There has been another outbreak of E-coli poisoning from fresh produce—this time romaine lettuce.

Please, for your own health and safety, don’t purchase or consume any brand of romaine lettuce until this issue is straightened out.  The brands involved have been identified as Freshway and Imperial Sysco brands but I wouldn’t trust any of them

I’ve been through this before. You might recall that my family was poisoned during the spinach e-coli outbreak almost 4 years ago. My youngest daughter, 18 months old at the time, spent 9 days in intensive care before we knew she was going to live.

Click here to see my video about what our family went through with our daughter.

E-coli strikes the young and the elderly the worst. Those under 3 years of age and over 70 have the greatest chance of dying from exposure. The rest of us usually get the stomach flu from hell.

I’m asking you to avoid all brands of romaine because if I learned anything from my daughters near death it’s that the truth rarely comes out about the source of the bacteria and that multiple brands use a few select processing plants that could be infecting every brand run through that plant.

In fact I’d avoid all lettuce for a while for the same reason—even organic. The companies involved will never divulge the whole truth about what’s going on and the people who have gotten sick will never get to the bottom of it either—they don’t have the time or MONEY to do it.

Believe me, as soon as the report went out, damage control kicked in and we’ll never know how it all went down. If you end up in court it will probably be with a sacrificial lamb and not the real company.

If you or anyone you know is affected by this drop me a note before you file your lawsuit. I’m might be able to pass on a few very valuable tips to help you succeed.

FDA: http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm211145.htm

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2010/ecoli_o145/index.html

Freshway Foods: http://www.freshwayfoods.com/recall/

The Dead Zone

The “Dead Zone” is a term used to describe an area of water or land that no longer can support life.

Mississippi delta "Dead Zone" (NASA photo)

The most famous one to most Americans is the Dead Zone off the coast of Louisiana where the Mississippi River empties into the Gulf of New Mexico.  It covers over 7000 square miles and the oxygen levels have dropped to a point of no longer being able to support life.

This has been documented for over 20 years yet I doubt if most of you have ever heard about it.  The Dead Zone is created by toxic chemicals from industrial pollutants, pesticide and fertilizer runoff from farmland, and the incredible amount of runoff from the animal waste from factory farms.

You know, the same stuff that’s in most of the food you eat.

Out of Site, Out of Mind

It’s easy to ignore things we see on the evening news because it’s usually happening to someone else, somewhere else.

The Dead Zone in the Gulf seems pretty tragic but we’re not fisherman so we can forget about it pretty easily.  Out of sight, out of mind, the saying goes.  That pretty much sums up the whole problem of toxic chemicals “out of sight, out of mind”.

My Inspiration

I need to let you know where I got the inspiration for this article.

One of my subscribers blocked my blog because of I referred to Alzheimer’s/dementia as being rooted in nutritional deficiencies.  This person had lost their mother to Alzheimer’s and claimed that she ate well all of her life.  She never smoked, abstained from alcohol and drugs, and I’m sure lived a pretty moderate lifestyle.  Yet she succumbed to a terrible disease that causes immense suffering for the entire family.  I could feel her pain through the email she sent me.

I don’t mind the rejection. My blog isn’t for everyone.  I don’t enjoy causing anyone pain, even if it was unintentional.  But you see, I’m in the business of pain.

I know you thought I was a herbalist/nutritionist and that’s true.  Those are the tools I use to eliminate pain: that and education.

The More You Know, The Easier It Is

Raising people’s awareness about health issues is a great way to eliminate pain.  The more you know, the easier it is to make conscious decisions that affect your health.  Decisions that help you avoid pain in the future.

I wanted you to be aware of the Dead Zone because it exists right where you live.  It’s hidden under safe sounding names like grocery store or convenient mart.  It’s often packaged in boxes and cans and referred to as “food”.  Unconscious shopping in the Dead Zone or eating the Dead Zone causes something else to happen.  Right there inside your body, you start to develop your own Dead Zone.

Where is Your Dead Zone?

Your Dead Zone may be developing in your liver, which has to process all the toxins in your food.

• Maybe it’s your kidneys that are being overwhelmed by the combination of sugar and chemicals in your food.

• Maybe your arteries are a Dead Zone of inflammation and toxic fats.

• Maybe all the GMO’s in your food have altered the DNA of the bacteria in your colon to create your Dead Zone.

• Could it be the hidden MSG and aspartame, shrinking the hippocampus of your brain and creating a Dead Zone?

• Or is it the fluoride and aluminum in your drinking water calcifying your pineal gland?

More than likely, it’s all of the above.

I’m constantly meeting people on my travels that share their pain about illness, the loss of a family member and lack of resources to find help.  The talk will eventually get around to food.  Why?  Because everyone thinks they eat well.  Some do, according to what was known about health twenty years ago.  Hardly anyone does eat well considering the level of chemicals that you’re exposed to through your diet.

It’s Not Your Fault!

That’s a favorite sales line for anything from diet pills to pharmaceutical drugs.

When it comes to food it’s probably right.  Who would have known that the average person comes in contact with approx. 5000 chemicals a days?  Who actually knows the 40 hidden names of MSG or even that it’s bad for you?  A restaurant in my hometown has a 1 lb shaker of MSG in the kitchen that’s used on everything from soup to salad to pizza.

I’m sure this isn’t an isolated incident.

Chemical exposure plays a role in all disease especially cancer.  It’s hard to win a court case based on exposure to a toxic chemical because the manufacturer knows you have at least 300 of them in your body so how can you be blaming your cancer on theirs?

Modern Medicine Has Nothing For Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer’s is similar to cancer in the fact that it’s nearly impossible to pinpoint the actual cause.  We hear all about Beta Amyloid plaque and Tau protein choking off the brain cells ability to repair itself and maintain normal function.  The hippocampus region of the brain shrinks, cutting off the storage of new memories.  The list of areas being damaged seems endless and it’s all lumped under the title of Alzheimer’s.

Few people know that it’s impossible to diagnose Alzheimer’s without an autopsy.  I read of one study done at a leading medical university in America that showed 5% of the people autopsied actually had Mad Cow’s Disease.

Modern medicine has nothing for Alzheimer’s.  People usually get put on a drug that works as an acetylcholine stearase inhibitor.  This block an enzyme that interferes with accessing acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter responsible for memory and recall.  It’s disrupted in Alzheimer’s patients.

This is an area that easily shows the great disconnect between the medical world and nutrition.  Maybe I should say the pharmaceutical world.

I honestly think most doctors would give you anything that was shown to work, nutritional or otherwise.  The problem is they get all of their information from drug companies who are threatened by the whole nutrition world.  At least their wallets feel threatened.

How can you give someone a drug that may increase access to acetylcholine in the brain without consulting them on how to increase the choline in the diet or supplement to build it up? I understand the hippocampus is damaged and this effects acetylcholine production and the regeneration of neurons but something may be there that comes alive.  Wouldn’t it be worth the effort to find out?

