Unbelievable. The nasty things people are doing to factory-farm animals just keeps growing:

How does a drug marked, “Not for use in humans. Individuals with cardiovascular disease should exercise special caution to avoid exposure. Use protective clothing, impervious gloves, protective eye wear, and a NIOSH-approved dust mask” become “safe” in human food? With no washout period?

The drug is banned in Europe, Taiwan and China, and more than 1,700 people have been “poisoned” from eating pigs fed the drug since 1998, but ractopamine is used in 45 percent of U.S. pigs and 30 percent of ration-fed cattle.

Even more frightening, 20% of the drug remains in the meat when you eat it, according to veterinarian Michael W. Fox.

We’ve discussed the importance of eating certified organic food in a number of teleseminars, but unfortunately, not everyone can afford to eat 100% organic. So for those of you who aren’t JPT Members, here’s a shortlist of guidelines you can take to the grocery store with you:

Organic Meat & Dairy Most Important

Due to the numerous nasty drugs, growth hormones and antibiotics given to factory-farmed (i.e. “normal”) animals, eating certified organic meat (or exclusively grass-fed, not just “grass finished”) and dairy products should be at the top of your list. Yes, meat is the most expensive thing to purchase organic, BUT, due to the serious health consequences, it is the most important.

So here’s what you can do: Eat meat like oriental people do, where the meat is thinly sliced and is just a small component of your meal. Unless you’re out working in the fields all day, doing manual labor, once you are an adult, you don’t need that much protein to support your body. You can also get protein from organic or grass-fed raw (not pasteurized) dairy and from organic, free-range eggs – which are all cheaper sources than meat. Fish is also a great protein source, just make sure it’s wild (not farmed) and mercury levels are not too high.

The other great thing about animal protein is that even if you consume a very small amount of it, it substantially increases protein extraction and utilization from legumes and other non-animal sources.

If you make sure a large number of your calories (40%) are coming from organic fats – like butter, coconut oil, olive oil, fish oil – then that greatly reduces the amount of meat you need too and increases your health! Again, since an animal stores hormones and toxins in its fat, this is another area where you need to make sure the fats you eat are certified organic or grass-fed.

Here’s another facet to be aware of: If you live in the U.S., it has some of the lowest standards for organic certification for animals. So what you have occurring now, is that factory farm cows (for example) are kept in the same conditions – overcrowded, no access to pasture – but just fed organic grain and not given routine drugs, and presto, they are being sold as “certified organic” meat or dairy. The farmers have figured out that it’s more profitable to just have a higher death rate (from the poor conditions), but be able to get organic prices for their meat/dairy. For this reason, if you live in the States, 100% grass-fed meat/dairy or free-range chicken/eggs are often preferable. Especially if you buy from a smaller farm where the farmer is personally involved. If you order in bulk and keep frozen, this is usually cheaper than organic anyway.

Note: For these reasons, you also shouldn’t order meat in restaurants, since it is almost all factory-farmed. Stick to veggies, pasta, seafood, etc.

Cut Corners On The Veggies

Where you can save some money is in purchasing your vegetables and fruit. Here’s a simple guideline to follow so that you don’t have to cart a list around with you: the harder the surface of the fruit or vegetable, the less pesticide-absorption there is. Likewise, anything that requires peeling contains less pesticides, since you’re peeling off a lot of the pesticides. So, soft produce, like lettuce, spinach, strawberries, peaches etc. absorb the most pesticides and you want to make sure you buy them organic. But hard or peel produce, like oranges, broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, cantaloupe, apples, etc. contain less pesticides, so that’s where you can save money if you need to. Also, check to see if produce is “no spray” – this is considerably cheaper than organic, but still cuts out a lot of pesticides. Likewise, look for transitional organic produce – again, less pesticides, but not as expensive.

One other tip: hot house vegetables usually require less pesticides used than field vegetables. So if you absolutely cannot afford organic, or no-spray, then get whatever you can that has been hot house or hydroponically grown.

Also consider planting your own veggie garden – all you need is a balcony off your condo or apartment and that’s sufficient. There’s an entire movement of people taking control of their food, at huge savings, by getting involved with urban gardening – we also did a teleseminar about this at JPT Wellness Circle that has all the info you need to get started.

Don’t Buy Processed Foods

Processed, packaged foods are where the costs can really escalate. If you need a sweet treat, then take one day and bake in bulk – banana bread, muffins and cookies all freeze really well. Package them up in one-week packets (i.e. the amount of treats your family wants to eat each week) and then just take a packet out of the freezer as needed. I’ve got LOTS of recipes for my family’s favorite (yet healthy) treats over at JPT Wellness Circle, but I also made a few of my healthy, delicious treat recipes available to everyone.

When you want a salty treat, just buy plain, salted potato chips. Or, even better, make your own organic popcorn with organic butter (or coconut oil) and salt. You can also add fine-grated parmesan for a cheesy popcorn taste – but don’t stint on the butter. Remember, 40% of your cell membrane is fat, so don’t be shy.

If you cook several meals in bulk and freeze them, that also cuts down on the impulse to buy processed foods when you don’t have time to cook. Excellent meals to freeze (again, package in whatever serving size suits your household) are lasagne, stews, soups, chicken nuggets, hamburger patties, meatballs, bolognese sauce and cheese sauce (for mac ‘n cheese).

If you buy a small deep freeze (check out Costco or Craigslist), this really helps you to buy in bulk and cut costs. Large bags of organic peas from Costco are actually cheaper than pesticide peas in smaller packets. Again, just divide them up into smaller bags when you get home for easy access. If you contact your local grocery store, you can find out (for example) how much chicken they need you to buy to get bulk pricing. Then buy a case and freeze it. I do this with everything and here’s what I save by buying cases:

Organic tomato sauce from Costco ($.75 vs. $2.49)

Organic Italian olive oil from Community Co-op ($8.49 vs $22.99)

Organic canned Tuscany tomatoes (imported from Italy) from Community Co-Op ($1.49 vs. $3.89)

Organic gala apples ($1.05/lb vs. $1.98/lb)

So, to sum up, get as much as you can at cheap places like Costco and Trader Joe’s and then buy staples in bulk from the cheapest organic supplier you can find. In the summer, if you live near any farms or farmer’s markets, get no-spray whenever possible.

What’s Your Health Worth?

My final comment on this whole issue is that the amount of money you’re willing to spend on groceries is largely a matter of attitude – not reality. In Europe, it is normal and expected to spend 20% of your income on food – because good quality food is valued and appreciated there. In the U.S., most people spend only 10% of their income on food. So when people say that they “can’t afford to eat organic” – well, even if organic food is double the price, you’d still only be spending what millions of families routinely spend.

In my family, food (groceries) is the most important thing we spend our money on, along with supplements. Because, if you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything! Exercise you can get for free – brisk walking, hiking, going to a playground, soccer or football in a park – these are essential for health, but don’t require any money. Good quality, health-promoting food and supplements do cost money, but are so worth it. And these two elements form the foundation for not just good, but vibrant health:  Good Health Is Real Wealth.

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Jini Patel Thompson’s books on natural healing for digestive diseases have sold in over 40 different countries. Her health articles have been published in journals and magazines in the U.S., Australia and U.K. <a href=”www.ListenToYourGut.com” target=”_blank”>www.ListenToYourGut.com</a>

I’ll often get emails from readers saying that they’re doing everything they should in Listen To Your Gut, but they’ve hit a plateau and they’re not improving. Based on hundreds of consults over the last decade, here are the crucial areas people usually need to look at:

1. Get your hormones checked out and balanced. Although I advise people to do this in LTYG, since there are no instructions, I think people tend to miss this crucial step. Hormones need to be tested and balanced by a doctor specifically trained and experienced in working with them.

We did a very targeted teleseminar that comprehensively covers this issue at JPT Wellness Circle, called Chronic Illness & Hormone Balance with Dr. Wendy Ellis. Dr. Ellis works with Dr. Jonathon V. Wright, at Tahoma Clinic in Washington – who was made famous by Suzanne Somers’ books on HRT. You can contact Dr. Ellis at the clinic (she does phone consults where appropriate) or if you listen to the teleseminar, Dr. Ellis gives out her personal email where you can ask her a question or two, or get a referral to a GOOD hormone doc in your area.

You should also watch this video on Managing your Thyroid & Adrenal Glands – The Secret to Healing Chronic Disease by Dr. Frank Shallenberger, MD who has a clinic in Nevada and is also a very good doctor for these issues.

Balancing your hormones will help your immune susceptibility and also help you to gain weight or – in the case of a child – maximize their growth potential as well.

2. If you’re struggling with probiotics and find you just can’t tolerate any kind of traditional probiotic supplement, then forget about trying to get your probiotics from traditionally dairy-based sources. Instead, look to fermenting vegetables for this  – Nourishing Traditions is a good cookbook for that – just eat a small amount of fermented carrots, cabbage, beets, etc. with your meals. There are also other good  recipe books on Amazon for fermented veggies and even some good freebies on the internet, just do a Google search on “fermented vegetable recipes”. I found this post easily that has a number of good fermented veggie recipes – just leave out the cayenne on the Kimchi recipe.

Or, you could try Dr. Ohhira’s Probiotics OMX 12+ which is non-dairy and derived from fermented plants. However, it does still contain lactic acid bacteria, so if that’s your sensitivity, then this won’t work and best to just eat homemade fermented vegetables:

“As Dr. Ohhira delved further into the science of good health, he discovered that certain naturally fermented foods consumed in Asia are a rich source of lactic acid bacteria. After years of studying the known strains of lactic acid bacteria occurring in fermented foods indigenous to Southeast Asia, Dr. Ohhira developed an award- winning probiotics that recolonizes the microflora in the digestive tract and enhances good health – a product that is several technological generations ahead of other probiotics.

Ingredients of OMX probiotics include 92 types of natural crops including special leaves, bark, herbs and fruits, which grow wild in a vast region of the Kibi Highlands and Hiruzen Highlands of the Chugoku district in Japan, several kinds of seaweed and various organic vegetables. This proprietary blend is combined with 12 strains of lactic acid bacteria, which include the most prominent strains of bacteria possessing the highest proteolytic power in the world. In fact, scientists have established that the lactic acid bacteria contained in Dr. Ohhira’s probiotics OMX 12 plus are 6.25 times stronger than any naturally occurring lactic acid bacteria.”

3. Do EFT specifically on food intolerances or allergies. YES it will help even though we think of food allergies as a physical phenomena, read these two articles and you’ll see why:

http://www.emofree.com/Allergy/multiple-food-allergies.htm

http://www.emofree.com/Allergy/food-sensitivities-jo.htm

4. REST more. I can’t tell you how many people are trying to work as usual, go to school, play sports etc. and wondering why their body is not healing. Healing takes a LOT of energy. You need to rest a LOT for your body to be able to heal.

When you do physical activity, it needs to be nurturing and relaxing (like yoga, tai chi, walking, etc.) not competititve sports.

If you are bleeding, then you need to lie down horizontal in order for the blood to clot. As long as you are up and moving around, you’re working against gravity. It’s just common sense: If you have a cut on your finger, do you keep using that finger? Or do you immobilize it and give it a chance to heal without being moved, bumped, scraped, etc.

Soar higher,
Jini
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Jini Patel Thompson’s books on natural healing for digestive diseases have sold in over 40 different countries. Her health articles have been published in journals and magazines in the U.S., Australia and U.K. www.ListenToYourGut.com

QUESTION:

I’m wondering which elemental shake product is better? Because Absorb Plus has whey protein isolate and Optimental by Abbott has whey protein hydrolysate.

Wikipedia says that the hydrolysates are predigested, and more easily absorbed. So I’m thinking they might be better for my mom. Any comments?

Here’s what I read from Wikipedia…

“Whey protein typically comes in three major forms: concentrate, isolate, and hydrolysate.

Concentrates contain a low level of fat and cholesterol but, in general, have higher levels of bioactive compounds, and carbohydrates in the form of lactose ? they are 29 %-89 % protein by weight.

Isolates are processed to remove the fat, and lactose, but are usually lower in bioactive compounds as well ? they are 90 %+ protein by weight. Both of these types are mild to slightly milky in taste.

Hydrolysates are predigested, partially hydrolyzed whey proteins that, as a consequence, are more easily absorbed, but their cost is generally higher. [8] Highly-hydrolysed whey may be less allergenic than other forms of whey. [10] They are very bitter in taste.”

ANSWER:

Here’s a good link that describes how the different forms of whey are processed.

Basiclly, the issues are as follows:

1.       Yes, the product is better, but do they show what % is Hydrolyzed?
2.       The more Hydrolyzed, the worse the taste and the higher cost

If you are only using up to 20% Hydrolyzed, as shown in the link, then the absorption return on investment is not there. It’s more of a marketing move.

You can see from the ingredient panel that the Optimental product contains MORE sugar than whey. And the sugar is in the form of sucrose – which is a disaccharide, not even a monosaccharide. It also contains canola oil and soybean oil – which it does not state are cold-pressed, so they are likely hydrogenated. And it contains artificial flavors.

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Jini Patel Thompson’s books on natural healing for digestive diseases have sold in over 40 different countries. Her health articles have been published in journals and magazines in the U.S., Australia and U.K. www.ListenToYourGut.com

In this month’s issue of Good Health Is Real Wealth, I share my tips and my top 10 different recipes for gaining weight using nutrient-dense, healthy, yet tasty foods. So I just had to post two of my favorite recipes here for you to enjoy as well.

And if you don’t need to gain weight, no worries, you can use these muffins to replace a meal (like breakfast) or simply as a healthy, nutrient-dense snack – instead of a chocolate bar. And don’t worry, this is not granola-cruncher fare, my recipes have all been kid-tested by my 3 demanding treat-connoisseurs (aged 3, 7, 9)!

I give my kids these muffins to take to school when they get bored with sandwiches and other snacks. For this reason, they are as high in protein (from almond flour – ground almond meal), whole grains and even veggies, as I could make them, so that even though they taste like a treat, they are actually a nutritious meal. For this reason, these recipes are also ideal for weight gain, or to use in place of breakfast, or as a late afternoon, or bedtime snack.

White Chocolate Cranberry Muffins

• 1 cup almond flour (made from finely ground almonds, available at health or organic grocery stores)
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup unbleached flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup liquid honey
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 3 cups grated zucchini (if your kid’s picky, then peel the zucchini before grating – that way they won’t see any ‘green bits’ in the muffins)
• 1 cup cranberries
• 1/2 cup – 1 cup white chocolate chunks or chips

Optional: If you prefer, you can use raisins instead of cranberries. You can also just delete the white chocolate, if you prefer.

1.  In a large bowl, beat together eggs, melted butter, and honey. Then stir in the grated zucchini and raisins.

2.  In another bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients (almond flour, whole wheat flour, unbleached flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt).

3.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just mixed.

4.  Bake in lined muffin tins at 350F for about 15-20 minutes. Makes about 20 muffins.

*High protein due to the almond flour and no refined sugar!

Chocolate Puffed Squares (gluten-free)

• 2 cups puffed millet
• 3.5 cups puffed rice
• 1/2 cup tahini, or cashew butter, or almond butter, or peanut butter
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup raw honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder

1. In a large saucepan, combine butter, tahini (or nut butter) and honey on very LOW heat, until melted and well mixed.

2. Remove from heat, mix in cocoa powder and vanilla extract.

3. Gently (but quickly) stir in the puffed rice and millet.

4. Press into a well-buttered 8″ x 8″ baking pan. Allow to cool and then cut into squares.

Note: because this recipe doesn’t use marshmallows or sugar, it does not set as hard as rice krispie squares. However, it is still delicious and much healthier!

I also find that it can be easier to drink your extra calories, so here’s a nutrient shake that is also kid-tested and delicious. For people who are not trying to gain weight, you can just use this in place of breakfast:

Raw Nutrient Milkshake

• 1 cup raw milk or organic yoghurt (use rice or almond milk for dairy-free)
• 1 very ripened banana (black is ideal – means it’s “predigested”)
• 2 whole organic raw eggs
• 1 organic raw egg yolk
• 1 tsp. Udo’s or liquid unrefined coconut oil
• raw honey, maple syrup, or stevia to sweeten, if needed

Optional: Add 1/2 tsp of cocoa powder or 1 tsp of hot chocolate mix to make a chocolate shake. Or add nutmeg, cardamom and/or cinnamon for a Christmas eggnog taste.

Puree milk and banana together in a blender on low speed (or use hand blender) until smooth, then add rest of ingredients and blend for 10 seconds. Pour into a glass and serve with a straw.

You absolutely cannot tell there are eggs in here – it does not thicken the liquid, or anything.

Note: The blending instructions are to avoid damaging the protein in the raw eggs, which is quite delicate.

And in case, you haven’t seen it yet, here is my video where I show you how to get more healthy fats into your diet. Whether you are underweight or overweight, consuming more good fats will help normalize your weight. Many experts advocate getting 40% of your calories from good healthy fats, since the cell membrane is 40% fat and studying healthy indigenous people has revealed they consume a very high amount of fat in their diet (up to 80%). Good, healthy fats include:

• cold-pressed organic olive oil
• unrefined organic coconut oil
• cold-pressed organic flax or Udo’s oil
• organic butter (preferably raw)
• fish oils
• animal fats from organic, grass-fed animals only

Soar higher!
Jini

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Jini Patel Thompson’s books on natural healing for digestive diseases have sold in over 40 different countries. Her health articles have been published in journals and magazines in the U.S., Australia and U.K. www.ListenToYourGut.com

A January 2010 survey reported on CBS News found that only 45% of Americans liked their job. This means that 55% are not satisfied with, or dislike their job! This is a very high figure – why do so many people stay in jobs they hate?

Freelance journalist Cosmo Dookelo has an answer for this:

“In today’s regimented office environments, in any building type, security is paramount. In return for half a paycheck every other Friday, they are loyal to jobs they hate, and they come home to pour themselves into projects like model railroading, hang gliding, etc. at hobbies they love, all the time having to quell the voice in their heads that they OUGHT to be doing what they LOVE. They OUGHT To be experiencing God’s Favour. They OUGHT to do it whether they are paid or not.

But instead they work to fulfill some other person’s goals, or to prop up another person’s ego all the while despising themselves for doing so. This makes the minutes tick by like HOURS. They had a vision when they were 10 years old that they would be an ATTRACTION and would do something IMPORTANT… and instead, because they seek the total security with (of) their resources, they repel people. They repel increase… they repel the good life and their lives become pleas for more poverty and want. You don’t solve this problem by chasing money.

Americans hate their jobs because they hate themselves. They hate themselves because they are too cowardly to strike out and go hungry for a week, a month, finding the work that Needs Them, and that They Need. They are trapped in communities of negativity who simply tolerate them. Because of this, any new idea brewing might be stillborn it in someone’s mind.

It rots there.”

But can your business or your job be part of your spiritual journey? Can it actually be a healing process? Find out as I interview Mark Silver - a Sufi Master and Business Consultant.

Also find out what it takes to transition from a job to self-employed.

Find out what helps you deal with fear and anxiety over financial security. Just click the PLAY button on the podcast below…

p.s. You can also subscribe to my podcast show on iTunes (no charge) – then you can automatically download all my podcasts and listen to them on your mp3 player at your leisure.

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Jini Patel Thompson’s books on natural healing for digestive diseases have sold in over 40 different countries. Her health articles have been published in journals and magazines in the U.S., Australia and U.K. www.ListenToYourGut.com

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

My hubby is looking for a new laptop and he’s quite taken with the new wireless technology. As soon as I hear “wireless”, I think, “radiation?” So I decided to do some research on this. I asked the salesperson at the computer store (and we all know how honest they are) what the electromagnetic radiation was like from a wireless computer. He assured me that computers, unlike cell phones, used radio waves. So it was exactly the same amount of radiation as having as radio playing on your desk, and perfectly safe.

Hmmm….that just didn’t intuitively make sense to me.

So I hit the Internet for further research, and here’s what I dug up. Now, if you like to see original research, you can read this next part and click on the links. But if you just want the end results, then scroll down to the end section titled: CONCLUSION.
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WIFI RESEARCH
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You can go here to NASA’s site to get an easily understood definition of exactly what electromagnetic radiation is, and the distinction between the different types of waves: http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/emspectrum.html

This article tell you what wavelength/freqency wireless computer devices work with (frequency and wavelength are inter-related as explained in the NASA article): http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/W/Wi_Fi.html

Once we know the frequency wireless (WiFi) technology uses, we can then compare that to Radios and TVs.

FM Radio is in the 88 – 110MHz range Analogue TV (what most people have in their homes) is at 400 – 600MHz Digital TV is at 600 – 1000MHz.

If you go to: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RF.html

They give a great definition of radio frequency and then an excellent chart showing the strength of the various frequencies:

“Radio frequency is also abbreviated as rf or r.f. – any frequency within the electromagnetic spectrum associated with radio wave propagation. When an RF current is supplied to an antenna, an electromagnetic field is created that then is able to propagate through space. Many wireless technologies are based on RF field propagation.”

“These frequencies make up part of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum:
- Ultra-low frequency (ULF) — 0-3 Hz
- Extremely low frequency (ELF) — 3 Hz – 3 kHz
- Very low frequency (VLF) — 3kHz – 30 kHz
- Low frequency (LF) — 30 kHz – 300 kHz
- Medium frequency (MF) — 300 kHz – 3 MHz
- High frequency (HF) — 3MHz – 30 MHz
- Very high frequency (VHF) — 30 MHz – 300 MHz
- Ultra-high frequency (UHF)– 300MHz – 3 GHz
- Super high frequency (SHF) — 3GHz – 30 GHz
- Extremely high frequency (EHF) — 30GHz – 300 GHz”

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CONCLUSION: WIFI IS NOT SAFE FOR FREQUENT, ONGOING USAGE
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So, based on the information gathered above, here’s where each item (cell phones, radio, TV, wireless computers) lies in terms of intensity of electromagnetic radiation:

FM Radio is 88-110 MHz –> Very high frequency electromagnetic radiation

Cell phones are 824-869 MHz –> Ultra-high frequency electromagnetic radiation.

Wireless computers/internet are 2.4 GHz –> Ultra-high frequency electromagnetic radiation (but nearly up into Super High frequency range).

Therefore, surprise-surprise, wireless computers and their networks are NOT SAFE for frequent, ongoing human use!

Worrying also is regular TV transmission at 400-600 MHz (Ultra-high frequency) and the Digital TV in the 600-1000MHz range (also Ultra-high frequency). But at least one tends to sit a good distance away from a TV! Those of you that already have my new, revised, expanded LISTEN TO YOUR GUT book/program, will know exactly why and how cell phone radiation damages your health – I have an entire section in the book about it with research from prestigious sources like The Lancet (British medical journal). Therefore, we already know how damaging radiation in the Ultra-High frequency range is.

Now, granted, a computer is not pressed up right against your head, or in your pocket like a cell phone is. But once you know the serious damage that cell phones can cause (at the cellular level – no pun intended!), you know that there’s no way sitting a couple of feet away from a similar frequency of electromagnetic radiation for hours at a time is going to be good for your body.

