How many kids do you know aged 11 and older that have their own cell phone? In my son’s class of 11 year olds, all but 5 have their own cellphone. And in spite of the school policy being no cell phones allowed on school grounds, they text each other back and forth in class and many of them keep their cell phone in their front pocket all day, turned on. Needless to say, in spite of knowing the data on cell phone risks, my son is really pressuring me to let him buy himself a cell phone!

Infertility

He knows that an adult male who has a cell phone in his front pocket for one hour has a drastic reduction in sperm count… yes, you can get that sperm count back up, but still, what’s the cell phone doing to a child who has not even reached puberty, or one who is going through puberty? His response: Who cares? I probably don’t want to have kids anyway.

Of course you don’t. You’re 11. Come talk to me when you’re 30. Ooops, too late. Would that be an example of good mothering?

Nevertheless, I do feel his pain. There’s an entire culture now around texting. And he is excluded from the circle, he cannot participate in the conversation and he is outside the community. That’s pretty heavy and pretty nasty for him.

So… if most of his peers smoked, would I buy him cigarettes so that he could join in the group and not feel excluded?

Cigarettes vs. Cellphones Cancer Risk

Some people have said to me that this is not a fair analogy. Hmmm, I thought, well what is the statistical comparison of these two carcinogens (the W.H.O. has classified microwave RF radiation – WiFi, cellphones, iPads, etc. – as a Class 2b carcinogen)? So I went looking…

The increased lung cancer risk for smokers is:

10% increase at age 30
40% increase at age 50

The increased risk of a brain tumor from a cell phone after 10 years of use is:

420% increase for children who start using a cellphone before the age of 20

And then, funnily enough, I found this video by Magda Havas PhD that directly compares cellphones to cigarettes! She looks at the marketing, the industry CYA, and the health effects…

Still, as I said, I feel my son’s pain and I really don’t want to isolate him or make him feel like an outcast. So I go looking for a different kind of stat that just might allow me to justify him having a cellphone. Because I remember my brother saying to me, “Sure the stats may show a 500% increased risk, but if the normal rate of brain tumors in kids is 1 in 10 million, then even a 500% increase is only going to be 5 kids in 10 million – which is actually a very minute risk.”

Brain Tumor Risk

So I go looking for these stats: If the increased risk of a brain tumor to my child is 420%, then what does this mean in terms of real numbers? How many kids out of 100 will actually get a tumor? AND how does that compare to the number of kids who got tumors before cellphones existed? I figure that will give me a really good picture of the ACTUAL risk to my son (and my daughter, who will likely want one next!). Here’s what I find:

In 1970, before cellphones existed, but when there was still plenty of electropollution from power lines etc., the incidence rate of brain tumors in children were:

10.7 brain tumors per 100,000 children

In 2001, there were:

15.2 brain tumors per 100,000 children

so in 2012, after 10 years of use, a 420% increase would be:

64 brain tumors per 100,000 children (or .00064% risk to children of developing a brain tumor)

Well that’s a relief! That actual risk is miniscule. Yay, I’m off the hook and I can let my son have a cell phone, because really, the risk of him getting a brain tumor from using that cell phone is SO low – only .00064%!!

But then I have another thought: I remember my Mum and I talking about why people didn’t care about the radiation risk from these devices and she theorized it was because they just didn’t believe it would ever happen to them. “Look at car accidents,” she said, “More people have died in car accidents than in every war in the 20th century put together, but people get in their cars without a second thought, every single day, and we would not be wiling to go without them.”

Risk of Brain Tumor vs. Risk of Car Accident Death

So this line of thought makes me wonder… If the risk of brain tumors to children is so low that people obviously don’t think it will happen to their child, so they’re safe… then what is the risk of their child dying in a car accident?

Well blow me if I wasn’t in for another HUGE surprise – brace yourself for this one – the actual incidence of child deaths from not just car accidents, but falls, fire and drowning all combined is…

12 deaths per 100,000 children

Say what??

Look at those stats again, side by side:

12 deaths per 100,000 children from car accidents, falls, fire and drowning

64 brain tumors per 100,000 children

Are you kidding me? We are mandated by law to strap our kids in with a seatbelt every time we get in a car, to protect them. We have to strap a helmet on their heads when riding a bike, scooter, skateboard etc. to protect them. We have lifeguards at every swimming pool, lake and ocean and kids under age 6 are not even allowed in the pool unless their parent is with them. These are the safety measures society and all us good parents carry out to prevent 12 death per 100,000 children – a risk of .00012%.

Yet the brain tumor rate in those same children is FIVE times higher – 64 kids per 100,000 and we do NOTHING. In fact, we buy them the carcinogenic device, encourage them to use it to keep in touch with us, and send them happily on their way.

And that’s just looking at brain tumors. We haven’t even looked at leukemia, fertility, genetic damage (DNA double-strand breaks), effects on learning, quality of sleep, and all the other documented effects of this type of radiation. Nor have we looked at the cumulative effect of using cellphones, iPads, WiFi computers, baby monitors, Wii, Xbox, Playstation, cordless phones, smart meters and every other wireless device that uses this same microwave RF radiation.

If we look at these same actual incidence numbers for deaths from lung cancer (age adjusted for white people in the U.S.) from the National Cancer Institute, then they are:

25 deaths per 100,000 for women
80 deaths per 100,000 for men

So, you might as well buy your daughter cigarettes, since they’re much safer than a cell phone!

Great. I’m right back where I started.

The logic then follows that if I’m not concerned about radiation to my children’s heads from cellhphones, WiFi, etc. then I also shouldn’t bother strapping them in with a seatbelt, or getting them to wear a helmet. What’s the point? The risk is so small.

And yet, you’d be hard-pressed to find a caring mother who didn’t make her child wear a seatbelt in the car. Yet that same mother will hand her child a cellphone, have WiFi internet in the house and buy her kids Xbox, Wii and Playstation all with wireless controllers. WHY?

Why Mothers Don’t Take Action

I think there are 3 reasons: Firstly, we just don’t know. We don’t have the data, and like cigarettes, the mainstream media is publishing story after story about how there’s no risk from these devices. Secondly, everyone around you thinks it’s safe and is buying their kids these devices, so there is massive peer pressure to disregard the data – or not even ask the questions in the first place. It’s the “world is flat” syndrome. Thirdly, because we cannot see, hear, smell or feel this radiation, it doesn’t feel real to us and because it takes a long time for the consequences to manifest, we look around at everyone we know using these devices all day, every day, and everyone’s fine – the risk just doesn’t seem real.

Which just makes it that much harder for those of us who are saying no to our kids. My son feels his strongest argument is, “I’m the only one in my class who doesn’t have a cell phone.” He’s sick of hearing the research, he says it doesn’t feel “real” to him when he is surrounded by people using wireless devices. And he views me as cruel and uncaring that I would subject him to such ostracism from his peers. I’m reminded of this article written by a university student, Vices: Smoking Cigarettes To Make Friends where the author writes:

“While countless parents, teachers, and those guilt-tripping Truth commercials have warned me about the dangers of smoking, I really just don’t give a f**k. Sure, I could save myself the health damages and money if I stop now. On the other hand, I’m young and will probably live forever.”

And when my son is in university, well really, by the time he’s 15 or 16 (or knowing him, even younger), I won’t have much control over what he does outside the house anyway.

In all honesty, after all my research, I still don’t know what to do with all this. In a perfect world, the government wouldn’t take industry payoffs and would force industry to make this technology safer and reduce children’s exposure – like what is happening in Switzerland.

Is that too much to ask? Or, like cigarettes, will we have to wait 40 years for that to happen?

P.S. In case you want to know what the increased risk of ipsilateral tumor is for adults who use a cell phone for more than 10 years:

Adults glioma (brain): 90%
Adults acoustic neuroma (ear): 60%
Adults uveal melanoma (eye): 320%

NOTE: This post is not meant to be an exhaustive analysis of each of the risks highlighted. For example, of course cigarettes don’t just cause lung cancer, they cause heart disease, stroke, emphysema, mouth cancer, etc. Likewise, as pointed out, cell phones and WiFi radiation doesn’t just cause brain tumors. I was simply trying to cherry-pick a few things that people tend to agree are threats (and so implement safeguards against) and compare those to the risk/incidence of the most well-known facet of microwave RF radiation damage (brain tumors). The other aspect I’d like to point out is that I’m well aware I’m comparing the occurence of brain tumors, not deaths from brain tumors. This is because for me, personally, my child getting a brain tumor would be something I’d want to avoid as strongly as I’d want to avoid something that might kill them.

Here’s another recipe for you to add more food-based probiotics to your diet. Remember that if you don’t tolerate dairy, yogurt can be made from raw cow’s milk, goat’s milk, or coconut milk. Goat milk yogurt has smaller fat and protein globules than cow’s milk, and the protein is more similar to human breastmilk, making it easier for some people to digest.

This dressing can be drizzled over green or mixed salad, Cobb salad, or used to make chicken salad, tuna salad – or my favorite: Salmon Salad (just mix flaked salmon with enough dressing to make it as creamy as you wish). It can also be used as a dip for cut-up vegetables. So many yummy ways to get more healthy fats and food-based probiotics!

Jini’s Ranch Dressing & Dip

1/2 cup Jini’s Homemade Lacto-Fermented Mayonnaise or cold-pressed mayonnaise
1/2 cup yogurt cream cheese
1/2 tsp dried dill
1/2 tsp dried cilantro
2 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp worcestershire sauce (optional)
1/4 tsp salt

Whisk all ingredients together until well mixed. Pour into a glass bottle with screw-top lid and refrigerate.

If you want to make a runnier Ranch Salad Dressing, then add plain yoghurt until it reaches the consistency you want.

Note: If made with Jini’s Lacto-Fermented Mayonnaise, this dip will last about 4-6 weeks (the beneficial bacteria in the mayonnaise preserve it) in the fridge. If made with regular mayonnaise, it is good for about 2 weeks.

MORE FOOD-BASED PROBIOTICS

If you’ve seen my recipe for the Best Lacto-Fermented Mayonnaise Ever, but you don’t know how to obtain the whey (the probiotics contained in whey are what lacto-ferment mayonnaise, grains, veggies, etc.) then here are detailed instructions.

The really good news is that when you extract whey from yoghurt, you automatically get cream cheese left over! So this is a big-bang-for-your-buck/time recipe here, since you get two useful/yummy foods out of one procedure. And like everything, after doing it once, you’ll realize how very simple it is.

1. Line a sieve with cheesecloth, or a finely woven kitchen towel, or a coffee filter and place the lined sieve over a large bowl. Empty a large carton of whole milk yogurt (2 – 3 cups of yogurt) into the lined sieve and leave it sit there for an hour as the whey liquid drips out into the bowl below.

2. Then gather up the sides of the cheesecloth and tie them around a long wooden spoon, so the bundled yogurt is now hanging from the wooden spoon. Then balance the wooden spoon across the rim of a tall jug and let the yogurt continue to hang and drip out all the whey. Leave it hanging like this for 3-4 hours. The added height uses gravity to help extract more of the whey from the yoghurt.

3. In the meantime, take the whey that has already dripped out into the large bowl (that was under the sieve) and put it in a clean glass jar with a tight fitting lid and place it in the fridge. You can use this whey to soak (lacto-ferment) your mayonnaise, porridge oats, quinoa and other grains. If your jar is sterile, the whey will likely keep for 3 months in the fridge.

4. After the yogurt has hung over the tall jug for 3-4 hours, pour the whey that has collected in the jug into the same glass jar of whey in your fridge. The smooth, creamy cheese that is now left in the cheesecloth is now yogurt cream cheese! Put this into a glass or ceramic container with a lid and refrigerate. This cream cheese can be used as is to replace sour cream or to make salad dressings or dips, like Jini’s Ranch Dressing, or mixed with garlic and herbs and spread on crackers or breads. Here’s a quick recipe for herbed cream cheese:

Herb Yogurt Cream Cheese

3/4 cup yogurt cheese
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced
3/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil (or parsley, or cilantro)
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon salt (to taste)
Optional: 1 – 2 teaspoons olive oil

Mix all ingredients (except olive oil) together in a small bowl.

Then, if you want a looser, creamier consistency, add the olive oil, one teaspoon at a time until desired texture is reached.

Serve with crackers or cut-up vegetables.

As I already mentioned the whey can then be used to make lacto-fermented mayonnaise, lacto-fermented vegetables and to soak your porridge, quinoa or other grains (to pre-digest and remove phytates).

Which Yogurt Should I Use?

A superb source of protein, calcium, riboflavin, phosphorus and vitamin B 12, Yogurt actually contains more calcium and protein than milk. It’s also naturally rich in nutrients that feed the good bacteria in our digestive system, with the beneficial bacteria cultures added during production.

Yogurt can be made from cow’s milk or goat’s milk, in whole (full fat), low-fat or skim versions, soy milk or coconut milk. Goat milk yogurt has smaller fat and protein globules than cow’s milk, making it easier for some people to digest.

Greek yogurt, also called Mediterranean or Mediterranean-style yogurt, is becoming a favorite in the US and Canada. Very thick and creamy, it is made from milk that has had some of the water removed, or by straining whey from plain yogurt to make it thicker and creamier.

To make a really good yogurt cream cheese, you should use full-fat, whole milk yogurt or Greek-style yogurt.

FOOD-BASED PROBIOTICS:

Lacto-Fermented Mayonnaise

I did a lot of experimenting to determine which oils provide the best-tasting mayonnaise, whilst providing excellent nutrition – I think this recipe is my fifth variation and I’m finally happy with it! My never-ending thanks to Nourishing Traditions cookbook for providing the lacto-fermentation method whereby the mayonnaise keeps for 3-4 months, rather than a couple of weeks, and results in yet another source of beneficial, food-based probiotics.

When you have a high nutrient mayonnaise composed of good, bio-available fats, you’ll start using it everywhere – dips, dressings, sauces, sandwiches, salads, etc. Remember, healthy fats are not used to make your body fat! They are used for crucial body functions like hormonal pathways and production, healthy hair, skin and nails. The cell membrane is 40% fat – so you need to eat a LOT of good fats to keep your body in optimum health.

Jini’s Homemade Lacto-Fermented Mayonnaise
(Hand-held Blender Method)

Find a glass, ceramic or metal mixing container that is fits fairly closely around your hand-held blender when it is at the bottom of the container (I use a metal milkshake cup). If your oils are cold from the fridge, then warm the mixing container first by running it under hot water for 10 seconds and this may help to counteract the coldness of the oils. If your ingredients are cold, your mayonnaise may not whip and may stay runny, with ingredients separated.

Add these ingredients, in this order:

2 tsp white vinegar
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. raw liquid honey
1/4 tsp mustard powder
1 tbsp. whey*
1/2 tsp Himalayan or Celtic sea salt
3 organic egg yolks

Then add:

1/4 cup Italian extra-virgin organic olive oil at room temperature (must be Italian for the most neutral taste)
1/4 cup cold-pressed organic sesame oil at room temperature
1/2 cup cold-pressed organic safflower oil at room temperature

Important: Make sure all these oils are brand new, or have been refrigerated immediately after opening. Do not use oil that has been sitting on the counter, at room temperature, after opening, as you will not get a good-tasting mayonnaise.

Then with the blender on low whip, mix together for about 10 seconds – you may need to move the blender up and down in the container a few times to mix thoroughly – until the ingredients whip into a mayonnaise consistency.

Pour the mayonnaise into a glass jar, screw the lid on and let it sit on the counter (at room temperature) for 7 hours – the whey in your mayonnaise will now lacto-ferment your mayonnaise. Then place it in the fridge and mayonnaise will now keep for several months (due to the protective bacteria created by lacto-fermenting the mayonnaise with whey).

*If you wish, you can just leave out the whey and refrigerate immediately after making – this mayonnaise will then keep for about 2 weeks. But the taste and texture are better if you use the whey to lacto-ferment it.

If you don’t have a hand-held blender – you can use a traditional blender and the same recipe. But when it comes time to add the oils, you need to add them very slowly, in the thinnest stream you can imagine, whilst the blender is running, in order to have the mayonnaise thick. If you add the oils too quickly, you will end up with liquid mayonnaise and the ingredients will separate out.

About The Oils

Sesame oil lowers LDL cholesterol, is anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and has been used in numerous clinical trials to inhibit the growth of melanoma and colon cancer cells.

Olive oil exerts anti-inflamatory, antithrombotic, antihypertensive as well as vasodilatory effects both in animals and in humans

Safflower oil is high in Vitamin E and clinical trials have shown it reduces abdominal fat and increases lean muscle tissue, whilst lowering blood sugar (June 17, 2009 Am J Clinical Nutrition.)

