American cod liver oil had a higher potency than Norwegian oil due, in part, to the fact that the Norwegian industry generally harvested cod during the spawning season, when the store of vitamins in the liver was depleted.

After reading Holmes’ vivid descriptions and discussion, it may not come as a surprise that when the article was published, he held the position of director of research for the E. L. Patch Company, an American manufacturer of medicinal cod liver oil.

Dr. Price’s Research

During this time period, Dr. Weston A. Price was conducting numerous animal studies with cod liver oil. The results showed that some types of the oil were very beneficial to immunity and proper physical and mental development, particularly in regard to phosphorus and calcium metabolism regulation (positively affecting bone, dental, blood and brain health).[24(p17-8)] Yet he found that it could also cause great harm, especially when overused.   He was careful to note “some dangers that are not usually recognized or properly emphasized in the literature.”[9(p267)]

Freshness and storage of the oil is important, he continued. Even though an oil may have a high vitamin content, if it is oxidized or rancid, it will not have the desired effects. “The available evidence indicates that fish oils [including cod liver oil] that have been exposed to the air may develop toxic substances.… Rancid fats and oils destroy vitamins A and E, the former in the stomach.”[9(p267)]

Overdosing with cod liver oil (and other fish oils), he cautioned, can be detrimental, possibly resulting in depression or paralysis, and he warned that “serious structural damage can be done to hearts and kidneys.”[9(p267)] In a paper published in the August 1932 Journal of the American Dental Association, he showed pictures depicting “progressive paralysis produced in a chicken and a rabbit, apparently by an overdose of cod liver oil.”[25(p1348)]

Despite these cautions, Price believed in the value of cod liver oil. He described numerous examples of its healing properties—when it is judiciously used—and provided assurance that “cod-liver oil can be given in moderate doses without injury and to great advantage.”[26(p493)] Except for special circumstances, Price recommended that cod liver oil be taken “with the meal rather than before or after, as it aids in the utilization of the minerals in the food.”[26(p493)] He also specified that children should seldom be given amounts greater than one teaspoonful per day for extended periods of time.

In addition, Price advised that cod liver oil can be taken with quality high-fat dairy products. He recommended high-vitamin butter oil, “mixed with about equal parts of a very high vitamin cod liver oil with variations in proportions according to clinical conditions. This combination is placed in a capsule containing about 0.6 gm (the 0 size). Two or three of these capsules are administered with each meal with a dietary adjusted to provide minerals and other nutritional factors, including the water-soluble vitamins.”[25(pp1367-1368)] He concluded, “Cod liver oil is available as a source of reinforcement of dairy products, plant and animal foods. While it has great value, it may contain and probably often does contain substances which are undesirable; therefore, it should be given in small doses, and only products of the highest natural vitamin content be used.”[25(p1369)]

High-vitamin butter oil from cows fed on early spring grass, taken with cod liver oil in equal parts, produced a symbiotic effect, Price found, with the mixture being “much more efficient than either alone,” making it possible to use smaller doses.[9(p267)] He explained, “Except in the late stages of pregnancy I do not prescribe more than half a teaspoonful [of the mixture] with each of three meals a day,” a dosage that precluded toxicity.

Activation

Although folk wisdom and some doctors had maintained for at least a century that cod liver oil was a cure for rickets, this knowledge wasn’t generally recognized throughout the medical world until the 1930s. Some physicians had noticed that sunlight and cod liver oil were beneficial in the treatment of rickets, but the reason for this was unclearHarriette Chick, DBE, DSc, conducted clinical studies with rachitic children and adults suffering from hunger osteomalacia in war-ravaged Vienna between 1919 and 1922, and confirmed the value of both sunlight and cod liver oil in therapy.[27]

As this new knowledge became widespread, cod liver oil was advertised as “bottled sunshine” by one company, Squibb, and was heavily marketed to new mothers. The connection between cod liver oil and ultraviolet radiation inspired more studies over the next decades. Many of Price’s experiments involved “activated” cod liver oil—oil that was exposed to various types of radiant light (sometimes sunlight or light from mercury quartz lamps) for different periods of time.