WiFi technology has now been around and used for long enough that there is now solid research on the damage it causes to the body.

If your health is already an issue (and especially with children), or you like to protect yourself against long-term damage, this is just one more stressor you should avoid.

Needless to say, after seeing these results, our house remains filled with just normal computer radiation from plug-in laptops! Also, keep the radiation issue in mind if you’re thinking about buying a new computer with a really big, high-definition screen – in this case, bigger is not better.

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THE HEALTHIEST COMPUTER TO USE
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I had my Apple iMac 8.1 with a 17″ glass LED screen tested for EMR and by the time you get about 18″ away from it, there is almost none. I then put a plant next to it to further defray the radiation. So if you are electrosensitive or  protective of your health – then this is a good computer to get.

My healing program, LISTEN TO YOUR GUT has an entire chapter on eliminating unnecessary toxins (like electromagnetic radiation) from your everyday life. I take you through your kitchen, bedroom, living room, etc. step-by-step and tell you exactly what is harming your health and what you can do about it. Making the changes is EASY as I also provide you with step-by-step instructions and checklists in the Workbook that comes with the program.

You need to use your energy and healing resources for healing yourself – don’t let it be drained away by fighting easily eliminated toxins. Create an environment that supports your healing process, not undermines it.

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Jini Patel Thompson’s books on natural healing for digestive diseases have sold in over 40 different countries. Her health articles have been published in journals and magazines in the U.S., Australia and U.K. www.ListenToYourGut.com

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ARE HOMEMADE BROTHS WORTH THE TIME & HASSLE?
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Many of you who have my book, The IBD Remission Diet will know that I strongly advocate that people drink meat and vegetable broths in between the Absorb Plus shakes on the Diet. This is largely due to the amazing health benefits of homemade bone broths. But it also serves to stimulate the appetite: If you just consume sweet tastes all the time, you’ll hit satiety quite quickly and just not be able to face the thought of yet another shake!

However, if you alternate sweet and salty tastes, this keeps the appetite stimulated and makes it much easier to consume the number of calories you need each day from the Absorb Plus elemental diet shakes.

For those of you who have purchased the new Listen To Your Gut program, one of your Complimentary Bonuses included a Healing Diets Recipe Book, and in that recipe book, I give you all the recipes for making homemade broths. You can then use these broths when you make soups, stews, or gravies/sauces. Again, I did this partly for the taste benefits, but primarily for the health benefits.

Traditional cultures all over the world – from Jewish to Asian – have always used homemade broths as an integral part of their diet. Sally Fallon and Mary Enig have written a fantastic cookbook based on traditional/primitive food preparation techniques, called Nourishing Traditions. If you’re to the point in your healing journey where you’re on the Minimize Gas & Bloating Diet or Maintenance Diet, then I highly recommend you pick up this cookbook and begin eating this way for optimum health. If your system has not yet healed to the point where you can move on from the Reduce Diarrhea Diet, then it’s too early for you to use the Nourishing Traditions cookbook. Until your system is healed more, you won’t be able to benefit from it. However, whatever stage of healing you’re at, you can most certainly benefit tremendously from homemade broths.

As Sally Fallon writes in her article Broth is Beautiful:

“Thus, broth is a vital element in Asian cuisines–from the soothing long-simmered beef broth in Korean soups to the foxy fish broth with which the Japanese begin their day. Genuine Chinese food cannot exist without the stockpot that bubbles perpetually. Bones and scraps are thrown in and mineral-rich stock is removed to moisten stir-frys. Broth-based soups are snack foods from Thailand to Manchuria.

Asian restaurants in the US are likely to take shortcuts and use a powdered base for sweet and sour soup or kung pau chicken but in Japan and China and Korea and Thailand, mom-and-pop businesses make broth in steamy back rooms and sell it as soup in store fronts and on street corners.”

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WHAT’S IN THE BONES?
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Now, to be honest, the recipes for broths in “Nourishing Traditions” are actually better than mine – because they call for more bones in the pot, and also get you to add vinegar to draw out the minerals from these bones. I like to use Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar (another health product) and you don’t have to worry about the acidity because the vinegar is boiled off in the cooking. As Sally Fallon points out in her “Broth is Beautiful” article:

“Peasant societies still make broth. It is a necessity in cultures that do not use milk because only stock made from bones and dairy products provides calcium in a form that the body can easily assimilate. It is also a necessity when meat is a luxury item, because gelatin in properly made broth helps the body use protein in an efficient way.

The French were the leaders in gelatin research, which continued up to the 1950s. Gelatin was found to be useful in the treatment of a long list of diseases including peptic ulcers, tuberculosis, diabetes, muscle diseases, infectious diseases, jaundice and cancer. Babies had fewer digestive problems when gelatin was added to their milk. The American researcher Francis Pottenger pointed out that as gelatin is a hydrophilic colloid, which means that it attracts and holds liquids, it facilitates digestion by attracting digestive juices to food in the gut.

Science validates what our grandmothers knew. Rich homemade chicken broths help cure colds. Stock contains minerals in a form the body can absorb easily-not just calcium but also magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur and trace minerals. It contains the broken down material from cartilage and tendons–stuff like chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, now sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain.

Fish stock, according to traditional lore, helps boys grow up into strong men, makes childbirth easy and cures fatigue. “Fish broth will cure anything,” is another South American proverb. Broth and soup made with fishheads and carcasses provide iodine and thyroid-trengthening substances.

When broth is cooled, it congeals due to the presence of gelatin. The use of gelatin as a therapeutic agent goes back to the ancient Chinese. Gelatin was probably the first functional food, dating from the invention of the “digestor” by the Frenchman Papin in 1682. Papin’s digestor consisted of an apparatus for cooking bones or meat with steam to extract the gelatin. Just as vitamins occupy the center of the stage in nutritional investigations today, so two hundred years ago gelatin held a position in the forefront of food research. Gelatin was universally acclaimed as a most nutritious foodstuff particularly by the French, who were seeking ways to feed their armies and vast numbers of homeless in Paris and other cities. Although gelatin is not a complete protein, containing only the amino acids arginine and glycine in large amounts, it acts as a protein sparer, helping the poor stretch a few morsels of meat into a complete meal. During the siege of Paris, when vegetables and meat were scarce, a doctor named Guerard put his patients on gelatin bouillon with some added fat and they survived in good health.”

When you go to make your own homemade broths, you can either use Sally’s recipes (provided in her article) or you can use mine, but add extra bones (and feet if possible) and 1 tbsp. Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar to each of my recipes.
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AN EASY WAY TO GET STARTED
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I know that cooking organic, unprocessed food from scratch takes a lot more time than the way all your friends and neighbors eat! So here’s one of my favorite procedures to get the “biggest bang from your buck”. The steps below show you how to get 2 meals, plus a gorgeous broth from one organic chicken:

1. Buy a whole, organic chicken (remove the gizzards, neck etc. from the chest cavity and set aside in the fridge). Place the chicken (breast down, spine up) in a roasting pan. Surround the chicken with quartered potatoes, peeled carrots, and peeled, quartered onions (you can also add peeled, cubed squash if you like). Drizzle olive oil over the top of the chicken and vegetables and then sprinkle the following spices on the chicken: powdered garlic, basil, oregano, hungarian (non-spicy) paprika, powdered ginger (use whichever of these spices you have on hand). Then put the lid on the roasting pan and put it into a preheated oven at 350 degrees Farenheit. An average size chicken should cook in about 1.5 hours.

2. When the chicken is cooked, remove the chicken and vegetables from the pan and set aside for supper or later. You can use the lovely roasted chicken meat and vegetables for that night’s dinner. You can make a gravy from the drippings left in the pan, if you wish.

3. Remove all the good, useable meat from the chicken. Eat some that day, package the rest up and freeze it for future meals. Cut into chunks ready for use in stews, casseroles and curries. Dice finely and freeze for Chicken Salad sandwiches (add equal parts yoghurt and cold-pressed mayonnaise to make the chicken salad – serve in sandwiches, or open-faced with raw cheddar melted on top). You see, from one easily cooked chicken (much easier than even pan-frying!) you get at least three meals!

4. Now take all the remaining skin, bones, gristle, and the gizzards and neck you removed initially, and throw them all back in the same roasting pan. Add filtered or spring water to within 2 inches of the top of the pan and 2 tablespoons of Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar (or regular vinegar is okay too), and 1 tablespoon of sea salt. Put the lid back on and put it back in the oven (still at 350 degrees Farenheit) for at least 2-3 hours (longer if you can leave it – up to six hours). Stir contents and break up softened bones halfway through.

5. Remove pan from oven and throw chicken parts away, or give them to your cat or dog (depending on how long you boiled it for, the bones can be as soft as cooked carrots). Strain the contents of the pan through a sieve into a large bowl underneath the sieve. Place this bowl into your fridge and allow to cool overnight.

6. The next day, use a spoon to scrape all the congealed fat off the top of the broth and throw the fat away. Then package up the broth into freezer bags for future use in stews, sauces, soups, etc.

Think of all the goodness and body-strengthening nutrients you can get from just one organic chicken! As with all things, the barrier is to just do it once, then it becomes a whole lot easier once you’re familiar with it.

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Jini Patel Thompson’s books on natural healing for digestive diseases have sold in over 40 different countries. Her health articles have been published in journals and magazines in the U.S., Australia and U.K. www.ListenToYourGut.com

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LANCET STUDY SUGGESTS CROHN’S DISEASE DUE TO WEAKENED IMMUNE SYSTEM
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In February 2006, the BBC News (a London, UK news agency) reported on a study published in the UK medical journal, The Lancet. I’ve printed the article below as it is yet one more piece of evidence that supports my growing conviction that Crohn’s (and colitis, diverticulitis and moderate to severe IBS) are infection-based diseases. The article is also further encouragement for those of you following my Listen To Your IBS or Listen To Your Gut program, or The IBD Remission Diet – all of which focus on balancing the immune system to return to it’s proper functioning (as well as addressing the infectious component). Here’s the article (do you think the makers of Viagra were involved in funding the study??!):

“Fresh Theory On Cause Of Crohn’s”

A weakened immune system – not an over-active one as had been suspected – may cause the intestinal disorder Crohn’s disease, research suggests.

However, work by University College London (UCL) suggests Crohn’s is more likely to be due to a weakened immune system failing to destroy bacteria.

The Lancet study also suggests the anti-impotence drug Viagra may help to treat the disorder.

Viagra was found to correct low blood flow among Crohn’s sufferers.

“There are several pieces of information that suggest Crohn’s is linked to an abnormality of the immune response, rather than an excessive one” – Dr Alistair Forbes

Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory disorder that causes ulcerations in the small and large intestines.

The UCL team compared the immune system response of Crohn’s patients and healthy individuals to minor injuries, such as skin abrasions.

They found the Crohn’s patients produced much lower numbers of infection-fighting white blood cells called neutrophils, and lower quantities of chemicals involved in the inflammatory process.

Blood cells taken from Crohn’s patients also turned out to be abnormal when cultured in the laboratory.

E. COLI INFECTION
***********************************
The UCL team also tested Crohn’s patients’ response to bacteria by injecting a harmless form of E. coli under their skin.

This resulted in a huge increase in blood flow to the inflamed area in healthy volunteers – but a much smaller increase in the Crohn’s patients.

The researchers found this abnormally low blood flow could be corrected by treatment with Viagra.

The researchers believe that, because Crohn’s patients have weakened immune systems, they are unable to destroy bacteria that penetrate the intestinal wall.

Thus the bacteria are left to build up in the tissue, stimulating the secretion of inflammatory chemicals that trigger the symptoms of Crohn’s.

Dr Alistair Forbes, medical director of the gut disorder organisation Core, told the BBC News website the work was “very exciting” and consistent with other pieces of work which suggested Crohn’s was linked to a weak immune response.

RESPONSE
*************************************
Dr Forbes said Crohn’s patients had been reported to benefit from a treatment usually given to cancer patients to stimulate the production of white blood cells.

If Crohn’s were an auto-immune disease then one would expect this treatment to make patients worse, rather than better.

In addition, a mutation of a gene linked to Crohn’s was thought to weaken, rather than intensify the immune response.

He said: “The cause of Crohn’s remains unknown, and although there are genetic factors, it is quite clear they don’t explain the whole thing.

“Crohn’s is clearly related to the bacterial flora in the gut, but how is not clear at all.

“There are several pieces of information that suggest Crohn’s is linked to an abnormality of the immune response, rather than an excessive one in the first instance.”

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Again, those of you who have the Revised edition of Listen To Your Gut or Listen To Your IBS will already have in your hands detailed instructions for balancing your immune system and eradicating the various infectious agents that may be in your gut – and I hope you’re doing the Workbook! (on the CD-Rom).

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Jini Patel Thompson’s books on natural healing for digestive diseases have sold in over 40 different countries. Her health articles have been published in journals and magazines in the U.S., Australia and U.K. www.ListenToYourGut.com

One of my readers, Roland Lemus, sent in these excellent tips for dealing with the J-Pouch procedure, or if you are considering it…

While there are many Dr. related medical items to follow when dealing with the J-Pouch recovery, here are the nitty-gritty personal-experience things I wish I’d known ahead of time:

I can only speak from a male’s perspective as well, because there are some very sensitive items related to the male’s libido and the genital area that the J-Pouch operation impacts. The J-Pouch operation is a two-step process, where the time on having an Ileostomy (see picture at left) differs from person to person. Mine was a 2 month transition from the initial operation and I only had to wear the bag for two months. They call the reconnection a “take down process” in the terminology used.

THE ILEOSTOMY

1.  You will still have mucus coming out your anus, even though the doctor will tell you that nothing is going to come out there, you still have to check and wipe as necessary, residual fluid will find it’s way out, so don’t be alarmed.

2.  The pain medication right after the first operation is wing dinger, it hurts to move around. If you have relatives or a loved one to help you, that is so important.

3.  More important than anything else is the fact that you have to have the replacement bags and the fittings ordered and figured out on who is paying for them, whether your health insurance covers them or not. The J-Pouch surgeon should have nurses assigned to help transition the process of changing the bag and getting in touch with the re-supply. When you are on pain-killers, all of this is a blur and fuzzy and this info is critical to ensure you change the bag in a timely fashion.

4.  Ileostomy bag irritation is inevitable at the point where the bag connects to the stoma; there is a powder that is used to help shave the excess stomach hair that helps calm the irritation. However, the patient will soon realize that they can eat things that they could NOT eat before, like hot wings, etc. Do not go crazy and start eating past foods with high ACIDITY content. The fluid that comes out of the stoma during a bag change can STING so bad that it will make you yelp in pain. I learned this the hard way. You should powder the area around the stoma and the connection, dry shave and change the bag as quickly as possible. Having a lot of wet towels and keeping the changing process clean is a must. If you do not shave you can have skin literally ripping off when you change the portal area and the bag. I had to go to the doctor about this because the acid from the bile was burning my skin.

5.  Wearing clothes that are baggy doesn’t hurt; however, anything that is see-through can be uncomfortable.

6.  Noise from the bag filling up with gas and liquid will happen. You will have to let out the gas once in a while when you feel the balloon effect happening. Could be embarrassing for some, but not really a big deal.

7.  THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: When emptying the bag in the toilet, if you are a male, at the toilet, do yourself a favor and place a good cushion of toilet paper in the toilet bowl BEFORE you empty the bag into the water, because splashing will occur and you could STAIN your shirt or clothing and a bile stain doesn’t come out easy. Placing toilet paper on top of the water first, greatly reduces the splashing of the bag contents. I learned this the hard way.

AFTER THE CHANGE AND TAKE DOWN

Here is where the REAL potential pain starts, because now you are really using your new J-Pouch. Critical pain management is mandatory if you do not want to go back to the doctor pleading for help. I am not kidding about this. I won’t go into pain management, but it is really something important, and that is why I’m bringing it up. Visits to the bathroom will increase three-fold. The amount of wiping on your rear makes everything feel like pins and needles, like glass being raked against your skin. The acidity from just regular eating will also increase the pain level. There are many products that you can use but here is what worked for me:

1.  Calmodine is a good lotion to use, and has a thick consistency like a cream. I helps in small portions, however, it will not take away the pain and using too much will ADD pain.

[Note from Jini: I would try Burt's Bees Diaper Cream or Burt's Bees Res-Q Ointment comfrey salve]

2.  The real life-saver and pain-reducer is to stop wiping so much and start dabbing and splashing water to clean yourself. Slowly and carefully. Washing your hands afterwards is obviously hygienic and necessary; this small but important process will relieve 90% of the pain from the acidity. Also take things to help reduce the cramping and burning (like probiotics).

[Note from Jini: we've found it's best to use Kleenex 2-ply, white, (nothing else added) tissue to wipe, but flash it under warm water first and then dab/wipe very gently. Use repeatedly until clean. Then apply salve if needed with a q-tip or your finger. For extreme pain around the anus, use a perineal wash bottle to spray warm water over the entire area until clean. Then dab dry gently with Kleenex.]

3.  Take Probotics, and anti-acids. They are critical to making you feel better; also, Echinacea is also helpful. The doctor will state what you cannot eat any longer and I have stopped eating raw vegetables and things that might clog up the Pouch.

[Note from Jini: I don't advise people consume antacids as they cause long-term problems by down-regulating the acids needed for digestion and preventing probiotics from colonizing effectively. Better to use minerals and alkalizing foods like JUICED green veggies and whey protein isolate shakes to calm acidity]

4.  Spicy foods and drinking alcohol during the first year is just asking for unnecessary pain and cramping. It will almost feel like you have UC again. But the changes will be slow and you will start to feel the difference.

5.  Everyone is different, but here are some items that I still cannot eat unless I want to spend some time in the bathroom: anything with Marinara sauce and some barbecue sauces.

6.  Protein drinks and other supplements are still effective and helpful, I still do this and I recommend it highly. Nutrients are essential.

7.  Remember, everything you eat now, goes through you in about 4 hours, give or take a few minutes, mileage may vary for others.

8.  Do not take anything that is time-release and expect it to work, Time-release medicine will no longer work because of how fast your body processes everything.

Male issues:

If you have a tough time getting an erection, do not wait to see what happens; go to the Urologist and get an assessment of what the problem could be. The main drawback from this operation is that the male nerves for the penis are moved around and it could impact the ability to get an erection, impact the ability to ejaculate or all of the above. I only mention this because males need to know that it is not them, and that this is a REAL possibility and could be traumatic. The male genital is a muscle and as in any muscle, if not used, its recovery will be slower. It can take a YEAR for full use and some males need help to push that effort along.

Dehydration: Drink water all the time!

This is a huge factor on anyone who has a J-Pouch and they really need to monitor their fluid intake at all times. I have been hospitalized several times for dehydration from getting sick and having diarrhea and vomiting can easily go into a point of no return. The symptoms are stiffness and soreness, but your kidneys will hurt and you will start to feel SEVERE cramping in your legs, your calves, and other areas. Since the large intestine is the re-hydrating mechanism for your body, you now have to really be your own police on fluid intake. The items listed below relate to just one night of not taking in a lot of fluids and letting 10 hours go by and being very ill. Everyone will vary, but this is not just an idle scenario.

[Note from Jini: people with J-pouch may want to try the lemon water (filtered water, fresh lemon juice, stevia) we learned about in my teleseminar with pH acid/alkaline expert Maraline Krey. Instead of just drinking regular water, the lemon (which becomes alkaline after ingestion) water helps the body to hold onto the water longer.]

1.  If you get sick, and think you need to sleep it off, do not go through a whole night with these conditions and not drink water, in the morning you may not be able to recover and you will be dizzy and could even faint due to the condition.

2.  If you are an athlete you can exercise and go for hours if you drink and keep fluids going that contain potassium and salts. I cannot stress this enough about doing this process.

3.  Watch the food you intake, avoid food poisoning as this alone can also create a visit to the hospital. At the hospital, and your muscles are in pain and cramping, you need to tell the ER staff immediately that you have a J-Pouch, failure to do so could mean they catheterize you to get a urine sample when in fact that isn’t necessary at all.

In closing, I hope these little tidbits are helpful, I feel much better, but now MY challenge is the hydration game, I fight in medieval armour and I had food poisoning, which put me in the hospital for several days with getting fluids etc. I have managed to gain total remission from using some of your recommended protocols as well as the SCD Diet , and believe that the key to success is to understand the known causes of the IBD problem (your books  do this very well) and to address the tested remedies with an awareness consciousness  at all times and discipline, especially when eating  food.

[Note from Jini: Sports Blend Electrolytes will likely solve your hydration problems. It is recommended by Dr. Carolyn Dean MD ND and many of my readers use it with chronic diarrhea. Because the electrolytes are angstrom-sized (nanoparticles) they are instantly absorbed into your bloodstream - no digestion required.]

Thanks again Roland, for sharing this important information!

If you read through the probiotic selection criteria given in Chapter Two of Listen To Your Gut, you will see that VSL#3 doesn’t meet all the criteria for a fully bioavailable, therapeutic probiotic of maximum potency (these selection criteria were taken from microbiology research). But yet, this probiotic has shown great results in clinical trials. How can that be?

Something that is not common knowledge is that the trials done using VSL#3 were not done using the commercial product that is sold to customers, but using fresh product, straight out of the lab. I contacted the manufacturers years ago about this, but they refused to comment or send me any further information.

This is not to say that VSL#3 and other probiotics have no therapeutic value, because the final decision to action must be based upon experiential evidence. You can have all the scientific theory in the world proving or disproving any given thing. Whilst we must research and use our intellectual gifts, at the end of the day, you’ve got to do what works!

Often I have had a strong intuition about something and years later scientific evidence has proved me correct. And, as has already been pointed out, different things work for different people. Which is why my book is titled, Listen To YOUR Gut – not someone else’s. And never give your power away to any authority.

One last interesting tidbit to chew on: In Natasha Trenev’s book, Probiotics: Nature’s Internal Healers, she outlines several studies that show that even when bacteria are completely dead, or even absent, they still have a protective effect! One example given is that they put a species of probiotic into the center of a petri dish containing a pathogenic bacteria. The pathogens fled to outer edges of the petri dish, trying to get as far away as possible. Then they dumped out the contents of the petri dish and cleaned it thoroughly. When they added the pathogen again, they still fled to the outer edges of the petri dish. Why? Was there an ‘energetic footprint’ left behind by the probiotic? Or some incredibly minute particle that still remained despite washing the dish? Who knows. But it’s absolutely fascinating and illustrates how even if you consume a probiotic that’s mostly dead, it can still have a positive effect.

So, in the end, do what works. If you get better results from VSL#3, then use that. Again, I must refer to one reader’s story who got the best results from probiotic cycling – he alternated Natren, VSL#3 and Dr. Ohira’s. If he stayed on any one, his symptoms would return, but by cycling through them, he avoided any flares (as soon as symptoms would begin to return, he’d switch brands). All these brands are good ones to experiment with as none contain anything harmful.