What’s The Alternative?

Herbs and nutrients have been shown to build acetylcholine and regenerate neurons in the brain. I know, I’ve read the research and I formulate with them.

As you all probably know I make a herbal/nutritional supplement called TianChi. The herbs reduce stress among other things and the nutrients feed the brain.  I put TianChi together because I know stress plays a huge role in brain inflammation and damage, and most people are chronically starving their brains.  It’s not intentional; it’s a lack of awareness about what constitutes eating well.

During the last few years I spent working as an herbalist in West Hollywood, I began to notice a disturbing trend toward problems associated with memory.  The first ten years it was hardly an issue. Soon I would be seeing a few people a week trying to get a handle on loss of memory and all the ways it was creeping into their lives.

Smart drugs (nutraceuticals for brain) were the rage, but only seemed to work for mild impairment.  I began to realize you couldn’t start a broken engine by simply giving it more gas.  Likewise, recharging the brain was more complex than a few simple nutrients.

As you age it becomes harder to absorb certain nutrients into the brain.  Diet alone won’t do it and high quality herbs and nutrients like those found in TianChi are needed to promote healthy brain function and prevent premature aging of the brain.  Nutrients provide the fuel needed to enhance neurotransmitter function.  Herbs influence the glands in the head, adding a stabilizing influence to the surrounding areas of the brain.  Herbs can also increase the Chi of your internal organs involved in absorption.

The whole field of aging and memory has become a passion of mine and I formulated TianChi for stress and energy and all the many layers of how it affects the body and brain.

To learn more about TianChi click here

Things to Avoid

So how do you avoid the Dead Zone and keep it from making a home inside your body?

Start with your food.

• Buy organic whenever possible. It’s now becoming close to the same price as regular food, especially on sale. This way you’ll minimize the hidden chemicals you ingest. You’ll also avoid GMO food, which has never been shown to be safe by anyone who tests it, except for the people making it. It may be more frightening than pesticides.

• Never ever buy dairy products that are not organic. Dairy usually has 100 times the amount of chemical residue as vegetables. Dairy fat is a sponge for pesticides. Your brain is mostly fat too.

• Avoid plastic and never microwave food in plastic. Please throw your microwave away. Food cooked in it will not sustain life. I’ve had friends who water new plants with microwaved water and they don’t grow. Plastics leach BPA, an endocrine disruptor that mimics estrogen. It’s also deadly to the prostate gland.

• Throw out your non-stick pans. Food is dangerous enough without adding more toxins while preparing it. If you don’t want to throw out a perfectly good pan then fill it with cement and use it for a boat anchor.

• EAT WELL. This means chemical free, nutrient dense food that isn’t adulterated with flavor enhancers or additives. Eat real food.

• Supplement. You are exposed to so many toxins you have to supplement to give your brain and body a chance. It’s just the reality of modern life.

• Take something for stress and feed your brain. My current formula TianChi is formulated with several nutrients made specifically to reduce stress and feed your brain. Stress makes the hippocampus area of your brain act like a sponge, soaking up toxic chemicals that damage it at a much higher rate. Your brain is exposed to many more chemicals today than even twenty years ago. This happens for a variety of reasons, one being cell phone use. Cell phone radiation weakens the blood brain barrier, allowing a higher level of chemicals to make it in. Imagine talking on your cell phone for an hour while having a few drinks and a cigarette. To you it’s fun; to your brain it’s toxic soup.

A Few Additional Tips

Your brain loves Omega 3 fatty acids.  The only reason you aren’t scraping your knuckles on the ground today is that your ancestors discovered fish and used their superior brains to conquer the rest of mankind.  The brain needs Omega 3 to grow, function and protect itself.  You can get them from organic eggs, walnuts, flax, chia seeds, fish oil, krill and vegetarian DHA supplements.  Good fats.  Recent research at Harvard suggests that Omega 3 deficiency is the sixth leading cause of death in America.  (it contributes to the other 5)

Don’t feel guilty about getting sick.  It’s really hard to know all the intricacies about health and nutrition.  When I developed chronic fatigue I ate a diet that was highly nutritious and my blood-work was amazing.  Doctors thought I was surely just complaining to get attention.  It took a near death experience in a hospital during a test for liver cancer for me to realize I needed to learn more about my own health and abandon the idea modern medicine could cure me.

People always comment that I seem to know so much about health.  I do, mainly because I’ve suffered so much I had too.  It’s made me empathetic about the pain of others and opened my eyes to the depth of knowledge needed to truly “know” about health and help others.

Information is constantly changing.  Comparing what’s known today with just 5 years ago is like comparing a Mercedes to a Model T Ford.  If I knew twenty-five years ago what I know today about good fats I might have avoided chronic fatigue.  Of course, if I never got chronic fatigue, I’d never know what I know today.

Learn to eat well for modern times, teach your kids the same and don’t support companies that flood the marketplace with low quality food.  There are better things to spend your money on than helping to create Dead Zones in the environment and in your own body.

There are no guarantees that eating certain foods or taking certain products will prevent Alzheimer’s, cancer or anything else.  However, there are studies showing that simple things like eating 5 servings of fruits and veggies, a few servings of fish oil or a few fresh veggie juice drinks, all lower your chances of getting Alzheimer’s or cancer by at least 40%.

I’ll take my chances with the herbs, nutrition and good food.  Feel free to check back regularly over the next 30 years and see how I’m doing.

If you have a child of any age now is the time to start them on the road to good heart health.  It’s pretty simple and there’s probably not a better thing to focus on than this if you’re concerned at all about your children’s health.

A report was just released showing 20% of teenagers between 12 and 19 had abnormal levels of fat in their blood.

High cholesterol and triglycerides topped the list, along with abnormal blood lipid profiles.  In other words, too much bad cholesterol, not enough good.  The percentages go up with obesity and I don’t have to tell you what a problem that is with kids today.

1 in 5 Teens at Risk

I’ve included a link (WashingtonPost Article – 1 of 5 Tees at Risk) so you can get all the facts but the main thing you have to realize is that having abnormal blood profiles at this age is an indicator a huge portion of these kids are headed for the chronic diseases of high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and heart disease.  Not to mention the type of diet that causes it is a great one for preparing the body for cancer.

Benefits of Vitamin C

This is one of the main reasons I supplement my own kids diet with Vit C and a multi everyday.  Even though they aren’t loading up on the main culprits here—fast food and sugar—it’s just essential to laying the groundwork for healthy arteries.  Healthy arteries start with Vit C. Simple fact, no way around it, you have to take it.

Through all my trials and tribulations in the health field, as a triathlete, health food store manager, nutritionist, herbalist, chronic fatigue survivor etc… one thing has never changed; I’ve always taken Vit C and I’m certain it saved me from a heart attack many a time.  That’s a story for another time but please just take some.

The Vit C I give my kids comes in two different forms.  I keep Alacer–Emergen-C on hand and mix it in juice.  I only serve my kids juice that’s cut in half with clean filtered water.  That way they get some fluids and the sugar has been cut in half.