I have 3 kids aged 5 to 11 and yes, like all their peers, they want the latest gadget as soon as it comes out. Unfortunately, all of these devices carry health consequences due to the microwave RF radiation they emit. The World Health Organization has now classed WiFi radiation as a Class 2B carcinogen. Switzerland has removed WiFi from it’s elementary schools and SwissCom offers free fiber optic internet to schools (faster, secure data and no WiFi!).

Yet I’m supposed to give my kids WiFi devices to play with to irradiate their brains, developing immune systems and undeveloped reproductive organs?

I don’t think so.

And yet… in case you haven’t noticed, our entire world has embraced these devices and they are now an important part of kids’ playtime and social network. Once they hit grade 6 or 7, they stand around texting, as much – if not more – than they talk to each other.

As a parent, how do you walk the thin line between allowing/enabling them to degrade their health. Yet not cause them to be ostracized by their peers since every other kid is doing that very thing? If all the kids in class were smoking (another recognized carcinogen) would I hand my kids a pack of cigarettes every morning so they could join in and not feel left out? If the school provided GMO lunches every day, would I hand my daughter money so she could have Bt toxin floating around her bloodstream and genetically modified RNA manipulating her gene expression?

And yet… As my husband says, “The more you fight it, the more you’ll drive them towards it. They’re going to do what they want when they’re away from you anyway.”

Yes, and that’s why people fought so hard to get cigarettes recognized as a public health hazard and restrict advertising and sales to children. And it took 40 years. Because with all of these types of things, you have huge corporate profits at stake; industry does not want to lose sales and governments do not want to lose payola.

So what do we do in the meantime?

As long as your child is compliant, here’s how you can give them these fun, exciting gadgets like an iPod Touch or an iPad, yet make it safer for them:

1. Disable ALL the WiFi components on the device (iPad, iPhone, iPod). It is not just the WiFi network that uses microwave radiation, the Bluetooth, Location Services, GPS and Cellular all do too. You can turn each of these off individually by going to SETTINGS or Apple gives instructions for how to disable these all at once, with one click, using their Airplane Mode:

When you enable airplane mode from the Settings screen, an airplane icon appears in the status bar at the top of the screen and the following wireless connections and services are turned off:

Cellular (voice and data)
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
GPS
Location services

Likewise, if you have a Kindle, you can turn off the WiFi component and download books via the USB cable provided.

2. If you know your child is going to be using the iPod or cellphone WiFi network as soon as they’re with their friends, then educate them on HOW to use the device to at least minimize the health risks:

• Don’t carry or hold the iPod, cellphone or iPad on your body when it’s turned on. Put it down on a rock, bench or table. It’s best if you can be outside when the WiFi is active as that helps to further dissipate the radiation absorbed.
• Don’t put the device to your head. Use speakerphone or an airtube headset with your cellphone, or a shielding sleeve.
• Turn the WiFi on to check for messages or texts. Then turn it off while you are answering emails, texts, etc. Turn it back on to send and then turn it off again. Unless you’re waiting for an urgent call, why would you need to check messages/texts every 2 minutes? Yeah I know, but really!
• When you’re texting or answering emails, go outside if possible, or at least put the device down on a table while replying – you don’t want the device to be anywhere near your organs. Especially keep away from your heart, brain and reproductive organs which have shown to be particularly sensitive.

Famous neurosurgeon Dr. Charlie Teo (who operates on brain tumours every day) won’t talk on his cellphone indoors, he carries it outdoors, puts it down somewhere and talks on speakerphone.

Slowly but surely, there are signs that this information is becoming more widespread – another encouraging tidbit was when bestselling author Tim Ferriss wrote about his discovery that his cellphone and laptop had decreased his “swimmies” (lowered sperm count and motility) in his book 4 Hour Body. He was so sobered by this experience that after keeping all devices away from his lap, pockets, etc. and using health supplements to build his sperm count back up – he went and had 2 lots of his sperm cryogenically frozen!

Tim Ferriss Links Cell Phones to Male Infertility by FORAtv

So my point is, if WiFi radiation can drastically reduce sperm count, morphology (shape) and  motility (direction & speed) in adult males (rendering them infertile), what is it doing to our young children whose reproductive organs are still developing and what is WiFi doing to them during puberty, when those same organs, hormones, etc. are undergoing a lot of change and growth? WE DON’T KNOW.

Because this is the FIRST generation of kids being experimented on with this technology that is completely untested on children. Just to make things nastier, industry already has the technology to make these devices safer! But they don’t care, and because we the public keep buying and using these devices as is, there is no incentive to change.

Getting Kids To Listen

To say this has been a stressful issue for me would be a massive understatement. This is definitely a case of “ignorance is bliss” and if I hadn’t looked at the studies done on plants and animals, I would not be so concerned. But there you have it, I’m a health writer and I research things.

And thankfully, I occasionally come across videos like this one with Steve Aoki (musician, founder of Dim Mak records) advocating safer wireless usage. Steve uses a headset, rather than putting his cell phone to his head. I wish he’d talked about how the headset should have an air tube, or a ferrite bead attached to the wire – to break up the transmission of radiation so it doesn’t go up the wire and directly into your brain. And it would have been even better if he’d said he also doesn’t hold the phone, but puts it down somewhere… but hey, I’m grateful for whatever I can get and show to my kids that it’s not just me advocating caution.

As a meet-you-halfway gesture, we bought our eldest son an iPod Touch (with video etc.) this Christmas. But he agreed to disable the wireless components (which I’ll show you how to do below) and just play games, take photos, videos, etc. I think a lot of the appeal was also just being able to hold a wireless gadget to look cool and be part of the crowd (just saying). Well, that resolution lasted until New Year’s Eve when 4 of his friends were sitting on the couch together and the other boys showed him how to text. So again, we’re back to peer pressure – is he going to turn his WiFi off when all his friends are using it and it’s part of their evening entertainment? Should I give him a pack of cigarettes if he agrees not to light any of them at the party?

If Apple knew that this was even an issue, they could have a parental control function on the WiFi component so it’s password protected independently from the rest of the device. But they only thing Apple (and others) is acknowledging is when they state in their user manual to keep the iPhone at least one inch away from your head.

On the other hand, my younger son (who is 5) is quite happy to play apps on an iPod with the WiFi components disabled. The only problem there is when he goes to playdates at friend’s houses and they have wireless gaming systems like Wii, Playstation, Xbox, etc. My current MO there is tell the friend’s mum he’s only allowed 45 minutes maximum. And then at home, our Xbox, playstation etc. are all wired, as are our computers, telephones, etc.

My friend has a cell phone box. Not because she’s concerned about microwave radiation, but she just thinks it’s ridiculous that kids are on these devices all the time. So when anyone goes to her house (teenagers included) they have to drop their cell phone, iPod, etc. in the cellphone box. Her god-daughter has stopped visiting because of this! Crazy. But a good strategy none-the-less.

One last tip: If you’re not sure of the radiation load in your house, or various devices, see my other article on How To Test WiFi and Cellphone Radiation.

This short story is excerpted from Paulo Coelho’s book on short stories and reflections, Like the Flowing River.

I think all of us who are on a Healing Journey can especially relate to the Second Quality – something to reflect back on when times get tough, or maybe you’re in a tough time right now. If so, then when you’re finished reading this story, go watch my Healing Journey Movie (and get the free downloads at the end) and you will be doubly encouraged!

The Story of The Pencil

A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point, he asked:

“Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?”

His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson:

“I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.”

Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special.

“But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!”

“That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on to them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.

“First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.

“Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.

“Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.

“Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.

“Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: It always leaves a mark. In just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action.”

If the title of this blog post sounds confusing, just bear with me… Kiva is a micro-lending organization that I support. Micro-lending is a way that people in third world countries can borrow money (without getting scalped by crazy interest rates) for things like reeds to weave baskets, or a goat to start a goat cheese business. Amounts that seem tiny to us, but can literally change their life and provide their kids with food and an education. Many of these loans come with business training and mentoring support. It’s amazing how much difference these small amounts can make!

And of course, you’re not just giving them food, which will eventually run out… and then what? You’re providing them with the tools they need to create their own food source, or support structure – in a way that EMPOWERS them and provides dignity. Seriously. What could be better?

So, because I have been loaning money through Kiva, they sent me this promo link – which means that if you click this link right now, you will be able to make a $25 loan to a third world entrepreneur – for free! Kiva and Ladies Home Journal will cover your loan amount for you. I guess they’re hoping that you’ll enjoy the experience so much, once you’ve done it once, that you’ll keep going. But act quickly as these free trials will likely be snapped up fast.

I urge you to give it a try and if you’ve got kids or grandkids, let them make the choice of who to lend to! You’ll then receive updates via email on the progress of your loan project and how the person is doing:

Click here to make your free loan donation…

When you go to this webpage, you’ll notice that the loans can be made to any of the 1021 women seeking funding – women, not men. Now I’m not sure if this is because Ladies Home Journal is the sponsor… but it reminds me of something I read in Mohammed Yunus’ book, Banker To The Poor (fantastic book, by the way). Yunus pioneered the micro-lending model and as he was the first one, he did loads of experimentation to find out what factors influenced whether people would repay the loans, what traits made for the most successful loan recipients, etc.

And Yunus found that women were the most reliable people to lend money to. Because whilst men might use their success to buy snazzy clothes, alcohol, or get a mistress, the women made sure the money was used to better the living conditions of the children and family. The women entrepreneurs typically ensured the children were fed and clothed first, then the children were educated, then they would get a better house, and then they might buy themselves a new sari. Yunus found that loaning to women also increased their husband’s respect and appreciation for them and lessened their abuse.

So anyway, what are you waiting for? Get this $25 out to someone who deserves a chance and feel the true Christmas blessing of being able to give to someone truly in need and make a significant difference in their life:

Click here to donate $25 for FREE!

These free trials will likely get snapped up quickly, so don’t wait!

Soar higher,

Jini

Question: Hi. I tried to do the retention enema described in Listen to your Colon, and it was disastrous! This was a few weeks ago. I warmed the water to 90 degrees but could not get all the lumps out. I had called Natren and was told not to warm it more, and not to shake it but just stir it. Well, first I tried just putting it in a 10 oz bulb syringe, but it was too thick to go through the attachment, then I transferred it to an enema bucket, but it was too thick to go through the tubing, and also it could not all get in the tube anyway because the bucket cannot be completely drained. (Btw, I cannot tolerate those orange plastic enema bags, and I use all silicone tubing, and my bulb syringe also was white and non-smelly.)

I want to try again but I need more tips please! I know adding water will thin it but then may not make it possible to retain the fluid. In others’ experiences, how warm can the water be?

Answer: Different people’s bodies like different things. You could try it at room temperature and see if you tolerate that better. But you can’t go higher than body temperature and usually hotter liquids are harder to retain anyway.

Rather than adding more water to thin it, I would use the amount of liquid you think you can tolerate, and then reduce the probiotic amounts accordingly. Even 1/4 tsp of each probiotic would be a good start! Think of it this way: ANY probiotics you can get your colon to retain are better than none. So don’t be impatient with your body and go slowly, giving it time to adjust to this new procedure.

Here’s how you mix the probiotics in the filtered water to ensure no lumps:

1. Put 1-2 tbsp of water in a glass.

2. Add your probiotics and mix with a spoon to form a smooth paste – crushing lumps against the side of the glass and squashing them smooth.

3. Then add 2 more tbsp. of water and mix again until dissolved and smooth.

4. Add the rest of your water and mix again until smooth.

5. If you need to go slowly and take a while to get all the mixture into your colon; then shake or squish the enema bag around from time to time to keep the powders from settling on the bottom.

The Best Enema Bag?

An enema bucket is not really the best system for this type of application, since you cannot mix the probiotics as you administer them (by squishing or massaging the enema bag). I have found the best enema bag to use is this disposable enema bag (and it is white/clear and has no nasty rubber smell either). Although this is a disposable enema bag, you can actually wash it in hot soapy water, then rinse it in hot water, and re-use it multiple times.

The tip on this disposable enema bag is also much thinner than the tip on non-disposable enema bags – so it is ideal for those with a sensitive, inflamed, or wounded rectum. It is also ideal for children or babies. This is the enema bag I use on myself when needed.

Hope that helps and if anyone has any further questions, please post them in the COMMENTS section below…

Well, believe it or not, we finally got around to setting up our own composting bin in our backyard. And I have to say, don’t wait for summer to do this as that’s when the flies are at their peak! It’s easier to start in colder weather so you can get the hang of it and learn how to manage your compost properly (to prevent it from attracting flies) before the warm weather hits. Unless of course you live somewhere freezing cold – in that case, you’ll need to wait for Spring.

Also, your tendency may be locate it close to your house so you don’t have far to walk, but, we learned to locate it as far away from the house as possible, so insects don’t fly in your door, or join you in your patio dining! Well, now that I’ve managed to put you off the idea entirely…

Seriously, it’s how you manage the bin that counts. Proper set-up and management will reduce any insect or rodent interference with your eco-friendly efforts. Most importantly, you need to alternate a carbon layer with a fermenting layer, so you alternate brown/dry with green/wet.

Composting Rules

1. Start with a layer of straw (dry) or twiggy material on the bottom, this allows air to circulate up through the bin.

2. Continue with alternating layers of brown/dry (fall leaves, straw, newspaper strips) to provide carbon and green/wet (grass, garden waste, food scraps).

3. Store up food waste in a covered bucket under your kitchen sink, and add your scraps to the outdoor bin once or twice a week. Or, if you have a large family, you may need to add them every day or two!

4. Keep a bucket of dirt next to your bin so that when you add a layer of food scraps (uncooked fruit and veggies only – no meat, fish, grains, dairy, oils), you can sprinkle it with dirt (kills smells and fly eggs), and then top it off with a brown layer. If the food is well buried each time, you won’t attract rodents with the smells. This is where we messed up, we skipped adding a layer of dirt!

5. Make sure you mix everything up well at least once every two weeks with a pitch fork or compost aerator (available at most nurseries and hardware stores).

Tips from the Master

Store up your dry fall leaves in garbage bags or cans so you always have a brown source on hand. Keep a bucket of soil handy, too.

We recommend setting the bin up in a sunny spot right on the soil, but if a shady area on the patio is all you’ve got, go ahead.

Extra Rodent Protection

For added rodent resistance, Wes Barrett recommends a sheet of hardware cloth (1/2″, 20 gauge wire mesh) which you can lay on the ground, then set your bin on top of it. That way rodents can’t burrow up underneath.

Free Composting Bin?

Check with whoever is in charge of composting or a similar policy in your local city as many cities now offer either a free composting bin, or they’ll greatly subsidize the cost – we got ours from our city Engineering Dept. and paid only $20 for it.

Annabel Fisher and I did a presentation together at the Canadian EFT Gathering a couple weeks ago – where I presented the theory behind combining more than one powerful healing tool together, for a synergistic effect that greatly maximizes the healing possible. Synergy is where 1+1 does not equal 2, it equals 5. So EFT + Pranic Healing + Meditation + Dialoguing With Your Body = WOW!

And then Annabel led people through an actual Healing Meditation to experience what I was talking about. I’m very pleased to be able to share this powerful healing experience with all of you. Here is the video of my presentation first (so you know what it’s all about and what you will experience):

Free Meditation For You!
And then here is the MP3 download of Annabel’s Healing Meditation for you to experience for yourself (only listen to this while lying or sitting down – not driving a car, etc.!). If you also want my video presentation in audio MP3 format to share with others, you can download it here.

For those of you who don’t know where the EFT meridian tapping points are (you will need to know these for the Healing Meditation), you can download the Basic EFT Manual here. Or, I have lots more info and free downloads for you on this site, for a good intro to EFT.

Lastly, if you’re interested in the Healing Meditations for Deep Sleep or Rectal Healing that I talk about in the video, then you can get those here at the LTYG Shoppe. If you’re a JPT Wellness Circle member, then just go to the site and download the meditations from the Resources section.

Let me know what you think, or what you experience in the COMMENTS section below…

I am just crazy for this new pre-soaked, sprouted bean/lentil product. Of course, it’s organic, but it’s also available for a great price at Costco! It’s the TruRoots Organic Sprouted Bean Trio and it contains mung beans, green lentils and adzuki beans.

Most of us know we should be eating beans and lentils once our guts have stabilized to the point where they can digest them. But whilst your gut may not be able to handle canned beans, it may be just fine with this product as the beans and lentils are already soaked and sprouted – thus making them much easier to digest.

In a perfect world you would have enough time to soak and sprout your own beans and lentils, but for many of us, that extra step means we avoid these highly nutritious foods. Which is the other reason I LOVE this product – it’s actually easier and faster to make than rice!

Also, if you’ve read Tim Ferriss’ book The 4-Hour Body and you’re trying his weight loss plan, then these are your carb component – and they are way healthier than restaurant or canned varieties.