Personally, I wish more people would experiment with this (probiotic cycling) as I’d love to hear what happens, and perhaps we can come up with an even more improved protocol.

Oh yes, one last thing. Previously, I did express my reservations about not taking probiotics whilst bleeding. This was not based on any scientific evidence, but merely my own feeling about not doing too many things at once (since when the body is very ill it is often oversensitized and trying to treat everything at once can trigger a flare). However, as I do state in LTYG, there is a colon clinic in Sydney that has used high dose oral Natren probiotics and daily Natren retention enemas to treat bleeding cases of Crohn’s and Colitis with much success, for several years now.

So again, please follow your own gut. As long as you are not supplementing with bacterial soil organisms (like Mercola’s, Primal Defense, etc.) you should be fine.

Many people with IBD and IBS are also on prescription antidepressants, either prior to their intestinal diagnosis, or, because of it! Sometimes it’s overwhelmingly difficult to deal with the restrictions these illnesses place on your life, your relationships, your desires, your body, your plans, etc,

However, this is not a good idea, because aside from numerous other damaging side effects, many antidepressants also create an alkaline pH in the digestive system. This causes ongoing damage to your gut since good bacteria need an acidic pH to survive and colonize properly. However, Candida albicans (yeast) and other pathogenic microorganisms love an alkaline pH.

Therefore, taking a prescription antidepressant can often exacerbate your IBS or IBD. Be sure and check the list of possible side effects too, as one medication I checked for a consultation client (Zoloft) listed Gastroenteritis as a side-effect and Colitis as a “rare” side-effect. She had developed Colitis after taking this medication (no gut problems previously) and every doctor she suggested the connection to scoffed at her – so don’t rely on your doctor to read or know the pharmaceutical printout for the drugs he/she prescribes.

The good news is the following article outlines a very effective natural treatment protocol for depression. To tailor this supplement regimen for people with IBD and IBS, I recommend the following modifications:

1. Make sure the Vit.C you take is in mineral ascorbate form only (not ascorbic acid). Calcium ascorbate is a good form of Vit.C.

2. Experiment with the magnesium dosage recommended, if it causes you diarrhea, just reduce it or use magnesium in transdermal form (applied to the skin) or angstrom-sized. See my Holistic Health Shoppe for the brands of magnesium I recommend.

3. Do not ingest soy protein as it depresses thyroid function and prevents the absorption of key minerals – see Ch.3 of Listen To Your Gut for all the details on why. Fermented soy, like soy sauce and miso are fine though.

4. Visit my Holistic Health Shoppe to see my recommendations for a multivitamin and B vitamins that do not contain any aggravating ingredients. Remember to check all of your supplements against the list given on pg. 54 of “Listen To Your Gut” to make sure they do not contain any aggravating ingredients. The most common problem ingredients for people with IBD or IBS are:

- MSM (methylsulfonylmethane)
- Vit. C in ASCORBIC ACID form (mineral ascorbate form is fine)
- too much magnesium or a non-absorbable form
- bacterial soil organisms (HSO’s, SBO’s, etc.)
- Betaine HCL

Okay, now on to the article…

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MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT THAT WORKS
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, October 7, 2005

(OMNS) Doctors report that mental health problems including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, ADHD, anti-social and learning disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorders often have a common cause: insufficient nutrients in the brain. Nutritionally-oriented physicians assert that the cure for these problems is to give the body the extra nutrients it needs, especially when under abnormal stress.

Orthomolecular medical researchers say the future of psychiatry is in nutrition because nutrition has such a long, safe and effective history of correcting many mental problems. Nutrients such as the B-vitamins are most successful when taken regularly, taken in relatively high doses, and taken in conjunction with vitamin C, the essential fatty acids (EFA’s), and the minerals magnesium and selenium.

A summary of what has worked for many people follows below. The safety of vitamins and minerals is extraordinary, and the expense of trying them is much less than the cost of hazardous pharmaceutical drugs. These nutrients can be purchased in a discount or heath store.

Taking 1,000 mg of vitamin B-3 three times a day often cures mild to moderate depression. Dramatic results are often achieved within one week of beginning this nutritional program, especially in alcoholics. (1)

Sometimes a simple deficiency of vitamin D causes depression. 3,000 I.U./day from all sources can alleviate the problem. (2) 3,000 mg/day or more of niacin (vitamin B-3), along with the same quantity of vitamin C, taken in divided doses throughout the day can successfully treat both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. (3)

Vitamins B-3, B-6, C and the minerals magnesium and zinc frequently produce a good response in ADHD and autistic children. (4)

Vitamins B-6, folate, and B-12 taken together lower elevated homocysteine levels in the elderly while improving mental function. (5)

As pointed out by chemistry professor and vitamin discoverer Roger J. Williams, PhD (6), each individual has different nutritional needs and responds differently to nutrients. Are you tired of being depressed, suffering from anxiety, paying huge prescription drug bills for unsafe prescriptions that don’t solve the problem or produce undesirable side effects? Are you tired of the piece-meal trial and error approach to finding a solution to your mental or emotional problems? If so, adults should consider the following nutritional protocol, which will bathe your brain and nerves in natural nutrients and may well produce dramatic results. The cost of trying the program below is less than the cost of a typical doctor’s office visit. It is safe and convenient. All of these nutrients can be purchased at large discount stores.

After the morning meal take:

A multivitamin tablet
1,000 mg of vitamin B-3 (as niacinamide or inositol hexanicotinate)
One B-complex tablet
100 mg of vitamin B-6
1,200 mcg of vitamin B-9 (folate or folic acid)
1,000-2,000 IU of vitamin D (the lower number if you get sunshine, the higher number if you don’t)
1,000 mg of vitamin C [Jini Says: use Vit. C in mineral ascorbate form - NOT ascorbic acid - if you are prone to diarrhea]
200 mg of magnesium [Jini Says: use nanoparticle magnesium if you are prone to diarrhea]
50 mg of zinc
200 micrograms (mcg) of selenium

30 grams of soy protein powder and one tablespoon of lecithin granules mixed into a small glass of juice or milk [Jini Says: Never use soy; it depresses thyroid function and inhibits mineral absorption. Use whey protein isolate or hemp protein instead. Also use only raw (unpasteurized) milk.]

A supplement of omega-3 fatty acids (eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexanoic acid (DHA) and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA))

After the midday meal:

1,000 mg of vitamin B-3
1,200 mg of vitamin folate
100 mg of vitamin B-6
One B-complex tablet
1,000 mg of vitamin C [Jini Says: use Vit. C in mineral ascorbate form - NOT ascorbic acid - if you are prone to diarrhea]
200 mg of magnesium [Jini Says: use nanoparticle magnesium if you are prone to diarrhea]

After the evening meal:

A multivitamin tablet
1,000 mg of vitamin B-3
1,000 mg of vitamin C [Jini Says: use Vit. C in mineral ascorbate form - NOT ascorbic acid - if you are prone to diarrhea]
One B-complex tablet
100 mg of vitamin B-6

All of the above supplements are safe in the recommended amounts, as well as inexpensive and convenient. There is not even one death per year from vitamins. Pharmaceutical drugs, properly prescribed and taken as directed, kill over 100,000 Americans annually. Hospital errors kill still more.

Restoring health must be done nutritionally, not pharmacologically. All cells in all persons are made exclusively from what we drink and eat. Not one cell is made out of drugs.

The most common mistake made by people who take vitamins is they fail to take enough vitamins.

The reason one nutrient can cure so many different illnesses is because a deficiency of one nutrient can cause many different illnesses.

What is Orthomolecular Medicine?

Linus Pauling defined orthomolecular medicine as the treatment of disease by the provision of the optimum molecular environment,
especially the optimum concentrations of substances normally present in the human body. Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness. For more information:
http://www.orthomolecular.org

References for further reading:

1. Hoffer A. Vitamin B-3: Niacin and its amide. http://www.doctoryourself.com/hoffer_niacin.html Also: Cheraskin E, Ringsdorf WM and Brecher A. Psychodietetics. Bantam Books, 1974.

2. Vieth R, Kimball S, Hu A, Walfish PG. Randomized comparison of the effects of the vitamin D3 adequate intake versus 100 mcg (4000 IU) per day on biochemical responses and the wellbeing of patients. Nutr J. 2004 Jul 19;3:8.

3. Hoffer A. Healing schizophrenia: Complementary vitamin & drug treatments. Toronto: CCNM Press, 2004. Also: Hawkins D and Pauling L. Orthomolecular psychiatry, San Francisco: Freeman, 1973. Also: Hoffer A. Niacin therapy in psychiatry, Charles C. Thomas, 1962.

4. Hoffer A. Healing children’s attention and behavior disorders: Complementary nutritional & psychological treatments. Toronto: CCNM Press, 2004. Also: Hoffer A. Dr. Hoffer’s ABC of natural nutrition for children. Kingston, Ontario: Quarry Press, 1999.

5. Selhub J, Jacques PF, Wilson PWF, Rush D, Rosenberg IH. Vitamin status and intake as primary determinants of homocysteinemia in an elderly population. JAMA 1993. 270:2693-2698. Also: Verhoef P, Meleady R, Daly LE, Graham IM, Robinson K, Boers GHJ, et al. Homocysteine, vitamin status and risk of vascular disease. European Heart Journal 1999. 20:1234-1244.

6. http://neon.cm.utexas.edu/williams/
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Again, to find out which brand and formulation of vitamins and minerals I recommend for people with IBD & IBS and why, see my Holistic Health Shoppe. You don’t need to buy them from here – you can just use it as a resource to copy down the product names and then get your local health store to order them in for you.

My kids have been educated on the dangers of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from cell phones, cordless phones and WiFi networks, so they were aware enough to come home and tell me how they’re unwillingly getting exposed to EMR at their school – via other kids’ cell phones and the wireless computers in the computer room.

This is the letter I put together and sent to my kids’ school, the school district and the provincial board of trustees. Feel free to copy/paste any of it if you would like to raise this concern with your own child’s school.

Dear Principal,

I’m writing with regards to cell phone usage, WiFi Internet and any other ultra-high frequency radiation devices used inside the school building.

I’ve also cc’d this letter to the Surrey School District and BC School Trustees Association, since I’m not sure who is in charge of setting school policy on these issues.

My children have told me that many children in their classes own cell phones, which are allowed to remain turned on, whilst in the classroom. Whether these phones are set to ring or just vibrate is not the issue. If they are turned on, then they are transmitting (and receiving) to the nearest cell phone tower continually and emitting electromagnetic radiation (EMR) throughout the classroom.

My son has also told me that all the computers in the computer room are wireless. Again, as computers on a WiFi network are in the “ultra-high frequency range” and nearly up to the “super high frequency” range (see attached info on radiation frequencies from NASA), this likewise is transmitting very high EMR to the children (and teachers) in that classroom.

When we lived in Singapore in 2001, there was huge coverage in all the newspapers because 20-year-olds throughout the city were having heart attacks and they couldn’t figure out why. Then, someone figured out it was because it was the fashion at that time for young people to wear their cell phones on decorative cords around their necks. This meant that their cell phones were hanging right next to – you guessed it – their heart. So a warning went out in all the local newspapers, telling kids not to wear their cell phones on these cords. But funnily enough, no one I’ve spoken to in Canada (or the U.S.) ever heard about that. And no one thought about warning people not to wear their cell phones clipped to their belt, or in their pocket.

Of course there are huge revenues at stake with wireless technology and until recently, not much long-term hard data on the risks or effects. But as you can see from the first reference listed below (from the head of a cancer research institute), that has now changed, and there IS enough data in place for respected scientists and doctors to conclude that cell phone and other ultra-high frequency wireless devices are not safe for long-term, or cumulative human use – especially for children.

I have also listed my own research – including hard data from NASA’s website, that has led me to completely ban cell phone, cordless phone and wireless computer usage in my family and my house.

Many people are comparing cell phones and WiFi network usage to cigarettes – which were also once thought to be a “private” choice, but later acknowledged as a public health issue – where your choice affects my health.

I ask that you review the attached research and sources – of the thousands of references available, I have included only a few of the most pertinent as I know your time is limited – and then please let me know your thoughts/plans for school policy on these issues.

I realize that assessing your current computer set-up is a more serious (and possibly costly) endeavour, so I understand that may take time. But something that could be addressed immediately (and to me is more worrying) is the cell phone issue inside the school and classrooms.

If you could find a way to ENSURE that cell phones are turned completely off whilst inside the school, that would be great.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback on this matter.

Sincerely,

Jini Patel Thompson

p.s. I will also email this letter to make it easier to access the web links.

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Associated Press

Thurs., July 24, 2008

PITTSBURGH – The head of a prominent cancer research institute issued an unprecedented warning to his faculty and staff Wednesday: Limit cell phone use because of the possible risk of cancer.

The warning from Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, is contrary to numerous studies that don’t find a link between cancer and cell phone use, and a public lack of worry by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Herberman is basing his alarm on early unpublished data. He says it takes too long to get answers from science and he believes people should take action now — especially when it comes to children.

In the memo he sent to about 3,000 faculty and staff Wednesday, he says children should use cell phones only for emergencies because their brains are still developing.

Adults should keep the phone away from the head and use the speakerphone or a wireless headset, he says. He even warns against using cell phones in public places like a bus because it exposes others to the phone’s electromagnetic fields.

“Although the evidence is still controversial, I am convinced that there are sufficient data to warrant issuing an advisory to share some precautionary advice on cell phone use,” he wrote in his memo.

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CBC News

Saturday, July 12, 2008

“Toronto’s department of public health is advising teenagers and young children to limit their use of cellphones to avoid potential health risks.”

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Dr. Robert Becker, M.D., one of the first medical pioneers to study natural electrical currents in the human body and to caution about electropollution, answers the question, “Can EMR exposure cause harm?” in this interview. Dr. Becker was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

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Good summation article on CELL PHONE RISKS TO CHILDREN by Dr. Joseph Mercola

Children today will experience previously unimaginable exposure to information-carrying radio waves from mobile phones because they start out using them at a very early age.

I am absolutely convinced that the explosion of cell phone usage around the world is a health disaster in waiting, and contributing to the rapid rise in several neurological epidemics, such as autism and early-onset of Alzheimer’s.

One reason for this is that the information-carrying radio waves from cell phone base stations and cell phones make children’s exposure to vaccines and heavy metals much more dangerous than they typically are. EMR can actually trap heavy metals inside your cells, causing cellular damage and hindering your body from detoxifying. For this reason — while I realize that most people will not get rid of their cell phones because of their convenience — I would still urge you to not let your kids use them.

I am so convinced this danger is real, on par with the dangers of tobacco, which all the “experts” claimed was safe, that I’m writing an entire book on the subject, due out in 2009.

And, I’m not alone in trying to educate the public. In fact, some European countries are already working on public health campaigns designed to warn school-age children of the dangers, by putting up posters in schools and community halls.

Will Europe Ban Cell Phones for “Under-age” Use?

The Vienna Medical Association is demanding the removal of zero tariffs and the banning of mobile phone advertising targeting children and adolescents. Says Erik Huber, environment advisor for the association: “Children under the age of 16 should never use a mobile phone.”

Many scientists and government agencies in Europe have already accepted that EMF from cell phones does pose health risks, reflected in Huber’s statement, “Scientists do not argue anymore whether mobile phones are harmful, but how harmful they are.”

Don’t be Deceived – SAR is Not an Indication of Safety

Although the National Research Council’s report states that Specific Absorption Rates (SAR) for children are likely to be higher than for adults, let’s not get confused.

Because the danger from most land-based portable phones, cell phones and WiFi routers is NOT from the magnetic radiation or the microwave carrier wave for which typical SAR ratings are given on phones. Unless you have massive exposures like you might expect in a microwave oven, these thermal effects are insignificant.

So simply lowering the allowable SAR will NOT make cell phones safer.

Instead, nearly all the biological damage comes from the modulated signals that are carried ON the carrier microwave. These modulated information carrying radio waves resonate in biological frequencies of a few to a few hundred cycles per second, and can stimulate your cellular receptors causing a whole cascade of pathological consequences that can culminate in fatigue, anxiety, neurological decline, and ultimately cancers.

The density of your child’s skull is also far less than yours, and therefore their brain is far more susceptible to these information-carrying radio waves.

This Deserves Your SERIOUS Attention

The studies showing the long-term risks of cell phone use are just beginning to come in because cell phone use didn’t become widespread until the late 1990s. It typically takes at least 10 to 20 years for cancers to show up, so now is the time when these risks will become apparent.

It is almost as if NO ONE was smoking and then all of a sudden nearly 90 percent of the planet started. Of course, we would not see any spectacular increase in major damage for more than 10 years. It takes time for this damage to accumulate and be noticed.

Unfortunately, most people fail to correlate common symptoms and health problems to their exposure to cell phones and other radio frequencies, perhaps because these conditions can so easily be attributed to other causes (including so-called “unknown” causes) as well.

Take a look at these common illnesses and ailments, which have all been scientifically linked to cell phone information carrying radio waves:

* Alzheimer’s, senility and dementia

* Parkinson’s

* Autism

* Fatigue

* Headaches

* Sleep disruptions

* Altered memory function, poor concentration and spatial awareness

Although cancer and brain tumors are most often cited as the potential health risks from cell phone radiation, as you can see, cancer is not the only, or most common danger that you and your children face.

Protecting Yourself and Your Children From Dangerous RF

The best way to protect yourself would be to simply not use a cell phone and revert back to a corded phone. At the very least I would urge you to not let your kids use them or severely limit their use. Their developing nervous systems and thinner skulls are simply too vulnerable to cell phone damage.

If you choose to keep your cell phone, make sure you use a non-Blue Tooth headset. Also remember, even when you’re not using your phone, keep it as far away from your body as possible. Do not keep it on your belt or in your pocket as the radiation WILL penetrate your body wherever the phone is attached. According to a scientific study published in Fertility and Sterility in May 2007, statistically significant changes were found in men’s sperm count and health of the sperm, based on cell phone use.

Their conclusion?

“Use of cell phones decreases the semen quality in men by decreasing the sperm count, motility, viability and normal morphology. The decrease in sperm parameters was dependent on the duration of daily exposure to cell phones, and independent of the initial semen quality.”

So, make sure you stow your cell phone in a bag, briefcase, or your car’s glove compartment.

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Dr. Carolyn Dean MD ND recently shared this information:

Last September Dr. Devra Lee Davis, an epidemiology professor from the University of Pittsburgh testified before the U.S. Senate…

“Dr. Davis,” asked Senator Tom Harkin, chairman for Health & Human Services, “you said that a cell phone should not be kept any closer than an inch to your body?”

Dr. Davis nodded.

“Where does that come from?” asked Senator Harkin.

“That actually comes from the BlackBerry manual,” replied Dr. Davis, “as well as from the iPhone manual. If you read the manual– which almost none of us does — that is what they say.”

Seeing is believing… so I found a PDF copy of iPhone’s “Important Product Information Guide” online which states: “iPhone’s SAR measurement may exceed the FCC exposure guidelines for body-worn operation if positioned less than 15 mm (5/8 inch) from the body…”

The BlackBerry manual takes it 10mm further by advising: “…keep the device at least 0.98 inches (25mm) away from your body…”

So if you can’t avoid cell and cordless phones entirely — at least do what the industry’s own manuals suggest: Avoid any direct physical contact while they are activated.

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An article in the Los Angeles Times reported:

“Belgium, France, Finland, Germany, Russia and Israel have publicly discouraged use of cellphones by children. (Independent research in Sweden last year concluded there was an astonishing 420% increased chance of getting brain cancer for cellphone users who were teenagers or younger when they first started using their phones.) France has gone so far as to issue a generalized national cellphone health warning, banned cellphones in elementary schools and considered outlawing marketing the phones to children.”

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WIFI RESEARCH

You can go here to NASA’s site to get an easily understood definition of exactly what electromagnetic radiation is, and the distinction between the different types of waves.

This article tells you what wavelength/freqency wireless computer devices work with (frequency and wavelength are inter-related as explained in the NASA article):

Once we know the frequency wireless (WiFi) technology uses, we can then compare that to Radios and TVs.

FM Radio is in the 88 – 110MHz range

Analogue TV (what most people have in their homes) is at 400 – 600MHz

Digital TV is at 600 – 1000MHz.

Here’s a great definition of radio frequency and then an excellent chart showing the strength of the various frequencies:

Radio frequency is also abbreviated as rf or r.f. - any frequency within the electromagnetic spectrum associated with radio wave propagation. When an RF current is supplied to an antenna, an electromagnetic field is created that then is able to propagate through space. Many wireless technologies are based on RF field propagation.

These frequencies make up part of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum:

•           Ultra-low frequency (ULF) — 0-3 Hz

•           Extremely low frequency (ELF) — 3 Hz – 3 kHz

•           Very low frequency (VLF) — 3kHz – 30 kHz

•           Low frequency (LF) — 30 kHz – 300 kHz

•           Medium frequency (MF) — 300 kHz – 3 MHz

•           High frequency (HF) — 3MHz – 30 MHz

•           Very high frequency (VHF) — 30 MHz – 300 MHz

•           Ultra-high frequency (UHF)– 300MHz – 3 GHz

•           Super high frequency (SHF) — 3GHz – 30 GHz

•           Extremely high frequency (EHF) — 30GHz – 300 GHz

CONCLUSION: WIFI IS NOT SAFE FOR FREQUENT, ONGOING USAGE

So, based on the information gathered above, here’s where each item (cell phones, radio, TV, wireless computers) lies in terms of intensity of electromagnetic radiation:

FM Radio is 88-110 MHz –> Low frequency electromagnetic radiation

Cell phones are 824-869 MHz –> Ultra-high frequency electromagnetic radiation.

Wireless computers/internet are 2.4 GHz –> Ultra-high frequency electromagnetic radiation (but nearly up into Super High frequency range).

Therefore, surprise-surprise, wireless computers and their networks are NOT SAFE for frequent, ongoing human use!

Worrying also is current TV transmission at 400-600 MHz (Ultra-high frequency) and Digital TV in the 600-1000MHz range (also Ultra-high frequency). But at least one tends to sit a good distance away from a TV!

Now, granted, a computer is not pressed up right against your head, or in your pocket like a cell phone is. But once you know the serious damage that cell phones can cause (at the cellular level – no pun intended!), you know that there’s no way sitting a few feet away from a similar frequency of electromagnetic radiation for hours at a time is going to be good for your body.

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For lots more info on this issue, check out the EMR Network (a non-profit organization).

If your kids go to school in Vancouver or the Fraser Valley, BC, Canada, then the Citizens For Safe Technology are a local group that is trying to raise awareness and affect change. Contact them for assistance, information or to volunteer!