I start with a quart of organic juice, add two packets of Emergen-C, and add a quart of filtered water.  I leave this out all day since I don’t like serving them cold drinks. (weakening to digestion) In the winter this usually lasts the 3 of them a couple of days and I know their basic needs for Vit C are met without me hounding them to take something.  I actually cheat on the water by buying juice that’s has heavier flavors and add another cup of water.  The kids always drink it and never complain.

My oldest, 13, will take a capsule, so I give her Ester C in a 500 mg cap twice a day. I like this form and I take it.  I also give the little ones a cap of this in their protein shakes because I can hide it in there unnoticed.  They love protein shakes and it allows me to mix antioxidant foods and the C right in there and not fight about it.  I love Ester C because it has a great dose of bioflavonoid in each cap that is powerful ant-inflammatory nutrients.

As I said earlier the Vit C is vital for the health of your arteries and it also helps with elevated blood sugar.

Now, how about that PINK SLIME!

One of the great things about being into healthy food is the fact that you learn so much about what’s in it.  That’s also one of the worst things about.  So much of what you learn is so gross that you can get pretty angry.  Knowledge is wisdom they say so I thought I’d pass this on.   You and your kids have been eating PINK SLIME.

Ok, so what is Pink Slime?  It’s a type of beef bi-product that’s added to hamburger nationwide to make it cheaper and to use up waste products from the meat industry.  Yes, waste products. Seems there’s a company in South Dakota that came up with an idea to take the scraps of fat left over from trimming a cow that normally go to making pet food and turn it into human food.  The process involves grinding it together with ammonia to kill pathogens and spinning it in a centrifuge to separate the proteins and then packaging it into huge blocks for companies to buy and add to hamburger.  The name Pink Slime came from a memo by someone in the FDA who referred to it as such.

Safety of Beef article

If you’re not a vegetarian then you’ve eaten it and so have your kids.  All the major fast food chains use it and almost all the school systems feed it to your kids. I’ve included the link and I ask that you please read it through.  I’m not doing this because I’m taking a vegetarian stand against the meat industry. I’m doing this to raise awareness about health.

This is just another example of the hidden dangers of processed food. I’m sure if you had a choice you would eat beef without Pink Slime. I’m also sure that Pink Slime is not as healthy for you as beef without it.

This is how people get sick.  Every phase of there diet has been compromised by the pursuit of the almighty dollar and turning a blind eye to how it affects people. (Wow! two clichés in one sentence!) Add this to food additives, high fructose corn syrup, pesticides and nutritional deficiencies and you can’t help but develop a chronic disease.

I’m going to give you a BIG tip on buying hamburger and beef in general.  Coming from a vegetarian these tips are hard to come by. (#3 clichés–I’m rolling)

Tips on Buying Beef

1) Buy grass fed beef.  Cows are meant to eat grass not corn.  The reason cows eat so much antibiotics is because of corn allergies.   Grass fed beef has a different fatty acid profile that is actually beneficial to your heart.  It costs more but your probably eating too much beef anyway.   Reduce your quantity and raise the quality.  Your health will reflect it.

2) Hamburger tip–don’t buy pre-ground hamburger unless you know the butcher.  Most nationwide chains use Pink Slime and I dought if they will admit it to you.  If your fortunate to live somewhere with a butcher who raises their own supply that’s great.

3) If you’re not sure of the source ask the butcher to grind a steak into burger for you.  Any cheap cut will do but try skirt steak.   It’s a high quality cut that’s overlook by most people.  Any steak will be lower in fat but there are ways to make up for the moisture.  Watch the cooking time.  I used to mince a sweet onion very fine and mix it into the burger as I formed it and it worked great for moisture and flavor.

That’s more tips on eating meat than any vegetarian has written in history.  I’m not pushing beef here but if you’re going to eat it, I want you to raise quality and reduce quantity.  Savor it and you’ll find you need less.  Your health will love it and so will the planet.

Simple Things You Can Do For Your Kids

Makes sure the kids get 500—1000 mg of buffered C every day.  Lower their sugar intake.  It’s responsible for a majority of cholesterol problems, especially LDL and triglycerides. I know that juice has sugar in it that’s why I cut cut it in half with water.  It’s the over-consumption of sugar that causes problems.  Humans can handle approximately 50 grams of fructose a day before it becomes a problem.  Get them to move their bodies. Pack their lunch for school. It’s cheaper, better for them, and it hopefully won’t contain PINK SLIME.

I have three girls and so I’m very conscious of avoiding pesticides.  Breast tissue tends to collect pesticide residue–approx 600% more–than the rest of the body.  Along with it mimicking estrogen it’s a pretty dangerous mix.  If you use dairy products, only buy organic.  Pesticides collect in fat.  Non organic butter is a waste collector.  It has the highest amounts of pesticides and toxic chemicals of any commonly eaten food.

I supplement all my kids with a multi and Vit D3.  My younger girls get 1000 IU a day in a chew candy. (see link) The older one gets 4000 IU in a gel cap. Since the younger ones won’t swallow a cap I get them an inexpensive liquid and makes sure they get it at least 5 days a week. (I’m allowed to forget–I’m a parent)

Be well.

Roger

For those of you who want to take advantage of online ordering like I do, this site to have some of the best pricing on the Vitamins

Use my Referral Code ZAC041 and receive $5.00 off with your order from iHerb

Alacer Vitamin C (powder)

Ester C

Liquid Multivitamin (I give my kids 1/2 dose)

Children’s Gummy Vitamin D – Lemon

Children’s Gummy Vitamin D – Orange

A lot of you have asked questions about high blood pressure and I just wanted to clear a few things up with this video

Here are a couple other links on my website related to heart disease

Heart/Cardiovascular
High Blood Pressure
Cholesterol

If you would like to ask any other questions or comment, please do so below

I’ve been doing a lot of research for my new book on heart disease and came across this video I wanted to share.

If you know me personally or have been to one of my speaking engagements you know I like a good laugh. This is especially good because it highlights a real problem—the effect of stress on heart health.

The speeding up of the heart rate and the added tension puts a huge strain on the hearts energy production and raises it’s nutritional requirements.  You can see why I’m real big on eating well and reducing stress.

I never thought I’d say this but………………………THANKS HOMER!

On a more serious note, here are a couple of links to pages on my website regarding heart disease.

Heart/Cardiovascular
High Blood Pressure
Cholesterol

I would love to hear your comments below and if you have any humorous videos you would like to share, please let me know.

Roger

How can a 32-year old person die of natural causes?   Heart attack?

It’s simple…Take enough pharmaceutical drugs and something will stop working.

Your heart, liver, or kidneys, something is going to fail.  Maybe it’ll happen suddenly or maybe you’ll be like most—suffering the slow, miserable decline of vitality that saps you of all enjoyment in life until you or your body just gives up.

That’s natural too.