The manufacturer gives you these great ways to use the Sprouted Bean Trio:

• Puree with olive oil for a spread or dip [I add Moroccan or kalamata olives to mine as well]
• Wrap into a tortilla with salsa and avocado
• Cook into a pilaf with rice and spices
• Toss with herbs and a light salad dressing
• Pack into a pita pocket with greens and dressing
• Mix into rice or barley or other grains side dishes

But I have developed some favorite recipes of my own to incorporate this product – that even my kids will eat:

SUPER-QUICK BARBECUE STYLE BEANS

Ingredients:

1 cup TruRoots Organic Sprouted Bean Trio
1 yellow onion, finely diced
14 ounces (1 large can) crushed tomatoes
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1.5 tablespoons honey (or maple syrup)
1 tablespoon tamari (or 1.5 tbsp soy sauce)
1 teaspoon whole grain mustard (or Dijon)
3 cups chicken or vegetable broth (or water with 1 boullion cube, if broth is unavailable)
Extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, cook the onions, garlic, and basil in olive oil over low to medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are translucent.

2. Add 1 cup TruRoots Sprouted Bean Trio, 3 cups broth and all the other ingredients to the saucepan. Bring to boiling over medium heat.

3. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes. Optional: Add 1/2 cup cooked chopped bacon or 1 cup cooked chopped sausage (nitrate-free).

4. Remove from heat, leave covered, and let stand for 10 minutes. Serve.

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

JINI’S TUMMY-FRIENDLY TURKEY CHILI

Ingredients:

Pre-Cook 1 cup of TruRoots Organic Sprouted Bean Trio according to package directions = 3 cups cooked
3 tablespoons coconut or olive oil, divided
1.5 pounds ground turkey (or beef)
1 package (3 tbsp) mild taco seasoning mix
1 teaspoon ground coriander (cilantro)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1.5 cups chicken or beef broth
1/2 cup salsa (mild)
1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes, or coarsely chopped tomatoes packed in puree
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, diced
3 medium zucchini, diced (or 1.5 cups chopped green beans if you prefer)

Optional for garnish:

1 cup shredded raw cheddar cheese
1 cup sour cream
4 green onions, chopped

Directions:

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Crumble turkey into the pot, stirring with a wooden spoon to break apart as much as possible. Season with taco seasoning mix, coriander/cilantro, oregano, and tomato paste, and mix until meat is evenly coated with seasonings. Continue cooking, reducing heat if necessary, until turkey is well browned.

2. Pour in broth, and simmer to reduce liquid slightly, about 5 minutes. Add salsa, tomatoes, carrots and cooked Sprouted Bean Trio and continue cooking at a moderate simmer for ten minutes. Adjust the thickness at any time you feel necessary by adding water.

3. While chili is still cooking, heat two tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook onion and garlic, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes, or until onion is translucent. Add the zucchini, and cook stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add onion, garlic and zucchini to the chili, and continue cooking at a very low simmer for 15 minutes more. Again, adjust the consistency by adding more water or broth, if needed.

4. Ladle chili into serving bowls. Top with sour cream, green onion, and cheddar cheese, and serve.

Note: If you wish (and your gut can handle it), you can add chillies, jalapeños or tabasco sauce to taste, to make this spicy-hot.

On page 55 of my book about natural healing for digestive diseases, Listen To Your Gut, I give clear directions that you must not use any other supplements on the LTYG program UNTIL you have given the protocols a chance to work and your condition has stabilized. THEN you can go ahead and test other supplements – note I said “test”. I give you instructions to introduce ONE supplement at a time and wait 2 weeks to test for any adverse reactions before introducing the next one. I especially warn about the difficulty of introducing multiple-ingredient remedies like those prescribed in Chinese or Ayurvedic medicine, because they have the highest likelihood to trigger an adverse reaction. It is really key for people to understand that:

All the supplements and protocols in LTYG have been tested by THOUSANDS of people with Crohn’s, colitis, diverticulitis and IBS (20,000 at last count) – many of whom are in advanced disease states and extremely hypersensitive. We KNOW these supplements work and are highly tolerated – which is why I specify brands, so you can get exactly the right product. Just ONE trigger ingredient, like Betaine HCL or MSM can trigger a flare.

The reason I give such explicit instructions, is to avoid the heartache that readers like Jake (name changed to protect privacy) experienced. In his first email to me, you can clearly see how frustrated, upset and angry he is that he spent so much time and money on the protocols in LTYG and nothing worked:

“Hi Jini,
Please do not ask for my feedback.  I have nothing good to say.  I tried the oregano oil, the george’s aloe juice, NAG, L Glutamine, the enema that I ordered with three organic powders etc..  The absorb plus I ordered made the bleeding worse.  Was back in hospital.  Had to go back to prednisone and now Remicade thanks to the treatment protocol in the book which didn’t work for me.  I have nothing good to share.”

I immediately emailed Jake back, since he is literally the first person I have ever heard from who received absolutely no benefit or improvement from the protocols in LTYG and I wanted to find out what else was going on that could have interfered with his healing. He wrote back:

“When I read the book, it makes complete sense.  I even understand the science behind it.  I had high hopes with it.  I am sure that it did help a lot of people, but not me.
I want to know what went wrong in my case.  I feel so unfortunate not to get the benefit that people got from this nice book. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to help me out.

I was on Prednisone 30mg for 2 weeks, tapered to 20mg and not 15mg like you suggest for two more weeks.  Further down to 10mg for 2 weeks and followed by 5mg for one week.  I stopped after that and didn’t taper to 2.5mg like you suggest. I didn’t start your protocol until I stopped prednisone completely.

I was and am still taking homeopathy medication while on your protocol.  I was also taking Vitamin D 5000 IU. I was also taking some ayurvedic medication from India which was in the form of powder which has to be soaked in water overnight then boil it and then you drink the filtrate of it. I still take it.  This is a mix of different powders like Harde, Adulsa, etc.. Also, I was taking Avapatti churan.”

Well, Jake’s email provided a few clues for where things went wrong. So, although I talk about these things in LTYG, I know it’s a very large book and very difficult to retain all the information at once (this is why it’s really important to actually do the Workbook – on the CD-Rom). So, as I wrote back to Jake:

The homeopathics wouldn’t hamper anything, likewise the vitamin D is good and your Prednisone taper schedule was at a good pace. However, the Ayurvedic remedies… please go read the section on Ayurvedic Medicine on pg 378 in LTYG and then see the section on Introducing New Supplements on pg 52-55.

You will see that you needed to completely discontinue the Ayurvedic medications and clear them from your system and only after you have successfully incorporated the supplements and protocols in LTYG can you introduce the Ayurvedic meds again – but you must follow the instructions in point 3 when you do so; testing remedies singly and leaving 2 weeks in between each to test for tolerance.

My cousin (with colitis, later progressed to Crohn’s) also flew to India and stayed in residence with a renowned Ayurvedic doctor for complete treatment – nothing worked and he came home even sicker. He also has not tried my protocols yet : )

So, I would say it is highly likely the Ayurvedic meds are interfering with your healing and perhaps even causing some of your symptoms. The same thing happens when people try to use Chinese medicine (TCM) with these diseases. It seems that if you use my protocols to stabilize the body first, then you have a better chance of tolerating Chinese or Ayurvedic medicine. But when disease is still active and the body is hypersensitive, these therapies usually do not work well.

The only other point I would encourage you to look at is the emotional facets of your illness. You have focused here entirely on the physical (in these emails), but the emotional contributors can be anywhere from 50-80% of your pathology. I have a lot of resources and guidance, tools, etc. for addressing this side of healing. For a better understanding of the science of how/why this is so important, please listen to my teleseminar with bestselling author Dr. Gabor Mate (When The Body Says No) – you can get the free download of it after this short Healing Journey Movie

One last thing, don’t be afraid to continue on a low dose of Prednisone for a month or so whilst introducing my protocols – it can take a while for your adrenal function to re-start (suppressed by Prednisone) and until it does, you will still feel quite ill.

When you are on a strong immunosuppressant drug that also shuts down your adrenal glands, it is best to begin the healing support (supplements) WHILST still on a low dose Prednisone. You cannot leave the body in a vacuum, without support. So you wean down to the lowest amount of Prednisone that you can tolerate and then stay on that while you introduce all the supplements and protocols from LTYG. When you have introduced all the supplements and you feel emotionally ready, then you wean down to the lowest dose of Prednisone for a week or two, and then stop.

You will likely still have some kick-back reaction even when you do it this way (especially if you have been on the drug for longer than 3 months). But it is unlikely to be serious enough that you wind up back in hospital.

The other thing to consider: It sounds like you were on the IBD Remission Diet – with active colonic bleeding. Did you take time off work and stay horizontal or resting until the blood clotted? Remember that healing takes a lot of energy, so we cannot proceed on like normal (like we do with drugs) and expect healing to occur. It’s best to take 3-6 weeks off work whilst on the Diet. At the very least, take 2 weeks completely off and then do only part-time work for the remainder. Re-read the story on page 33 which illustrates why this is so important.

I haven’t heard back from Jake, so I’m assuming I gave him a lot to think about. I’m working on the second edition of The IBD Remission Diet now and I’ve definitely emphasized the need for resting and emotional healing in that book too.

Statistics show that over 40% of Americans are deficient in magnesium. You can’t test for magnesium deficiency using a blood test since only 1 percent of the body’s magnesium is found in the bloodstream. So you have to let your symptoms be your guide.  My friend Dr. Carolyn Dean MD ND has devoted a large chunk of her life to educating people about the huge variety of diseases that are actually just magnesium deficiency. Carolyn has also made up a chart of common signs of magnesium deficiency so you can check which symptoms you have.

Aside from being nature’s muscle relaxant, magnesium also has powerful bone/teeth-building, cardiovascular, nervous system, and detoxification properties – among it’s many talents!

Recently there has been a scare in the raw food world over a supposed miracle product called Adya Clarity, that turned out to contain high levels of aluminum (that were not disclosed on the label). So now thousands of people who have taken this product need to now detoxify it (and the aluminum) from their system.

Without getting into chelation agents, there are some simple, yet tested ways to remove heavy metals from the body and these include the use of: Magnesium, chlorophyll, chlorella, cilantro, vitamin C, algae, kelp, lemon juice, etc. For now, let’s just look at using magnesium, both to detox and to address likely deficiencies.

As many people know, taking magnesium orally can loosen the bowels or even cause spasming as your peristalsis kicks into high gear to get rid of it. I discovered that magnesium citrate is very irritating to mucosal membranes (e.g. the lining of your intestines) the day I made it into a suppository (cause that’s the kind of ‘mad scientist’ I am) – this resulted in an intense ‘burning’ sensation in my rectum and let me tell you, I got rid of it pretty darn quick!

How To Take Large Doses of Magnesium

So how can people with IBD, or sensitive guts, or people using it to detox get enough magnesium into their system, without irritating their bowel? Basically, you need to bypass the digestive system. If the magnesium does not go through your intestines, then there is no irritation, absorption rates are WAY higher and it does not cause diarrhea or loose bowels.

We carry both Transdermal Magnesium and nano-sized Mini-Minerals Magnesium and these have been used extensively by my readers with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (and you don’t get much more sensitive than that!). I’m going to give you instructions on how to use both, then I’m also going to tell you how I use them to get a ‘bigger bang for my buck’.

Transdermal Magnesium - also knows as magnesium oil because it feels like an oil to the touch, but it is really just condensed seawater. Traditional methods of application are to dilute the oil (supersaturated magnesium chloride) 50:50 with distilled water/clean water. Spread 1-2 tsp on your body after your morning shower. On the trunk/torso is better—as it gets a bit itchy on legs and arms. Also, magnesium oil naturally elevates DHEA in the body. Some people find it too itchy, in that case, wash oil off the skin after 30 minutes – most should be absorbed by then. Or, instead, add one ounce of magnesium oil to a warm/hot foot bath and soak feet for 30 minutes. Or, you can add 1-2 ounces to your bathwater and soak in the tub for 20-30 minutes.

Personally, I find magnesium oil WAY too itchy to apply directly to my skin (even diluted) – I am literally hopping around trying to stop myself from washing it off immediately. HOWEVER, here’s my turbo-charge secret: I add one ounce of transdermal magnesium along with 1 cup of Epsom salts (which is much cheaper – especially if you buy it at Costco) to my bathwater. I find the two work synergistically together and that I get a nice infusion of magnesium for a much cheaper price than using magnesium oil only, and no itchy skin! If you want to make it smell nice, add any essential oil that you like directly to your tub of epsom salts and stir well. For a 10 lb tub of epsom salts we add about 50-70 drops of essential oil. Or, you can just add about five drops to each cup before you pout it in your bath. To relax: add essential oils of lavender, rose, bergamot or jasmine. To invigorate: add essential oils of rosemary, eucalyptus, peppermint or spruce.

I run my bathwater through my shower filter (to take out the chlorine) and if I want a simultaneous respiratory treatment then I stuff a towel at the crack of the bathroom door and add 20 drops of eucalyptus oil to the bathwater when I first turn on the shower. The hot shower spray then turns the bathroom into a eucalyptus steam – which is great for clearing sinuses and lungs. Then I add my magnesium oil and epsom salts when I climb in. I find I have to turn the hot water up super-high when it’s coming through the shower filter, since it cools so much by the time it hits the bath. Hence I don’t sit in the bath while it’s filling, I just fill it first, then add my magnesium oil and epsom salts and then get in the tub. This is especially relaxing last thing before bed.

Oral Nano-Sized Mini-Minerals Magnesium – Here’s tip #2: You can take magnesium orally as long as it is in nanoparticle or angstrom-sized form. Which means the mineral is so tiny it is absorbed instantly (even through the lining of your mouth) and thus does not need to pass through the digestive system. Nano-sized minerals are used extensively with autistic kids – who often refuse to swallow anything.

Since the nano-sized magnesium does not pass through, nor irritate your digestive tract, you can take very high doses and suffer no ill effects. In my teleseminar with Mini-Minerals manufacturer, Jim Haszinger, I asked him what would happen if one took an ‘overdose’ of nanoparticle minerals? He replied that the body would react the same way as if you ate too much spinach or kale – since the minerals in plants are nano-sized as well.

It is important to note that the Mini-Minerals that Jim produces are not tech-manipulated to nano-size, they are naturally grown and harvested in this form. Unfortunately, we cannot get the full details of this process as it is proprietary. However, this technology has been around for millennia, since nanoparticles were used by artisans as far back as the 9th century in Mesopotamia for generating a glittering effect on the surface of pots.

Mini-Minerals Magnesium Dosage

A daily maintenance dose of the Mini-Minerals Magnesium is 1 tbsp per day. For myself, I also take the Bone Support and the 62 Trace Minerals (both are also Mini-Minerals) every day and the Bone Support contains a 3:1 magnesium to calcium ratio. So 1 tbsp of the Mini-Minerals Magnesium is enough for me. I once got a killer cramp in my foot (too much yoga!) so I took a capful of the Mini-Minerals magnesium (1 tbsp) and the cramp disappeared in about 40 seconds! I have also tested this with my two eldest children – one is in competitive gymnastics and the other in competitive soccer and it eliminates  their leg pains or cramps within a  minute or two. So it’s nice to have confirmation that the product works!

You could easily double or triple the daily dosage if you are deficient (2 – 3 tbsp). And for detox, I would combine the oral Mini-Mineral Magnesium with daily magnesium baths (combining magnesium oil and epsom salts) or foot baths – uptake through the soles of the feet is also very good. Adding clay to your bathwater would further increase the detoxification.

Are Nano-Sized Minerals Safe?

When I looked at the fact that plants naturally produce nanoparticle-sized minerals, thus indicating that our bodies have been safely absorbing minerals in this form for millenia, that gave me a base of confidence to try nanoparticle and angstrom-sized minerals.

As well, I looked at people/groups who have been consuming nanoparticle minerals for years already – athletes and children with autism. Jim Haszinger, the president of the company we get our Mini-Minerals from, gave me a list of autism clinics in the U.S. who have been using his minerals for 2 – 6 years already. Jim and his family have been consuming his nanoparticle minerals for over 20 years. A good friend of Dr. Carolyn Dean MD ND – veterinarian Terry Wood – has been using nanoparticle minerals and nano-sized electrolyte blends with animals and athletes for over 5 years. There were no accounts of adverse effects from using nanoparticle minerals from any of these groups.

I also found a number of studies showing clear benefits to nanoparticle or angstrom-sized mineral supplementation for osteoporosis and tooth decay.

Why Is Nano-Sized Magnesium Better?

My friend Dr. Dean explains this perfectly in an article she wrote for my Infoletter:

“Physicists tell us that the size of the mineral channels in our cells, are between 4-5 angstroms in diameter. An angstrom is one ten billionth of a meter, a range between a nanometer and a picometer. If minerals are larger than this size, they are not readily absorbed through the cell membrane. What I call “dirt minerals” may be millions of times larger than the channel they are trying to enter. Colloidal minerals and ionic minerals, while they may claim to be smaller than dirt minerals can still be thousands of times bigger than angstrom [nano-sized] minerals. Therefore, you not only need to take the proper type of magnesium, but it also has to be in an easily absorbed form.”