In one paper, Price described the results of rubbing activated and raw (unactivated) cod liver oil on chicks.[24] Based on his data, he hypothesized “that there is contained in cod liver oil, a factor which acts not only upon the alimentary canal or upon the foods taken into the canal, but is capable of acting upon living tissues to modify their absorption of calcium, and further, that this quality is enhanced by exposing the cod liver oil to ultraviolet radiation, in this case in the form of sunshine.”[24(p17-15)]

The results were not always beneficial, due to excessive ultraviolet exposure. In another paper, Price said that one minute of exposure on a bright summer day was equal to fifteen minutes of exposure on a dull winter day.[28(p31)] He cautioned, “Exposure for one hour to the noonday summer sun or to a mercury vapor quartz lamp produces a product which is distinctly harmful, and it would be better to use the raw cod-liver oil unactivated than to use this product.”[28(p31)]

Price also had personal experience with the detrimental affects of overactivation. “I have learned much from experimenting on myself, and one of the early safeguards that came from that source was secured as the result of severe headaches produced by taking cod-liver oil that had been exposed to ultraviolet rays from a mercury quartz vapor lamp for one half hour, even though the dosage was only a few drops.”[28(p26)]

His discussion of another animal experiment contained a warning that the oil “did not save the chickens if exposed to either sunshine or ultraviolet overlong, but, on the contrary, hastened their death. All the chicks receiving an overactivated product in all the groups died.”[28(p17)]

His studies showed that ordinary glass blocked the activation process, however, meaning that sunlight shining on cod liver oil through a window would not activate it.[24]

Dr. Price’s “Excellent” Oils

In addition to research papers, the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation has, in their archives, some of Price’s original purchase records. With careful study, it is, in some cases, possible to determine what type of cod liver oil he used and recommended. For example, one of Price’s studies made reference to “Newfoundland cod-liver oil … [and] another excellent oil.”[28(p25)] On the next page, in a caption for one of the figures, he listed a brand name (Squibb), in addition to the Newfoundland oil.

Finding the listed manufacturing companies’ descriptions of their products from that time period cast light on what Price considered to be quality cod liver oil. Squibb, for example, described their oil as “cold pressed shore oil” in 1919 and “Norwegian cold pressed” in 1921. In making shore oil, the fish were caught by small boats near the shore and brought in the same day; the livers were then frozen and the oil pressed out.

Squibb’s published material stated that the cold Norwegian weather permitted the pressing of the fresh oil at a low temperature.[29] After its rendering, the oil was kept in airtight containers and away from sunlight. The description made a clear distinction between the darker oil (“banks oil,” from livers allowed to decompose in barrels on larger boats that remained out for several days) and their oil—the lighter, fresh shore oil made from fresh livers. This light oil is what Price called “excellent oil.”

In Squibb’s patent application for their product, the process for rendering medicinal cod liver oil is detailed, with a description of a new process for protecting the oil from excess moisture, from contact with air, and, by extension, from oxidation. During this process, the document explains, the livers stay near a specific temperature so there is “no tendency for putrefaction or fermentation of the mass.”[30]

The other “excellent oil” Price mentioned was from Newfoundland, where medicinal cod liver oil processing had been regulated by the Department of Marine and Fisheries since August 1910. The department’s “Rules for Making Cod Liver Oil,” as published in 1924, dictated using fresh livers, steam processing them for thirty minutes, and dipping “the finest white oil” from the top within five minutes.[31] The remaining oil from the “blubber” was considered unfit for medicinal purposes. As mandated by the regulations, the processing methods were the same for all Newfoundland cod liver oil at that time.