Having an organ fail is a natural cause of death.  It doesn’t matter what causes it.

In Brittany’s case it was probably related to the ten pharmaceutical drugs she was on.  Drugs for depression, anxiety, HBP, pain, seizures and inflammation.

10 Pharmaceutical Drugs!………..All At The Same Time!

There is no way a body can deal with that many foreign chemicals at one time.

The only thing that surprises me is that it wasn’t acute liver failure.

It’s a strange medical system that relies so heavily on scientific research that a person would be given that many drugs at one time when there isn’t any research to support mixing two of them together, let alone ten.

I went through this same scenario with my late mother.  I finally got involved with her drug program and suggested she stop five of her medications since they were copies of others she was on.  The doctor’s reply to her was that she didn’t need them anyway.  Didn’t need them?  She had been on some of them for over 10 years.  Did she ever need them?

The worst part was when I was told that it didn’t matter how many drugs a person takes it didn’t harm the liver.  The comment was so stunning I chose not to even reply. She was on ten of them.

Are You Mixing Meds?

The sad thing about Brittany is that she was taking so many drugs for the normal effects of a high stress occupation.  Most of the reasons for taking those drugs could be dealt with through nutrition and adaptogenic herbs that deal with the body’s heighten demands due to stress.

How many more people does this happen to everyday day?  We only heard about this one because she’s famous.  Over 100,000 a year die from taking pharmaceutical drugs.

I’ve been involved with health and nutrition for 29 years.

I’ve come to the conclusion that you can deal with most things by doing two simple things:

1. Eating really well and supplementing
   
2. Taking some herbs for stress

These two things don’t come with toxic side effects. They are also two things that might insure that you actually die from “natural causes.”

Let me know what your thoughts are by submitting your comments below.

Roger

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/6871387/Brittany-Murphy-10-different-drugs-found-at-her-bedside.html

Depression – Misunderstood & Puzzling?

It would be hard to find a topic that affects more families in this country than depression – or one that’s so puzzling to deal with.

Depression is so misunderstood and seemingly beyond the realm of the common person to comprehend – it’s also the condition we so often just turn over to pharmaceutical drugs.

Nothing will make you ever feel so powerless as having a loved one, a child, spouse, parent etc,  suffering through a bout of depression.

Besides being so difficult to treat it comes with the added stigma that the person is abnormal or even “crazy”.  Often the whole family begins to retreat from society, powerless to help and often clueless about anything that might change the situation.

It’s not uncommon then for the whole family to become slightly depressed as the family dynamic arises from this feeling of helplessness.

My motivation for commenting on this subject is not to come across as an expert in the field because I’m not.  I’ve helped a few people with this during my active time as an herbalist by sticking to my basic training in Three Treasure herbalism and making basic dietary changes.

Amazing results by just changing a few simple things

I’m not claiming to have cured anyone but have seen some amazing changes in people using herbs and nutrition.  I’ve seen some get off of anti depressants using these same principles and so I’m going to suggest the basics here as I feel this is something simple and self empowering that’s missing from the typical western medical approach to depression.

This isn’t much different than the approach to most other issues on this site and that is correcting existing imbalances to allow for a return to homeostasis.  The theory exists that the brain developed over time as a response to seeking homeostasis.  It would then make sense that anything that made it easier to do this would be good for it and the opposite would also be true.

The Standard American Diet (SAD) is sorely lacking in basic nutrients for the brain and loaded with chemicals that create inflammation.  The combination is extremely disruptive to normal brain function and when added to long-term stress it’s a recipe for disaster.  Throw it all together and inflict it on a teenage body whose trying to find it’s way in the midst of enormous changes in hormones and relationships and it’s hard to see how anyone would make it out untouched.  Add this to the tendency to experiment with alcohol and drugs and you can see how the brain might be in constant survival mode – chronic stress!

It usually doesn’t happen overnight

I don’t want you to think I’m focusing on teenagers but merely pointing out a segment of the population that is high risk.  You also have to realize that depression is similar to a chronic illness in that it usually doesn’t happen overnight.  It may seem like it sometimes but the truth is that you have been experiencing extreme deficiencies of nutrition for extended periods of time.  Your brain can no longer cover for the lack of basic fuel to run properly and a stressor puts you over the edge.

At this point an anti depressant may be needed in extreme cases but using one without trying to correct your imbalances will merely lead to a lifelong dependency on drugs.

Shouldn’t a multi-faceted complex situation be dealt with in a manner that looks into the various issues behind it, instead of simply throwing a pill at you?  “Try this and see how you feel”.

That same pill may be associated with suicides and hallucinations. Over half the men that use them experience erectile dysfunction.  Sounds depressing to me.

Nutrition and Depression

Nutrition has to be a factor in this scenario.  How else could we ever reach a point where 40% of the country is said to be clinically depressed?  20% are on antidepressants, of which 25% have serious side effects.

Are these numbers real or exaggerated to create a need?

With the advent of televised advertisement for drugs, anyone can be led to think they need treatment for something long before they finish their bowl of popcorn.

Since most anti depressants work by lowering or boosting certain brain chemicals it’s easy to see that nutrition can help.

The only way your brain makes chemicals in the first place is through your diet.  The difference is that when you eat nutrient rich food your body has a system by which it uses them for multiple purposes.

When you take a drug to artificially stop or alter a process to manipulate the amount for specific purposes in the brain some other part of the body suffers.  Why?  The same chemicals run other processes in the body.  The big three, dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine, all have receptor sites elsewhere in the body.  Serotonin for example stimulates peristalsis in the colon.  Disrupt it and now you need another drug for constipation.

First you have to realize your brain is part of your body and treat it as such.  It requires certain nutrients to work and maintain equilibrium.  Switch to a diet based on whole foods.

• This is not a time to be on a low fat diet.
• Some of the best nutrients for brain activity are in fatty foods—eggs, nuts, seeds and fish.
• Avoid sugar and artificial sweeteners as they disrupt brain chemistry and cause inflammation.
• Pesticides and other environmental toxins all help create toxic blood and combined with inadequate nutrition can overload the brain.
• Find your food allergies and avoid them. Eat a good source of protein as it’s needed for making dopamine and various hormones.

See my other previous posts on food in my blog —

Organic Foods – I’ts All About The Kids

Easing The Body Burden Of Economic Crisis

Stress And Accelerated Aging Of The Brain

The Heart Is A Many Splendored Thing

A couple of suggestions

The best nutrients are amino acids, omega three fish oils, Vit D, antioxidants, multi vitamins and adaptogenic herbs.  Don’t try to do it on your own, see a qualified health practitioner and get help.  I strongly suggest finding a doctor who specializes in Bio-identical hormones.  One of the most common results of poor nutrition and stress is unbalanced hormones.  Work on this one, eat well and supplement and you’ll be shocked at how good you might feel in a few weeks.  Hormones are like your own internal computer chips.  You can’t remove a few of them and expect the rest to work.