Do you remember the teleseminar I did with hormone expert Dr. Wendy Ellis (from Dr. Jonathan V. Wright’s clinic in Washington) on Hormone Balance For Chronic Illness?

Well, I’ve brought her back for another really timely topic faced by many:

How do you keep your hormones balanced after age 35?

Many men and women face classic symptoms of hormonal imbalance after age 35-40 like:

- thinning hair, dry skin
- fatigue, brain fog, memory issues
- weight gain or weight loss, difficulty building muscle
- gluten-intolerance
- estrogen dominance (uterine fibroids or breast cysts)
- cold hands and feet, etc. etc.

If you struggle with, or have been thinking about these issues, then prepare to have the light switched on and at long last some clarity on what to do.

Oh yes, and another big question Dr. Ellis answers: How do you get rid of that stubborn belly fat after age 40?

Click the links below to download either the Audio MP3 recording of the teleseminar, or the pdf transcript:

AUDIO
http://jptwellnesscircle.s3.amazonaws.com/teleseminars/hormones-after-age35.mp3

TRANSCRIPT
http://jptwellnesscircle.s3.amazonaws.com/teleseminars/hormones-after-age35.pdf

Enjoy!

Before we get into how to treat/heal scar tissue, it’s best if you have a really good understanding of what scar tissue is composed of, the different forms it can take in the body, and how it behaves.

In the video below, I ask Mary Cox (physiotherapist) these questions and she gives us a fascinating, illustrated explanation of all these different components. In the video, we focus on scar tissue in the abdominal cavity, but the same principles are applicable whether your scar tissue is in your hip joint, or your knee, or anywhere else in your body.

In addition to the physical therapy treatments for scar tissue (adhesions) given in the video, we have also been experimenting with some powerful substances at JPT Wellness Circle that also soften and (over time) dissolve scar tissue. These are also treatments that you can do yourself, at home. And if you use them in conjunction with physical therapy, or laser therapy, your results will be even faster.

NOTE: These treatments are not tested, nor approved by the FDA or any medical body. You proceed entirely at your own risk*

Here is a tried and tested (by my readers) procedure you can use for abdominal strictures and adhesions that has worked for many to relieve pain and release an obstruction. It also works equally well for other areas of the body (back, hips, knees, etc.). Most people report substantial relief in 24 hours. Simple injuries like acute muscle strains can be healed in 3-4 days (using once or twice per day). Longstanding problems like scar tissue that is several years old can take up to 4-6 months. And newer scar tissue can be softened or dissolved in only 2 months (of once per day application).

If your scar tissue does not involve your digestive system, then skip Step 1 of this protocol.

1. Go On A Liquid Diet

Ideally and for fastest healing of intestinal strictures or obstruction, you should go on an exclusively elemental diet (which results in only liquid, minimal fecal matter) at least until the obstruction clears, and ideally for an additional week after clearance. If you can’t afford this, there are two other forms of liquid nutrition that may work for you, or you can combine these options in a way that works for you:

a) Raw vegetable juicing – juice primarily vegetables, with only enough fruit added to make them palatable (or sweeten with stevia instead). BUT, people with active/bleeding Crohn’s or colitis often cannot tolerate raw vegetable juices, so be sure and test carefully and if you’re at all underweight, this is not a good option
b) Raw (unpasteurized) cow or goat milk – from pasture-fed animals only (not barn-raised and grain-fed). Goat milk is usually better tolerated than cow milk, but make sure milk is RAW. Never consume pasteurized milk as it will only exacerbate your condition. If you tend to constipation, then you will also need to add extra magnesium citrate to your raw milk (1-3x/day up to 1000 mg/day maximum) to avoid getting constipated from the high calcium levels.
c) Absorb Plus elemental shakes – this is a product I formulated, specifically for people with inflammatory bowel disease (or other advanced illness like cancer, AIDS, lupus, etc.). It is absorbed into your bloodstream within 20 minutes of ingestion and produces liquid, minimal fecal matter. Therefore it is ideal for people with strictures, obstruction, intestinal bleeding or malnutrition.

Each of these liquid nutrient sources are best when combined with homemade bone broths (Chicken and Beef Broth). You can derive your nutrients from only one of these sources, or you can mix and match and combine them together.

If you consume raw vegetable juices, buy organic or ‘no spray’ produce and juice fresh every day (or freeze portions to consume later). Make sure you consume enough juice to provide you with adequate energy each day. Or, combine raw juicing with raw milk or Absorb Plus to add the protein and good fats needed for energy. You should also be taking extra cod liver oil and Udo’s oil (you can add it to the shakes) during this time.

2. Apply DMSO / Aloe Vera Solution to Abdomen Or Problem Area/Joints:

Make up a 50% dilution of DMSO with George’s Aloe Vera Juice – this means you combine 2 tbsp. 99% DMSO and 2 tbsp. aloe vera in a glass bottle, shake well.

Apply to your abdomen (or wherever your scar tissue/pain/cramping is) using your fingers or a natural hair paintbrush.

Do not use synthetic anything with DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide – a natural substance derived from tree bark) as it will pick up and transport everything it contacts into your skin/bloodstream. Make sure hands and abdomen have been washed with plain soap and water and do not have any creams or fragrance on them.

Allow to dry. Then apply a hot castor oil pack to your abdomen or problem area.

Note: After you have done this protocol a few times, if you think your skin will tolerate a higher DMSO content, then try a solution of 70% DMSO to 30% aloe vera. DMSO tolerance varies widely (with redheads being the most sensitive), so the 50/50 ratio is likely to be tolerated by most, but feel free to adjust up or down as you desire. If you are using it below the waist (excluding genital area) then you can usually use a higher concentration with no irritation. It is normal for it to itch while drying, but if it causes a rash, then decrease the concentration of DMSO. Some people do notice a garlic-type odor when using DMSO, this is normal and stops as soon as you stop using it.

3. Apply a Hot Castor Oil Pack to Abdomen or Problem Joint/Area:

A castor oil pack is placed on the skin to increase circulation within the scar tissue. It also promotes healing of the tissues and organs underneath the skin. It is often used to relieve pain, increase lymphatic circulation, reduce inflammation, stimulate the liver, and improve digestion. Just remember to use a cold-pressed castor oil and 100% cotton flannel (or wool) – no synthetics. You can use either a hot water bottle or a heating pad as the heat source. Here are detailed instructions:

Castor Oil Pack Components

• Castor oil.
• Two sheets of plastic (garbage bags OK).
• 1 yard cotton or wool flannel.
• Heating pad (if indicated).
• Large old bath towel.
• 3 safety pins.

Preparing a Castor Oil Pack

1. Fold flannel into three thicknesses to fit over your whole abdomen.

2. Cut a piece of plastic 1-2 inches larger than flannel.

3. Saturate the flannel with gently heated oil, but not so much that it is drippy. Fold it over and squeeze until it is oozing. Unfold.

4. Place plastic and old towel over flannel to prevent staining of surface you will be lying on.

5. Lie down, placing flannel over abdomen, putting fitted plastic over the flannel.

6. Now wrap the towel under you, around your torso and pin with safety pins (or just tuck in tightly).

7. Place a heating pad (low heat) or hot water bottle on top of the towel.

8. Rest for 30-60 minutes. Use visualization, meditation, or just sleep. A good time to use castor oil packs is just before bedtime.

9. When finished, it’s best if you don’t get up and walk around and be busy (except to go to the bathroom). Try to stay still and relaxed.

If you are doing your pack at bedtime, have a zip-lock baggie next to your bed, and a towel to remove any excess oil and protect your bed sheets. Fold the oily pack up and put it into the baggie, then drop it to the floor till morning. In the morning, put it in the refrigerator.

11. Store the pack in the covered container or baggie in the refrigerator. Remove it from the refrigerator 1-3 hours before you plan to use it, so that it is at room temperature when you are ready to use it.

12. Each pack may be used repeatedly. When it starts to smell stale, throw it out (don’t try to wash it) and make a new pack.

Note: If this procedure is way too complicated for you, apply a generous amount of castor oil to the skin of your abdomen. Cover that with an old cotton t-shirt or other cloth you won’t mind eventually discarding. Lay your heat source (hot water bottle, heating pad) on top of that. Keep the cloth you use to protect your heat source from the oil to reuse. Eventually it will smell like stale oil, but can be kept for a few weeks at least in a plastic bag. Rest for 30-60 minutes. Stay covered and warm so you can relax. Have a soft cloth or rag handy to catch any oil dripping off your body. You may want to put a towel or plastic underneath your body so your bed doesn’t get oily. It’s not necessary to have a castor oil pack that you keep in the refrigerator. Just do what works for you. I’ve even heard from readers who don’t even bother to apply heat after a while, they just massage the castor oil directly into the skin and they say it works fairly well that way too!

Frequency of Use

To be effective, a castor oil pack must be used at least 3 times a week, although 5 times a week is better. In cases of long-term chronic pain or acute stricture/obstruction, it works best to commit to at least a 4-6 week treatment period using the DMSO solution in combination with a castor oil pack 5-7 times per week, then as needed. Full healing may require 3-6 months of treatment.

If you don’t want to use the DMSO solution first, the hot castor oil pack on its own will provide significant relief from pain and softening of tissues. To actually begin to break down the scar tissue though, you’ll want to combine it with the DMSO solution.

Colonic Massage for Obstruction

If your intestine is obstructed, it is a good idea to also do this colonic massage after the DMSO / Castor Oil treatment – while the abdomen is soft and you are relaxed – to help massage the stuck food through the stricture:

Let us know what works for you in the COMMENTS section below….

*LEGAL DISCLAIMER – This website (including any/all site pages, blog posts, blog comments, forum, videos, audio recordings, etc.) is not intended to replace the services of a physician, nor does it constitute a doctor-patient relationship. Information is provided for informational  purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Jini Patel Thompson is not a licensed health professional – she is a journalist and consumer advocate. You should not use the information on this website for diagnosing or treating a medical or health condition. If you have or suspect you have an urgent medical problem, promptly contact your professional healthcare provider. Any application of the recommendations in this website is at the reader’s discretion. Listen To Your Gut Enterprises Inc./Caramal Publishing Inc./Jini Patel Thompson are not liable for any direct or indirect claim, loss or damage resulting from use of this website and/or any web site(s) linked to/from it. Readers should consult their own physicians concerning the recommendations in this website.

Now that I have my very own microwave (RF) radiation testing meter (it also tests magnetic and electrical activity), I can actually do my own testing on the various devices in my and my neighbour’s houses. I got an email from a reader asking me:

I have a question regarding laptops. Does keeping a laptop plugged in while using it, reduce the radiation emitted? (would it be like using a regular personal computer?) And if so, would it be safer to have a laptop plugged in, while the laptop was sitting on your lap? I also have a question regarding cordless phones. While the cordless phone is sitting on the base, not in use, is it still unsafe?

I know that Dr. Mercola recently ran a video series with an electromagnetic radiation expert and one of his headlines in his newsletter was to make sure you always had your laptop plugged in, since they emit way more radiation when running on battery power. Now, I don’t  know if they were referring to the millivolts (electricity) the laptop was giving off, or if they were referring to the microwave radiation from the laptop’s WiFi (wireless internet) connection.

This is why it helps to have your own meter, so you can test these things. Fortunately, I do not have any wireless internet in my house. So I couldn’t test for WiFi radiation when plugged vs. battery. But I did test my Apple laptop for electric fields in both millivolts and microamps per meter and it was the same whether the laptop was plugged in or running on battery power: 4.2 mV/m (millivolts per meter) at 1 foot away from screen and 9.8 uA/m (microamps per meter).

Caveat: You would need to test your particular brand of laptop to really know what’s going on though, since they vary widely between brands. Even within the same brand, different sized screens or models will give off different levels of radiation. For example, most of the 20″ – 21.5″ iMacs in my office run about 5.1 mV/m (millivolts per meter) at 6″ away from the screen, but the new 27″ iMac clocked in at 84 mV/m at 6″ away from the screen – I tested it because I noticed I didn’t feel very good after 4 or 5 hours working on it (fatigue, little bit of a headache). Even though 84 mV/m only falls under the “Slight Concern” column in the Institute for Baubiologie guidelines. By the time I pulled about 2′ away from the screen, the 27″ was down to only 9.2 mV/m. But still, I decided to listen to my gut and I sent it back and got a 21.5″ instead!

I don’t have a cordless phone in my house either, so I borrowed my neighbour’s to test it. Theirs is a Panasonic 5.8 GHz phone. Much to my surprise, when the phone is on the base (and there are no extensions around the house that are off the base), the EMR is only .1 – 3.2 uW/m2 (microwatts per square meter), which is in the “No” to “Slight Concern” range. However, when in operation, the radiation jumped to 900 uW/m2 when dialing and 300 uW/m2 when talking. Even when you were 50 feet away from the handset or the base, you were still getting 250-300 uW/m2 of microwave radiation! This is in the “Severe Concern” range – above 1000 is “Extreme Concern”.

My Dad has fought me hard to keep a cordless phone in his house, so it was a relief to have this data to know that, when my kids are in his house, we do not have to actually unplug the cordless, as long as no one uses it. And knowing the data, he has said he will only use it for short periods or in very specific situations – most of the time he will use the corded phones. I got him a top of the line Panasonic corded phone with a powerful speakerphone, so he can still be hands-free if he wishes.

Anyway, hope this info helps those of you who were wondering the same things! And remember that if you are suffering from chronic illness, have young children, or elderly in the house, you really should avoid microwave radiation in your home, for the sake of your health.

Every so often I receive emails from readers that either move my heart, or contain good ideas. This one does both:

Hi Jini,
I have noticed a real difference in the way I feel taking 2 Absorb Plus shakes a day for my diverticulitis.  Before your shakes, I was very weak walking with a cane for support.
My son has Crohn’s disease and has started taking a shake for breakfast (Immune System recipe) and the Mucosaheal at bedtime.
We both feel the Berry flavor is too sweet so we cut it with the Unsweetened Vanilla (2 scoops of each).  We also feel 4 scoops of the Chocolate is too strong so we cut that with the Berry or Unsweetened Vanilla flavor (2+1+1  or 2+2 scoops).  I have not tried the French Vanilla by itself, I usually blend it with Chocolate, or fruit juice, or fruit.  Fresh peach (skinned) with the French Vanilla is delicious.
I am now reintroducing foods, and still taking a shake per day.
Thank you for some great products, they make a difference to my health.
- Lisa B.

I especially like Lisa’s idea of mixing the Vanilla with a peach (for those of you who are NOT on an elemental diet) – I think that would taste wonderful. And as Lisa points out, now that we have both Unsweetened and regular French Vanilla, you can play with the proportions to get exactly the amount of sweetness and strength of flavor you desire.

For those of you concerned about the fructose in the regular Absorb Plus flavors (especially since Dr. Joseph Mercola has been on such a fructose-bashing crusade), I’m going to be posting in-depth soon about WHY I’ve lowered the fructose in Absorb Plus, but I have still kept some in there.

I’m also currently working on an Absorb Plus that uses tapioca maltodextrin (from cassava root), rather than corn-extracted maltodextrin. So that will be rolling out soon and the product will be safer for those with corn allergies and we’ll also get away from the GMO crop drift that’s happening with corn in North America.

Remember, that the products I formulate are dynamic. I do not follow conventional practices and keep a product exactly the same because I’m afraid of losing customers who don’t like the new one. Guess what? Most people do not like change. However, I will continue to make changes to improve my products as more research, better extraction technology, and new/better ingredients become available. Because I believe that health takes priority, so if I can make it healthier, but still taste nice, I will.

In the last set of changes I made, we did have a number of people complaining about the change, but most people still said something like, “I don’t like the taste of the new Absorb Plus as much, but I know it’s better for my health, so that’s okay.” To be honest, if those people had a sample of the old Absorb Plus on the counter next to a sample of the new Absorb Plus – in a blind taste test – they would most likely choose the new one anyway! I know, because that is exactly what I do with family and friends when I’m re-formulating.

And I always, always test on kids. I especially like to test on kids whose parents feed them a lot of processed crap, with turbo-charged chemical flavors; because if their tastebuds say it’s okay, then I know it will be fine with most people’s palate. In fact, here’s a video I shot of my daughter Zara and her friend Kenzie taste-testing my latest Absorb Plus Chocolate Royale, so you can see what I mean:

I’ve never used a lot of styling aids with my hair – especially since I’ve been firmly in kid-land for the last decade. But now, my kids are getting older and wanting to try out different hair styles. I’m getting out there more and hooking up with old friends and the old hair-in-a-clip or loose ponytail isn’t working so well for me on girls night out.