For those of you who have received my email about the AWESOME Healing Retreat we’ve got planned for people with Serious Or Chronic Illness – I would love to hear your feedback about what you think of the price, event curriculum, etc. Please leave your comments, questions, ideas in the COMMENTS section below…

I also received this email from a reader already and he brings up some very valid points – for which I am very grateful he took the time to write:

I am writing in regards to the May retreat you are offering in San Diego. While I am a fan of Jini’s work and would love to meet her one day and to also be part of this event, I find the price absolutely outrageous. I don’t doubt that people will invest in this event but for many people it makes this 2 day event untouchable. I have done week long retreats with equally knowledgeable teachers for around this
price point.

So while I was looking forward to my wife and I attending this weekend we unfortunately will not be able to at this time. As someone who has organized retreats myself I know what is involved, so what makes the
event so costly? Please consider that you limit your demographic by keeping fees at this level and after all this is about helping people heal right?

Thanks SO MUCH for your feedback. The price point was something we had a lot of trouble addressing in that it was difficult to find a venue that could accommodate the health sensitivities and dietary needs of the people who are likely to attend, AND be close to an airport so people didn’t have the stress of extra travel – especially if you are holding a retreat for more than 20 – 30 people. In fact, you can read about my difficulties finding a venue here:

http://www.ziggazag.com/biz/best-holistic-conference-center/

I can’t comment on the pricing others have set for their retreats since I don’t know a) how many people were in attendance. For example, there is a local healer (Adam Dreamhealer) in Vancouver here, who charges only $150 for a 1 day (5 hour) event – but he holds this event in his hometown (no travel, or accommodation, or childcare costs for him or his staff) and he does not provide any food – only water. Lastly, he gets 600 people in the room at a time.

Annabel and I considered holding this retreat locally – which would eliminate a substantial expense for us – but then everyone else would have to travel to Canada (international flights are more expensive), and then have either another long drive or a ferry ride + a drive AFTER a long flight = not good for ill people. Also, it is difficult to find a venue that is willing to cater so extensively to food restrictions (dairy-free, gluten-free, only cold-pressed oils, 100% natural, etc.) for a large group.

So, yes, I sure wish we could have set the price cheaper than $760 (Early-bird price,  less 10% Gold Member discount – only costs $9.95 to become a Gold Member of JPT Wellness Circle) for the evening and 2 days (8 hours/day).

We could have made it cheaper if we held it in say… a church or community hall and everyone just brought yoga mats to sit on – but would that work for 8 hours a day? It would be difficult to control the heating/ventilation and would the space feel nurturing and healing? Then they would also have to rent a car so they could drive out for food, or bring all their own food and drinks… but then we wondered if people who are already in fragile health would want to come when faced with all the “extras” and unknowns they would have to think about/plan for, or would it just seem like too much trouble, or too much discomfort?

In the end, we had to make a decision about the type of event, 3-star hotel vs. 5-star hotel, food or no food, travel, comfort, etc. So we chose the conditions that would be most conducive (we thought) to what we’re trying to effect here – relaxation, safety and healing.

We’re wide open to suggestions though – do you know of a venue that could accommodate all the elements outlined above for substantially cheaper than the Estancia La Jolla? Don’t forget, we are providing morning refreshments (fruit, granola, baked goods, and drinks), full gentle-gut catered lunch (8 dishes plus dessert and drinks) and afternoon refreshments (fruit, munchies, cookies, trail mix and drinks). We chose California since a large percentage of our customers are West Coast – thereby cutting the travel costs for them.

Oh wait, I actually did find a venue in the Napa Valley that met our health requirements and it would have been about $200 cheaper. However, when I did the final check to see past visitor’s feedback on Trip Advisor – I found out this “eco-hotel” was in the middle of town, located next to a strip mall! People said the rooms were poorly maintained and most said they would never stay there again. Plus it was a one-hour drive from the nearest airport. When I checked the visitor feedback for Estancia La Jolla – people said they felt this great peace and calm come over them the minute the taxi drove through the gates, the gardens, grounds (9.5 acres of greenery) were so beautiful and peaceful with lots of private spaces, staff was great, food was great, BEST conference space they’d ever been to, etc. etc. It was no contest.

So, I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas and likewise for anyone else reading this post, or who also would really like to attend the LISTEN TO YOUR BODY Mind/Body/Spirit Healing Retreat.

Because as you pointed out – if no one can come, then no one’s going to benefit from the powerful healing anyway!

Please leave me any and all of your ideas in the COMMENTS section below…. While I may feel I have examined every possibility, I’m sure others may be able to come up with a way to make it work better for everyone, so I really am open to any and all ideas. We REALLY would love to have this be an enjoyable, powerful, affordable healing experience for the greatest number of people possible.

Soar higher,

Jini

Before looking at treatments for constipation, it is important to first identify which kind of constipation you have. Through the course of my research, consultations with clients, feedback from readers, and my own struggle with constipation, I have come to identify two different types of constipation. Since I have not come across any labels for these in the medical literature (or perhaps I just didn’t read widely enough), I have made up my own labels to distinguish between these two different types of constipation. I call them peristaltic constipation and stenosis constipation. Of course, while most people seem to suffer from one or the other, there are people who suffer from a combination of the two.

1. Peristaltic Constipation

This type of constipation can consist of many different symptoms or factors, but the defining elements are as follows:

* You just don’t often (or rarely, never) feel the urge to have a bowel movement. You can have stool building up in your colon for days, but no urge or urgency to poo.

* If you’ve been constipated for a long time, this build up of stool may not even be uncomfortable anymore.

* When you do have a bowel movement, your stool is large and fairly wide. Even if it is in hard balls, the diameter is larger than half an inch.

Colonic massage can really help get your bowels moving and assist your body’s peristaltic mechanism.

2. Stenosis Constipation

I came up with the name for this one based on the medical label of anal stenosis (narrowing, tightness or stricture of the anal canal). Stenosis constipation means that you experience one or more of the scenarios below:

* You often feel the urge to defecate. In some cases, the urge can be frequent or continual. You may even feel the stool pushing against your anus, but when you try to poo, it is very difficult to pass stool and sometimes, or often, nothing comes out. When you do manage to poo, your stool can be any width, length or consistency.

* If you’ve had this type of constipation for a long time, then your urge to defecate may have greatly lessened, if not disappeared (remember the bowel is easily trained). However, passing stool is still extremely difficult and your anus/rectum can spasm and be very tight or narrow.

* When you manage to pass stool, the stool can be very thin, sometimes only the width of a flattened pencil. You strain and push mightily and it may feel like you’re passing a huge stool, but when you look in the toilet there’s only a very narrow or small amount of stool. Stools can be soft, hard, balls, or cylinders, but rarely larger than 1/4 inch – 1/3 inch in diameter and the maximum diameter is not usually more than1/2 inch.

Listen to my podcast for even more insights and a simple remedy:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

This article was sent in by one of my readers (Amy Spiegel) to share their experience in hopes that it may help others with a similar problem. Keep in mind that WE are the cutting-edge of innovative treatments for IBD-related problems, so we need to share our experiments and results with each other. So if you try this therapy and it works, please let us know in the COMMENTS section below. Likewise, if you try it and it doesn’t work, it would also be really helpful if you let us know.

IMPORTANT: Amy’s story prompted me to do some research into laser therapy for infection and wound healing and so be sure to read my corresponding article on How Does Infrared Light Therapy Work? before testing this protocol – as it will ensure you use an infrared laser of sufficient strength.

But let’s get started with Amy’s article:

By Amy Spiegel

My son is now in remission and has been ever since I started naturopathic remedies and the Absorb Plus shakes. His main problem that lasted two years was a peri-anal abscess that WOULD NOT HEAL.

My son’s Crohn’s first presented itself with a peri-anal abscess, which was drained in the ER. While we thought that healed it, it really didn’t and it would fill up and ooze about every 10-12 days for almost two years. Now I know this was because the internal infection was still there. It would get very red and painful so I would put hot compresses on it until I could release the infection. Once we did this it would take about another 10-12 days to “fill” back up.

In the meantime I applied the oil of oregano topically, tried the FissureHeal and other suppositories the naturopath gave me, hot baths, mud packs, etc. Nothing seemed to work. His naturopath suggested trying the infrared laser pen light, as she had used it for other wound healing with success.

Her theory was that the laser penetrates deeper into the tissue. If you add a treatment to the skin first, then the laser carries that deep into the wound for healing. So we used ITIRES homeopathic ointment for lymphatic drainage and SanPharma Notatum Drops (for bacterial infections) topically prior to the laser treatment. I also would sometimes add the oil of oregano topically. I did infrared laser pen light treatments of 1-2 minutes every night for about 6 months.

I started noticing immediately that the duration between the abscess “flares” began to lengthen. It went from 10 days, to 14 days, then 18 days, then three weeks, then 45 days – sometimes backsliding to 14 days – but it kept a pattern in general of lengthening. I also noticed that the flares were less painful, less red and less pus, sometimes only a drop. This encouraged us to continue. It was very slow healing.

All the while I kept him on the oil of oregano orally and the Healthy Trinity probiotics. We then got to the point that the infection was completely gone and we stopped the infrared pen light treatments. It has now been nine months with absolutely no recurrence.

However, I felt that he needed to continue maintenance treatment, so our other naturopathic/MD doctor suggested the Lumen Photon 90 Infrared therapy product. I thought this would be better, since he is in his teen years and this is something he can do on his own. It is a pad with several laser lights and can be placed anywhere on the body (except the eyes). He does this a couple times per week (just to make Mom feel better).

He also has started placing it on his stomach. My acupuncturist states “the bad guys do not like the light.” Sounds spiritual to me. So if the light kills off the bad bacteria in the abscess why not the stomach? I hope that this can help someone else and would love to hear another success story. I don’t know how it worked but something did as it started to change and then disappeared.

Amy Spiegel (B.A. in Community Health Education) is the married mother of two boys aged 14 and 10 in North Atlanta. Before going on sabbatical to care for her children, she was a medical assistant for two surgical physicians and then the director of exercise physiology for the Texas Back Institute.  She’s dedicated the past two years to researching natural remedies and dietary wellness practices for the treatment of Crohn’s disease in response to her son’s diagnosis – who was unable to tolerate the toxic medication protocols recommended by physicians.

Now that you’ve read this article, head over to my article where I explain how infrared lasers work and what strength and intensity of laser is necessary to get good results from this treatment.

Coherent photons, which are particles of electromagnetic energy, are emitted from an infrared cold laser (also referred to as low level laser, soft laser or therapeutic laser). These particles enter the tissues and are absorbed in the mitochondria – which are tiny structures within the substance of each individual cell. The energy is converted to chemical energy within the cell.

The permeability of the cell membrane then changes, which in turn produces various physiological effects. These physiological changes affect a variety of cell types including macrophages, fibroblasts, endothelial cells and mast cells, resulting in wound healing, pain relief, reduced inflammation, drainage, etc.

When comparing lasers, two measurements are key. The first is the wavelength, which determines the color of the light and is measured in nanometers (nm). The second classification is the power of the laser, which is measured in milliwatts (mW). A laser of 500 mW or less is classified as a Category 3, cold laser. This means there is no danger of burning the skin or tissues, or causing damage from overheating. Lasers that are stronger than 500 mW are classified as Category 4 lasers and these should only be used by professionals, or in conjunction with a device that monitors the temperature of the tissue during exposure.

Another defining characteristic of laser light is that it is coherent light. This means that if you shine the light against the wall and then you back up farther and farther away, the laser point will stay the same size. If you happen to have a laser pen that is just an LED, then as you back away the light will fan out – this is the quick way to tell the difference between the two.

Simple colored laser lights have an affinity for the same color. For example, if you set up a green balloon that has a red balloon inflated inside it, and then you shine a red laser light on the balloons, the red balloon inside will pop, but the green one will stay intact. This is because the red laser has an affinity for the red balloon only.

However, infrared lasers are “colorblind” so they will penetrate deeply into tissue. An infrared laser light needs to be a minimum of 650 nm and 5 mW – at this strength it will penetrate almost half an inch into the skin. So if you have a shallow wound or an abscess, this strength is probably sufficient and infrared laser pen lights of this strength can be purchased fairly inexpensively.

After 6 Weeks of Vetrolaser Use

If you have a deeper wound or a fistula, then you may want to invest in an infrared laser that can penetrate deeper into the tissue. Unfortunately, these infrared lasers can be very expensive. The ones I found ranged from $1,200 – $13,000. How many people suffering from fistulas are likely to be able to afford that? So I went “outside the box” and I found an infrared laser – called the Vetrolaser II – that is sold for animal-use, for only $525. This is exactly the same quality, technology and strength of the expensive human-use lasers. It has three 808 nm diodes (lasers) in one unit, at a strength of 200 mW. Thus it can penetrate two inches when used on Caucasian skin (darker skin results in less penetration).

To sell or advertise a laser for human use, you have to submit it to the FDA and get approval – this is possibly the cause of the high price tag on human-use lasers. But if you specify that it is for animal use only, then you can avoid the FDA process.

I spoke with Dr. Daniel Kamen D.C, who sells this “veterinary laser” and he said that the ideal way to use the laser (to get the fastest results) is to put the laser directly in contact with dry skin. However, if the skin is wet, or the wound is open, then you need to hold it off the skin to avoid wetting the laser, but hold it as close as you can.

It’s worthwhile to note Amy Spiegel’s article about healing her son’s peri-anal abscess: She used an infrared laser pen light and the healing took six months when used for 1-2 minutes per day. We couldn’t get any information about the wavelength and power of the laser she used. But I did find a photo that looked just like it and the seller said that whilst the laser was 635 nm, it was less than 5 mW in power. So this is perhaps why her son’s abscess took so long to heal.

Interestingly the infrared laser pad Amy’s son is using now (for maintenance) contains 50 diodes (infrared lights) of 880 nm and 100mW for each diode – which a lot stronger than the pen light used to heal the fistula (and, at $844, is a lot more expensive).

Below are some places to purchase therapeutic-quality lasers at the cheapest prices I could find. And, as per usual, if you try this therapy, please let me know how it worked in the COMMENTS section below.

Infrared Laser Sources

Beurer Softlaser (635 nm, 5 mW, 1/2″ penetration) – has on/off switch

If you order this from the UK it’s cheaper than any supplier I could find in the U.S.  The price was 50 pounds ~ $82 but check what the shipping would be as the shipping (and customs duties) may be so expensive it cancels out the savings if you live in North America. If you live in Europe, then this may be a good supplier for you.

The cheapest place in the US I found, was retailing this laser at $149

Vetrolaser II – Triple Diode Infrared Laser (3 x 808 nm, 200 mW, 2″ penetration)

This is the “veterinary-use” laser I wrote about above and it currently retails for $525.
Tel: 1-800-742-8433 and Dr. Kamen can answer any questions you might have.

Okay, I need your help again! Some of you may already know about Dr. Silvio Najt, MD. He’s been quite active over at JPT Wellness Circle and I’ve also been posting some podcasts with him and articles he’s shared on this blog.

But for those of you who don’t know of Silvio, or haven’t heard his full story: Dr. Najt is a board-certified cardiologist, with an additional specialty in emergency medicine. When his daughter was first diagnosed with colitis, of course he went full-speed into medical treatment protocols.

However, like many of us, when he discovered the medical protocols didn’t work, he began researching. Although his research focused on the medical sources of information, clinical trials, etc., it was actually another MD in New York who told him to get my book, Listen To Your Gut.

In Silvio’s own words (this quote is from Ch. 1 of our new book):

“I bought Listen To Your Gut just as a possible source to help my daughter with the “minor elements” of her illness. I have to admit that from the beginning I had to fight against my “medical prejudice”. Jini Patel Thompson was not a physician, but still she was showing a radical way of treating this ailment. It made sense, a lot of sense. But I still had to fight against my medical mindset. As I got deeper and deeper into the book, it completely blew my mind and I decided to finish my “toxic” relationship with the medical world and embrace the “patient world.”

So here’s where you come in: We need help deciding on the best title for this new book!

It is co-authored by Dr. Najt and myself and we are hoping it will make these healing protocols available to a much larger audience – people who aren’t comfortable, or don’t feel safe unless a medical doctor endorses it.

But it is not just a re-hash of the protocols in Listen To Your Gut. This book tells the story of Dr. Najt and his daughter’s healing journey. It also has an entire chapter on the pharmaceutical drugs used for these diseases – absolutely fascinating info on WHY they are used and what the true effect of these drugs is, on the gut and the body as a whole.

Likewise, Silvio goes into detail, in another entire chapter, about surgical procedures, what’s really involved, what the risks really are (as evidenced by the med literature) and when surgery is indicated, but also when it can likely be avoided.

So this book will also be a valuable tool for people who:

• Want to really understand what their doctor is telling them (and the important info they’re NOT being told!).
• Want to combine medical and holistic treatments.
• Want to use natural protocols, but are unsure if what they’re doing is safe or proven.
• Need to have solid data they can take to their GI (and unsupportive family members!) to garner support and provide justification for their treatment choices.
• Want to have a more simplified treatment protocol than is contained in LTYG. Listen To Your Gut accounts for every variation or complication and that’s why it’s nearly 500 pages. But, some people find this too daunting and they want to just have a simple step-by-step protocol to follow. So the refined 5-step protocol in this new book is one I have gleaned from JPT Members and my private consult clients as being successful for the majority of people, about 90% of the time.

Okay, so now you have an overview of what the book is about and who would benefit from it, what should we call it so that the title reflects these elements?

It can have both a main title and a subtitle.

And the author credit will read:

By Dr. Silvio Najt MD

with Jini Patel Thompson

You guys gave me such great suggestions for my book on constipation, that I wanted to get your advice/ideas again. But this time, I don’t have a working title already in mind – I’m wide open to any and all suggestions.

And just to make it more fun – let’s get some prizes going….

If we use your title, as is, you’ll win an ebook and printed copy of the book (when it’s published) plus a $100 gift certificate for the Holistic Health Shoppe.

If you have the best suggestion, you’ll win both an ebook and a printed copy of the book, when it’s ready.

The 3 runner-ups will win an ebook copy of the book, when it’s ready.

Sound fun? Silvio and I are ready, so let ‘er rip!

Leave your title ideas in the COMMENTS section right underneath…

p.s. when you go to leave your comment you will be asked for your email address (which is not made public) and that’s where we’ll contact you if you win.

muchas gracias,

Jini

Before you take any medication for high blood pressure, you have to listen to this podcast! We will also explain how blood pressure works and therefore how the parameters for “high” and “low” blood pressure are determined.

And if you are currently on medication, Dr. Silvio Najt (board certified cardiologist, with a specialization in emergency medicine) gives you easily-implemented advice for how to stop taking it and lower your blood pressure naturally.

* Please keep in mind that English is Dr. Najt’s second language – although he did live and practice medicine for several years in the U.S.

Just click the play button below to get all the details…

Or, if you have an iPod or mp3 player, you can subscribe to my podcast show on iTunes. Then you will automatically get new episodes downloaded straight to your iPod.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In Chapter 4 of Listen To Your Gut, I write about the dangers of Teflon-coated (and other non-stick coated) pots and pans and give you all the data on why we shouldn’t use them.

Well, following is an interesting article from the New York Times, written by someone else who heard about the dangers of Teflon and set out to test a number of different pans to see which one worked best and was the easiest to cook with and clean up afterwards.

It doesn’t look like she knew about how to choose stainless steel to ensure a low nickel content (which I also tell you how to do in Listen To Your Gut), – basically take along a magnet and if sticks to the metal, then the steel content is high enough), but I was amused by the fact that she rated the enamel-coated Le Creuset pan as the best out of them all.

I have one Le Creuset frying pan (bought while my hubby had a contract in Singapore and was making loads of moola – they’re very expensive) and I have to say I like it the best as well!

Dr. Joseph Mercola recently launched a new line of nano-glaze ceramic pots and pans. However, when I looked up the patent for this new nano-glaze technology, there seemed to me to be a lot of glue involved in getting the nano-sized ceramic particles to adhere to the surface of the pans. 

I emailed Mercola asking about the glue and if they had done testing to see if any chemicals from the glue were leaching during the cooking process, but received no response.

My other hesitation with this new nano-glaze cookware is that having spent several months now researching nanotechnology – specifically nanoparticle minerals – I am also concerned about whether the nanoparticle-sized ceramic glaze components leach into food or the air.

You know how we now have washing machines with nanosilver sterilization cycles and socks with nanosilver antibacterial protection? Well, now we’ve also found that the nanoparticle silver in the wash water is entering our ground water and in turn altering the algae and bacterial balance in waterways and ponds, etc.

Joe Mercola states that they tested for any leaching of common metals (like you can get from other pans), but you would have to test specifically for leaching of nanoparticle-sized compounds – which is a very different process.

So whilst those pots (and their light weight) are very appealing, I wish someone would carry out the testing necessary to answer these questions – until we have more data I won’t be trying them.

Anyway, onto the article….

____________________________________________________

In Search of a Pan That Lets Cooks Forget About Teflon

By: Marian Burros, New York Times
 – June 7, 2006

LIKE many home cooks, I have sent my nonstick skillets to the moldy recesses of my basement, where they have joined the 1950’s aluminum pots and the Dru casseroles (Dutch enamel coated cast iron, now eBay collectibles).

What led to this step were unsettling reports that an overheated Teflon-coated pan may release toxic gases. DuPont, the manufacturer of Teflon, says that its pans are safe and that their surfaces won’t decompose, possibly releasing the gas, until the pan’s temperature reaches 680 degrees. Some scientists say that an empty pan left on a burner set on high reaches 700 degrees in as little as three minutes. All pans with nonstick coatings are subject to the same problems, according to the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit environmental research and advocacy organization. I banished the skillets last year and spent months dithering over what to buy while making do with the pans I had left: a large Revere Ware skillet with a concave bottom; a small, warped hand-me-down from my mother; and a medium All-Clad in fine shape.

A few passes at online pot sellers made matters worse: there are too many choices. Finally, after consulting the ratings from Consumer Reports and Cook’s Illustrated and calling several experts, I decided to do a test of my own, using the most highly recommended pans, along with a few of my own choices.

While Teflon lets manufacturers make inexpensive pans usable, uncoated cheap pans have hot spots, so cheaper pans – other than cast iron – were never considered. The most important characteristic was how close the pans came to having the nonstick qualities people love about Teflon. Can they sauté and brown, even without oil? Almost as important, how easy are they to clean?

There were eight pans in the test, most of them 12 inches in diameter: All-Clad with an aluminum core, All-Clad with a copper core, Bourgeat copper; De Buyer carbon steel; Calphalon anodized aluminum; seasoned and unseasoned Lodge cast iron and Le Creuset enameled cast iron.

All-Clad was one of the top choices of most experts, but did not do well in my tests because sometimes food stuck to the pans and cleaning them was difficult. Top chefs with whom I spoke agreed. “All of my All-Clad sauté pans have brown spots on the sides and outside, too,” said Scott Conant of L’Impero and Alto. “And eggs always stick.”

That’s the nature of stainless steel, said Harold McGee, author of “On Food and Cooking” (Scribner, 2004) and the scientist who can explain everything that happens in the kitchen. “Things stick to stainless,” he said, “and polymerized oil is one of them.”