Exercise.  Seems simple but we all forget it.  You evolved on the move and lack of movement negatively affects every level of health.  Countless studies show that walking as little as one half hour a day worked better than most antidepressants.

This falls right in line with Chinese herbal therapy that emphasizes moving Chi as essential in dealing with depression.  Getting back into the flow of life and discovering what you’re passionate about is part of the whole aspect of Three Treasures herbology.  Shen is our higher nature and reflects our mental, emotional, and spiritual development.

Shen disturbance is a condition that can result in insomnia, nightmares, anxiety, forgetfulness, irritability and a general loss of vitality and physical health.  Sounds a lot like stress to me.  It’s no small wonder that a lot of Shen tonics are actually adaptogenic herbs that regulate the stress response and directly effect how you see the world.

Inflammation associated with depression

Hardly anything is more depressing than having a long-term illness, especially one that no one can figure out.  Stress may not have caused it but it sure plays a role in the healing process.  Most chronic conditions are linked to excessive inflammation and since elevated stress hormone causes inflammation it’s also associated with depression.

Long-term inflammation changes your metabolism and may damage blood vessels, tissues, bones and internal organs to the point of triggering chronic disease.  This same inflammation can disrupt the balance of neurotransmitters in the brain and lead to depression.   Inflammation and depression have been linked to diabetes, heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, stroke, psoriasis, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s and dementia.  What comes first?  It’s the old chicken and the egg story all over again.

You are not alone

I’ve just noticed that for a topic that I feel inadequate about addressing I sure have gone on a bit.  I just want you to know you’re not alone, it can pass, and there is help.  Eating really well and with intelligence can speed the process.

Hang out with uplifting friends and drop toxic relationships and know that someone holds you dear to their heart.

Please let me know what you think and leave your comments below.

I’ll shut up now and leave you with a favorite poem.

Roger

My Brilliant Image

One day the sun admitted,

I am just a shadow.
I wish I could show you
The Infinite Incandescence

That has cast my brilliant image!

I wish that I could show you
When you are lonely or in darkness,

The Astonishing light
Of your own Being!

Can Anyone Ever Remember When It Felt

Like You Could Trust The News?

I may be dating myself but when Walter Cronkite died it caused me to wonder what ever happened to the news and when did it just start to become a blend of marketing and brainwashing?

The latest news report on organic foods is a great example of filling space without checking any facts but the ones you like.

A new study that promises it’s “the most extensive systematic review of the available published literature on nutrient content of organic food ever conducted” has turned out to be less information than what you could easily Google on your own, and not as factual.

Called “Nutritional quality of organic foods: a systematic review” it was prepared by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (Britain’s national school of public health) and examined thirteen different nutrients.  They reported no difference between organic produce and conventional produce despite finding higher levels of three nutrients in organic and none higher in conventional.

The London School based most of its findings on studies from the 1950’s, 60’s, and 70’s and ignored fifteen studies to the contrary published after 2008.

I’m providing a link at the end of this article for all the facts on the study and a review by The Organic Center or TOC.  Please read it and get the facts.

Now that I’ve said that I want to get down to what really tees me off about this whole thing and that’s the fact that it is really meant to divert your attention from what’s really important about the food you eat and our food supply—the fact that it’s poisoned with pesticides, irradiated and genetically modified.

More Important Than Quality?

I’m not saying that the nutritional quality of food isn’t extremely important but the fact is that it’s not as important as whether your being poisoned when you eat, or that the food is altered beyond use by your body, or that eating it may shut off 400 or so genes you have that affect your health.

I’m not exaggerating folks because that’s exactly what’s happening when you regularly consume the stuff. By stuff, I mean about 70% of all the food that’s sold in America.

The kicker—eating the stuff actually raises your requirements for nutrients!

Pesticides

I first started eating organic food back in the 80’s after chewing on some celery and having my mouth go numb for about an hour.  It didn’t take a study for me to realize that wasn’t right and I made the switch.

Since that time I have probably kept my organic intake at about 90% of all my food and with kids and traveling that’s doing quite well.

Avoiding pesticides was my main concern at first but as time goes by things have really gotten weird.  But first the pesticides…..

It doesn’t take a scientific paper to convince me that if something kills bugs and weeds it probably isn’t something I want to eat.  Numerous pesticides have been declared “carcinogenic” (cause cancer) and most would fit the description but of course testing isn’t required!

Yes, I know that’s hard to believe, but you only have to test after numerous things happen like animal deformity and infertility, or maybe death.

Let’s keep it simple.

Pesticides are toxic chemicals that cause cellular damage.

Here is a link of some of the foods most loaded with pesticides.

Make sure you buy organic.

In humans it’s another word for inflammation, which has been associated with diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, heart disease and every other chronic debilitating disease.

Pesticides often kill bugs by disrupting their ability to utilize acetycholine.   Hmmm….isn’t that a problem with Alzheimer’s?  ah….let’s not go there.

Twenty years ago I would read articles about eliminating pesticides from your diet.  Now the articles all say how to limit your intake to 2 per day.

It’s everywhere!

You think that doesn’t include you?

The EPA recently conducted random studies checking people for 150 known environmental toxins and found an average of 108 in each person.  They admitted they could easily check for another 200 that everyone probably has.  Blood samples taken from umbilical cords immediately after birth in 8 different countries showed an average of 200 toxic chemicals present.

Ever wonder why so many people are sick?

He, She, It?

If that’s not enough to convince you then maybe this will.

Pesticides are notorious for being endocrine disruptors, meaning they mimic hormones used by the body and disrupt the natural balance of hormones.  Since most pesticides mimic estrogen this means the body carries an extra burden of it and has trouble clearing it out.

Normally the job of your liver, it becomes compromised with age, diet, alcohol and drug use, to the point where both men and women have an estrogen imbalance.

It doesn’t take a lot to figure out how this could be influencing the soaring rates of breast and cervical cancer, but men aren’t getting off easy either.

As men age they have a tendency to lose testosterone and gain estrogen.  It’s not that they lose it so much but the lose access to it.

Seems the body produces an enzyme that interferes with your ability to get access to your free testosterone, the stuff you can feel, and with estrogen going up you might feel, um, different.

Eating more veggies can help, so can lowering your alcohol consumption and avoiding pesticides is a plus.

If your over fifty and NASCAR is looking like less fun than knitting you might want to get a blood panel done.  Please—pass on the pesticides!

Irradiated Food

This is a biggie. How do you take something that is lacking in nutrients and overall quality and make it even worse?

Easy, irradiate it.

This is a great example of how to not fix a problem and instead cover it up. Irradiation has been hailed as this great innovation for preserving food when actually it’s just a way to cover up poor sanitation and make bigger profits.

Why make sure you practice good, clean manufacturing when you can just zap it and kill the mold and bacteria? Studies show that Vitamins B, C, E and Niacin are all reduced by 5-95% by irradiation.