BUT I also haven’t wanted to use toxic products with heavy perfumes and chemicals that are absorbed through my scalp. The natural products I’ve tried just haven’t worked so well. The hairspray didn’t smell nice and the gel would dry and turn into little white flakes (dandruff anyone?), which are especially visible against my dark hair – the kids and I have tried FOUR brands of natural gel!

The good news is: We have finally found a great natural hair gel and hairspray!

This Aubrey Organics B-5 Design Gel does not flake white and the NuStyle Organic Hairspray has a mild, nice scent! They both work really well on both fine hair (kids) and coarse hair (mine). I also gave a bottle of the hairspray to a friend of mine who sets her long, blonde hair in hot rollers every morning and then applies hairspray before she heads out to work. She reported back that not only was it as good as the normal (chemical) brand she’d been using, it was even better – same hold, but her hair was softer and she preferred the scent.

The picture above shows what my hair looks like when I back-comb the front a bit and then hairspray it – still looks soft and natural, but a bit more polished.

I must admit that for me, who is used to very little scent, the Aubrey products (including shampoo & conditioner) felt a bit too strong initially. Although they are 100% natural essential oils, they are scented to be similar in strength to commercial hair products. So, if you’re similar, you may want to start with the “unscented” line of Aubrey products – which to me, still have a fresh, but fairly neutral scent.

One last thing, when it comes to great looking/feeling hair, don’t forget that healthy hair starts at the cellular level, so be sure you’re nourishing yourself and your hair properly. You will also see best results if you wash your hair in pure water, so consider getting a chlorine filter for your shower.

If you’re into the raw food movement, you may have heard about a product called Adya Clarity. The people who are selling (and re-selling) this product are making some pretty amazing claims. And perhaps, like me, you’re wondering how much is hype and how much is genuine? Here’s the story behind Adya Clarity and other black mica products as stated in an email promotion:

“In the 1960s, Dr. Asao Shimanishi, a noted scientist and doctor from Japan, discovered after decades of research, that the rock that contained the most abundant minerals is black mica.  Black mica (also known as biotite) is found in a wide variety of igneous and metamorphic rocks.

Dr. Shimanishi also discovered that the minerals he extracted from black mica rocks from north of Tokyo had a tremendous healing and nourishing power.  He invented a patented way to extract minerals from black mica and maintain them in an ionized form.  As a result, people who ate vegetables fertilized with the ionized water became healthier and rejuvenated.  This rejuvenative effect may well stem from the fact that the human body consists of the same foundational building blocks as black mica.

In Japan, Dr. Shimanishi is regarded as an authority on the treatment and cleaning of water.  He’s probably best known for healing entire bodies of water using a magnetic sulfate mineral solution extracted from the most mineral-rich black mica deposit in Mt Fuji, Japan.

He has demonstrated how he can easily take whole ponds or lakes that are filthy, murky and contaminated — and within one hour, transform the water, making it pristine, crystal clear and potable.  And the water would thereafter stay fresh and clean permanently because the contaminants never re-dissolve in water once the water is treated.

There’s a version of the magnetic sulfate mineral solution that Dr. Shimanishi designed for human consumption.  It’s called Black Mica Extract.  When you put a dropper full of the solution into a glass of tap water, you’ll see before your very eyes how the solution pulls the invisible toxins and contaminants from the water, gathering them together into larger-sized, visible particulates that are heavier than water, causing them to precipitate (sink) to the bottom of the glass.  Once the toxins and contaminants are extracted, they become inert substances that are rendered harmless, as well as insoluble, thereby preventing them from being re-absorbed by the water. In addition to cleaning the water and getting rid of all the heavy metals, the solution also remineralizes it with the highest quality minerals.”

Promoters say that when you use Adya Clarity (black mica extract – whatever that is; how do you make an extract from a rock?) daily, it de-calcifies the body, detoxes heavy metals, oxygenates the blood and eliminates Candida and bacteria. I’ve been following the promotion of this product for a while and have watched a number of videos about it and I must admit: I was sorely tempted to buy some and find out for myself what it can do. However, the product is extremely expensive. If you take it the way they advise (1 tsp in 1 oz of water daily for a month), the experiment would cost you about $150. If it worked it would be worth every penny, if not… doh!

So, before I took the plunge and plunked down my cash, I emailed Jim Haszinger – who manufacturers the nanoparticle minerals I have already written about extensively and which my whole family uses – to see if he had tested this product and what his thoughts are. He wrote back:

“The USA importer for this met with our small group of scientists, doctors, etc and I even bought a bunch of it to play with. It didn’t grab me then and no one I sold it to reordered, so it went to the wayside.”

Hmmmm…. If you’ve tried this product, leave me your thoughts in the COMMENTS section below. Did it work for you? What results did you get? When assessing a new product I also ask myself: This product may help in certain ways, but does it work BETTER than protocols I already have? Let me know what you think and let’s pool our experience!

WHAT THE ADYA CLARITY PATENT REVEALS…

Big thank-you to LTD who posted the links to the patent application for black mica/Adya Clarity by inventor Asao Shimanishi. The patent application document answered a number of my questions, but also raised some important new ones. If you read through the patent document, you will see that my question of “How do they make an extract from a rock anyway?” is answered. They do it using sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid. As stated, this then results in a highly acidic product (Adya Clarity), so they caution NOT to use it at a concentration of more then 100 – 200 ppm (parts per million).

If you do, then they want you to add “lime water or a dilute caustic soda solution” to neutralize the pH of the water. As we all know, drinking acidic water (or other liquids or foods) is damaging to health in the long-term.

So that leaves me with my first big new question: Has anybody tested the concentration (ppm) of Adya Clarity that these “health gurus” are telling you to add to your water? Especially in the case of the ‘Adya Shots’ (talked about in the Kacper Postawski webinar) where they recommend 1 tsp in 1 ounce of water daily for a month. Just logically, it seems to me that would add up to more than 200 ppm (parts per million) of Adya Clarity in that 1 ounce of water… but without testing, we can’t know.

For this reason, I have to add a BIG WARNING to people with IBD or IBS: Be extremely careful if you use this highly acidic product. We know that even tiny amounts of Betaine Hydrochloric Acid (HCL) can trigger intestinal bleeding, so this product will likely have a similar action/effect on the digestive tract of sensitive individuals. The sellers of Adya Clarity are being misleading in this regard, positioning the product as a “mineral extract” – no one would assume that it is an acidic solution, because minerals are alkalizing, right? But yet, according to the product patent, black mica extract or  Adya Clarity, is a highly acidic solution, so acidic that anything over 200 ppm can acidify the water and you need to add alkalizing agents to bring the water back to a pH of 7 or higher.

The other issue the patent application raised for me was that of water filtration/safety. The promoters and seller of Adya Clarity and other black mica extracts are telling people that it’s all you need to use to purify any water from any source (rivers, lakes, tap, etc.). However, the inventors of this product state very clearly in the patent application that the mica mineral reagent is only one step in the water purification process and that you also need to:

a) Filter the water first with a “filtering chamber” to remove large or visible debris

b) Then an active charcoal filtration layer is needed to remove anions and a vermion filtration layer is needed to remove cations, “Such ions include cations of ammonia, calcium, manganese, or ions of chlorine, fluorine, nitric acid and nitrous acid”.

c) Lastly, the black mica (Adya Clarity) is added to “insolubulize organic materials dissolved in sewage and sterilize bacteria”.

So, this is a very important distinction to keep in mind: That Adya Clarity on its own is NOT sufficient to sterilize water from all sources – according to the inventor of the product.

Kacper Postawski – one of the promoters of Adya Clarity has a Facebook ad running that claims that Adya Clarity can remove fluoride (when fluorine has bonded to other elements) from your drinking water, but in the patent document it states that the vermion (from vermiculite) filtration layer is needed to remove fluorine from the water.

Please be aware that this is not a self-righteous diatribe against the latest health scam – in all likelihood Kacper Postawski, Matt Monarch, etc. have not examined the original patents for this product (marketed as Enminera in Japan) but are repeating information given to them from someone they trusted.

I have even had suppliers forge and falsify documents to try to convince me of claims that went against my common sense – so we are all susceptible to being misled and I am not judging anyone here – Lord knows I may be next! It’s very hard to stay on top of all the latest research and conflicting information in the health sector – which is why I love this interactive blog format. We have people contributing their knowledge and research from a large pool, instead of just relying on one or two people – which is extremely helpful for those of us trying to get a handle on what’s true and what’s not!

IMPORTANT UPDATE – DO NOT CONSUME ADYA CLARITY (Oct.28/11)

Mike Adams (The Health Ranger) on his mega-site, Natural News.com, just posted the worrying results of his conversation with the owner and importer of Adya Clarity (Matt Bakos) along with his detailed investigation into the ingredients of Adya Clarity. You simply must read Adams’ article: NaturalNews issues consumer alert about Adya Clarity, imported as battery acid and sold for internal consumption, if you are considering buying or ingesting Adya Clarity.

In his article, Adams details how Adya Clarity is imported as ‘battery acid,’ does not disclose on the label the very high (1200 ppm) aluminum content of the product, and finally answers a point raised many times in the comments section of this blog about the mechanism behind the miraculous way Adya Clarity pulls all the orangey-colored stuff out of the water to the bottom of the glass. Adams also raises valid points about the high iron content in the product.

From my side, I don’t trust the labeling on this product at all now. I would still like to see someone (with enough cash to do it – Adams? Mercola?) get an independent lab assay done on this product to see what ELSE it contains and whether the amounts stated on the label are even correct? Also, is there a substantial variance in levels and ingredients from batch to batch?

I will also have to go on record and agree with Mike Adams – in my opinion, this does not look like a safe, nor beneficial product to ingest. And I sure wouldn’t take it myself!

As many people have pointed out in the hundreds of excellent comments following this blog post, there are many other tried and tested ways to cure what ails you – kidney stones, decalcification, detox, arthritis, etc. – with a long history of use and some solid, independent science to back them up.

For me, as someone who has worked in holistic health for over a decade, and who also formulates health care products, this kind of mis-labeling, junk science and scamming of desperate people is very upsetting. This is the kind of product the FDA points to when it wants to justify making it harder and more expensive for supplement companies to provide you with non-drug solutions. So Bakos is not just harming himself by this kind of con-job, he is harming everyone else in the natural health industry; from the consumer to the manufacturer.

After first posting this inquiry, I was contacted by someone who wanted to talk to me privately about Adya Clarity. Apparently, he was one of the first people approached to sell/distribute Adya Clarity. But, like Mike Adams, when he started asking too many questions, the owner got upset and dropped him cold.

SO WHY ALL THE GOOD REPORTS ABOUT ADYA CLARITY?

As anyone who works in healthcare knows – whether medical or holistic – the single most powerful healing agent known to humanity is the mind, or belief (visceral, gut-level knowledge or conviction) of the person. This is not a dismissal of someone’s reality, or a belittling of their Healing Journey, it is simply a statement of fact. See Dr. Bruce Lipton’s book, The Biology of Belief for the in-depth science behind this.

So, if someone believes with all their heart that Adya Clarity will work miracles (as claimed in the webinars, videos and websites promoting it) and their body zings with hope and anticipation that finally, FINALLY they can get relief, they can begin to heal… They have already mobilized the most powerful forces of their immune system and healing mechanism before the first drop even passes their lips.

The other dynamic that is undoubtedly at work here (and this has been mentioned several times in the comments section under this blog post) is the amazing health benefits conferred simply by just drinking enough water each and every day. However, you are not just drinking water, you are drinking water imbued with all the positivity, hope, love and excitement of your conviction about Adya Clarity’s miraculous effects. See Masaru Emoto’s books for the science behind how water molecules change shape to reflect our energy or intention.

Lastly, when flooded with either something new, something different, or something challenging, the body can respond in a positive way, again, simply from the body’s own mobilization of its own healing forces. This sounds very simplistic, but medical science has long identified this mechanism, hence why “go home and take an aspirin”, or even just a visit to the doctor’s office, can often work wonders. Somehow, it flips a switch and nothing really needs to be done, or ingested, you just need to wait and the body will heal itself in a short period of time.

So, basically, this whole Adya Clarity mess just points again to why we really need to both listen to our gut AND do our research. It reminds me of the whole bacterial soil organism muddle – kicked off with Garden of Life and now continued with Prescript Assist. Junk science, miraculous effects, but what are the side effects? And then what happens to all the the poor people with adverse reactions, infections etc. and how the heck do you get rid of all those spores you ingested now anyway?

As my dear brother, Ricken Patel (founder of Avaaz.org) recently wrote to me: “Reason without emotion would be lifeless. Reason without intuition would be aimless. But intuition without reason can be dangerous, and emotion without reason can be foolish. So I’ve found that wisdom is the *harmony* of intuition, reason, and emotion. With none as master, and none as servant.”

So, as I said, when trying new health products, listen to your gut, but also do your research!

I’ve just greatly expanded our Herbal Tea section at the Shoppe to include a number of my favorites – here’s what I’ve added and why I like each of them, or how I use them:

Smooth Move Chocolate Senna Tea (Laxative)

Oh lord, this tea has saved my life on numerous occasions – until I figured out it was gluten that was constipating me! Senna – the active herb in this tea – is quite a bit stronger than magnesium for stimulating the bowels. But it can be addictive (the bowel gets reliant on it), so it is only a short-term or emergency remedy. Having said that, my grandparents used senna once per week for about 40 years, so although their usage was consistent, it was not continual, and once per week seemed to be just fine. Please note the contraindications for this tea, as it is a strong medicinal, so don’t use if you suffer from: Intestinal obstruction, acute intestinal inflammation, appendicitis, abdominal pain of unknown origin, severe dehydration states with water and electrolyte depletion.

Traditional Medicinals Throat Coat Tea

This tea contains slippery elm and marshmallow root; two herbs that are soothing and healing for the gut lining. Likewise, they also soothe the mucous membranes of the throat. I’ve been giving this tea to my kids since they were babies (I would just put it in a bottle for them), whenever they had a cough or sore throat.

African Red Tea Organic Rooibos with Vanilla Beans (Caffeine-Free)

This is my standard, staple breakfast tea. Those of you who have read the Botswana, No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series, can now enjoy the same tea as Mma Ramotswe! Many people don’t know that rooibos tea (from Africa) contains 50 times more antioxidants than green tea and no tannins. It is also caffeine-free.

Rooibos tea remained virtually unheard of for centuries, known only to the Khoisans, a tribe of South African Bushmen. It was used frequently by these people as an herbal remedy for a wide range of ailments. Rooibos tea has been shown to soothe the body’s reaction to allergy and rashes and also contains anti-spasmodic agents which can relieve stomach pains.

If you brew it really strong, you can even add milk, like you would to a black tea and it tastes similar. Brew it light (and then you can also re-use the tea bag once or twice more) and it tastes more like a herbal tea, but still with a heavier, earthy note. The real vanilla beans (not extract) in this one make it extra yummy. I love it light and my husband loves it strong with milk (but then, he is British!).

Numi Organic Decaf Black Vanilla Tea (Caffeine-Free)

Whole, organic, aromatic vanilla beans are crushed minutes before blending into an organic decaffeinated black tea for a magnificently smooth, rich satisfying cup. The CO2 decaf process is chemical-free and retains more flavor and health properties in the tea leaves. For those of you who have had to give up caffeinated black tea, this is your dream come true and the organic vanilla beans just elevate it to divine enjoyment.

Numi Organic Magnolia Puerh Tea

Numi is a special tea company in that it doesn’t use flavoring oils in its teas, but instead flavors its teas with whole dried fruits, herbs, spices and flowers. This blend is for the tea connoisseur and is a blend of organic green tea and organic black puerh (a Chinese tea), scented with magnolia, so it does contain caffeine. It has a deep earthy flavor and sweet floral scent.

Yogi Teas Rooibos Sweet Peach Tea (Caffeine-Free)

This tea is 87% certified organic and it is sweetened with stevia. So for those of you who want a fruity, sweet tea with no caffeine, this one is great hot or iced. When I make it iced, I make an entire pitcher and add sliced up fruit like apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries, mango, papaya, etc. After it has steeped for an hour or so, it is soooo delicious and refreshing!

Yogi Teas Green Tea Goji Berry

Please note that green tea does contain a form of caffeine in it. This product is almost entirely certified organic, there are just two ingredients which are natural, but not organic: goji berry and natural lotus flower flavor. Tibet’s bright red Goji Berry energizes the body; protecting the liver and boosting the immune and circulation systems. With the added antioxidant benefits of green tea and Japanese matcha green tea, you will feel fresh and recharged with every sip.

Consider getting yourself a stylish teapot with matching cup(s) – something that reflects your unique style and makes you feel a certain way when you look at it. It could make you feel happy, or peaceful, or rested, or give you a chuckle. I have different teapots that I use to create or reflect different moods – my froggy teapot (bought at HomeSense for $11!) never fails to elicit delighted remarks. Teapots can be bought very reasonably at discount stores or Chinese markets – just make sure they are ceramic or porcelain. Look for teapots and cups made of inert substances that don’t transmit any chemicals or heavy metals into your tea (although cast iron would be okay, especially if you’re anemic!).