A postcard image (below) of Munn’s Newfoundland cod liver oil exhibit at the 1924 British Empire Exhibition shows cooking vats of the type described in the “Rules for Making Cod Liver Oil,” and tall glass containers of pale cod liver oil. This brand of pale oil, steam-rendered from fresh livers, is among those that Price ordered, and may be the “excellent oil” from Newfoundland.

A visitor to the exhibit remarked in the Newfoundland Quarterly that Munn’s “cod liver oil plant has attracted a lot of attention, together with his display of cod liver oil. The King and Queen [of England] thought that the latter looked most tempting and the King said it would be appetising if he had not still retained the vivid recollections of his youth!”[32]

For millions of children and adults, whether tiny infants, pregnant women, or King George V himself, cod liver oil boosted nutrition and health during the early 20th century, and this impressive nutritional powerhouse remains popular among those seeking optimal health today. Although it once seemed that time had erased the knowledge of which type of cod liver oil Price believed to be “excellent,” this information has again been brought to light.

References

  1. Brockbank EM. Sketches of the Lives and Work of the Honorary Medical Staff of the Manchester Infirmary, from Its Foundation in 1752 to 1830 When It Became the Royal Infirmary. Manchester, England: University Press; 1904.
  2. Lakhtakia R. Of animalcula, phthisis and scrofula: historical insights into tuberculosis in the pre-Koch era. Sultan Qaboos Univ Med J. 2013; 13(4):486-490. PMCID: PMC3836636.
  3. Trousseau A. Clinical Medicine: Lectures Delivered at the Hôtel-Dieu Paris. Vol. 2. Cormack JR, Bazire PV, translators. Philadelphia, PA: P. Blakiston, Son & Co.; 1882.
  4. Guy RA. The history of cod liver oil as a remedy. Am J Dis Child. 1923; 26:112-116. doi:10.1001/archpedi.1923.
    04120140011002.
  5. De Jongh LJ. The Three Kinds of Cod Liver Oil: Comparatively Considered with Reference to Their Chemical and Therapeutic Properties [translated from German]. Carey E, translator. Philadelphia, PA: Lea and Blanchard; 1849.
  6. Rosenfeld L. Vitamine–vitamin. The early years of discovery. Clin Chem. 1997; 43(4):680-685. Reprinted by the Free Library. 2014.
  7. Archival Moments. Cod Liver Oil from Newfoundland. July 30, 1946. Posted July 25, 2013. Newfoundland and Cod Liver Oil. September 20, 1943. Posted September 19, 2013. http://archivalmoments.ca/tag/cod-liver-oil.
  8. 8Kurlansky M. Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World. New York, NY: Penguin Books; 1998:154-155.
  9. Price WA. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. 8th ed. La Mesa, CA: Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, Inc., 2012.
  10. Bennett JH. Treatise on the Oleum Jecoris Aselli, or Cod Liver Oil, as a Therapeutic Agent in Certain Forms of Gout, Rheumatism, and Scrofula; With Cases. London, England: S. Highley; 1841.
  11. Dunglison R. New Remedies: The Method of Preparing and Administering Them; Their Effects on the Healthy and Diseased. Philadelphia, PA: Lea and Blanchard; 1839.
  12. Dunglison R. New Remedies: Pharmaceutically and Therapeutically Considered. 4th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Lea & Blanchard; 1843.
  13. Möller FP. Cod-Liver Oil and Chemistry. London, England: Peter Möller; 1895:c.
  14. Reviews. The Medical Times and Gazette. July 1 to December 30, 1854. 9:143.
  15. Waring EJ. Bibliotheca Therapeutica, Or, Bibliography of Therapeutics. Vol. 2. London, England: The New Sydenham Society; 1879:568.
  16. Cod Liver Oil. King Laoghaire Irish Ballads and Tunes. http://www.kinglaoghaire.com/lyrics/854-cod-liver-oil.
  17. Røde G, Schiøtz O. A Brief History of Flakstad & Moskenes, Lofoten Islands. http://www.lofoten-info.no/history.htm. Accessed July 5, 2015.
  18. The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art. 1859166(7):445. Advertisement.
  19. Pinsent J. Newfoundland—our oldest colony. Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute (1884-85). 1885; 16:266.
  20. Newfoundland cod liver oil. Paint, Oil and Drug Review. 1895; 20(1):15.
  21. A new industry. Canadian Grocer. 1896; 10(1):28.
  22. Holmes AD. Studies of the vitamine of cod liver oils: the potency of crude cod liver oil, pressed cod liver oil and codliver stearin. Journal of Metabolic Research. 1922; 2:113.
  23. Holmes AD. Modern cod liver oil as a source of fat soluble vitamins. Boston Med Surg J.1926; 194:714-716. DOI: 10.1056/NEJM192604221941603.
  24. Price WA. Calcium Metabolism in Health and Disease. Unpublished manuscript. From the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation research archives. File W191.
  25. Price WA. Control of dental caries and some associated degenerative processes through reinforcement of the diet with special activators. (Reprinted from the Journal of the American Dental Assocation. 1932; 19:1339-1369). From the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation research archives. File W133.
  26. Price WA. Transcript of a letter by Weston A. Price. In Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.8th ed. La Mesa, CA: Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation, Inc.; 2012:490-494.
  27. Chick H. Study of rickets in Vienna 1919-1922. Med Hist. 1976; 20(1):41-51. PMCID: PMC1081690.
  28. Price WA. Newer knowledge of calcium metabolism in health and disease, with special consideration of calcification and decalcification processes, including focal infection phenomena. (Reprinted from the Journal of the American Dental Association. 1926; 13(12):1765-1794.) From the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation research archives. File W107.
  29. Squibb’s Materia Medica. New York: ER Squibb and Sons; 1906:369.
  30. Nitardy FW. Production of cod liver oil. US patent 1,829,571. October 27, 1931.
  31. Rules for making cod liver oil. Public notice. Newfoundland Quarterly. 1924; Summer:52.
  32. The history of Newfoundland at Wembley. Newfoundland Quarterly. 1924; 24(3):9-14.