Irradiation is just another practice that has been dumped on the general public without adequate safety studies. In fact a 1982 FDA Internal Task Force memo concluded that only 5 of 409 studies on irradiating food showed it to be safe for human consumption. 

Well, I’m a human and I find this rather appalling.

Irradiation has been shown to increase the amount of carcinogenic substances in food—like we need more to begin with.  Estimates run at about 75% of all packaged food contain irradiated ingredients.

Organic food has 0%—none! Please—pass on irradiation.

Say NO to GMO’s    (Genetically Modified Organisms)

Organism’s—what a weird name for food.  Maybe it’s appropriate for GMO’s because nothing is weirder than that.

Say you buy some nuts and they have a fish gene spliced into them. The chips you bought have corn that has pesticides spliced right into the makeup of the plant so it saves on spraying.

Come on folks, it’s supposed to be food.  You know, grown by Mother Nature, builds strong bones and bodies.

I think I hate this one more than anything. That you can’t be sure of what’s in your food even when there is only one ingredient. 

We’re not fooling with Mother Nature here, we have her by the throat with both hands!

Recent studies cited by the Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM), an international association of physicians and health professionals dedicated to the clinical aspect of environmental health, showed that GMO’s posed a threat to the health of various internal organs.  Seems like it can change the liver, kidneys, spleen, and digestive system—just about every organ that plays a part in filtering toxins.

A recent study showed that GMO food fed to rats caused over 400 genes to go haywire—express themselves in a way that is detrimental to the host.  I wouldn’t wish that rat let alone a fellow human.

The studies showed a serious risk in areas of infertility, immune function, accelerated aging, insulin regulation and protein formation. In a nutshell this basically means that if you have a chronic condition now it can make it much worse and if you don’t it could play a role in helping you get one.

How prevalent is it?

Up to 45% of all U.S. corn, 85% of all soybeans, and about 75% of all packaged food on the grocery shelf.

Guess what?

If animals eat it then your eating it in your meat too! Organic food doesn’t have it.

Please —pass on GMO’s.

Now that I got that off my chest I feel better.

Please join me in boycotting pesticides, irradiated food and GMO’s.

There are plenty of other ways to become sick or injured without voluntarily doing it to ourself. It’s not that hard once you get used to it you’ll probably drop a few pounds since most snack food has all three!

Eat well and enjoy life!

Here is the link that I referred to earlier.

http://www.organic-center.org/science.nutri.php?action=view&report_id=157

Let me know what you think by posting your comments below.

Blessings,

Roger

Spring is winding down, summer is nearly here, and it’s time a radical shift in the way we look at food.

So much talk about nutrition focuses on specific nutrients and products that we often forget that the basis of any good health program is simply the how, what, why and where of the food we eat.

Seasonally it’s a time of transition and a great time to become more conscious about the source of our calories.

Fresh-Real Food

Spring always excites me because it signals the start of fresher greens showing up at the market. Warmer weather in Ohio is way behind the same in California and things just start looking better this time of year.

I do have access to organic food here but it’s in limited supply and the cost is always higher during the winter months. Now I’m into the advantages of locally grown food, but not to the point of starving waiting for it to show up.

I’m referring to real food here folks. The stuff that comes out of the ground and not a box or can. The stuff that will actually keep you alive and not just takes up some intestinal space. The problem with the Standard American Diet (SAD-don’t you love it) is not one of calories, but content.

There is so much talk in the news about obesity and exercise but the reality is that most obesity is related to the type and amount of calories consumed.

Soda Pop is Not a Food!

The fact is that most of the calories people consume is not really food. A large portion of our calories come from foodstuffs—things made out of some food like ingredients mix with a lot of chemicals that are highly addictive and over time—highly poisonous.

It’s the truth.  The number one source of calories in America is soda pop  (it replaced white bread).  Soda pop is not a food.

If you’re eating a lot of prepackaged food then it’s easy to over consume a lot of empty, fattening calories. The problem with most diets is that people just consume less of the food they normally eat.

That works, and you can lose weight that way, but you aren’t that much healthier because you’re still not eating well. Then when you get tired of the calorie restriction it’s easy to just put all the weight back on.

The key to good health is eating well and it’s the perfect time of the year to start.

Eating with the season—Spring

Chinese medicine breaks the year up into 5 seasons: Spring/Liver-Gallbladder, Summer/Heart-Small Intestine, Late Summer/Spleen-Stomach, Autumn/Lungs-Pericardium, and Winter/Kidney-Bladder. By paying attention to eating seasonal food you can easily have a diet that is best suited for the organ system associated with that time of the year. Let’s look at spring.

Spring is the time of regeneration and fresh greens are the first foods to come back. Transitioning to lighter foods is especially important in the spring because springtime is Liver time.

Liver energy is all about processing food and emotions, and it’s hard to do after a winter of heavy condensed food and very little exercise.  Both lead to liver stagnation, which is your liver’s worst enemy.

Feeling frustrated, sluggish or unmotivated are all signs that your liver is suffering.

• (Large L ‘Liver’ denotes system, small l ‘liver’ denotes organ. In Chinese med.  Liver is part of a system that includes your nervous system, tendons, ligaments and eyes.)

The best way to change your Liver energy is through movement. Not just exercise though, but the movement of easy to digest food that gently detoxes the liver.

This is where all the fresh green food comes into play.  All green leafy foods cleanse the liver gently over time, are easy to digest and move through the colon at a much faster pace than the normal winter foods.

Sprouts are a great addition as are radishes.  The red ones we are used to seeing here in North America are just a milder version of daikon radish used in the macrobiotic diet to cleanse the body of excessive animal foods. Buy the spicy ones – they are best for liver cleansing and are a good lung food also.  Better yet, plant some.

Don’t stress out trying to find the perfect combination of foods. The most important thing is think fresh, raw and variety. All fresh foods are cleansing.

Simple Guidlines

Herbs are an added bonus for helping the liver do it’s job and now is a good time to focus on the liver. All liver formulas work better in the spring so you’ll maximize the effect at this time of the year, especially if you eat appropriately.

Spring Foods and Spices

Green onions, mustard greens, turmeric, bay leaf, basil, cumin, fennel, dill, ginger, rosemary, cardamom, lemon, lime, grapefruit, lettuce, radish, sprouts, apples, beets, cabbage, broccoli, turnips, cauliflower, asparagus, rhubarb, olive oil, barely grass, wheat grass, and brussels sprouts.

Avoid: cooked oils, greasy food, pork, excessive alcohol-liquor, ice cream, artificial ingredients, fast food

Western Herbs

Artichoke, milk thistle, dandelion root, Oregon grape root, and chamomile.

Chinese Herb

All Chinese herbs are best in formulas and not as single herbs. Any formula with bupleurum is a liver formula. It’s often used with peony root and angelica root, blood tonic, to move and nourish the liver.

Unless you’re familiar with Chinese herbs it’s best to see an herbalist as there are numerous bupleurum formulas depending on the specific health problem you may have.