Natural treatments for muscle, tendon and ligament pain do not involve masking the pain so you can carry on with your day as usual. As renowned chiropractor Dr. Ben Kim says:

“Acetaminophen primarily decreases registration of pain in your brain. It doesn’t decrease inflammation outside of your central nervous system (brain and spinal cord).

So if you continue to burden injured tissues while taking acetaminophen to numb your senses, you will almost certainly prolong recovery time and possibly cause long term damage.

If complete rest is not possible and you absolutely must use an injured body part to some degree, the better choice is any over-the-counter pain medication that actually decreases inflammation throughout your body. Examples of pain killers that have system-wide anti-inflammatory properties are ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), naproxen (Aleve), and aspirin (Bayer, Bufferin).

But even with intake of any of these anti-inflammatory drugs, it’s best that you take the lowest possible dose and do all you can to rest until the injured area is fully healed.

Inflammation is a process that you want to proceed in full force after experiencing any soft tissue injury. Inflammation brings blood, nutrients, white blood cells, and several natural chemicals that work together to repair injured tissues one cell at a time.

If you deny injured tissues a full bout of inflammation, it’s quite possible that the tissues won’t return to full strength, especially if they’ve been injured before. Which is to say that by suppressing inflammation, you predispose an injured area to further injury.

When this principle is repeatedly ignored, the result is reduced strength and flexibility for the long term. This is why I don’t typically recommend using ice to decrease inflammation in most cases of acute muscular or ligamentous injury.”

Wholistic treatments address the underlying causes of pain and inflammation and help the body to speed healing. Here are the most effective treatments I have found – that have all been tried and tested by myself and my family members:

1. Topical Arnica Cream or Gel – this homeopathic remedy provides instant relief from aches, bruises, sprains and tissue damage. I’ve used it after all 3 childbirths, my husband and son use it after soccer injuries. Traumeel is another excellent topical cream that contains arnica along with other powerful homeopathic remedies.

2. White Willow Bark – this is a natural painkiller derived from willow trees. It was first used by Native Indians who boiled the bark into a tea and drank it. Aspirin is derived from white willow bark. BUT, white willow bark won’t damage your gut lining or constrict your rectum (often causing constipation) like Aspirin will. For kids, or elderly, who can’t swallow pills, you can mix the white willow bark with organic cocoa butter and mold into suppositories for rectal insertion. Absorption is just as fast from rectal tissue – perhaps even faster – than swallowing.

3. Warm Castor Oil Pack – castor oil penetrates deep into the tissues and stimulates the lymphatic system, to get the good stuff in and the bad stuff out. As Dr. Carolyn Dean MD ND says, “Castor oil packs increase circulation to an area and stimulate the lymphatic system to mobilize toxins aiding in detoxification. They are excellent for organ pain, especially of the liver, pancreas and kidneys and help relieve muscle spasms.”

Due to its ability to increase circulation, castor oil also helps to break up adhesions and scar tissue – which can often be a cause of pain or repeated injury due to restriction. A castor oil pack has many applications and has also been used in cases such as non-malignant uterine fibroids, ovarian cysts, headaches, liver disorders, constipation, diarrhea, intestinal disorders, gallbladder inflammation or stones, poor elimination, night time urinary frequency, inflamed joints, muscles, ligaments, tendons and general detoxification.

Just remember to use a cold-pressed castor oil and 100% cotton flannel (or wool) – no synthetics. You can use either a hot water bottle or a heating pad as the heat source. Here are detailed instructions:

Castor Oil Pack Components:

• Cold-Pressed Castor oil.
• Two sheets of plastic (garbage bags OK).
• 1 yard cotton or wool flannel.
• Heating pad (if indicated).
• Large old bath towel.
• 3 safety pins.

Preparing a Castor Oil Pack

1. Fold flannel into three thicknesses to fit over your whole abdomen.

2. Cut a piece of plastic 1-2 inches larger than flannel.

3. Saturate the flannel with gently heated oil, but not so much that it is drippy. Fold it over and squeeze until it is oozing. Unfold.

4. Place plastic and old towel over flannel to prevent staining of surface you will be lying on.

5. Lie down, placing flannel over abdomen, putting fitted plastic over the flannel.

6. Now wrap the towel under you, around your torso and pin with safety pins.

7. Place a heating pad (low heat) or hot water bottle on top of the towel.

8. Rest for 30-60 minutes. Use visualization, meditation, or just sleep. A good time to use castor oil packs is just before bedtime.

9. When finished, it’s best if you don’t get up and walk around and be busy (except to go to the bathroom). Try to stay still and relaxed.

If you are doing your pack at bedtime, have a zip-lock baggie next to your bed, and a towel to remove any excess oil and protect your bed sheets. Fold the oily pack up and put it into the baggie, then drop it to the floor till morning. In the morning, put it in the refrigerator.

11. Store the pack in the covered container or baggie in the refrigerator. Remove it from the refrigerator 1-3 hours before you plan to use it, so that it is at room temperature when you are ready to use it.

12. Each pack may be used repeatedly. When it starts to smell stale, make a new pack.

Note: If this procedure is way too complicated for you, apply a generous amount of castor oil to the skin of your abdomen. Cover that with an old cotton t-shirt or other cloth you won’t mind eventually discarding. Lay your heat source (hot water bottle, heating pad) on top of that. Keep the cloth you use to protect your heat source from the oil to reuse. Eventually it will smell like stale oil, but can be kept for a few weeks at least in a plastic bag. Rest for 30-60 minutes. Stay covered and warm so you can relax. Have a soft cloth or rag handy to catch any oil dripping off your body. You may want to put a towel or plastic underneath your body so your bed doesn’t get oily. It’s not necessary to have a castor oil pack that you keep in the refrigerator. Just do what works for you.

Frequency of Use

To be effective, a castor oil pack must be used at least 3 times a week, although 5 times a week is better. In cases of long-term chronic pain, it works best to commit to a 6 week treatment period using a castor oil pack 5 times per week, then as needed for episodes of pain. It’s also wise to consult with a naturopathic physician for the best frequency of treatment for your specific health problem.

Since many people with IBD and IBS suffer from internal or external hemorrhoids, finding an effective healing remedy for this condition has been at the top of my list – especially since I too developed internal hemorrhoids after the birth of my daughter!

Those of you who have my Listen To Your Gut book know that there are effective substances you can use to shrink hemorrhoids (like bioflavonoids), but the problem is that you have to keep taking them and they don’t always heal the hemorrhoids completely.

I first came across this powerful formula for healing hemorrhoids on Dr. Jonathan V. Wright’s website. Dr. Wright is a prolific medical doctor who is also a proponent of using natural remedies whenever possible and he has wonderful protocols for using potassium iodide (SSKI) to treat a variety of ailments from hemorrhoids to ovarian cysts. Dr. Wright became very well known after Suzanne Somers featured him in one of her books on natural hormone balancing.

I took Dr. Wright’s formula for healing hemorrhoids and began experimenting with it. My first challenge was to see if I could come up with a formula that worked for internal hemorrhoids as well. I had also been experimenting with DMSO for a few years, seeing what it could do, so I also wanted to see what happened (could I turbo-charge the formula?) if I added DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide – a natural substance derived from tree bark) to Dr. Wright’s formula and what the best ratio would be.

Dr. Wright also uses and writes about DMSO and one of his colleagues has tested a 50/50 combination of DMSO and potassium iodide on sebaceous cysts and found that to work well (although you would get quite a “sting” at that concentration!). So I did have some rough guidelines to work with.

Once I found formulas for both internal and external hemorrhoids that worked well for me and my family, I called them HemorrHeal and gave them to my JPT Wellness Circle members for further testing. In our experience, in most cases, hemorrhoids are completely healed, but at the very least, substantial relief is obtained. My own internal hemorrhoids (which I’d had for 6 years after the birth of my daughter) were completely healed in 7 days. It is now over a year and a half later and they have not come back, so I think it’s safe to say that HemorrHeal is also a long-term remedy!

Like any facet of health, I suspect your success with this remedy will also depend on whether you are holistically addressing the root causes of hemorrhoids in your body. For example, if you are eating a diet that continually results in hard, dehydrated stools, or decreased peristalsis, then, whilst HemorrHeal may heal your first batch of hemorrhoids, your continual straining to defecate is just going to produce more hemorrhoids. So if constipation is an ongoing factor in your life, I encourage you to consider getting my book, Listen To Your Colon: The Complete Natural Healing Guide For Constipation – or at least read through the information on the website, watch the videos, and download the free report.

At the very least, be sure you are simultaneously using stool softeners during treatment with HemorrHeal. You can use psyllium, chia, or flaxseed to soften your stools (or to bulk them up if you suffer from chronic diarrhea), or we sell a combination product at the Holistic Health Shoppe that works very well for both diarrhea or constipation called MetaCleanse.

Before I get into the actual HemorrHeal formula instructions, I’d like to give you some information and background on one of its key ingredients – dimethyl sulfoxide, or, DMSO.

I need to explain DMSO because it is currently not approved for use with other substances. Like many other truly spectacular, natural, non-patentable substances, DMSO has been sidelined by the FDA (Food & Drug Administration). Its only FDA-approved use is for Interstitial Cystitis (for which a drug company holds the patent). Thus, any DMSO product you buy has to carry a warning that it is for use as a “solvent” only.

Hence, I am unable to get HemorrHeal manufactured for you, ready to go. Instead, I can only give you the formula and you have to purchase the ingredients and make it yourself. The other ingredients in HemorrHeal are more common substances – aloe vera juice, potassium iodide (a mineral salt) and cocoa butter – and are non-controversial, so we don’t need to get into a lot of background on them. Although I will give you a brief overview of each, so you can assess the synergy of this formula:

Aloe Vera – is antibacterial and antifungal. It is also used to soothe and speed healing, so it works well to counter the “sting” of potassium iodide and any irritation from DMSO.

Potassium Iodide – a mineral salt also known as SSKI (saturated solution potassium iodide), it is antibacterial and antiviral. It is also known for its ability to break down scar tissue and cysts. Dr. Wright has used it extensively to treat ovarian cysts and fibrocystic breast disease. David M. Derry MD, PhD has also extensively studied the use of topical iodine in regenerating scar tissue. If used long-term (longer than a month or so), you need to monitor your thyroid function though, since iodine impacts the thyroid.

Cocoa Butter – used to solidify the suppositories (for internal hemorrhoid use), cocoa butter is naturally rich in Vitamin E as well as a number of other vitamins and minerals. Vitamin E helps to soothe, hydrate, and balance the skin and also provides the skin with collagen, which assists with wrinkles and other signs of ageing. Cocoa Butter also contains cocoa mass polyphenol (CMP), a substance that inhibits the production of the immuno globulin IgE. IgE is known to aggravate symptoms of both dermatitis and asthma. Cocoa butter is historically a folk remedy for burns, cough, dry lips, fever, malaria, rheumatism, snakebite and wounds.

What Is DMSO?

DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) has received the most press as a topical application for relieving arthritis. However, that application is merely the proverbial tip of the iceberg for this multi-tasking healing aid. In many ways, it reminds me of wild oregano oil in that it has such a broad range of uses and the ability to produce such amazing results fairly quickly.

So what exactly is it? Dimethyl sulfoxide is primarily derived from the bark of trees. It was first synthesized by Russian scientist, Dr. Alexander Saytzeff in 1866. Due to its amazing ability to bind with other substances, it was first utilized as a solvent. Then in 1959 it was demonstrated that DMSO could protect red blood cells and other tissues against freezing conditions, so experimentation began with using it to freeze and store organs for transplants.

Then Dr. Stanley Jacob at the University of Oregon Medical School discovered that DMSO relieved burn pains and prevented scar tissue formation. He published his results in 1963 – from then on DMSO usage and experimentation spread like wildfire. It follows logically, that a substance that can prevent scar tissue formation, should also be able to soften or dissolve existing scar tissue and in this capacity DMSO also does not disappoint.

Therapeutic Uses for DMSO

Since then, DMSO has been widely used with professional athletes (from football players to Olympic gymnasts) where it has proven effective with injuries to soft tissue or joint defusions; sprains, strains, dislocations, tendonitis, bursitis, gout, soft tissue tears, myositis (muscle inflammation), broken bones, tennis elbow. Pain is relieved, swelling subsides, and function is recovered more quickly.

Today, we have reams of evidence (from medical doctors and/or PhD scientists) showing that DMSO can also:

• Increase or potentiate cell-mediated immunity in auto-immune diseases like multiple sclerosis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, lymphoid thryroiditis, etc.

• Make the immune system more effective by allowing macrophages to move around and through the tissues faster. It can also diminish allergic reactions.

• Increase the permeability of cell membranes, allowing toxins to be flushed from the cell.

• Substitute for water in the living cell, then bind to free radicals and form a substance (dimethyl sulfone plus water with the hydroxyl ion) which can then be excreted out of the body via urine.

• Prevent the formation of scar tissue or adhesions, or dissolve them once present.

• Kill or slow the growth of bacteria, viruses and fungi.

• Greatly reduce or eliminate inflammation, swelling, and pain.

• Quickly heal skin ulcerations, infected wounds, second and third degree burns and other skin lesions. In a study of 1,371 patients with these varying afflictions who were treated with DMSO, 95.04% were discharged as completely cured. Some of these patients had diabetic leg ulcers, which had been present for over 15 years – they were completely healed after daily topical DMSO spray applications for 20 days.

• Clear cataracts, macular degeneration and glaucoma of the eyes – you can purchase glutathione/DMSO/vitamin C eye drops from specialist compounding pharmacies like ApotheCure.

• And much more!

How Does DMSO Work?

How is it that one substance can effect or facilitate such a wide range of healing mechanisms? As Dr. Stanley Jacob says:

“We’ve barely scratched the surface, for this is a new principle in medicine. We’ve had only three new principles in our century – the antibiotic principle, the cortisone principle, and now the DMSO principle – and the DMSO principle is the only new one of our generation.

DMSO is literally water’s alter ego. It moves through membranes and substitutes for water so that it pulls substances through cells that ordinarily would not move through them. This is its basic mechanism of action. The DMSO-water bond is 1.3 times stronger than the water-water bond.”

Dr. Morton Walker in his book, DMSO Nature’s Healer, summarizes DMSO’s healing mechanism thus:

“This attribute of bonding with water better than water molecules themselves is highly significant. It probably is what makes DMSO an entirely different healing power than anything medical science has known before.

The basic therapeutic principle of DMSO is that cellular damage can be altered – the cell healed and restored to near normal – by changing the water structure within the cell. It represents an entirely different means of treating diseases – not as an ordinary drug that works for a given disease, but as a holistic ingredient that brings whole-body cellular function back to normal.”

Cautions In Using DMSO

DMSO nonselectively opens up your tissues to take up whatever is in their environment, so for this reason you have to be very careful with what you store it in (should be dark-colored glass), what’s on your fingers, or your skin where you are applying it, and any instruments you use to apply it with. Stainless steel, glass, ceramic, or wood are all safe materials to use with DMSO. You also need to keep it well out of reach of children.

For myself, I make sure my hands and the area I’m applying it to have been washed with a natural soap and water and that there are no creams, lotions, perfumes, etc. on my skin. I also try not to use any plastic in contact with DMSO – sometimes this is unavoidable (as in the suppository molds), but I do my best wherever/however I can.

For this reason, when applying DMSO rectally, you want to get your rectum as clear of feces as you can. Obviously, this is not entirely possible, but as long as you have had a decent bowel movement, you should be okay. If it’s any consolation, bacteria and other microorganisms from your feces have already been absorbed into your bloodstream through the mucosal lining of your GI tract. And if you have a fissure, all the contents of your feces have had direct contact with your bloodstream. So applying DMSO (which transports substances across cell membranes) in the rectal environment is not such a big deal, in terms of contamination, as it may first appear.

When you get to the suppository instructions, you’ll see that we need to use either a rubber suppository mold, or plastic drinking straws for the suppository mold. Yes, this is not ideal, but unless you can afford a $300 metal urethral suppository mold (this is what we use to make FissureHeal), then plastic is our only option. Lab technicians have been using DMSO for decades and they have a trick to determine whether their protective gloves are safe to use with DMSO. They take their glove and fill one finger with DMSO and leave it overnight. If it has not disintegrated by morning, the glove is safe to use.

I have made the HemorrHeal suppositories in both a standard-size rubber suppository mold and in narrow plastic drinking straws and left both for 24 hours and they have been fine. Don’t forget, we are also using a very low concentration of DMSO in these formulas and the DMSO is also contained within cocoa butter, which helps to buffer it.

The other ‘side effect’ of DMSO is that it has a garlic-type odor – because it is instantly transported throughout the body, you (or others!) may notice this smell on your breath or coming from your pores. Again, because the amount of DMSO in HemorrHeal is very small, this is not really an issue in this application.