For the two sets of tests, I cooked 6 dozen eggs; 24 pounds of chicken breasts with and without skin; 10 pounds of onions; and 10 pounds of potatoes. In one set of tests, pans were coated with one tablespoon of oil; in the other just a thin film of oil was applied with waxed paper. All the pans were preheated, the oil added and allowed to get hot enough to ripple; the food had lost its refrigerator chill.

With a tablespoon of oil, all of the pans cooked well and evenly. The chicken was nicely browned, the potatoes were crisp, the onions were meltingly sweet and the eggs were nicely done. The difference between cooking in All-Clad with copper and with aluminum is not significant enough for most cooks to make the more expensive copper pan worth the higher price. The Bourgeat copper pan, of course, cooked quickly and evenly, too, but the differences are too subtle in most situations to be worth the extra money.

But with just a film of oil, neither the All-Clad nor the Bourgeat pans cooked chicken or onions without sticking badly. But then, they don’t claim to be nonstick. The remaining pans cooked well with just a film of oil.

The Le Creuset pan and the two cast-iron pans produced amazing results. Nothing stuck, including the eggs, and it was quite easy to roll up omelets. There were almost no eggs to scrape up. I don’t recommend browning potatoes or onions with a film of oil because they won’t have much flavor, but these pans could do it.

 The chicken, on the other hand, was moist and browned beautifully, a result you wouldn’t get with Teflon-coated pans.

Calphalon did not do as well with just a film of oil: the chicken was nicely browned, but an awful lot of scrambled eggs stayed in the pan.

The carbon steel, an old workhorse that wins the prize for ugly duckling, cooked all the foods, with the exception of the eggs, quite well. Like the Calphalon, this pan had a lot of scrambled egg left in it, and one of the sunny-side-up eggs broke when it was being lifted out of the pan.

The only other difference was that the cast-iron pans, with or without enamel, took longer to heat up and cool down.
But bigger differences became clear when it was time for cleaning, the kitchen job I like least. The All-Clad, even more so than Bourgeat, required serious scrubbing to remove those pesky little brown spots that form when oil leaps up the sides of the pan and sticks. And food does stick to All-Clad sometimes, requiring removal by cleanser and elbow grease.

Cleaning the cast iron, Le Creuset and carbon steel was very easy. Food that clings to them can be easily scrubbed away with a stiff brush or, in the case of Le Creuset, soaked off. (Soap is not recommended for cast iron and carbon steel, but it can be used on the Le Creuset and the Calphalon.) Unlike the Calphalon and carbon steel, the cast-iron and enameled pans are heavy. The handles get hot, so pot holders must be used.

The carbon steel and the untreated cast iron must be seasoned, though the process is simple. They must be dried thoroughly and lightly oiled or they will rust.

 Cooking certain acidic foods like tomatoes in cast iron changes the taste and color, but it does add iron to the diet.

After all the tests, there was one pan I fell for: Le Creuset. It is easy to clean, and because of its enamel finish, acidic foods can be cooked without changes to color or taste. The cast iron pans were a very close second.

I recommend Le Creuset pans with a matte black enamel interior, not treated with any Teflon-like substance. (The company makes its black and white interior enamel from the same material, and says the black is fired at a higher temperature and withstands higher cooking temperatures.) David Bouley of Bouley and Danube said he uses Le Creuset in his country house because “it is the most reliable.”

For cooking fish, one of the most delicate of foods, Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin uses cast iron, as does Michel Richard of Citronelle in Washington. “We stopped using Teflon a long time ago,” he said. “The skin started coming off, and I didn’t want to give you a steak with a skin coating.

____________________________________________________

Happy Cooking!

Jini

Those of you who have read Listen To Your Gut know that I recommend women avoid the birth control pill – since not only does it mess with your hormone balance (which is key to foundational health), it creates a gut environment that makes it difficult to establish a healthy bacterial flora.

Increased estrogen during pregnancy leads to higher sugar levels, the preferred food of ‘bad’ bacteria and Candida albicans yeast. Likewise, the surge in estrogen from the birth control pill causes this same candida overgrowth and proliferation of unhealthy bacteria in the gut.

If that’s not nasty enough, continual, high levels of estrogen will also increase your risk of breast cancer, blood clots and thin your bones. Just like menopausal women have come to realize that one of the reasons medical Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is damaging is due to the estrogen – well, guess what? If its not healthy for you at 40, why would it be healthy for you at 30, or 20?

Okay, so if you don’t want to use the birth control pill (BCP), then what can you use that is safe and reliable?

There are a number of family planning methods that – when used correctly – have similar efficacy rates to the BCP. The Creighton Model Fertility Care System (CrM) is one recommended by Dr. Carolyn Dean MD ND (who has contributed many articles and teleseminars for our JPT Wellness Circle) and it is based on the well-known Billings Method.

For those of you who can’t face the multi-pronged approach of a thorough natural family planning method, I found you can also use a saliva test to track your ovulation. These tests are primarily marketed as “fertility kits” for women trying to get pregnant since they help you pinpoint your ovulation very accurately. Well hello? If you know when you’re approaching ovulation and when ovulation is occurring, then you can just avoid intercourse during this period (and for 4 days following ovulation) and prevent pregnancy too. The accuracy rate of saliva testing is 98%

Obviously, the drawback to this method is that you can’t have intercourse every day, all month long, month after month and it also won’t work if you’re taking hormonal supplements – as that can skew the readings.

For those of you considering a vasectomy, be sure and check out my protocol for natural, holistic post-vasectomy care – so you can skip the painkillers (not needed!), swelling and antibiotics after the procedure.

This is a great teleseminar with me (Jini Patel Thompson) and my assistant, Nicole Paull, called All About Elemental Diets. This is from our JPT Wellness Circle, but we decided to make it available to everyone since we get these questions all the time.

We discuss the most common questions, difficulties, tips and tricks for people wanting to go on an elemental diet.

We also discuss viable alternatives to an elemental diet – for people who don’t have the money, or the time, or the willpower to do an exclusively elemental diet. We even tell you who should not go on an elemental diet!

Nicole and I have been answering questions on the forum and doing private consults with people on The IBD Remission Diet for years (in addition to having both personally been on the Diet) – so we pull from a huge pool of experience with hundreds of different people.

This is definitely information and insight you won’t find anywhere else – by the end you’ll likely know more about bowel rest diets than your GI! Just click below to download both the mp3 audio recording of the teleseminar and the written transcript.

Right-click here to DOWNLOAD THE AUDIO MP3 RECORDING

Right-click here to DOWNLOAD THE WRITTEN TRANSCRIPT

Soar higher,

Jini

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with cancer, where do you start? What are the alternative therapies with the highest success rates?

In this podcast, Jim Ehmke – who has trained directly with Dr. William Donald Kelley and is fluent in Dr. Simoncini’s protocols, among many others – gives us the benefit of his 30+ years of using alternative treatment protocols with cancer clients.

Learn the multi-pronged approach necessary when treating any form of cancer and if you don’t have cancer, then begin using these tools now as a preventative.

Just click the play button below to get all the details…

Or, if you have an iPod or mp3 player, you can subscribe to my podcast show on iTunes. Then you will automatically get new episodes downloaded straight to your iPod.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Too funny – A new study from Boston University has found a correlation between people who use non-stick (T-Fal, Teflon, etc.) cookware and higher levels of “bad” HDL cholesterol. So, ironically, a major promotion tactic of non-stick cookware has been that if you use them, you can use less butter, oil, etc. and thereby reduce your calorie intake and “eat healthier”. NOT!!

Okay, so it’s a preliminary study and not conclusive, but still, it’s something to keep an eye on.

In Listen To Your Gut, I take you through your kitchen and (for other proven reasons) one of the items on your checklist is getting rid of non-stick cookware, bakeware, etc. and replacing them with healthy alternatives (like cast iron and low nickel-content stainless steel).

Other sources of this non-stick coating you may not be aware of include glossy paper plates, microwave popcorn bags (not that you should be using a microwave anyway) and any other processed food that comes in a lined package to prevent leakage.

At any rate, as long as you’re cooking and baking with good, healthy oils and fats, you can and should use plenty of them to lubricate your pans. See my video about this:

A friend of mine sent me this email the other day, so I thought I’d share this info with you as well:

Tomorrow, I’m off to have a mammogram. Apparently, I have mastitis. yes, only I could get that and yet not be breast feeding! Doc G is concerned, however, because of the swelling, so I’ve been recommended to go for a mammogram.

Here’s what I wrote back:

YIKES!! do NOT have a mammogram – TONS of research show they CAUSE cancer – where there was no hint of it before. Here are some articles on this topic:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/06/27/Stop-Read-This-BEFORE-You-Get-that-Mammogram.aspx

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/12/03/Avoid-Routine-Mammograms-if-You-are-Under-50.aspx

http://www.naturalnews.com/027641_mammograms_brst_cancer.html

Instead, I would do the wild oregano anti-viral protocol to treat the mastitis and also apply topically to the nipples and aureola. Dilute the wild oregano oil 6:1 if you need to: 6 drops olive oil to 1 drop wild oregano oil, if nipples are sensitive to full-strength wild oregano.

http://www.listen2yourgut.com/blog/gut/wild-oregano-oil-antiviral-protocol-for-swine-flu/

When you get back, get thermal imaging (thermography screening) done if you are still concerned – many naturopathic clinics offer these now.

And be sure to read this for ongoing maintenance and preventative measures:

http://www.listen2yourgut.com/blog/gut/burn-your-bra-before-it-kills-you/

*my mum used to get cysts and swelling until she stopped wearing a bra (except for evenings out).

hugs,
Jini

Dr. Silvio Najt is board certified in Cardiology (with a specialization in Emergency Medicine) and he shares with Jini Patel Thompson his views on “high cholesterol” and the mis-use of statin drugs. Prepare to be informed, amazed and maybe a little bit shocked…..

Find out what you can do and what you can eat to naturally bring your cholesterol into a healthy range. And as a side note, if you have high cholesterol, then make doubly sure you are not using teflon-coated pans or bakeware – due to the link between PFCs and high HDL cholesterol.

Please Note: English is not Dr. Najt’s first language (although he did live and practice medicine in the U.S. for numerous years) – so please be patient with his pronunciation.

Just click the play button below to get all the details…

Or, if you have an iPod or mp3 player, you can subscribe to my podcast show on iTunes. Then you will automatically get new episodes downloaded straight to your iPod.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Wow! This is great news for those of you who have been on my IBD Remission Diet – or are considering it – or for those of you who use Absorb Plus (the elemental shake product I formulated) on an ongoing basis.

Dr. Silvio Najt, MD (who used my IBD Remission Diet to heal his daughter’s colitis) just sent me this clinical trial where they assessed 26 patients with Crohn’s Disease, who used a combination of an elemental diet for half of their food intake (900 – 1200 calories per day) and then whatever they wished for the other half (”free diet”).

The control group consisted of 25 patients with Crohn’s Disease who just consumed an unrestricted diet, whatever they wanted to eat (100% free diet).

Then, they measured the recurrence of relapse (symptom flare-up) over a two year period. The relapse rate in the half elemental diet group was significantly lower – only 34.6% – versus a relapse rate of 64% in the free diet group.

Although this is good news because it means using an elemental shake product long-term (2 years) is beneficial, it should not be directly equated with outcomes of people using Absorb Plus or following my IBD Remission Diet. I’ll explain why…

The elemental diet product used in this study is Elental – I couldn’t get an ingredient list for this product (in English), but it is manufactured by Ajinomoto – the principal manufacturer of MSG in Asia, so I wouldn’t think the ingredient quality would be anywhere near the high standards of Absorb Plus. I suspect it would be more equitable with the typical pharmaceutical elemental products like Peptamen, Subdue, Modulen, etc. Click here to see a comparison of Absorb Plus and these common elemental products (scroll down the page).

Just comparing the ingredients, one would expect Absorb Plus to produce even better outcomes.

Next, there is an entire world of difference between a medical elemental diet and The IBD Remission Diet.

An “elemental diet” typically means the person just drinks pharmaceutical elemental products. But the IBD Remission Diet combines the highest quality elemental shake (Absorb Plus) with a complete healing regimen designed to:

• eradicate pathogens using wild oregano oil
• repopulate the GI tract with good bacteria
• provide extensive healing to many organs and systems of the body via targetted supplements like L-glutamine, CoQ10, Pycnogenol, Bioflavonoids, Vitamin C, George’s aloe vera juice, MucosaHeal, etc.
• It also provides key rebuilding and strengthening via homemade bone and medicinal mushroom broths and 10 specific therapeutic amino acids.

This is why the IBD Remission Diet is effective whether you have Crohn’s, colitis or even IBS – it is not just a diet, it is a complete targeted healing program.

But getting back to this half-elemental diet clinical trial – I’m thrilled to have it as it provides solid data on the different ways you can use an elemental diet. Many people cannot adhere to a 100% elemental diet, so this is good alternative for them to have. Not as effective as an exclusive elemental diet, but still a significant improvement in outcomes.

Here are two common questions I get asked about elemental diets:

What is the longest amount of time I can stay on an elemental diet?

I had one reader who used The IBD Remission Diet exclusively for three months (the usual duration is 6 weeks). I had another reader who used it for the entire duration of her pregnancy, but she combined it with juicing raw vegetables to provide vital phytonutrients. Her baby was born normal weight, scored high on the Apgar test and 3 years later was still healthy.

Is it okay if I use Absorb Plus long-term, once or twice a day?

Well, that’s the great thing about this study, because it shows that not only is it okay, it’s beneficial. However, I do need to say that if you can obtain and tolerate raw milk, I do feel it is better to use that than any whey protein or elemental shake – simply because it is an unprocessed food. I have other readers who use Absorb Plus ongoing to replace either breakfast (because they don’t have time) or supper (because their system is more sensitive in the evening and they find they sleep better).

I have other readers who travel a lot for work, so they always take Absorb Plus with them – one of my readers is a film producer and he often goes to locations where finding healthy food is a hassle, so with his suitcase filled with Absorb Plus and Udo’s oil, he doesn’t have to worry about it.

Other readers just go repeatedly on and off the IBD Remission Diet, according to how their symptoms are doing. If they’ve eaten unhealthy food, drank too much alcohol , partied too much, work is stressful, their baby is keeping them up at night, etc. then they will just go on the IBD Remission Diet until things (and their gut) calm down.

As Dr. Najt, MD says: These diseases are so linked to the emotional and stressors, that there’s no point in talking about a “cure”. It’s more about the Healing Journey and dealing with things as they arise.

I agree, the point is to continually spiral upward, strengthening the body, healing and balancing it so that its ability to handle stressors increases. Whilst simultaneously healing our emotional patterns, beliefs and blocks that predispose us to illness in the first place.

Soar higher,

Jini

p.s.  just a heads-up – many of you asked for a simpler version of Listen To Your Gut (in the last survey we did), so Dr. Najt and I are in the midst of co-writing one. As a physician, he says that in his experience, patients can’t deal with too much and prefer just clear-cut directions: do this, then that, then this. So, I’m listening… and it’s coming…

p.p.s.  One important thing to keep in mind with any elemental product or whey protein shake, these substances are very sticky on the teeth. So you need to brush your teeth really well, paying particular attention to the gum line, where they tend to adhere the most. Personally, I would use an electric toothbrush as regular brushing just doesn’t clean the teeth well enough.

Raw milk diets have been used since the 1900’s by medical doctors at the Mayo Clinic to cure a wide variety of illnesses from diabetes to colitis.

In this podcast, I talk to Jim Ehmke CN, in the middle of my experiment with a Raw Milk Diet. Jim Ehmke has extensive experience using raw (unpasteurized) milk as a healing tool, so he has some great advice for me and a few interesting stories to tell too.

If you want to reach Jim for a consultation, you can call him at: 360-734-9777

Just click the play button below to get all the details…

Or, if you have an iPod or mp3 player, you can subscribe to my podcast show on iTunes. Then you will automatically get new episodes downloaded straight to your iPod.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

This is a wonderful opportunity for you to learn more about the details of achieving and maintaining an alkaline body pH.

Digestive disease expert, Jini Patel Thompson interviews pH body balance expert, Maraline Krey, for things we can easily and simply add to our daily lives to improve our pH body balance.

Maraline Says: “If you can shift your perspective of food and water from simply being fuel and hydration, and develop your understanding of “you are what you eat” meaning “maintenance and healing comes from what we ingest”, you will begin to understand why we, as a world, have become too acidic.

Fortunately we can control our own environments, the key is to know what is most important, how to convert acid into acid busters, and simply make “Small Changes That Make The Biggest Differences” – that you like better, taste better, and are better for you. You can balance using shortcut products, shortcut tips, knowing about alkaline/acid foods and drink. How quickly you become balanced depends on either your discipline or your budget – or a combination of both. This process can be the most fun you’ve ever had, nothing tastes as good as good health feels, and we have ways you can trick your brain into thinking one thing, but getting something healthy instead – honest!”

Just click the play button below to get all the details…

Or, if you have an iPod or mp3 player, you can subscribe to my podcast show on iTunes. Then you will automatically get new episodes downloaded straight to your iPod.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

A while back I posted about Jay “CrohnsBoy” Baluk’s success using my Probiotic Retention Enema.

Well, since then, both Jay and I have had a LOT of requests from people who don’t want to get my comprehensive Listen To Your Gut program, they just want Jini’s Probiotic Retention Enema and Jini’s Wild Oregano Oil Protocol instructions.

Many of them are currently on the SC Diet and don’t really want to change anything other than their gut flora. So whilst I feel that healing digestive disorders needs to be wholistic, I also feel that each of us needs to be in charge of our Healing Journey.

So, In that spirit, I am making these two key protocols available on their own, without having to buy the complete program.

So, just click here and I’ll send you both Jini’s Probiotic Retention Enema and Jini’s Wild Oregano Oil Protocol, in E-book format, for only $14.95

For those of you who haven’t heard about these protocols before, here’s what each of them does:

Jini’s Wild Oregano Oil Protocol

This protocol is based on Inflammatory Bowel Disease being an infectious disease (or having an infectious component). Think of how often gastroenterologists prescribe antibiotics like Cipro and Flagyl/Metronidazole – sound familiar?

There are two ways to eliminate infectious microorganisms: Antimicrobial drugs or substances, or high doses of probiotics. Jini’s Wild Oregano Oil Protocol is unique in that it combines the two methods, using 100% natural substances, for maximum effectiveness in both eradicating infectious microorganisms, maintaining a healthy bacterial flora during antimicrobial supplementation, and maintaining a healthy gut environment ongoing, for continued long-term health.

This 3-Phase protocol is designed to eliminate infectious microorganisms (like mycobacterium, fungi, bacteria, yeast, viruses, parasites, etc.), provide a moderate level of detoxification, and restore beneficial gut flora. By healing the infection we also heal inflammation. Other supplements referred to in my Listen To Your Gut book (such as MucosaHeal, George’s ‘Always Active’ Aloe Vera Juice, L-Glutamine, etc.) are then used to heal ulceration, bleeding, and repair the intestinal wall and mucosal lining.

Jini’s Probiotic Retention Enema

This retention enema, which delivers very high dose probiotics directly to your colon (and lower part of your ileum) can provide dramatic healing results. As the name suggests, this is not a cleansing or flushing enema, but rather it is an implant or retention enema – where the goal is to hold the mixture in your colon until the liquid is completely absorbed.

Many people use Jini’s Probiotic Retention Enema during severe inflammation and bleeding for quick healing, whilst others prefer to wait until things have calmed down a bit and they’re tolerating the probiotics well orally first. You really have to just follow your own body wisdom (intuition) on when would be best for you. Even people who have not seen great results from oral probiotic supplementation (it takes longer and can be more difficult to colonize via oral supplementation) see significant symptom clearing following this retention enema.

Enjoy!
Jini

Just a reminder that now that it’s wintertime, you really do want to make sure you and your family are taking daily vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) and Cod Liver Oil.

As Adrian Gombart PhD, Oregon State University, Dept. of Biochemistry & Biophysics writes:

“Vitamin D prevents the “adaptive” immune response from over-reacting and reduces inflammation, and appears to suppress the immune response. However, the function of the new genetic element this research explored allows vitamin D to boost the innate immune response by turning on an antimicrobial protein. The overall effect may help to prevent the immune system from overreacting.”

Cod Liver Oil contains the elongated omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA. EPA is the precursor of important prostaglandins – localized tissue hormones that help the body deal with inflammation; and DHA is extremely important for the development and function of the brain and nervous system. Cod liver oil is also a good source of vitamin K – which is important in maintaining blood and bone health.

Since cod liver oil naturally contains vitamin D, it is my belief that it is best to take vitamin D TOGETHER with cod liver oil to improve absorption and utilization in the body – and of course, both must be in the proper form, with healthy extraction and filtration methods used.

Here’s the brand of natural-source vitamin D3 I recommend, in an oil base (vitamin D needs to be taken with oil to be absorbed and the natural D3 form – also known as cholecalciferol – is the only one you want to use for maximum effectiveness).

And here’s the cod liver oil I recommend – from pristine waters off Norway, all contaminants filtered out using natural filtration (no heat or chemicals), and with measures in place to prevent overfishing. These gelcaps are a delicious lemon flavor, so the kids and I just put them in our mouth along with the vitamin D gelcaps, chew it all together (it actually tastes nice!) and then spit out the empty gel casings – except for my youngest, who thinks they’re like gummy bears and just swallows them. We take them first thing in the morning, with breakfast, and then we’re good for the day.

There are varying recommendations for how much vitamin D you should take and some suggest getting your vitamin D levels tested using the 25 (OH)D test – since dosage varies according to weight, age and skin color – the darker your skin, the more vitamin D you need, children need less than adults, overweight people need more, and people in disease states (especially IBD) need more.

To give you a rough guideline, here’s what my family takes:

Medium-Brown Skin Adult Female (me):  6,000 IU vitamin D per day and 4-6 capsules cod liver oil

White Adult Male: 4,000 IU vitamin D per day and 4 capsules cod liver oil

My kids (1/4 Indian, 3/4 white, aged 3 – 6): 2,000 IU per day, and 2 capsules cod liver oil

For my friends (mostly white females) with no serious health issues, I usually suggest they take at least 3,000 IU per day for maintenance.

For people with IBD/IBS with white skin I would recommend 4,000 – 6,000 IU vitamin D per day and 6 capsules cod liver oil.

And please note that we live in the Pacific Northwest – a very rainy climate with very little sun during the winter. If you are in a warmer place and can get out with your skin exposed to the sun for even 20 minutes per day, you will need less vitamin D in supplement form, since you can get it from the sun.

If you want to find out exactly how much vitamin D you need, this article by David Rostollan BSc is very clear and simple, yet addresses every point you need to consider.

I’ll be putting up a video soon about my complete Winter Immune System Protocol, so will post here when it’s available. But in the meantime, you can get going on these two most crucial components.