The French Paradox

I mentioned in the video my recent working vacation to Switzerland and France.  Although I found a few things at the conference that I’ll share with you later, the best part of my trip was just rethinking my relationship with food.

When I travel I always eat as the locals do. I feel it’s important to understanding a different country and nothing will teach you more about an area than food. France has a special relationship to food, and eating there is quite an experience.

The restaurant meal I talked about took over 4 hours to complete.  It was just as much about the experience, the company, and the flavors as it was about the eating.  Most of my meals were simple fares of fresh veggies, goat chevre, olives, a few herbs and olive oil with crusty bread.

Total relaxation.

I think the key to the French paradox—the fact that they consume much more fat than Americans yet experience much less heart disease—is due as much to the relaxed way in which they eat as it is to wine consumption.

Meals are an experience.  Everything else stops and you enjoy what you have with the people you’re having it with.  Try your next meal without TV, computers or reading.  It’s very relaxing and much easier to digest your food.

This brings us back to Liver energy

Stressing out, rushing, not being present in the moment, all affects your nervous system and makes your liver tense.  A tense liver doesn’t digest food properly and leads to countless health problems.

Relax and enjoy.

History Lesson?

Hundreds of years ago—approx. 400— a European King was interested in medicine and wanted to know the relationship between digestion and relaxation. In one of the very first medical experiments in modern times, the King had two of his servants join him for a huge feast.

Afterward, he had one go off on a foxhunt, riding and running through the woods. The other servant sat in the palace and enjoyed a few hours of music and watched the Kings private dancers perform.

Bringing them both together in front of the King, he had them killed and cut open their stomachs and sure enough, the one who watched the dancing had digested more of his food.  Thus the theory of relaxation helping digestion was born.

True story.

The most amazing part of this story is not that a King would do that out of personal curiosity or that relaxation leads to good digestion.

It’s that 400 years later we are still being cut open mainly because of food and stress related issues.

Eat well and enjoy the moment; the world needs you.

Roger

The gods of panic are amongst us again whipping up our anxiety levels with the threat of the next great pandemic:

Swine Flu – It Is Real

The swine flu is here.  I’m just not jumping on the pandemic band wagon and probably never will.

Pandemic seems to be a favorite word the media throws out there to get attention and part of me feels that pharmaceutical companies are in love with it also.

Drugs and vaccinations are big business and what better way to advertise than through the news media.  Yes, there is cause for concern.

Yes, people have died. I just don’t believe our reaction to this flu should be any different from our reaction to other flu viruses.

The best way to prevent or survive it is through diet and boosting your immune system.

Pandemic?

It means an infectious disease that spreads across continents and affects a very large portion of the population.  Pandemic is always used in reference to the great flu pandemic of 1918 that killed millions of people worldwide.  It was a nasty one indeed, but the conditions, which helped spread it, are not as prevalent today.

Poor sanitation, limited hygiene, and a world war helped fan the flames of that flu.

To keep this one in perspective, 140 people have died in Mexico City, an area of 22 million people.  The US government tells us to get an annual flu shot because 36,000 Americans die of the flu every year.

Sanitation

My heart goes out to the people of Mexico City who have suffered so much already from this one.  The high rate of death and the rapid spread of it points out how quickly something like this can develop in areas of poverty and compromised sanitation.

Mexico City has some of the dirtiest air in the world and living there is the equivalent of smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day.  Over 25% of the homes don’t have adequate sewage and the city water supply is very polluted. It’s sad but true that the poor always seem to bear the brunt of infectious diseases and natural catastrophes.

I bring up sanitation not just to point out how this all usually gets started but as a good example of our first level of protection.

Wash your hands.

Most people still think they catch the flu or a cold because someone sneezes near them. Actually it’s almost always because you touched something covered with germs and viruses and then scratched your nose or touched your mouth.

It’s common knowledge that 100% of gas-pump handles, grocery cart handles, bowling balls and shoes, contain traces of human fecal matter. Why?  Only about half the population in the US washes their hands after going to the bathroom.

Do you know why grocery stores have signs near the carts that say, “These wipes are provided to help sanitize your shopping carts”? Because if the sign said “Please wipe the poop off the cart” you probably wouldn’t shop there. Yuk!! Oh well, someone had to tell you.

So wash your hands. It’s the best first line of defense against catching a cold or flu. Carry a little germ killing gel in the car for when you refuel the car.

Have your kids wash their hands when they come home from school. Limit your time out in public if this thing seems to hit close to home.

These little things are always the best place to start.

General Immunity

Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty as they say.  Now is a particularly good time to focus on building your immune system.

Immunity is a huge topic and I’m just going to focus on some quick ways to work on it.

We’ve already covered hand washing so let’s focus on our immediate environment.

Food, Air and Water—Quality Control

• You can begin by changing your diet to one that emphasizes fresh, organic fruits and vegetables.  Low quality food bogs down the entire digestive and elimination system and slows down the immune system from doing its job.

• Research shows that high levels of sugar decrease the ability of white blood cells to gobble up bacteria.  In fact, drinking a 12 oz soda depressed the activity of white blood cells for 5 hours. With artificial sweeteners you get the added bonus of brain cell death.

• Drinking green tea had the opposite effect.  One week of consuming 2 cups of green tea a day doubled the amount of bacteria eating immune cells.  Obviously a little green tea is an easy way to raise your protection. Cut your coffee in half and have some tea.

• I’m going to assume you don’t smoke. It’s obvious that smoking is not part of an immune boosting program.

• Alcohol abuse lowers immunity and increases your chance of getting an infectious disease.  Limit yourself to a couple at a time.

• Avoid heavily processed packaged food that is usually loaded with pesticides, insecticides, genetically modified foods, and irradiated foods, food additives, coloring agents, flavors, corn syrup and preservatives. These all contribute to inflammation and overwork the immune system.

• Making sure you drink clean water and breath clean air should be part of any health program.  It’s especially important when trying to maximize your immune function. Every home should have a water filter to clean the chemicals out of tap water. Since 40% of tap water has already been through another human being it needs chemicals to clean it. It’s now your job to make it fit to drink.

• The same goes for air.  It’s free but dangerous levels of household chemicals wreck havoc on the immune system. Again it’s up to you to filter the air in your home

• Consuming Omega 3 oils helps the immune system make prostaglandins, needed to kill germs and other invaders. Eliminating fried oils drastically reduces inflammation.

Herbs—Immune Fuel

Now that we’ve laid the groundwork it’s time to load up on some real ammo for the immune system and I’m going to focus on specific items that I know work and work right away.

In the 19 years I’ve been an herbalist and 28 years in the health industry I’ve seen hundreds of herbs and supplements designed to boost immunity and ward of illness.

The following seem to work well for everyone and are relatively easy to find.

Echinacea—Immune Medicine

Most of you who have heard me talk are probably surprised to hear me mention this one because I usually seem to put it down during my lectures. Actually I always use it as an example of an herb that is overused but in this case a great herb to have on hand.