Now that you’ve got some basic background and understanding of DMSO, let me tell you how we’re using it lately.

WARNING: Please be 100% clear that these are experimental protocols that have been used by me, members of JPT Wellness Circle and some followers of Dr. Jonathan V. Wright, MD. They have not been tested nor approved by any regulatory body – so you proceed entirely at your own risk.

Hemorrhoid Remedy

I came across an article on Dr. Jonathan V. Wright’s website that outlined the use of potassium iodide to treat hemorrhoids. The hemorrhoids apparently healed very quickly, sometimes even overnight. The article also mentioned that the treatment is effective for fistula healing when mixed with DMSO, but it takes several months to achieve complete healing of fistulas.

As a result of my other research, I also wondered if this mixture would be effective with anal stenosis (narrowing) or strictures as well. Anal stenosis is a narrowing of the anal area or rectal canal, often caused by trauma, scar tissue, or the thickening of mucosal tissue. We have tested Dr. Wright’s formula with rectal strictures and scar tissue, but it is not effective. However, it was a good jumping off platform and we are now very close to an effective protocol for anal/rectal strictures and anal stenosis… stay tuned!

For now, let’s turn our attention entirely to healing hemorrhoids. Dr. Wright’s formula was devised for healing external hemorrhoids, however, I modified his formula because I intuitively felt I would see better results in swelling and inflammation reduction if I added DMSO to the formula. Next, he recommends flax oil in his formula, but flax oil needs to be kept in the fridge (to prevent rancidity), which changes the viscosity of DMSO and prevents it from staying mixed in the formula.

The oil is also deemed necessary to reduce the ‘sting’ of the potassium iodide, but I don’t like to use oil as it can leave the area moist, which can be itchy and exacerbate infection. I found that George’s “Always Active” Aloe Vera Juice worked just as well to eliminate the sting, but absorbed quickly and carries its own beneficial healing actions.

So, after testing on myself and a number of others at JPT Wellness Circle, I have called my revised formula HemorrHeal. I have also tailored my HemorrHeal formula and usage instructions for each specific rectal condition:

• HemorrHeal for external hemorrhoids

• HemorrHeal SUPPOSITORIES for internal hemorrhoids

• HemorrHeal LIQUID for internal hemorrhoids

I have provided two formulations for those with internal hemorrhoids, depending on your application preference. Personally, I find the suppositories easier to use, but they are a lot more hassle to make. Also, the liquid formula is stronger, so may work better for some people. So you’ll have to take a look at each, maybe test them and then determine which you prefer.

If you want to test both, then purchase the Kit for HemorrHeal Liquid for Internal Hemorrhoids and just add a jar of cocoa butter to your order as well – you will then have all the instructions and all the ingredients needed to make both the liquid formula and the suppository formula for internal hemorrhoids.

Please tell me about your results with HemorrHeal in the COMMENTS section below – especially let us know whether you used them for internal or external hemorrhoids and how long it took to heal them.

Children are usually more susceptible to nosebleeds than adults. I’m not referring to a nosebleed caused by a sharp blow to the nose – we all know why those occur. I’m talking about nosebleeds that occur when you have not sustained any injury to your nose, or perhaps only a light blow or jostling. Or perhaps you’ve only been running around. Perhaps they occur during sleep.

Whatever the circumstances, if you or your child is getting recurrent or chronic nosebleeds, there are a few things you can do about it. And trust me, I know what I’m talking about, as my daughter suffered this exact same problem!

1. Supplement with Bioflavonoids

Bioflavonoids (including Rutin, Hesperidin and Quercetin) are plant compounds that act synergistically with vitamin C to strengthen vein and capillary walls so they don’t tear and bleed so easily. They are produced by plants to protect themselves from bacteria, parasites and cell injury.

If your gums bleed when you brush your teeth, or your nose bleeds when it’s dry or you blow it forcefully, or you’re prone to anal or rectal fissures, or varicose veins, then you definitely need to supplement with Bioflavonoids.

Bioflavonoids have also been shown to reduce back and leg pain, promote circulation, treat and prevent cataracts, stimulate bile production, and lower cholesterol levels – so you’ll receive a lot of side-benefits too! Get a brand that contains at least 50 mg each of Rutin, Hesperidin and Quercetin. If you also suffer from Hay Fever, take 400mg of Quercetin per day as Quercetin regulates histamine release from the cells and you’ll see a big improvement (if not elimination) of your allergies.

2. Supplement with Vitamin C

As mentioned above, vitamin C works synergistically with bioflavonoids to prevent bleeding (and help bleeding clot faster) in all mucous membranes. Mucous membranes are the type of tissue on your lips, inside of your nose, genitals and intestinal tract. Vitamin C is an antioxidant required for at least 300 different metabolic functions in the body, including adrenal gland function, tissue growth and repair, protection against infection, and cancer prevention.

Vitamin C in its common ascorbic acid form can cause diarrhea in higher dosages. Therefore, you may want to get Vitamin C in mineral ascorbate form (e.g. calcium ascorbate). High doses of magnesium can also cause diarrhea so avoid vitamin C in magnesium ascorbate form, if you are susceptible to diarrhea. The mineral ascorbate form is also preferable as it’s more readily absorbed – ascorbic acid has to first be converted to mineral ascorbates by the body prior to absorption.

Another delicious way to get your daily vitamin C in mineral ascorbate form (for ongoing use) is by using Emergen-C – handy single-serving packets naturally flavored in a variety of yummy flavours. These are especially useful for kids since they are like drinking a ‘fizzy juice’ and kids love them. Raspberry, lemon-lime, and Super Orange are the favourite flavours in our family.

3. Apply Comfrey Salve Inside The Nose

Comfrey root in an herbal salve is the fastest wound healer I’ve ever tried. I carry a tin of Burt’s Bees Res-Q Ointment (comfrey salve) in my purse, keep one in the kitchen and have one beside my bed that I use on my lips every night. At the same time, my daughter coats the inside of each of her nostrils with a thick coat of comfrey salve. The comfrey salve not only keeps the lining of the nose lubricated (thus reducing the chance of tears) but it will heal any micro-tears or abrasions while you sleep.

Once the heavy blood flow from a nosebleed has subsided, I will “plug” my daughter’s nostrils with comfrey and this will help the blood to clot much faster. After bleeding has completely subsided, we wait a few hours and then apply another liberal coating (gently) inside the nostrils.

4. What’s Your WiFi Exposure?

Here’s something most people don’t know: Nosebleeds are one of the top symptoms caused by microwave radiation; cell phones, wireless internet, cordless phones, Wii, Playstation, ipads, etc. etc. A friend of mine’s daughter used to have hemorrhagic nosebleeds at night. The first time she came into her daughter’s room in the morning and found her lying in a pool of blood (all over her pillow, pyjamas, down the side of the bed), she nearly had a coronary! They gradually escalated until she was getting them every night or two. If she was lying on her back, she would choke on the blood and wake up, if on her side, she would just sleep through it. That’s when her Mum got serious about finding a solution. She removed all the cordless phones from their house, and replaced them with corded phones, switched their WiFi internet to cable internet and made sure all cell phones were turned off in the house. Presto. No more nosebleeds.

I have a similar story. My daughter had always been prone to nosebleeds when knocked on the nose. Then, one fall, she began getting them numerous times a week, even though she had not been hit on the nose. Here’s what changed: although our house is free of WiFi, cellphones and cordless phones, her school had WiFi, so she was being irradiated for 6 hours/day at school. Then she was training competitive gymnastics (3 hours/day, 3 days/week) and her gymnastics studio was only 100 metres away from a huge powerline with 5 cell towers mounted on top of it. Through experimentation, we learned that if we kept her home from school at least 2 mornings/week (on the days she went to gymnastics) then she would not get any nosebleeds!

So, this is definitely something you want to test by removing it from your environment. If you’re not ready to get rid of all your wireless conveniences. You can do a test-run by unplugging everything from the wall before bed every – it is not enough to turn things off (we have tested this) you actually have to unplug everything from the wall.

Admittedly, if you live in an apartment in New York, even if you remove all microwave radiation from your own apartment, all your neighbours are likely irradiating you anyway. So in that case, you’d need to purchase a ‘radiation tent’ that encloses your bed, so at least when you’re sleeping you are shielded. Do not forget to also shield underneath the bed, to protect against radiation coming up from the floor.

Reducing your radiation is also one of the best things you can do for cancer prevention (brain tumours and leukaemia are now the top two causes of death in children). If your radiation exposure is not so high, you may just need to use radiation-blocking curtains, or window liners in your bedroom instead. People with severe symptoms will often buy a radiation meter so they can test specifically, or they use it when looking for a safer place to move to!

I don’t care whether you buy them from JPT Holistic Health Shoppe, or not, but you simply must try these moisturizing body lotions from AUBREY ORGANICS.

I have stocked 3 different lotions for you (all of which I love – but my favourite is the Collagen & Almond), made of entirely natural, organic ingredients (the first two have gorgeous essential oils):

Aubrey Organics Rosa Mosqueta Luxurious Moisturizing Lotion – is my daughter’s favorite because the smell is like wearing perfume for her. I got her the matching shampoo and conditioner so she can “layer her scents” when she really wants to be surrounded.

Aubrey Organics Collagen & Almond Enriching Moisturizing Lotion – this one is VERY therapeutic (my favorite – I adore the scent and it’s not too strong – good for both hands and body), as evidenced by this review from an Aubrey customer:

“Both my Mother and sister have extremely deep pregnancy scars. I thought that would be my fate as well, but not without a fight. I purchased Aubrey’s Collagen and Almond because it also included elastin. I applied it from my 1st month till my last, 2x per day plus some nutritional supplements. 35yr old Mom here…NO STRECTH MARKS, NONE! Thank You Aubrey! It may be a coincidence, but I don’t think so.”

Aubrey Organics Unscented Ultimate Moisturizing Lotion – this is the perfect lotion for those of you who are chemically-sensitive, or still not well enough to tolerate any scents. Also ideal for guys who don’t like a girly-scent!

You can get all of these lotions at JPT Holistic Health Shoppe, or your local health pharmacy may carry them – either way, be sure and give them a try as you won’t be disappointed!

Don’t forget, the skin is your body’s largest organ – you shouldn’t put anything on your skin that you wouldn’t eat – the absorption is straight into your bloodstream. These body lotions are 100% natural AND certified organic. They perform as well, if not better than salon/spa creams.

Friends of mine with three kids just put their house on the market. They are feeling the crunch financially and selling their house to downsize to a townhouse feels like the best option to them. My friend said, “I realize now (I believe it was God opening our eyes) that this really is our sideline business. We don’t buy homes – we buy property that we treat like a business. We’ve picked good ones so far as investments and done the right upgrades.”

I know exactly what they mean as that’s how we funded our business for many years – we bought/sold and moved house every 6 – 18 months. Seven houses later (with all profits plowed into the business – tax-free, so it’s like double your money!) we have a pretty good idea of how to move house with a minimal amount of personal stress and disruption of business.

I know in this economic climate that many of you are likely facing a move, so I thought I’d share what we learned works best to make moving house (even with kids) as stress-free as possible.

Jini’s Tips For Stress-Free Moving

The best way to minimize the stress and workload of moving is to hire people to pack and unpack your house. Of course you also need to hire movers to move your stuff using their big truck – don’t use a mover that will have to make two trips as this will ensure your moving day lasts till midnight.

Use Craigslist (or your church, friends, soccer team, etc.) to hire workers at $10/hour (pay cash) to help you pack/unpack. You usually need to hire 2 adults, or 4 teenagers (you can usually pay teenagers less) to get a 3-bedroom house packed in 2 days – double that if you want it packed in one day.

Make sure you unpack your kitchen and bedrooms on the day you move in and then the rest as you wish and 90% of the stress of moving is cut, because your food and your sleep are the two most important elements of life and health.

The other way to do it is to start packing now and just do a few boxes per day.

So you basically leave your kitchen till last. But for the rest of your stuff, each family member packs a suitcase of toiletries, clothes, toys – just as if you were going on holiday for a month – and that’s the stuff that stays out. Everything else you pack.

Also, when you move, that suitcase and your bed is all you need to unpack to have bedrooms set up on day one. Then you just need to get the kitchen unpacked and voila, the rest is gravy – get to it when you can, or hire people and get it all done in 1-2 days, including hanging artwork and curtains.

Don’t leave your artwork and decorating for a rainy day – get to it right away, so you instantly feel like you’re in your home again and you don’t have the energetic stress of “not quite finished moving” hanging over you.

It’s amazing how easy moving can be if you follow these guidelines. Personally I favor hiring people to pack and unpack; getting it all done in 2 days and then it’s life as usual. In our family, my husband Ian is in charge of getting our offices set up and running (we both work from home), tv and electronics all hooked up, and I’m in charge of the rest.

Our kids never moaned about moving and they actually enjoyed it because it was minimal stress (really only about 1 day) and more exciting than disruptive – they especially enjoyed the hunt for the next house. The added bonus to moving is being able to give away, or throw out all the junk you accumulate, because you’re certainly not going to want to pack it and take it to the new place!

One last helpful tip, since Mom’s know that perhaps the most stressful thing about moving is showing your house – i.e. you have to keep it clean and showroom-ready all the time. I would schedule a month away visiting relatives, having a holiday, during a time of year when the housing market is busy and tell my realtor: “Okay, do whatever you have to do, but you have one month to sell this house.” Or my husband would stay home and I would take off with the 3 kids to my Mum and Dad’s house in Scottsdale. That way I would get the house spotless and staged (home staging really helps to show a home to it’s best advantage) before I left and not have to touch it again until we returned and it was sold. Of course, you have to live in a fairly “hot” housing market for this time frame to work.

My friend’s realtor gave her kids a monetary incentive: “The girls are being helpful.  Our realtor told them if each of them keeps her room in perfect condition she’ll get $50.00 when we sell.  Wow, what incentive, their rooms have never looked so good.”

Hope that helps..

It’s enough to make you crazy – as if we don’t have enough to worry about with GMO foods, pesticides, pollution, factory farming, industrial waste dumping and WiFi radiation – now we have to deal with nuclear radiation as well! Because, of course, we live in a global community where winds and oceans don’t just stay fixed within each country’s borders.

Having said that, a major part of getting healthy – and staying healthy – involves a positive mindset and feeling safe. So if you’re finding it hard to not slide into, “Stop the world, I wanna get off!” mode, try using this affirmation (or re-frame if you use EFT):

This day, right now
I am safe

This will help to keep you centered in the present, where you can actually do things to protect yourself and heal yourself, instead of floating in unspecified anxiety for the future. It may be hard to affirm, “I am safe at all times” if you’ve had any kind of a rocky life to date. Also, history doesn’t confirm that blanket statement either – much as we wish it were true.

So what I find more valuable is to focus on this moment and this day. Today, right now, am I safe? Well, yes I am. I’m 99.9% certain that I will not be arrested, kicked out of the country, tortured, or killed today. So yes, that’s a statement I can make AND I can use the acupuncture points to integrate that statement/reality with my physical body:

This day, right now
I am safe

So in that light, let’s move on to the things you can do to detox yourself from nuclear radiation fallout (from Fukushima, or Chernobyl, or wherever’s next until we get some sane leaders to ban this disastrous technology).

These excellent guidelines are provided courtesy of  Damien Downing, MD and interestingly enough, a number of these substances (particularly phosphatidylcholine) were also recommended by Carolyn Dean MD ND in our Candida, Detox & More! teleseminar.

What can you do?

For each radionuclide there is a different risk and a different set of measures. The US Department of Homeland Security funded a guidelines paper in 2006 [8].

Radioactive iodine-131 For this threat, we take regular iodine, to minimize the amount of the bad stuff that gets taken up by the thyroid. Various forms, such as potassium iodide, do work, but only if given before or within 12 hours of exposure. And, since I-131 has a half-life of 8 days, by the time it gets from Fukushima to the USA there won’t be much radioactivity left. So don’t worry about that one.

Uranium (half-life: thousands of years) is present in Fukushima in large quantities in the fuel rods. No reports of it being found in the environment yet, but there’s plenty of time. And even depleted (non-radioactive) uranium is a highly toxic heavy metal, and one to which anybody who served in Gulf I or II, or in Bosnia or Kosovo, has probably been exposed. So a Fukushima exposure would just add to that toxicity. For uranium there are protocols worked out by the US military. Large doses of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda, in the orange box) minimize the damage caused by uranium and encourage its excretion in the kidneys. You can buy bicarb in bulk for less than a dollar per pound. It is certainly worth stocking up on. You can absorb it through the skin, so a good fistful of baking soda in a warm bath, which you sit in for 15-20 minutes, is the simplest way to take it in.