Soar Higher,
Jini

After a very lengthy process of weighing up the pros and cons of getting a vasectomy – which principally boiled down to potential immune consequences vs. strength of desire not to have another baby – my husband Ian decided to go ahead and have a vasectomy.

I said “Ian decided” because whilst I helped with research and discussion, there’s no way I would ever tell anyone to have surgery. I made it clear that I would be 100% supportive of whatever he decided.

His main deciding factors were that our last two children had been conceived whilst using birth control. When I got pregnant with Hugo (our last) both the doctor and the midwife said, “I don’t know how you got pregnant!” I said, “We don’t know either, we’re calling it the Immaculate Conception.”

So, Ian weighed up our incredibly high fertility against his extremely strong, robust body and immune system – he’s never had anything more than an occasional flu bug his entire adult life – and decided that for him the mental/emotional benefits of a vasectomy outweighed the physical risk. And he went ahead and had a vasectomy

Needless to say, I took one look at the traditional medical post-vasectomy care procedure (drug painkillers and antibiotics) and devised him a holistic one. When he went in for his first post-vasectomy checkup, the doctor (who has two clinics and ALL they do is vasectomies) was astounded. Ian had no pain at any time and the doc said he didn’t even look like he’d had a vasectomy. He asked Ian what he did and when Ian told him, the doctor requested a copy of my protocol to hand out to his patients, to give them the option of medical vs. holistic post-vasectomy care.

So, in case you are considering a vasectomy, here is that exact same protocol:

1.  Rest & Ice

Immediately following vasectomy, lie down on the couch or bed for the entire rest of the day with an ice pack (or ziplock bag filled with ice cubes) on top of the incision site. You can have your penis up or down, whichever is more comfortable.

Before placing the ice pack, remove about half of the gauze and place it in a clean plastic, ziplock bag, for later use. Otherwise the gauze pad is too thick and the cold cannot penetrate the tissues adequately.

Your body and psyche have undergone a significant event. So you need to just lie back on the sofa (read, watch tv, nap) and just rest like a king for the remainder of the day. Even eat your meals reclining on the sofa so there is no compression or downward pull of gravity on your genitals.

2.  Arnica

Take a homeopathic remedy called:  Arnica Montana 30CH

Take 5 pellets under the tongue, every three hours for the first day.

Then take 5 pellets, 3 times per day for the next two days.

Do not touch the pellets with your fingers, just tip them from the cap directly into your mouth.

Do not eat/drink anything really aromatic like coffee, mint, eucalyptus, wild oregano oil, etc. for 20 minutes before or after the dose, as this interferes with the remedy.

Also apply Arnica cream or gel (the cream is recommended, as the gel tends to make the pubic hairs sticky) directly to the scrotum. Don’t rub in, just apply with light strokes twice per day for 4 days. Don’t skip this step as the effect is really remarkable.

Arnica is used for any bruising, sprains, strains, post-childbirth, sports injuries, etc.

3.  Wild Oregano Oil

If you’re concerned about infection, or just want to take something as a preventative, then wild oregano oil is the strongest herb you can take. It is also an anti-inflammatory. I offer a free report on wild oregano oil on my HERBS page (scroll down) if you want more information.

Get either Joy Of The Mountains brand, or, North American Herb & Spice brand in the 1 ounce liquid dropper bottle.

Shake well and take 5 drops orally (shoot to back of mouth and then follow with lots of water), 3x/day for one week. Best if taken on an empty stomach, but not necessary. If you use for longer than two weeks, then you must follow with probiotics. See my video on YouTube for the easiest way to take wild oregano oil.

If it looks like infection is developing, then also apply diluted wild oregano directly to the scrotum. Dilute 8:1 with organic olive oil (8 drops olive oil to 1 drop wild oregano oil) shake well and apply topically 4 times per day.

Wild Oregano Oil is antiviral, antibiotic, antiyeast and antifungal. It is also anti-inflammatory. However, it has a very “hot” sensation when touching any mucous membrane (that lasts about 2.5 minutes), hence the video provides a way to ingest it with no discomfort. Diluting it with olive oil makes it comfortable for applying directly to genitalia.

Note: My husband followed steps one and two, but as his immune system is very strong, he only took 5 drops of wild oregano, 3x/day on the first day only. He experienced no swelling whatsoever and no pain.

4.  White Willow Bark

It is likely that just from following steps one and two above, you will not experience any pain. But if you do, then use white willow bark instead of drug painkillers.

Aspirin was actually derived from white willow bark, which has traditionally been used by First Nations people (brewed into a tea) as an effective analgesic. Take two capsules for any pain. Up to 4 times per day. Best if taken with some food.

NOTE: The herbs listed in this protocol should be available at any good quality, natural health store.

This is something I’ve been working on for a long time and it is finally ready!

JPT Wellness Circle is a place for people to come together who want to go beyond just being disease-free – who want to move into optimal, vibrant, full-body health.

I’m running a special promotion with a number of bonuses included if you try it out in the next week or so (extra bonuses to the first to sign up), you can get all the details here and registration opens at 9:00 am, Tuesday, October 13th.

Wouldn’t it be better for you to use natural, holistic methods to treat any and ALL health issues you might have? You already know from your Healing Journey with IBD or IBS that drugs are never the optimal solution. So that knowledge should extend to ALL the parts and systems of your body.

With this new platform, I’m able to provide you with a variety of specific content in a variety of ways – a teleseminar about Acid/Alkaline pH Balance, a podcast on High Cholesterol, or Natural Cancer Treatments, videos demonstrating the Colonic Massage procedure, or the easiest way to take wild oregano oil. Specific articles on ear infections, mineral supplementation and spiritual healing, etc.

Here’s a video showing you exactly how it works and everything you get when you become a JPT Member:

JPT Wellness Circle also offers one-on-one support for you in our private forum, where you can ask me, Nicole Paull, or Dr. Silvio Najt, MD any questions you might have as you travel on your pathway to vibrant health and wholeness.

And lastly, the plain truth is that a LOT happens and is discovered between book publications. Now, obviously with a printed book, I can’t be updating it and making changes every six months. But I CAN write an article, or record a podcast, or shoot a video for you with the new, vital information and put it up on JPT Wellness Circle.

This way you can hear about my experiments with DMSO and my new healing remedy for internal and external hemorrhoids (for example) long before they make it into a published book.

So don’t miss out on this valuable support center for not just your own health, but the health of your whole family!

Soar higher!
Jini

Okay, I was all prepared to write about how it was REALLY hard to choose a winner from all of the excellent stories posted in this contest… But for some reason we didn’t get a whole lot of people posting their stories! Go figure.

However, I am very pleased to say that the winner wrote an excellent, inspiring story that illustrates 2 key points:

1. It’s never too late to heal yourself

2. Root-level healing can take some time – it’s not usually a quick-fix.

So, Congratulations to contest winner, Barabara Bononno!

Barbara gets one year’s free Gold Membership in JPT Wellness Circle, plus a free ebook copy of my new book on constipation: Listen To Your Colon, plus a free set of 3 Murray The Shark Sleeptime Stories (for kids aged 2-6). Congratulations!

Here is the winning Health Challenge story from Barbara B.:

In 1989 I fell down a flight of marble stairs and landed on my lower spine, and cracked my sacrum. Within a day or so I was unable to sit or walk very well. Pain was actually the least of my problems. I spent the next 10 months at various doctors, specialists and physical therapists – all to very limited avail. I started to spiral into a very strange array of symptoms including arm and wrist and severe hand pain and could not write or hold a pen! Life was bleak to say the least.

In January 1990 I landed in the office of a Chiropractor (a recommendation of a chiropractor recommended by my cousin, but who was too far away…). I had never been to a Chiropractor and was very frightened. I walked into my visit in tears and said I could not withstand any more pain. After evaluating my case, he assured me that he could, in fact, help me! He had a plan and I was put at ease for the first time in a long time.

It was a journey – and initial visits had me going home lying down in the back of a taxi.  I’ll never forget the day I was able to squat properly for the first time in a year! I eventually resumed knitting, cooking, life… After 2 years of solid treatment, life intervened and I stopped going (not clever). After another 2 years of of family illnesses and deaths, I was tired and weak. It was then I was diagnosed with MS – which may have been responsible for my early strange symptoms.

Doctors suggested NO Chiropractic and I listened for a while. But then had enough of that. I have been back – to this same gifted doctor of chiropractic – for the past 4 years now. AND I AM STILL WALKING ! (I have progressive MS and was told early on I’d be in a wheelchair within a year)… that was 15 years ago.

This Chiropractor practices a technique called GONSTEAD – which unfortunately is hardly used any longer. If you are dealing with a neurological disorder, chiropractic care can be extremely helpful. You need an experienced doctor who isn’t afraid. I also do YOGA- and of course you have to eat right. That’s why I’m also glad I found Jini’s site and info – a huge help for me lately! Thanks for reading! Hope we can all be well together!! – Barbara

p.s. Barbara – I have sent you an email with details on how to claim/access your prizes, if you do not receive it, please email me at: service (at) HolisticHealthShoppe.com

Soar higher,

Jini

I just read a really inspiring story about an alumni from my old university (University of Alberta): Alfred Orono Orono was conscripted as a child soldier twice – different countries, different armies because after fleeing one, he was conscripted by another. He was imprisoned repeatedly for trying to escape. Then he worked in refugee camps with the raped, assualted, downtrodden refugees from those worlds. And now he is a criminal lawyer who is part of the tribunal meting out justice in Rwanda.

Alfred relates something really profound, that each of us can take and apply to the difficulties we face in our lives:

“People often ask him how he was able to overcome the horrendous experiences of his early life, and he has always maintained that it is because he channels his energy into combating the types of injustice he experienced as a child, a lesson he credits to his grandfather. “He once told me that there are three kinds of people on earth: the foolish, the clever and the wise. When a fool meets an obstacle, he falls into it and is crushed. When the clever person meets one, he walks around it. However, when the wise person meets one, he gets into it, finds a solution, and makes sure it is no longer an obstacle.”

We have all suffered – because suffering is a relative state. When you are sick and in despair from a divorce, or the loss of loved one, or a punishing illness, it doesn’t help to tell yourself, “Well, at least my children aren’t being raped at gunpoint, in front of me, like they are in Rwanda.” Whilst it may be true, it’s not going to reduce your suffering, or make you feel better for longer than a second.

But what can help you and can ease the burden of pain or suffering (whatever its source) is the advice of Alfred Orono’s grandfather:

“When a fool meets an obstacle, he falls into it and is crushed. When the clever person meets one, he walks around it. However, when the wise person meets one, he gets into it, finds a solution, and makes sure it is no longer an obstacle.”

Take that wisdom, apply it to your life. And then share what you learn with others.

Soar higher,

Jini

Okay, got a really fun contest for you:

In the COMMENTS section below this post, write your story about a health challenge you encountered and how you overcame it. It doesn’t have to be related to digestive issues, it can be about anything. And it can also be about how you overcame a health problem for one of your children or loved ones.

Tell us all the details and if you used a particular product, then be sure and tell us what it was (so others can find it if they wish).

The person who posts the best story will win:  ONE YEAR FREE GOLD MEMBERSHIP IN JPT WELLNESS CIRCLE (plus a number of free bonuses, yet to be determined).

So go ahead, share your wisdom with the rest of us and I’m looking forward to reading your story!

Soar higher,

Jini

p.s. the COMMENTS section is right underneath this blog post you’re reading… just scroll down… And be sure to enter your main email address as that’s where I’ll be emailing you if you win.

p.p.s. I’ll be posting the winner on this blog, so either subscribe (upper right) and you’ll automatically be notified of my new blog posts, or keep checking back here.

I see this everyday… with my private consult clients, emails from readers, people who post on my forum, I see one person after the other miss this same crucial point, over and over.

I suppose it isn’t surprising… after all, most of us are just regular people – not doctors or healers or professional therapists. We can’t be an expert on everything. Nevertheless… this crucial mistake can really slow down your healing.

So, I’ve written a special article on this topic. It’s about what happens between the healing efforts, protocols, treatments, etc. What is so valuable about this “space in between” and why you want to make sure you’re not missing out on it. You can download it here (just right-click on this link):

http://www.jptwellnesscircle.com/launch/LettingGo.pdf

Soar higher,

Jini

Why are you not healing?

Or, why are you not healing faster?

Find out the common mistakes people make in their Healing Journey, and how you can avoid or fix them!

Although I received dozens of emails outlining numerous health concerns, many people’s chief complaint was lack of energy. My report below goes into numerous factors that can be underlying this problem, but there are also some things you can do directly to increase your energy levels:

• Make sure you don’t consume caffeine
• Take an astragalus, siberian ginseng and mixed mushroom blend supplement (reishi, shiitake and maitake mushroom). If you can’t find these in one product, then buy tinctures from Herb Pharm and just drop them into one cup of herbal tea (no milk).
• Meditate for half an hour per day – don’t just gloss over this one, you’ll be amazed how rejuvenating it is.
• Take a power nap for 20 minutes whenever you are most tired. Again, sounds simple, but the results are truly staggering.

Anyway, I asked for your feedback on your top health concerns and so for everyone who took the time to write in, I wanted to really be able to address this topic, and those concerns, properly. So instead of a very long written report, I have prepared an Audio Report for you.

Just me, talking to you, addressing your top questions and concerns.

click here to get a copy of this powerful report about Why People Don’t Heal & How To Remove The Blocks To Healing

After listening to the report, if you have any questions or comments, please post them below…(p.s. please don’t email me, I can only answer those posted here on the blog, right below this post…)

Soar higher,

Jini

The next time your doctor suggests you have another colonoscopy done, first take the time to really weigh up the risks versus the possible benefits.  Did you know it is impossible to sterilize a colonoscope? Don’t be surprised if even your doctor doesn’t know this. I’ve provided a download link for this full report (below) that you can print out and take in to your doctor – with all the research (from peer-reviewed medical publications) outlined.

So, let’s get started. First of all, this report is going to outline only the most prevalent risks that are present with every colonoscopy. I’m not going to get into rare risks here, like intestinal perforation, just those that may occur through routine procedures.

Regarding possible benefits, the first question you should ask yourself and your doctor is: Will the results of this colonoscopy change the course of treatment? Certainly, there are serious occasions where the best course of action is to have the colonoscopy. But, if your doctor is primarily recommending a colonoscopy as an information-gathering procedure, or as liability protection, then it’s not going to benefit you too much. It may, however, cause a lot of damage and that’s what this report is going to help you assess.

Here’s how a colonoscopy procedure works: First, you have to self-administer a ‘bowel preparation’ procedure. This consists of substances that cause you to completely clear out your bowel and leave the walls of your colon squeaky clean so the fiber optic camera can get a good picture of what’s happening with your mucosal lining and intestinal wall. Understandably, causing a complete clear out of everything from your bowels (usually over a one to three day period) is not pleasant, usually toxic and sometimes painful and traumatic.

Colonoscopies Destroy Bacterial Flora

But the really damaging thing about this kind of a colon cleansing is that it pretty much destroys your bacterial flora and balance of microorganisms in your colon. The average colon contains 3 – 4 pounds of bacteria. If you’re healthy, most of that consists of good, healthy bacteria. So the colonoscopy prep procedure has just stripped your colon of its good, protective bacteria. And guess what? Your colon is now wide open to secondary, or opportunistic infection by pathogenic bacteria, yeast, viruses, parasites, etc.

Into this now highly vulnerable colon, the doctor then inserts a colonoscope. This is a long tube that closely resembles a garden hose with a fiber optic camera on the end of it. But here’s what most people (including your own doctor) don’t know about colonoscopes: It’s impossible to properly or completely sterilize them.

Colonoscopes & Endoscopes Cannot Be Sterilized

It was actually Natasha Trenev (the founder of Natren probiotics) who first alerted me to this whole issue. We were on a TV show together when she told a story of how the Mayo Clinic had sent out letters to all its patients who’d had a colonoscopy – warning them that due to the inability to sterilize the apparatus, the patient might have been exposed to Hepatitis, AIDS, etc. I was aghast. Could this really be true? I began researching mainstream medical and scientific journals for evidence and I’m sure you’ll be as horrified as I was at the results.

But before we get into the technical medical jargon, let’s take a look at this newspaper article from the LA Times, where the reporter covered this exact issue:

UNSTERILE DEVICES PROMPT WARNINGS; Use of dirty endoscopes in colon and throat exams can pass along infections, activists say

- By John M. Glionna. The Los Angeles Times. Feb 13, 2003. pg. B.1

The nation’s leading manufacturer of endoscopes has known for a decade that some scopes contain cavities inaccessible to cleaning by hand but has failed to fix the oversight, said David Lewis, a University of Georgia research microbiologist who has conducted research for the federal Environmental Protection Agency on the issue of dirty endoscopes.

There is wide consensus that it is difficult to sterilize the devices, which can cost $28,000 each, without using temperatures so high that the scopes themselves become damaged. The scopes have numerous cavities that are difficult to clean, even by hand, critics say.

Acknowledged Timothy Ulatowski, an FDA official who oversees endoscope compliance: “When these things were designed, cleaning and sterilization was obviously an afterthought.”

Even the government can’t agree on how long is needed to clean the devices. The FDA says endoscopes should be disinfected for 45 minutes to kill tuberculosis bacteria, but the Centers for Disease Control believes the job can be done in 20 minutes, Lewis says.

He and other microbiologists advocate sterile disposable parts for endoscopes as well as the use of a condom-like sheath for each new patient. But they say manufacturers and health-care providers have resisted such solutions because of added costs.

Lewis says Olympus, which provides 70% of endoscopes on the U.S. market, has long been aware of cleaning problems associated with its product. In a patent filed in 1993, he says, the company wrote that at times “satisfactory cleaning cannot be achieved.”

You can read this newspaper article in full at:
http://www.sheller.com/NewsDetails.asp?NewsID=22

So now you have a colon that’s been stripped of its natural protective microflora, and directly exposed to a colonoscope that may be infected with any number of harmful viruses, bacteria and other pathogenic microorganisms.

I know, this is such a fantastical claim to make, that more evidence is certainly needed. So let’s get a little deeper into this issue and make sure it’s grounded in hard science. Each of the following problems (from evidence gleaned from mainstream medical journals), highlights a different facet of the sterilization problem:

* Endoscopes and colonoscopes are damaged by high temperature sterilization, so technicians have to use other methods to attempt sterilization. I say “attempt” because to date, they have not found an alternate method that can kill every type of pathogen.(1,7)

* A common sterilant for colonoscopes (gluteraldehyde) has actually been proven to cause colitis. If you develop any of the following symptoms within 48 hours of having a colonoscopy, it’s likely the gluteraldehyde residues on the colonoscope are responsible: Cramps and abdominal pain, tenesmus (painful, urgent straining to defecate), rectal bleeding and in some cases, hemorrhaging.(2)

* Gluteraldehyde (the most commonly used disinfectant for colonoscopes) also cannot kill mycobacteria. Mycobacterium (MAP) is the fungal/bacterial hybrid microorganism that has been identified in up to 98% of patients with Crohn’s Disease.(3)

* Ethylene oxide gas sterilization has also been shown to be ineffective for sterilizing flexible endoscopes, like colonoscopes.(4)

* Of all the endoscopes (gastroscopes, bronchoscopes, sigmoidoscopes), colonoscopes are the most difficult to sterilize.(5)

* Human error also plays a big role in colonoscope contamination. One study observed staff responsible for cleaning colonoscopy apparatus for two years running – and their conclusion was: If the staff do not clean the colonoscope properly prior to disinfection, then no matter what sterilization procedure is in place, the colonoscope remains highly contaminated; and after two years of observation, they discovered a lot of evidence of human error.(6,7)

In the last section of this report, I have listed the specific medical publications and quoted the texts these assertions come from, so you have the hard science backing up these claims. Your doctor will also need to see this section when you take this report in to him/her.

However, before we get to that, here’s what to do if you’re faced with a colonoscopy, to minimize the potential damage.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU DECIDE TO HAVE A COLONOSCOPY

Those of you who have read my books know my personal opinion on colonoscopies and that I haven’t had another one done since my first, over 20 years ago. However, in the event that you really do need to have one done, what can you do to protect yourself?

A medical supply company called Stryker was working on a colonoscopy apparatus with a disposable sheath – called ColonoSleeve – and this would have been ideal. Unfortunately, in 2008 they abandoned the project for unknown reasons. I don’t currently know of any other disposable colonoscopy product, but check with your doctor as one may be developed at any time. If you’re just having a sigmoidoscopy done, make sure your doctor uses a disposable sigmoidoscope. These are commonly available, so should be easily obtained.

However, while using a disposable scope will greatly protect against infection, it still doesn’t make up for the disruption and destruction of your healthy bowel flora. So following your colonoscopy, you will also need to go on high dose, therapeutic-quality probiotic supplementation.

Ideally, you want to first follow the colonoscopy with Jini’s Probiotic Retention Enema and then at least 3 months of high dose oral probiotic supplementation. You may also want to follow Jini’s Wild Oregano Oil Protocol as well to get rid of any new pathogens transmitted via the colonoscope…

Click here if you’d like to read the rest of this 20-page report.

p.s. At 20 pages, this Colonoscopy Dangers report was too long to put in this blog post in its entirety, so just click the link above (you may need to right-click on it) and you can read the whole report and even save a copy to your computer, print it out, share it with friends.

soar higher,
Jini

A couple of months ago, I read Jeanette Walls’ amazing memoir of her childhood – The Glass Castle. Of course, the book provoked many thoughts and questions for me – as I’m sure it did for anyone who read it. And if you haven’t read it, I strongly recommend it – and don’t worry, it’s not like an Oprah selection book that leaves you despairing and depressed at the end.

But without going into the myriad of thoughts and questions this book provoked (we discussed it at a book club meeting and after two hours still weren’t done!), one overriding question remained for me:

Were her mother’s paintings good enough to “somewhat excuse” her pursuit of her art above her children’s welfare?

By that I mean: would anyone berate Picasso, or Rembrandt or Michelangelo for not devoting enough time to their kids (if they had any)? Would anyone want to tear a strip out of these artists and say that they should have been able to give up their all-consuming art for their kids? Or does the evidence of their art provide justification for the extreme selfishness of their lives?

Of course, I’m not saying it’s okay to neglect or abuse your children for the sake of your art. But for me, as an artist (singer, painter, writer), it would provide some other kind of a piece of an explanation for Rosemary’s (her mother) behaviour – which is otherwise so unfathomable.

People who do not have a strong creative drive, don’t understand that you need to create or die. They can’t possibly understand how the life of a housewife would be just like a living death to an artist. Hence, we have so many housewives who have incorporated creativity into their role – through their cooking, baking, sewing clothes, crafts, directing children’s plays and concerts, field trips, etc.

As someone who was so dysfunctional and so wounded herself, Rosemary Walls’ didn’t seem able to achieve any kind of balance or rhythm between her artist self and her mother self. And at the end of the book, it was killing me: Was her art good enough to warrant her extreme dedication to it?