Echinacea rapidly boosts immune activity and can be used a couple of different ways.

1. Begin taking it immediately to boost a lagging immune system and take it for one week. It loses its effectiveness after that and it’s best to take a break from it. Liquid whole plant extracts work best. This is a good one for children also.
2. Have a bottle on hand and use it at the first sign of illness. It works best with colds and flu’s that cause heat symptoms—fevers, thirst etc…exactly what the swine flu produces. As soon as it appears start taking it every 2 hours up to 6 times a day. If you don’t feel better after 4 days discontinue it as it probably won’t be very effective after that. If using it this way as a medicine, which it is, it works even better with another herb goldenseal, another very powerful antiviral herb. The 2 herbs are usually combined and easy to find in a liquid extract.

My only objection to Echinacea is that it’s marketed as an everyday herb but it’s actually an herbal medicine that works best when it’s not overused.

Mushrooms—Immune Food

I’m calling it food because most mushrooms that boost immunity have a history of traditional use as a food.

In times of health crisis the dose just goes up. Shrooms like Shiitake and Maitake are a staple in Oriental cooking, while Cordyceps and Reishi are traditionally taken as tea. All have been consumed for centuries to promote vibrant health and modern research confirms their potent immune building properties.

Although medical doctors will chastise patients who even suggest that a natural food can boost immunity and preach to the contrary, the US Governments own website—PubMed—lists over 400 medical studies showing the immune building effects of mushrooms.

In fact the #1 and #2 leading cancer drugs worldwide for 20 years were actually mushroom extracts.  Since the discovery of Taxol they have fallen to #2 and #3 but one of them, Krestin from Trametes, is still #1 in Japan. These drugs are not part of cancer protocol in the US because our FDA doesn’t approve drugs that boost immunity, preferring instead to use poisons.

I’ll summarize a few of the best mushrooms that are easiest to find.

Maitake—primarily used to rapidly boost T cell production, it’s one of the best for dramatically boosting your immune system’s rapid response to immediate threats. It is currently being studied by the FDA as a future treatment for breast and prostate cancer.

Shiitake—helps increase overall immunity and is used to make a potent antiviral, anti cancer drug (#2) called Lentinan. It’s great for nutritional deficiencies and detoxing the liver. This one is often used in Chinese and Japanese cooking. Dried and powdered it makes excellent gravy as a replacement for meat.

Reishi—One of my favorite herbs and also one that played a major role in helping me get over Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It boost immunity, improves circulation, improves liver function, maintains healthy respiratory function, and lifts your spirits. Reishi is often used as part of a cholesterol-lowering program and is a potent adaptogen and stress reliever.

Trametes—Often called Turkey Tail, it can restore a weak immune system and is most often used as a cancer treatment. Clinical trials in Japan show it can triple survival rates for certain cancers and that’s why it’s still the #1 drug of choice for cancer there.

Cordyceps—keeps your lung, kidneys and immune system functioning properly and is often used to fight fatigue, improve stamina and endurance. This amazing tonic is a favorite for world-class athletes and those suffering from exercise induced asthma.

Tremella—a shroom used in Israel to make a potent antiviral drug called Tremellan, it is used in Chinese medicine to treat lung infection and to restore proper moisture in the lungs after illness.

Agaricus Blazei—a potent immune booster originally from the forests of Brazil, Agaricus is used to fight stress, reduce cholesterol, increase circulation and fight cancer. Clinics all over South America use this mushroom as a sole remedy for cancer.

These are some of the most potent and most commonly found mushrooms that can have a pronounced effect on building immunity. Since this seems to be an immediate crisis for many it would be irresponsible of me to not tell you of a place to purchase them as quickly as possible.

Immunity*

I speak on a number of different topics for nutritional companies and one of the products I lecture on is a multiple mushroom formula called “Immunity*” by Nikken.  It contains all of the mushrooms listed above and more.  I’m not getting a kickback on this product although I am ask to speak by the company and compensated to do so. I want to be up front about that and let you know it’s not why I’m recommending you try it if you’re at all concerned about the flu.The reality is that immune building should be on every health conscious person list and the current flu scare just makes it a priority.   Immunity is a great product to do that with.   A daily dose is usually 2-3 caps but I’m taking 4 caps 2x a day right now and will take more if I feel something coming on.

I have worked in a high volume herb shop for many years and have literally sold thousands of bottles of various mushroom supplements.  In fact the shop where I learned and practiced Chinese herbology is often credited with starting the Reishi mushroom craze in America. Whether that is true or not, we certainly were the first to sell very high quality Reishi and helped raise the consciousness about using high quality mushroom products to boost overall health and immunity.

I tell you this only to let you know I have experience with mushroom products and have received a ton of feedback on them from customers.  Without a doubt I have received the most positive feedback on the Immunity by Nikken, and it happens everywhere I speak.  So I can easily say with great confidence that this is a high quality product that works and I know you’ll benefit from taking it.  I also have known the people who grow it for about 19 years and so I’m very familiar with the care and quality control involved in bring it to market.  To find it just Google the word “Nikken” go to the site and find a distributor near you.  If you want to explore individual shrooms then a health food store will probably carry a few of them but all herbs work better in formulas so don’t just stock up on any one substance.  Also, make sure it’s organic!

Lactoferrin

This one isn’t a mushroom but a natural form of cytokine that’s produced in the body and can be taken in supplement form. It is found in the eyes, ears, nose, gut, throat, urinary tract and just about everywhere we have an opening susceptible to attack. It inhibits viruses, and is toxic to bacteria and yeast. Lactoferrin can boost immunity and speed recovery from an existing infection.

Before I wrap this up there are a couple of simple ways to boost immunity right away that are cheap and very easy.

Get Out In The Sun!

Vitamin D is one of the most important things needed to have great immunity and you can get it from the sun. Living here in Ohio I usually Google “sun” every April so that I’m familiar with what it looks like but in most of the country that isn’t a problem.

Supplement form (D3) is also fine and most Doctors are recommending 5000 units per day as a preventative and 50,000 units for 3 days if you catch the flu. That may seem high compared to the old standards we’ve been taught about Vit D but the body makes 20,000 units by lying in the sun for 40 minutes.

It’s estimated that 85% of Americans are deficient in Vit D.

Eat fresh garlic. It’s a very potent medicine when eaten raw and often referred to as natures own antibiotic. Smash a clove up raw and mix it with a little olive oil and eat it on a salad or bread. It’s not often the same substance protects against the flu and vampires so eat it up.

Be well.

Roger

p.s. A number of you have commented lately on my lack of writing skills. I wish I could defend myself but it’s hard when I don’t have the writing skills to do it properly. I knew it was only a matter of time before I got busted. Thanks for reminding me. I am going to hire a real editor when I get this thing off the ground. At least I know you’re paying attention. I do however defend my right to use colloquial English, farm slang, and make up words (shroom for mushrooms) as I go along. People have always said I write like I talk and now you know why I need an editor.