 

 


Note, I often dedicate my day of work to someone.  On the first Thursday of March in 1987 my mother passed suddenly and unexpectedly and her funeral was early the next week.  One of my friends' mothers just passed a week ago of the same basic thing and the memorial service is this weekend.  

I have thought so much about the woman who had her family, per my friend, eating wheat germ and taking cod liver oil as I transcribed this, above.  And I thought about how we were lead astray a lot as well, but overall we can now look at the relative wellness from their generation to ours and then to the next generation which would be the grandchildren today.  I am very concerned about the children growing up today, their brains and the rest of their bodies and their wellness.  

Both of our mothers were educators in the same public school system yet didn't know each other at all as they were in different schools and teaching different things.  I hope that Lumigrate (and I when communicating directly with people) is/are serving to help educate people in a way that translates into what our youngest generation needs going forward.  And everyone else too, naturally.  

Having Pam expect two years as a commitment from her students was inspiring to me! I hope YOU enjoyed this and I hope YOU consider becoming a student of hers if you've liked what is here, buying her NEW book about addiction that's more about sex addiction, or the book she was talking up in 2010 that was new then about overall addiction focused on alcohol a and sex addiction.  The question Patrick asked about all the eggs in basket about following Westin A Price resonated for me because I had that concern putting it on Lumigrate but I've stood by in for years now and I find every day that I'm more confident in it than ever.  May YOU be as well, and in what I bring your way on topics at Lumigrate dot com! ~ Gratefully ~ Mardy

__________________

Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!

This forum is provided to allow members of Lumigrate to share information and ideas. Any recommendations made by forum members regarding medical treatments, medications, or procedures are not endorsed by Lumigrate or practitioners who serve as Lumigrate's medical experts.

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