Well, after much searching, I found this video – that not only shows Rosemary, but SOME OF HER PAINTINGS as well. Thank god, I can now put that question in my brain to rest. I know my opinion of her art – I’ll let you watch the video and form your own:

And just in case you’re curious, here are some of my paintings – and yes, my three children are very well taken care of, in spite of all my artistic pursuits!

KENYA ELDER – Watercolor & Acrylic (22″x30″) – by Jini Patel Thompson

WATER MAELSTROM – Acrylic (16″x20″) – by Jini Patel Thompson

LUNCH – Acrylic (22″x30″) – by Jini Patel Thompson

YOGA NUDE – Conte & Charcoal (18″x22″) – by Jini Patel Thompson

A’GHRA – Watercolor (16″x20″) – by Jini Patel Thompson

EAGLE TOTEM – Watercolor & Ink (9″x10″) – by Jini Patel Thompson

Here’s to finding the healthy balance and expression of the creativity within each of us!

Jini

Dr. Joseph Mercola, who has one of the largest natural health sites on the Internet, recently addressed the question: “Why Do I Sell Products On My Website?”

I have had numerous people ask me a variation of this same question from time to time. And recently, a doctor who is becoming involved with my work and doing some research on natural healing methods, sent me an email requesting that he not be associated with the commercial aspect of my work – in order to maintain the integrity of his research and recommendations. Oh boy, did I ever relate to his request! So I’m going to share with you what I wrote back to him:

**************************************************

I totally understand what you are saying about the Holistic Health Shoppe (HHS) - this is why in the beginning I did not sell any products, but just referred people to the manufacturers of each product (in the Appendix at the back of the book – which I still do). Then I kept getting emails from international readers begging me: “I’m having to order from 10 different places and the shipping charges alone are killing me. Isn’t there just ONE place I can go to get all this stuff?”

So then I arranged with a health store in Arizona to stock product and ship out to people. But they kept messing up about every 3rd order, so people were getting really pissed off. I did NOT want to start a health shop – yuck! Not my thing at all. Warehouse, inventory, shipping, returns = HASSLE. Not interested!

But at the same time, I really felt for all these people – so sick they can barely get out of bed – having to spend hours contacting and ordering from each manufacturer, and then paying separate full-whack shipping charges for EACH product order.

That’s why I eventually set up HHS and convinced my husband Ian to handle the day-to-day running of everything – because I was not interested in doing that! But yes, I wrestled for a long time with the “commercial implications” of that. I felt it would lessen my credibility and dilute my message of healing and I really felt uncomfortable with the whole thing. But at the end of the day, the pleas from all the overseas readers took precedence.

So when we set up HHS, we figured only overseas readers would use it – since all of the products were available in North America and if people got their local health store to order them in (which is what I recommend in the book and give them all the info to be able to do so) then they would not have to pay shipping charges. Hence, we went into it with the attitude that, “Well, let’s just hope to break even and help these people out.”

Since we can only afford to sell at regular retail prices and the shipping is expensive because it is courier shipping (we tried USPS in the beginning, but they kept losing packages which made people really angry and cost a lot of money to replace) – why would someone is the US buy from the Holistic Health Shoppe??

Surprise! – they preferred to buy from HHS because of CONVENIENCE. One-stop shopping, and they didn’t want to have to wait (anywhere from 1 -4 weeks) for their local store to get the product in. So there you go, now 90% of HHS customers are from the US. Go figure.

Oh yes, and the other motivator was that people would go to their local health store to get a specific product, but they didn’t have it in stock and the health store worker would talk them into buying another brand – which they assured them was identical. However, it was NOT the same and would contain secondary ingredients, fillers, etc. that directly aggravated their IBD symptoms resulting in a bad experience.

So that’s the whole story. Would I prefer to have someone else own and profit from HHS and I just refer readers to them? Hell yes. From a logistical point of view, but primarily from an integrity point of view. If someone is profiting from their advice, it dilutes the power of their message. I get that. I feel it myself. That’s why I first tried to get the health store in Arizona to do it (they are the largest in the State, in business for over a decade, excellent reputation, etc.) – but their accuracy and customer service just wasn’t good enough. My motto in life is: Do it right, or don’t do it at all.

So, here we are. And I’m sure to many people, at first glance, I may look pretty “selly” and they may well wonder about my integrity and validity. That’s the sad part for me – I’ve done all this and set up the Holistic Health Shoppe at THEIR request, because I honestly felt so bad for the extra burden on my overseas readers. And now that I’ve set it up, yes, it’s a business, with a warehouse, staff, etc. so it has to generate money to pay everyone. It’s a rock and a hard place.

Aside from which, supplements are not a profitable business anyway – unless you have your own line, then the profit margins get a bit better, but your up-front cost also increases drastically. But in terms of a business model and a time/profit/hassle ratio – not a business I would ever choose to be in!

But that’s the thing in life, sometimes the universe has other ideas for us. And many times, the meaning and heart-value makes up for what’s lacking in the business model. I made much easier money in my telecommunications business, but it had nowhere near the meaning and love that this business contains.

**************************************************

Note: I called it a business. Yes. Because if something is taking up all of my working time, then it has to generate me money. I’ll get the odd email from time to time from someone who feels I should be doing this for free, not “profiting from the sickness of others”. Hello? Do you work for free? Does your rent, food, car payments etc. just magically appear or do you have to pay for them?

If helping people heal themselves takes up all my time, then I have to charge for that. If I didn’t, then I would put my time into another business which would generate income. Here is a key point that many “righteously indignant” people just don’t seem to get:

I don’t need to be doing this – I’m already healed!

This whole business started as the result of people continually asking me “How did you heal yourself?” People asked me for help, not the other way around.

I’ve owned my own businesses since I was 19 – and my first business was a candy store at the age of 9. As a previously successful business person, would I sit down and say to myself: “Hmmm, I think I’ll start a new business, selling to people who are so weak and sick that many of them can’t work, so they won’t have any money to buy my books. And they also won’t have any money to pay for their own supplements, so they won’t be interested in natural healing methods in the first place.”

Gee, do you think it’s safe to conclude that I did not start this business for the money?

And let’s be real clear about this: I do not have a poverty-consciousness. I do not believe that “money is the root of all evil”. I think money is great; it is tool that can be used to do great things in the world, increase your freedom of movement and experience, eat better, live better, and have more fun.

Part of the reason I love to see people healed is so that they can have the energy and stamina to earn good money for themselves. I’m a big fan of automating systems and working smart vs. working hard. And I do not believe that healers and health professionals need to be low income in order to be sincere. Integrity does not equal poverty. Integrity stands on its own. You can be a fabulously wealthy person with integrity. You can be a poor person with integrity. Hopefully people who read my stuff will see who I really am and the results they achieve will speak for themselves.

‘Nuff said. As per usual, feel free to add your comments or questions below – I love being able to explore these issues freely and together! – Jini

Oh this is my most frustrating topic to date – I’ve done two teleseminars with leaders in holistic dentistry: one with Dr. Hal Huggins and one with Dr. Ara Elmajian, in an attempt to figure out WHAT those of us with poor teeth can do to heal ourselves. I have read Dr. Weston Price’s flagship book and also Dr. Gerard Judd’s book (and spoke with him before he died), along with derivatives stemming from these works (for example “Cure Tooth Decay” by Rami Nagel).

I had a very poor diet from in utero throughout my childhood and yes, I have really bad teeth. What’s really heartbreaking though, is my children’s teeth. I have 3 who were all breastfed for 13 – 20 months. During my pregnancies. breastfeeding and ongoing I ate unprocessed organic food, lots of omega 3s, animal fats, probiotics, sweetened with stevia whenever possible, no white anything, etc. My kids eat this same type of diet and my youngest actually begs for “green juice” (we have a premium juicer and we juice fennel, celery, spinach, parsley, apples, carrots, etc. daily). You would think their teeth would be great wouldn’t you??

NOT. They have multiple cavities and my eldest are only 6 and 9. My youngest will be going to the dentist the end of the month for his first check up, and he is the only one who received raw milk from weaning, so it will be interesting to see if his teeth are doing better (there is no visible decay on his). However, my other two received raw cheese from a young age and have both had raw milk for the last 2 years – since which they have developed new decay.

So, after extensive research and experiential evidence, I’m afraid I must conclude that there is some other really KEY FACTOR in dental health other than diet, environmental toxins, dental hygiene, and emotional health – all of which we have addressed. Any ideas??

Having exhausted all the possible contributing physical factors, Oscar, Zara (my two eldest children) and I are now trying EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) and are tapping every night after our brushing and flossing.

Here are all the things we have implemented to stave off tooth decay that have had no effect:

- organic unprocessed food, probiotics, vit. D, raw vegetable juices, yoghurt, raw milk and cheese, animal fats, omega-3, raw salmon, salmon roe, olive oil, coconut oil, organic meat, cod liver oil, multi-vitamins, whole grains, etc. Use honey, maple syrup and stevia wherever possible. My kids eat about 1/80 of the sugar of all their peers – we have even sent home “No sugar or chemicals please” letters to all their playdates and teachers.

- brushing with toothpaste that does not contain SLS, flouride, glycerin or anything artificial. But does contain beneficial herbs, tea tree oil and other essential healing oils.

- no synthetic clothing, no T-fal pans, all natural mattresses, bedding, etc. natural cleaning products only, no microwave, no cell phones, no wifi, etc.

- lots of exercise and sports – all 3 of my kids look like they bodybuild in the gym their muscles are so defined. They have had craniosacral and osteopathic treatment from birth and their spines, legs, alignment are all excellent.

- the health of the rest of their bodies are superb – they hardly ever get sick, normal bowel movements, clear skin, they have excellent energy all day and only need about 10 hours sleep at night, they are all at the top of their class academically (brains healthy and functioning optimally).

It is only their teeth that are doing poorly – Zara has decay on 4 teeth (all baby teeth as she has no permanent teeth yet) and Oscar has decay on 6 baby teeth and 2 permanent teeth. I tell you, this is driving me NUTS!! I honestly cannot think of anything else to do/try.

All I can conclude is that there has to be some other really decisive factor involved here. And to say “it’s genetic” does not really tell me anything meaningful. Also, as we now know, you can change your genetics and alter your DNA, which gives the phrase “Oh, they’ve inherited my bad teeth” even less meaning.

Further proof that there’s another mechanism at work is evidenced by my children’s friends. We do not live in a health-conscious city. The kids around here eat the standard junk diet of North America and guess what? Most of them have LESS tooth decay than my kids! Some kids who eat almost all processed food and massive amounts of candy have only 1 or 2 cavities.

Like I said, there’s something else going on and I sure wish someone would figure it out……post your thoughts below…..

Oh, one more thing I just have to share, for those of you who can’t afford modern dentistry, here’s how to give yourself a filling at home!

Jini

I talk a lot about the health benefits of drinking raw cow’s milk or raw goat’s milk on this blog. But for those of you that cannot tolerate it, or who cannot obtain pasture-fed raw milk where you live, an excellent alternative is Raw Almond Milk.

With raw almond milk, you can still enjoy cereals, porridge, milky tea, smoothies and all the other nice things you really miss out on when you can’t use raw dairy. Unfortunately, most commercial brands contain thickeners, like carrageenan, or oils (which may not be cold-pressed and completely free of rancidity). The solution (especially for those with sensitive digestive systems) is to make your own.

Dr. Ben Kim (and his wife Margaret) have posted this excellent pictorial instruction on how to make yummy, fresh, raw almond milk. You won’t believe how easy and quick it is!

Just remember to use raw, unpeeled almonds (preferably organic). If you don’t want to use dates as a sweetener, you can always use stevia, or raw honey.

Enjoy!

Things are really heating up in the vaccine arena.

Pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutically-funded organizations (like FDA, CDC, WHO) are really racheting up the pressure on citizens to get vaccinated against flu bugs.

They have leveraged all the fear and hype (created by THEIR advertising, PR, control of media, etc.) around the swine flu to actually try to push through LAWS forcing everyone to be vaccinated if they declare there is a pandemic, or threat of a pandemic.

How reassuring! When they declared the swine flu a pandemic after LESS people died of it than the regular flu.

Oh, yes, please let me put my trust and the health of my body into your hands…NOT.

The Health Freedom Alliance in the US.. reports:

“The new Health Care Bill presented by the Obama administration will put the government’s health-reform agents literally on our doorsteps with a bag full of needles for our children. Under this new bill, states will receive funding to support a “Vaccine Team” that will see to it that virtually every American citizen is up to date on immunizations. They will be using immunization records of every citizen, and if you are not quite up to date, the health storm troopers will be deployed to knock down your door with needles blazing in what is considered to be “Private Home Interventions.”

The bill includes a series of details and methods to keep everybody current on their vaccinations, and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) will be providing the grant money to carry this out.”

The Alliance for Natural Health in the U.K. is supporting a WORLDWIDE petition that we can sign to stop this insanity before BigPharma pays the politicians in our countries to make this lawful.

I have just read and signed this petition: “A UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF RESISTANCE TO MANDATORY VACCINATIONS”.

Please take a moment to read about this important issue, and join me in signing the petition. It takes just 30 seconds, but can truly make a difference. Their goal is 1,000,000,000 signatures – please sign here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/a-universal-declaration-of-resistance-to-mandatory-vaccinations

Once you have signed, you can help even more by asking your friends and family to sign as well.

I wish my brother Ricken’s organization www.avaaz.org would get on this issue. They’re really crafty about using smart, media-friendly techniques to increase pressure and create change. They’re heavily involved with the climate change issue right now, but I’m emailing him to try to get him to devote a team to this issue. If they take it up, I’ll let you know!

In the meantime, let’s each do what we can to prevent this Orwellian nightmare from happening.

If you currently live in the United States and you have children in school, then Dr. Carolyn Dean (who writes for our Infoletter) has a great idea for how to resist school vaccinations. Many people are choosing to homeschool their kids because of this issue. But if that’s not something you’d like to do, then here’s what she recommends:

“If your doctor were to try to corner you into a shot I suggest you tell him or her: “If I were to accept your proposed treatment I would require you to sign a letter detailing that you will take full financial responsibility for any injuries that I experience from the vaccine you want to administer.”

As a doctor I can tell you we really don’t like being threatened with a lawsuit. But the doctor is threatening you with a toxic injection – so don’t buckle. The mention of such a reasonable condition should get them to put away their needle.

Have both your child’s teacher and the school’s principle sign that they will ensure you child does not receive the swine flu vaccination (or any other vaccinations!). They will also take full financial responsibility for any injury resulting if they neglect said responsibility.”

And if you still don’t understand why avoiding vaccines is of UTMOST importance, then read this interview with a former vaccine researcher, who worked for one of the big pharmaceutical companies for over a decade. He was part of the team developing vaccines, however, when his friend’s son died after receiving the DPT shot, he decided he could no longer keep silent.

As he says in this article: “If I had a child now, the last thing I would allow is vaccination. I would move out of the state if I had to. I would change the family name. I would disappear. With my family. I’m not saying it would come to that. There are ways to sidestep the system with grace, if you know how to act. There are exemptions you can declare, in every State, based on religious and/or philosophic views. But if push came to shove, I would go on the move.”

Well, it looks like people in the U.S. are not far from that point and since the rest of the world still follows America, we all need to get serious about protesting. You can start right now by signing this petition.

Remember, history has proven that all the money in the world cannot prevail against the will of the masses. BUT we need to get vocal and get active, otherwise our will and our voice will not be heard and the money-rich pharmaceuticals will win out. So don’t despair, just get going and do your little bit in your little corner of the world. And if everyone else (or at least 5%) do the same….that’s enough to create change.

stay strong,

Jini

Author and activist, Jock Doubleday recently sent out this press release about his Vaccine Challenge – where he challenges any US medical doctor or BigPharma CEO to drink the exact same chemicals they’re currently injecting into infants and he’ll pay them $200,000.00!

Why will no doctor or pharmaceutical exec in the USA do it??

* * * PRESS RELEASE * * *

June 15, 2009

Ojai, CA — On January 29, 2001, Jock Doubleday offered $20,000 to the first U.S.-licensed medical doctor or pharmaceutical company CEO to publicly drink a mixture of standard vaccine additive ingredients:
http://www.mercola.com/2001/feb/10/vaccine_offer.htm

The $20,000 offer had no takers.

On August 1, 2006, Doubleday increased the offer to $75,000:
http://www.vaclib.org/links/jockslinks.htm#press

The $75,000 offer had no takers.

THEREFORE . . .

On June 1, 2007, Doubleday added a monthly increase of $5,000.  As of June 1, 2009, the offer stands at $200,000:

http://www.spontaneouscreation.org/SC/$75,000VaccineOffer.htm

The offer will continue to increase $5,000 per month until an M.D. or pharmaceutical company CEO, or any of the relevant members of the ACIP (now including liaison representatives, ex officio members, chairman, and executive secretary — please see http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/ACIP/members.htm for a full list of eligible ACIP candidates), agrees to drink a body-weight calibrated dose of the poisonous vaccine additives that M.D.s routinely inject into children in the name of health.

This offer has no expiration date unless superseded by a similar offer of higher remuneration.

QUESTION: Why won’t MDs drink the poisons they inject into babies on a daily basis?

QUESTION: Why won’t members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices drink additive ingredients in the vaccines they say are safe?

* * * NOTE:  I have just added Lawrence Kaplow to the list of eligible participants. Lawrence Kaplow is writer and executive story editor of the “House M.D.” episode “Paternity,” in which the main character states that avoiding childhood vaccines is akin to starting a baby-coffin business. * * *

In health,

Jock Doubleday
Director
Natural Woman, Natural Man, Inc.
A California 501(c)3 Nonprofit Corporation
www.SpontaneousCreation.org
director@spontaneouscreation.org

Jock Doubleday is the author of
“Spontaneous Creation: 101 Reasons Not to Have Your Baby in a Hospital, Vol 1: A Book about Natural Childbirth and the Birth of Wisdom and Power in Childbearing Women”

Two years ago, when the challenge was at $75,000.00 I had sent his email out to my database. One of my readers, a pediatrician, said getting them to “drink” it made no sense, since vaccines are injected. And she also pointed out that thimerosal had been removed from vaccines.

So, I emailed Jock and asked him these questions and here’s what he said:

Drinking is better in my opinion because 1) it’s more “photo opp” and 2) it’s more “real.” People watching would feel the poisons going down the MD’s throat, while injection is covert and difficult to access vicariously. 3) Drinking is safer. And if drinking is safer, why wouldn’t an MD do it? I also don’t particularly want to kill some well-meaning MD whose medical school education has left him in the dark.

And the doctor is wrong about thimerosal being gone from childhood vaccines. A percentage of thimerosal has been taken out of some vaccines, but there is still at least trace thimerosal in the vaccines that have had thimerosal in the past. And of course the flu vaccine still has the same amount of thimerosal. And further, the old full-dose thimerosal vaccines have been stockpiled by hospitals and doctors, so there’s no way for you to know what your child is getting short of reading the package insert of each particular vaccine.

FYI, injection of these ingredients into an adult — even when the dose is body weight calibrated — is much different from injecting them into a baby or a young child. Before the age or 2 or 3, the “blood-brain barrier” has not formed, which means that toxic metals can enter the still-forming brain. An adult’s blood-brain barrier has long since formed, so the metals do less harm. Western culture’s skyrocketing rates of autism are due in part to neurological interference from heavy metals from ever-increasing numbers of early childhood vaccinations.

So then I emailed my brother – who is an MD and a Geneticist – and asked him whether he thought injecting these substances was more dangerous than drinking them. And he said:

Drinking is probably safer, but without studies, who knows?

So, yet again, we’re left wondering: If MDs throughout the country regularly inject babies with these vaccines AND they usually inject their own children with these vaccines…WHY won’t anyone take up this challenge and get $200,000 for about 15 minutes of their time?

If someone offered ME $200,000 to drink something I felt was perfectly safe, I’d do it in a heartbeat!

If you can shed some light on this, let me know in the Comments box below….cause I am seriously mystified…

Oh yes, one more thing: I recently came across this absolutely fantastic interview with a former vaccine research scientist. He is not releasing his name, because he has retired and wants to keep his ‘retirement package’, and he has also seen what the pharmaceuticals have done to colleagues who have spoken out – and he doesn’t want to go there. However, when his friend’s child died from a DPT shot, he could no longer keep silent and live with his conscience, so he is making his “insider info” known to trusted sources. Download this article and give it out to whoever you can!

Note: If you ever consider getting a flu vaccine, then you need to read this article too.

Soar higher,

Jini

* Wearing a bra over 12 hours daily dramatically increases breast cancer incidence.

* Bra-free women have about the same incidence of breast cancer as men.

* Those who wear a bra 18-24 hours daily have over 100 times greater incidence of breast cancer than do bra-free women. This link is 3-4 times greater than that between cigarettes and lung cancer!

(Source: Dressed To Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras by Sydney Ross Singer and Soma Grismaijer, Medical Anthropologists)

How exactly is it that bras can cause breast cancer?

Dr. Singer and Grismaijer explain:

“Our theory explaining these findings is that the bra, an elastic garment designed to alter breast shape, applies constant pressure to the soft breast tissue, compressing and constricting lymphatic vessels. Evidence of this constriction are the red marks and indentations in the skin left behind by the bra. Since the role of the lymphatics is to flush out toxins and debris from the tissues, impairment of lymphatic flow can lead to the toxification of the breast tissue. These toxins include endogenous toxins resulting from the consequent tissue hypoxia, as well as the exogenous toxins that contaminate our food, water and air in our petrochemically polluted world. Many of these toxins are carcinogenic. The bra concentrates these in the breast by preventing the lymphatics from flushing them away.

Of course, this means that the cause of breast cancer is not the bra, per se, but the toxins that the bra concentrates in the breast tissue due to lymphatic impairment.

Interestingly, when you look at the worldwide statistics on breast cancer, it is clear that it is only a problem in cultures where bras are worn. No bras, and men and women have about the same low incidence of breast cancer. And the bra link also explains various breast cancer risk factors, as we discuss in Dressed To Kill.

While more research is clearly needed to further study this link, we believe it is prudent medicine to recommend women abstain from bra wearing as a precaution. There is no reason for wearing a bra, apart from fashion. The human body was not designed with a flaw that requires modern lingerie for correction. Like the absurd and destructive fashion of foot binding in China, women in the West bind their breasts. “

When this research first came out back in 1995, I immediately stopped wearing a bra. To be honest, I hated the things anyway and by that point was only wearing the light, stretchy cotton bras by Evita. After this research, I wore undershirts and camisoles instead.

Then as the years wore on, I started to wonder: Why am I ashamed of my nipples? Who decreed that even the outline of a nipple should never be shown?? So then I began eschewing the undershirts and just wearing a normal shirt – ahhh, the comfort and freedom of it.

I must admit, it’s easy for me to go bra-free because I have small breasts. If I had large, heavy breasts, that hung to my belly button when bra-free, I imagine it would be much more difficult. But, I would still do it, except on special occasions. Because there’s another benefit to going bra-free, as Dr. Singer and Grismaijer relate:

“Then something happened that we had not foreseen. Some courageous women who had heard our message tried going bra-free and reported their experiences to us. Within weeks, if not days, most of these women experienced a profound change in their breast health. Breast pain and tenderness virtually ended. Cysts that had needed regular aspirations disappeared. We began to realize that fibrocystic breast disease, common in bra-wearing cultures, should be called “tight bra syndrome.

It all made perfect sense, of course. The bra was causing secondary lymphedema of the breasts due to constriction of the lymphatics. The accumulated fluid caused increased tissue pressure with associated pain and tenderness, and eventually developed into cysts. While the fibrous tissue that develops in long standing cysts takes more time to resolve, relieving the pressure by eliminating the bra allowed the cysts to drain, alleviating the pressure and discomfort. (This also explained why many women have breast myalgia near the time of their menstrual period. Estrogen levels are elevated at this time, increasing overall body fluid retention and increasing breast size. However, women typically wear the same size bra all month long, making it particularly tight at these times, increasing breat pain. Once bra-free, this syndrome usually stops.)

The results are fast, impressive and transformative. It was this link with fibrocystic breast disease that helped keep our bra-cancer theory alive. While it didn’t prove the cancer connection, it did show that the bra was damaging the breasts, adding support to our claims.

We then did a follow-up study to our first US study. This time we went to Fiji, where half the population is bra-free. We approached the Health Ministry and asked for their assistance. Once we told them our theory, they exclaimed, “That explains why our working women are now getting breast cancer! They are the ones who wear bras!” Over the next few months we went from village to village and obtained over 20 case histories of breast cancer. All were in women who wore bras. We found that, given women from the same village (genetically related), with the same diet, the ones who developed breast cancer were the ones who wore bras.”

Bra-Free Woman In Fiji

Since doctors Singer and Grismaijer published their research, there have been three Japanese studies confirming their findings. Why has the Japanese medical establishment picked up on Singer/Grismaijer’s research and furthered it, while the U.S. has ignored it? Follow the money, honey.

Until recently, Japan has been largely a non-bra wearing culture. However in the U.S., the bra industry is a multi-billion dollar enterprise. And how many billions of dollars a year are spent on breast cancer research and treatment? it seems like every other month there’s some pink-ribbon run to raise funds for breast cancer in my town.

Is it hard to go bra-free? Heck yes! You don’t realize how screwed-up our culture is about breasts until you step outside the box. Take breastfeeding as one example: On the one hand you have every fashion magazine and most women walking around with their breasts pushed up, plumped out and on display as much as possible. Then you have a woman who tries to feed her child and she is barred from airplane flights, kicked out of restaurants and asked to leave stores (yes, these incidences have really happened).

So what can you do to make the transition to bra-free easier?

• Start doing push-ups (do them against the wall to start with, then move to on the ground when you’re able) to build your pectoral muscles which support your breasts. These are “nature’s bra”. Even after breastfeeding 3 children, my breasts don’t sag very much because the musculature underneath and above the breast tissue is strong (okay, and because they’re not heavy).
• Wear silk or cotton camisoles, or tank tops (undershirts) instead of a bra. Make sure they’re natural fabrics as you don’t want the xenoestrogens from synthetic fabrics leaching into your skin either.
• If you just can’t get your head round going bra-free in public, then go bra-free the second you walk in the door to your home, and only wear a bra when you go out. If this means you have to change in and out of your bra several times a day, do it.
• Switch to cotton bras (natural fabrics breathe better) for when you must wear a bra and buy them loose enough that you can easily fit two fingers between the torso strap and your ribs.
• If you think going bra-free looks slutty, then switch to thicker, looser fabrics for your shirts and dresses that drape, rather than cling. A thicker fabric will also hide your nipples (as will an undershirt/camisole). Or layer your clothes, wear a shirt with a sweater hanging loosely over top.
• Show the research to your husband, boyfriend and enlist his help and support in your endeavour.

Embrace the idea that if a woman packed into a bra who looks like this is acceptably sexy in our culture:

Then a bra-free woman who looks like this can also be sexy:

And what’s wrong with a bra-free woman who looks like this?:

We’ve all felt horror at the pictures of Chinese women who bound their feet and crippled themselves. So why are you following the same type of cultural dictum – binding your breasts, risking disease and possibly death? What’s more important?

p.s. Here’s a picture of me (bra-free as always) and can you even tell??

Update – VITAMIN D – ANOTHER MAJOR FACTOR IN BREAST CANCER:

TORONTO, Nov. 4/09 /CNW/ – Breast cancer is a disease so directly related to vitamin D deficiency that a woman’s risk of contracting the disease can be ‘virtually eradicated’ by elevating her vitamin D status to what vitamin D scientists consider to be natural blood levels.

That’s the message vitamin D pioneer Dr. Cedric Garland delivered in Toronto Tuesday as part of the University of Toronto School of Medicine’s “Diagnosis and Treatment of Vitamin D Deficiency” conference – the largest gathering of vitamin D researchers in North America this year. More than 170 researchers, public health officials and health practitioners gathered at the UT Faculty club for the landmark event.

See my blog post about vitamin D to find out what amount of vitamin D you should be supplementing each day and which preparation I recommend.

soar higher,

Jini

We had SO many great comments when I asked for your help in finalizing the title for my new book on constipation. I gotta say, you guys REALLY made me think hard, reassess and generally threw me into a real right tizzy of indecision.

In the end, I decided to stick with the branding of “Listen To Your…” so I’m keeping the title the same. However, I’ve made “Constipation” in the sub-title red – to make it jump out more – which several of you suggested.

Just to make the draw for the winner of the free softcover book a little more fun, I had 2 of my little monkeys help me. For those of you who remember the pictures of Hugo when he was born, he is now three! And my daughter Zara is six. So, watch this video to find out who won the book….

As you can see, we also drew for 2 winners of the ebook version of Listen To Your Colon.

So big thank you again to everyone who left their feedback. And remember, you can still pre-order the book at a big discount. Here’s what some readers have said about the book (I sent it out to a few already for feedback and testing):

****I did the recommended treatment for the constipation as given in the ebook and I have been going everyday since. I am very happy with the recommendations from the book and plan to do another probiotic retention enema when I get the rectum healed.
- Laurinda K.

Hey Jini, Wow, great job! I did not read through the entire work tonight, but skimmed it all and focused on the constipation, remedies for children (the adaptations) and the dietary suggestions.
Thank you, thank you. For everything. What a gift that you have made beauty out of your own journey of healing. Your transparency and desire to see others experience freedom in their health is awesome. Thanks again.
- Favian K.

Your book is very enlightening so far- I never looked at constipation that way- Actually I never really thought I was constipated- just terribly irregular!!
- Nadine P.

I had a look at your book and I really enjoyed it! No seriously, I am someone who has this problem (hope that is not too much information) and I found your suggestions helpful – really liked the holistic approach to solving these types of problems. It is obvious that you have looked at the research from all angles comprehensively – especially with identifying the different types of constipation – which I did not know there was so many – and explaining how to treat them. I agree with you completely that most ailments can be healed naturally and use of the pharmacutical is ridiculous. Medical doctors do not always have the best treatment options. In fact, I beginning to wonder if some of them know anything at all! I am looking forward to trying some your suggestions – will keep you posted! I am sure there are many other people out there who will be grateful for this information.
- Jane S.

P.S. If you are one of the contest winners and you haven’t received an email from me – check your junk/spam folder. If you still can’t find it, then email me at: service @ HolisticHealthShoppe.com

I’ve written about the safety of raw milk before in my Infoletter – Good Health Is Real Wealth, however, this issue came up again when I received an email from reader who read a blog post about Organic Pastures Dairy being sued over an E. coli 0157:H7 outbreak in 2006. The blog post was written by William D. Marler, the lawyer who brought the litigation against Organic Pastures.

Since I had never heard of this particular lawsuit, I started doing some research. I got in contact with Bill Marler himself, Sally Fallon (head of the Weston A. Price Organization and realmilk.com) and the CEO of Organic Pastures Dairy – Mark McAfee. What emerged was probably a representational picture of the raw milk issue in North America.

On the one side of debate, we have raw milk supporters (of which I’m one) saying that raw milk is a healthy superfood and the risk of infection, although present, is much lower than that of pasteurized milk. Indeed, there have been far more E. coli 0157:H7 outbreaks from pasteurized dairy products, than raw dairy.

On the other side of the issue, we have some powerful players who are resolutely opposed to the legalization of raw milk and who use the FDA and other regulatory bodies to harass and raid small raw milk farmers – sometimes with FBI officers with machine guns (believe it or not!) storming their farms. Why?

I suspect it has to do with money. If the mass public started demanding raw milk, the current large factory-farm dairy suppliers would be in a real fix. How could they possibly get their diseased, antibiotic-laced, hormone-enhanced cows to produce healthy milk? They would lose a LOT of money and many would simply go bankrupt. These are pretty strong motivators to maintain the status quo.

In addition, as raw milk gains acceptance and usage increases, who is losing customers? Who is making less money? Again, it’s the large agribusiness dairy corporation.

Then we have Bill Marler (officially, William D. Marler) – a lawyer who specializes in foodborne illness litigation, who is blogging and publishing rather avidly against raw milk. What are his motivators? Is he an FDA-pawn (as some have accused), or is he primarily motivated by the desire to make money from a contentious issue? Or, has he been very negatively affected by his raw milk litigation cases, feeling that someone has to trumpet the dangers?

I had a lot of emails back and forth with Bill, with him sending me documents from the local State and CDC investigations of the Organic Pastures incident in 2006. But I don’t want to get into debating all that here – for one side of the argument, you can go to Bill Marler’s site and download the documents yourself. For the other side of the argument, go to www.realmilk.com (Sally Fallon’s site) and scroll down the homepage – there you can download their rebuttal for each of Marler’s assertions.

For those of you that want the short-version summary of the case: Bill Marler says he built a really strong case against Organic Pastures (OP) and the grocery stores that sold the milk, using data from the State of California investigation and the CDC. He says they sat down with OP, the grocery stores and all the insurance companies and a settlement was reached, so the case never went to court. He is legally prohibited from giving details of the settlement.

Mark McAfee (Organic Pasture’s founder and CEO) says that yes, they all sat down together, however OP refused to settle and their evidence was strong enough that they were happy to go to court. But, the insurance companies didn’t want to go to court and insisted on a settlement instead. The upside was that OP’s insurance company renewed their policy for the next year at a lower rate. Also the State of California presented OP with a letter of retraction and a cheque to cover their expenses. As I said, you can look at the original documents from both sides and draw your own conclusions – I think it’s pretty clear.

But, I’m interested in going beyond all that and telling you what transpired in my phone conversation with Bill Marler. First of all, he is a surprising man to talk to, because I expected to get a lot of lawyerly “I can’t comment on that” statements. Instead, I found a fairly laid-back, open person who was genuinely interested in discussion.

For someone so publicly anti-raw milk, Marler told me that he’s actually quite conflicted about raw milk, since he grew up drinking raw milk on his family’s farm (where his father still lives and now farms bees).

He said there’s no point in banning raw milk – Prohibition didn’t work, and neither would prohibiting raw milk. What he says he’s after is a balanced portrayal of the risks involved with raw milk consumption and other foods he considers risky: like factory farmed meat and agribusiness produce.

His fear is that as raw milk becomes a profitable commodity (i.e. large-scale farming), the likelihood of an outbreak increases. So then I asked him, “Okay, in light of what you’ve seen and experienced, what would you do regarding raw milk – what measures would you put in place?”

Marler said he would like to see raw milk throughout the country follow the Washington state model – with small farmers selling directly to consumers. He would also like to see pathogen-testing at various points along the line, not just of the packaged milk.

He said this is important because it tells you about your milking process and you would be able to pinpoint how and where exactly something is going wrong. For example, it may not be the cow that is the problem, it might be your collection tank, or a certain part of a certain machine, for example.

Marler maintains that he is a big supporter of Michael Pollan – recently footing the bill personally for Pollan to speak at an upcoming symposium at Washington State University. Marler emphasized repeatedly that he is in favour of sustainable farming and eating locally.

So, either Bill Marler is hosing me, presenting himself entirely as someone he’s not. Or, the raw milk-advocate camp and the raw milk-litigation camp are closer on this issue than we imagine.

I mean really, don’t we all want the same things?

• None of us want pathogens (disease-causing microorganisms) in the milk
• We all want to drink milk only from cows that are really healthy
• We all agree that factory farming, big agribusiness and flying food around the world are not healthy, sustainable practices
• We all want to do everything we can to prevent outbreaks of foodborne illnesses
• None of us are claiming that raw milk is never infected with pathogens, we are saying that the risk is minimal; compared to the health benefits, and compared to pasteurized milk

I guess the big questions remaining are:

1. Why just focus on raw milk? In spite of pasteurization, pasteurized milk has caused far more foodborne illness than raw milk. In addition, about 2% of pasteurized milk is infected with Mycobacterium Avium Paratuberculosis (MAP) – a bacterial/fungal hybrid thought to be one of the causes of Crohn’s Disease, since it’s DNA has been found in 92-100% of people with Crohn’s (incidence varies across studies). Pasteurization does not kill MAP, not even ultra-high temperature (UHT) pasteurization can kill it.

2. If we want to keep raw milk pathogen-free, is the solution really more testing and sterilization, or would we be better served by looking at the overall microbial environment? After all, bacteria follow the rule of “competitive exclusion”, i.e. if there are enough good bacteria present, the bad bacteria go away. Perhaps we could all work together to educate each other and ascertain which really are the best procedures for keeping raw milk (and pasteurized milk) pathogen-free.

3. Perhaps we could also collaborate on healthy farming practices and milk-to-consumer channels. None of us wants to see raw milk being factory farmed.

I wonder if Mark McAfee and Sally Fallon are surprised at what came out of my conversation with Bill Marler? Perhaps they feel that actions speak louder than words and his actions to date are adversarial. Perhaps they are wondering if Bill is shifting a little in his stance, and is ready to explore a more collaborative position…

Personally, I buy my raw milk from a small dairy farm in Washington State (the milk is available in a few local stores), where the cows are out on the pasture, in fresh air, and the farmer tests for pathogens in excess of State regulations. So I agree with Marler, it’s a good system.

I’d like to know what Sally Fallon and Mark McAfee think of all this…..

soar higher,
Jini

In preparation for my teleseminar with raw milk therapy expert, Jim Ehmke, CN, I went on a one week raw milk diet myself!

Watch the videos below – shot on Day 1, Day 4 and at the conclusion of the Diet, to find out how it went, what I learned and whether I would ever do this again!

If you’d like a copy of the fantastic Raw Milk Diet Therapy teleseminar with Jim Ehmke, CN, then you can get both the written transcript and audio recording (MP3) in the next 2 weeks, for only $1 by trying out Gold membership in my new JPT Wellness Circle – which entitles you to this and every other teleseminar I’ve ever done, plus podcasts, videos, case studies, free ebooks, etc. (you can cancel at anytime).

Jini’s Raw Milk Diet – Day 1

Jini’s Raw Milk Diet – Day 4

Jini’s Raw Milk Diet – Finished!

Recently, I received yet another sample of a probiotic to try. According to the label, it contained “Lactobacillus sporogenes- a shelf-stable, vegan probiotic that does not require refrigeration.” But here’s the problem: There is actually no such species as Lactobacillus sporogenes. Which then leads us to question of what exactly is in all these probiotic products?

It’s important to keep in mind that Lactobacillus refers to bacteria that are capable of producing lactic acid. Hence, these bacteria are traditionally cultured in milk. Supplements containing Bacillus bacteria are NOT cultured in milk and they are derived from the soil.

Lactobacilllus bacteria do not form spores and they do not remain permanently in your gut – this is why you have to keep consuming yoghurt, kefir, etc. daily. But soil bacteria ALL form spores and these spores remain in your gut and cannot be eradicated by any means identified to date. For a full outline of the possible dangers of consuming bacterial soil organisms, see my blog post about soil organisms.

Following is an excellent summation of this issue from the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) that explains exactly what is happening and why probiotics claiming to contain Lactobacillus sporogenes may actually contain a bacterial soil organism called Bacillus coagulans, or possibly Bacillus subtilis – but really, who knows?

Personally, I strongly suspect that the companies putting out these products are operating out of ignorance. And based on my personal experience with probiotic manufacturers – most of whom are just middle-man wholesalers – I suspect that they too are ignorant of the facts. As I talked about in my Probiotics 1 Teleseminar, misinformation in the field of probiotics is vast.

Here is the article from ASM so you can be properly informed on this issue:

“Lactobacillus sporogenes” Is Not a Lactobacillus Probiotic

Microbes have proven their value in a plethora of industrial settings, including their use as probiotics, or healthpromoting microbes. Within the probiotic industry, there are those who disregard the conventions of bacterial nomenclature. Perhaps the best example of this is the use of the name “Lactobacillus sporogenes” on probiotic labels, instead of the proper nomenclature, which assigns this bacterium to the genus Bacillus (Bergey’s Manual, 1974). List of Bacterial Names with Standing in Nomenclature.

The name “Lactobacillus sporogenes” appeared in the scientific literature in 1932 (L. M. HorowitzWlassowa and N. W. Nowotelnow, Cent. F. Bak., II Abt., 87:331, 1932). However, this name was never recognized by the scientific community, and was described as a misclassification in Bergey’s Manual in 1939. The bacterium described by HorowitzWlassowa and Nowotelnow was a sporeforming bacterium, and as such could not be included as a species of Lactobacillus, which are nonsporeforming rods. This assertion was confirmed in the 5th, 6th, and 8th editions of Bergey’s Manual of Determinative Bacteriology. The 4th and 7th editions do not mention the name “Lactobacillus sporogenes,” nor does the Bergey’s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology (1986). The name is not listed on the official bacterial nomenclature list, the List of Bacterial Names with Standing in Nomenclature.

Clearly, the name “Lactobacillus sporogenes” has no scientific validity. Although there is no official classification of bacteria, the names given to bacteria are regulated through the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria (Bacteriological Code). However, this name still appears on the labels of probiotic supplements worldwide and in a few publications of Asian journals. The implications of the persistence of this mislabeling should be considered. The most important of these is safety. Since “Lactobacillus sporogenes” is not recognized as a species, a product labeled with this name confirms nothing about its contents. It may be a Bacillus coagulans, as marketing literature from at least one company claims (Sabinsa Corp., Piscataway, N.J.), but is it prudent to make this presumption, especially with products making no assertion of correct nomenclature? If the identity of the bacterium is in question, no conclusions about its safety can be made.

Although B. coagulans is not considered pathogenic, neither is it an organism normally associated with food production (although Bacillus subtilis is used in the production of “natto,” a Japanese food), a status enjoyed by many members of the genus Lactobacillus. Presumably the products on the market are consumed without undue risk. However, no independent panel of experts has evaluated the safety of B. coagulans for human consumption as has been done for the lactobacilli. Erroneously calling this organism a lactobacillus incorrectly associates it with the same safety record as lactobacilli.

Another implication of mislabeling is related to probiotic product efficacy. Unlike probiotic species of lactobacilli, members of the genus Bacillus are not considered normal members of the intestinal flora and do persist in the mammalian gastrointestinal tract. Published literature supporting the role of Bacillus coagulans in enhancing human health is sparse, especially as compared to literature published on Lactobacillus use as probiotics. To continue to persist using this taxonomically incorrect name leads to speculation about the advantages of willingly mislabeling a product. It is likely that companies hope to benefit from association with the large aggregate of published literature and history of use on the safety and health benefits of the genus Lactobacillus. This “halo effect” would disappear if products were labeled as containing Bacillus instead of Lactobacillus.

Furthermore, a marketing advantage can be achieved by using shelfstable Bacillus spores instead of more labile Lactobacillus. The perpetuation of intentional mislabeling in the long run will serve to erode consumer confidence and undermine the credibility of the probiotic industry. Furthermore, the implications of mislabeling may have negative regulatory implications for the entire probiotic category. The FDA convened an information-gathering meeting in September 2000 on probiotics, suggesting we can expect closer regulatory scrutiny of this product category in the future (Clemens, R., Food Technol. 55:27, 2001). The industry should act to correct the issue of mislabeling before the FDA or consumer watchdog groups do it first.

- Mary Ellen Sanders Dairy and Food Culture Technologies Littleton, Colo. mesanders@msn.com
- Lorenzo Morelli Instituto di Microbiologia UCSC Piacenza, Italy
- Scott Bush Rhodia Inc. Madison, Wis.

I once tried sending this information to one of the largest retailers selling a probiotic product labelled “Lactobacillus sporogenes”. Surprise, surprise, I never heard back from them, and they didn’t change their labelling or marketing materials. So once again, the burden of knowledge falls on the consumer. Until we have a sincere, functional regulatory body for supplements (i.e. not the FDA et al) these kinds of potentially-dangerous situations will continue to occur.

POSSIBLE NEW BOOK COVER

Well, I’m just finishing up the layout and design of my new book on natural healing for CONSTIPATION.

Originally, this was supposed to be a short, 40-50 page guide. However, in order to do a GOOD job with the topic and provide enough information and protocols so that the highest number of people would achieve success…. well, it’s now a 140 page book.

The ironic thing is that after 20 years of loose stools (I purposely kept them loose as my rectal sphincter would not open wider than a pencil), I experienced constipation for the first time about 2 years ago. My gut was basically so healthy that nothing I could do would produce loose stools!

You try getting a rectum that has passed nothing but watery mush for 20 years to try and pass large, formed stool… not nice. Those of you who were on the teleseminar with me and Dr. Gabor Mate know all about this problem!

But anyway, the bottom line is that, once again, having to actually heal constipation in my own body has produced in-depth, practical, highly effective tools for dealing with and healing this condition.

Just like in Listen To Your Gut, I present both short-term remedies (cause when ya gotta go, ya really need to go soon!) and long-term solutions that heal the underlying, root causes of constipation.

From my own experience and working with numerous readers, I have also ascertained that there are actually TWO different kinds of constipation. I have called these Peristaltic Constipation and Stenosis Constipation. And the treatments and protocols are different depending on which one you suffer from.

So now that you know what the book is about – I need your help in selecting a title for the book!

The one I’m thinking of is:

LISTEN TO YOUR COLON: The Complete Natural Healing Guide For Constipation

Please let me know what you think of this title, or if you have a title you think would be better – write your thoughts in the COMMENTS section just below.

If you want more information on what exactly is in the book, click here for details on the book content. You can see I’m using Listen To Your Colon as the working title, but we haven’t gone to print yet, so I’m open to suggestions…

You can also pre-purchase the book at a large discount – the pre-pub special – if you like.

But, everyone who leaves a comment below will be entered in a draw to win a free copy of this book once it’s printed. I will announce the winner in one week’s time.

p.s. If you pre-purchase the book and then win the free copy, of course I’ll refund your money : )
Just type your thoughts about the title in the LEAVE A REPLY box below.

thanks for your help,
Jini

p.s. also, let me know what you think of the book cover design…..