Cesium-137 has a half-life of 30 years, and like uranium is still a toxic metal even when not radioactive. The US government stockpiles the chemical Prussian Blue for removing cesium. [9] Prussian Blue is ferric ferrocyanide – Fe7(CN)18 plus a load of water. It is not absorbed from the gut; it can only trap cesium (and also thallium) as it is recycled through the bile to gut to blood again. It works by cutting the biological half-life (time to get rid of half the total body burden) from about 80 days to 25. But that would still take 3 months to bring the level below 10% of starting, which is plenty of time to do harm. Prussian Blue was used in photography before we went digital, so there might be some left in your garage. Leave it there and DO NOT try this at home. Prussian Blue contains cyanide, a strong poison.

Plutonium: When uranium is used in a reactor it converts to plutonium, which is a big worry. Plutonium is extremely dangerous. It is estimated that 1 gram could kill ten million people. This is what CDC has to say [10]:

Because it emits alpha particles, plutonium is most dangerous when inhaled. When plutonium particles are inhaled, they lodge in the lung tissue. The alpha particles can kill lung cells, which causes scarring of the lungs, leading to further lung disease and cancer. Plutonium can enter the blood stream from the lungs and travel to the kidneys, meaning that the blood and the kidneys will be exposed to alpha particles. Once plutonium circulates through the body, it concentrates in the bones, liver, and spleen, exposing these organs to alpha particles. Plutonium that is ingested from contaminated food or water does not pose a serious threat to humans because the stomach does not absorb plutonium easily and so it passes out of the body in the feces.

What can you do about it? There are no grounds for thinking iodine or bicarbonate will work. The medical recommendation at present is DTPA, which is a version of EDTA – a chelating agent, specific to transuranic elements.

In each of the above exposures, of course you should get to a doctor, fast, and get the appropriate treatment. But an exposure coming from Fukushima is likely to be a dirty mix of any or all of these, so we need some universal measures.

THERE ARE 3 WORTHWHILE TREATMENTS – ALL OF WHICH YOU CAN DO FOR YOURSELF:

Antioxidant vitamins

It’s easy to get down the health store and buy some bottles of these, and in these circumstances an overdose is the last thing to worry about. While the shelves are full of nutritional and herbal products that might help, my personal advice would be to take:
• Vitamin C (the body’s main water-soluble antioxidant) approximately 3,000 to 5,000 milligrams, three times daily; option to combine water-soluble and oil-based forms.
• Vitamin E (the main fat-soluble antioxidant) mixed tocopherols and tocotrienols, around 400 IU, once daily.
• R Lipoic Acid (operates in both water and lipid compartments, spares both vitamins C and E) 100-plus mg, three times daily.

Glutathione

This amino acid is known to chelate certain minerals, but there’s no evidence that it works on radioactive ones. Some experts say nothing does. However, it’s a crucial antioxidant, which will protect against radiation damage and help to mop up the toxic molecules produced. Take loads; say 1,000 mg three times daily. And because it can be tricky to absorb, consider using the oil-based version that you rub into your skin.

[Personally, I like to inhale glutathione using a nebulizer - this also makes sense since the radiation is likely airborne and you will be breathing it in. Glutathione can be ordered from compounding pharmacies like Key Pharmacy and Apothecure]

Phosphatidylcholine

If you turned up in the ER in an eastern bloc country with acute radiation exposure, they would give you a IV shot of phosphatidylcholine. It is found in egg yolk, organ meats, and lecithin supplements and is easily absorbed into our membranes as a phospholipid. There are no human experiments I know of, thankfully, but this is backed up by some doctors:

Ionizing radiation first disturbs the phospholipid metabolism, then provokes severe inflammatory reactions, and finally leads to death…. The survival of rats exposed to lethal doses of radiation was clearly prolonged with phospholipid supplementation. [11] You can get liquid or capsules; take at least a tablespoon or equivalent daily, with food.

If you’ve got the time, it’s wise to build all of these up slowly, or they may give you loose bowels for a few days. If you haven’t got the time, you have bigger things to worry about.

References and Links:
1. Ken Buesseler, marine radiochemist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; http://articles.cnn.com/2011-04-26/opinion/buesseler.fukushima.radiation_1_radioactive-contaminants-chernobyl-nuclear-plant-waters?_s=PM:OPINION
2. http://www.epa.gov/japan2011/
3. http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/03/fukushima-i-nuke-plant-radioactive.html
4. http://blog.imva.info/medicine/danger-concern-sanity
5. Yablokov AV. Mortality after the Chernobyl catastrophe. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2009 Nov;1181:192-216.
6. http://www.collapsenet.com/free-resources/collapsenet-public-access/item/723-fallout
7. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:080:0005:0008:EN:PDF
8. http://www.acnmonline.org/docs/MMRSManual-Carol_Marcus.pdf
9. http://www.remm.nlm.gov/prussianblue.htm
10. http://emergency.cdc.gov/radiation/isotopes/plutonium.asp
11. Gundermann KJ. The “Essential” Phospholipids as a Membrane Therapeutic. Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Szczecin, Poland, 1993.

Additional Information Online:
http://media.iv-therapy.jp/?p=642
http://www.doctoryourself.com/fallout.html

Courtesy of: Orthomolecular Medicine News Service
OMNS free subscription link: http://orthomolecular.org/subscribe.html
OMNS archive link: http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/index.shtml

Since Joe Mercola has gone on a whey isolate-bashing drive (part of his materials promoting his whey protein concentrate line of products) I have been inundated with emails from my readers.

This is understandable since I have always encouraged my readers to sign up for Mercola’s newsletter as he is an excellent source of information (about 95% of the time). In fact, the only real contentions I have with him are over his probiotic blend, where he continues to list Lactobacillus sporogenes on the label, even though no such species exists.

And now with this whole “whey protein isolate is nasty and will damage your health” push. Again, most of what Mercola is saying is correct. However, he is failing to make a VERY important distinction between whey protein isolate that has been heat and/or acid extracted and whey protein isolate that has been cold, cross-flow membrane extracted.

Unfortunately, this distinction is the crux of the whey isolate issue! And it applies to all processing and extraction of milk products. As we know from raw milk literature – and the advice given to every breastfeeding mum – heat denatures milk proteins. Clear and simple. If you heat breastmilk (whether from a human, cow, goat, yak, or camel) the proteins are denatured, the live enzymes are killed and the beneficial bacteria destroyed.

Now, of course, there is no commercial whey protein supplement that can be sold which is made from unpasteurized milk – it is not legal in the U.S. or Canada – Mercola’s products included (see Mercola’s FAQ’s: “The raw milk is heated to 70˚C for a brief 15 seconds and then cooled down to 5˚C for the remaining processing.” – this is HTST pasteurization). So when we say that the proteins in certain whey products are denatured by heat, we are referring to high, prolonged heat – such as occurs during a heat-based extraction method. Likewise, when certain acids are used in the extraction process, they too can damage the milk proteins.

What Is Cross-Flow Membrane Extraction?

Passing a liquid through a membrane (filter) to extract (or remove) ingredients typically involves the liquid being poured into the filter – like when you drain spaghetti in a colander. This is called dead-end filtration.

With cross-flow membrane extraction, the liquid is flowed horizontally across the surface of the membrane (parallel to the membrane), which reduces the pressure involved in the process and reduces the likelihood of the retained material  plugging up the surface of the membrane. Here’s a diagram that explains the process clearly:

(Source: Membrane separations technology: principles and applications By Richard D. Noble, pg 6 )

Heat-Extracted Whey Isolate vs. Cold-Extracted Whey Isolate

This crucial distinction between heat-extracted whey and cold-extracted whey isolate becomes very apparent in a series of clinical studies conducted by researchers at McGill University in the 1980′s and then again in the 1990′s. They wanted to see which type of protein was best for stimulating immune function in mice. So they tested casein (a milk protein usually contained in whey concentrates), whey, soy, wheat, corn, egg white, fish, beef, spirulina and another algae called scenedesmus.

The first study in the 80′s revealed that whey protein provided the best immune-boosting activity by increasing the amount of glutathione available to the spleen, which in turn resulted in an increase of white blood cells. However, in the 90′s they could not replicate these results and in their search to determine why not, they realized that whey can only boost glutathione when it is intact and undenatured by heat:

“What turned out to be the difference? Most of the products had undergone much more extensive heat treatment, causing two very delicate proteins, beta-lactoglobulin and serum albumin, to head for the highway. These two proteins contain unique glutamyl-cysteine bonds that resist digestion and enter the blood stream intact. The glutamyl-cysteine bond is two-thirds of a glutathione molecule , and thus much more easily turned into glutathione itself.” (Source: The Biochemical Magic of Raw Milk: Glutathione)

Other components of high quality (undenatured) whey protein isolate provide the following beneficial actions in the body:

• Alpha-lactalbumin consumption enhances tryptophan and immune function and reduces the stress hormone cortisol
• Tryptophan is used by the brain to manufacture serotonin. This is important because serotonin deficiency plays a role in the development of depression, anxiety, moodiness and insomnia
• Glycomacropeptides stimulate the hormone cholecystokinin, which is responsible for the release of pancreatic enzymes and the healthy contraction of the gallbladder and bowels
• Lactoferrin is an antioxidant that is also a powerful antiviral and antibacterial agent shown to inhibit the growth of E.coli, salmonella and candida in the gut. It also helps ensure the optimal use of iron in the body by binding to iron and preventing oxidation.

Whey protein is also an alkaline food, so it’s ideal for counteracting the usually hyper-acidic body pH levels of people with gastrointestinal problems.

What About Dairy Allergies?

Another key factor that Mercola and others are not taking into account when they use whey concentrate in a shake product is that (unless stipulated on the label) it may contain casein and lactose. Most people who are allergic to milk are actually allergic to a milk protein called casein – it is the most highly allergenic of all the milk proteins. Lactose-intolerance is another big problem many people have with dairy. This is another reason I use cold-extracted whey protein isolate in my products – isolate means that the whey has been isolated from the other milk proteins, like casein. It is also 99.8% lactose-free.

This letter from one of my readers illustrates this problem perfectly. They are not using whey protein isolate, because of Mercola’s warnings, but then are unable to tolerate the whey protein concentrate:

Dear Jini,

I have heard that whey protein isolate is not as healthful as whey protein.  What can you tell me?  I’m trying to get protein into my husband’s greens/fruit smoothies.  Currently, I’m buying organic whey protein from Mercola; I have not found a whey protein at Whole Foods that is not an “isolate.”

Also, he had asthma as a kid and currently has a number of skin issues.  I wonder if he might not be allergic to dairy.  What would you recommend as an alternate protein in these smoothies?  We pretty much gagged on the pea/rice protein…

Thanks,
D. A., Houston

So my advice in this case would be to either try a cold-extracted whey protein isolate, or, use organic, free-range, raw eggs. If using the eggs, then use 1 whole raw egg and 1 raw yolk, add them after you’ve blended all the other ingredients, so you just whip them on low speed for a few seconds. Alternatively, you could use just a brown rice protein – it is the most benign-tasting of all the veggie proteins.

Whey Isolate vs. Whey Concentrate

According to McKinley Health Center, isolates contain about 90 percent pure whey protein, which is higher than most concentrates. Whey protein isolates are lower in fat and lactose, so they may be a better choice for people who are lactose intolerant. Concentrates contain anywhere from 29 percent to 89 percent protein content. The lower the protein content, the higher the fat and lactose content will be in that particular whey.

So if you need to be sure you’re getting a certain amount of protein per serving, you may be better off using a cold-extracted whey isolate, which guarantees the amount of protein per gram of whey. In a whey concentrate, it may list 17 grams of whey concentrate on the label, but perhaps only 30% of that is actual protein – you wouldn’t know unless you got a copy of the Certificate of Analysis from the raw materials supplier.

Be sure and read the label carefully on any whey protein isolate product as many (if not most) are not cold, cross-flow membrane extracted. This is because the heat or acid-extracted whey isolate is much cheaper. The cross-flow membrane extracted whey protein isolate is very expensive and supply is often limited, so manufacturers often have to pay in advance for enough to be allocated from the raw materials supplier – which puts the price to the consumer up even more. However, it’s the only type of whey I will use in the products I formulate for people with digestive problems, as I think it is well worth the cost and I wouldn’t want to put anything that might be 50% toxic into my body – no matter how much cheaper it is!

In addition, whey protein concentrate is not an ideal elemental protein source and therefore is not as well tolerated (hypo-allergenic) for people on an elemental diet – another reason I only use whey isolate in Absorb Plus.

Also read the label carefully to be sure there are no added artificial colors, sweeteners or flavors. We need to stay in authority as the final health expert for our own body and not give this power away to anyone else – not to Dr. Mercola, your local MD, your homeopath, and not to me! Always do your own research, ask if someone has a vested interest in presenting information a certain way, or putting a certain slant on it? And remember that no matter how qualified, all experts are fallible. We can be given incorrect information by someone we trust, our researchers can present us with only 80% of the picture and sometimes we just plain make mistakes.

I believe Dr. Mercola is sincere and I am very grateful for the work he is doing in disseminating natural health information to people and yes, I still encourage you to sign up for his newsletter – I just wish they offered it in a once-per-week format, rather than every day!

QUESTION: Please Help. About 2 months ago my colon constricted and tightened up and I couldn’t have a bowel movement.  I have a home colonic kit and would do one everyday to get the waste out.  This is the only way I could.

I was on antibiotics for 12 years that destroyed my gut flora.  From that, I acquired multiple food intolerances (around 30) and looked for a good way to rebuild my gut flora and stop leaky gut. I started making dairy kefir, water kefir, and coconut kefir.  I started making the fermented vegetables of all kinds.  I was consuming these items quite frequently everyday.  I had face acne and inflammation before and could see it disappearing slowing and my skin looking better and better all the time.

However, what I wasn’t paying attention to, although I should have, is that my bowel movements were getting less frequent.  It’s strange because I didn’t have enough flora before the fermentation (I know this because I had it tested) but I had good bowel movements.  But now, I was getting slight bowel spasms, something I don’t remember getting too much before.  After that, it just got totally worse.  Right now I can’t even go take a number 2.  My colon has narrowed down small where nothing will come out of it.

I now have more pain all along my left side; and it feels tight and stringy, if that makes sense.  I assume there are some colon strictures and/or diverticulitis.  Now, when I do the colonics, I am having a harder time getting the waste out.  I can feel more blockages.  I am getting very scared! I have an appointment for a colonoscopy coming up.  What do you suggest?

ANSWER: Please note that in Listen To Your Gut, I do not advise people to ingest fermented foods – I tell them to use the Natren probiotics (and many people have to start very gradually and often with one species). Fermented foods come in way down the road when you have your digestive flora stabilized. At that point, people can usually tolerate them and benefit from them. But again, you need to test and go slowly to see what your individual body likes and dislikes.

Regarding strictures, we have a number of options you can try that readers have experimented with. The first one involves a liquid, elemental diet to rest and flush the colon (be sure and sign up for the free report there as it has full info on how to do the clearance diet). Keep in mind, when you read about the 3 dietary options on this page, that you still need to test for your own sensitivities – some people do not tolerate raw milk, others do not tolerate raw vegetable juices, etc.

I am in the testing phase of my final formula/protocol for healing both intestinal strictures and abdominal adhesions: StrictureHeal. If you’ve been following my blog, or a member of JPT Wellness Circle, you know this has been a 3-year process thus far.

However, as a reader of my books, you also know that I never release anything that I have not tested first on myself and then numerous friends, family members and lastly readers and JPT Wellness Circle members. So for StrictureHeal, we’re completing the friends/family phase of testing and will shortly be entering the reader/JPT members phase of final testing. If all continues to go well – and along the way we usually make refinements to the formula to either expand the range of tolerance, or turbo-charge the efficacy – it will then be made available here.

In the meantime, we do have a tried and tested procedure you can use for abdominal strictures and adhesions that has worked for many to relieve pain and release an obstruction (especially when paired with the liquid or elemental diet for a few days).

1. Apply DMSO / Aloe Vera Solution to Abdomen:

Make up a 50% dilution of DMSO with George’s Aloe Vera Juice – this means you combine 2 tbsp. 99% DMSO and 2 tbsp. aloe vera in a glass bottle, shake well.

Apply to your abdomen (or wherever your stricture/pain/cramping is) using your fingers or a natural hair paintbrush.

Do not use synthetic anything with DMSO as it will pick up and transport everything it contacts into your skin/bloodstream. Make sure hands and abdomen have been washed with plain soap and water and do not have any creams or fragrance on them.

Allow to dry. Then apply a hot castor oil pack to your abdomen.

Note: After you have done this protocol a few times, if you think your skin will tolerate a higher DMSO content, then try a solution of 70% DMSO to 30% aloe vera. DMSO tolerance varies widely (with redheads being the most sensitive), so the 50/50 ratio is likely to be tolerated by most, but feel free to adjust up or down as you desire.

2. Apply a Hot Castor Oil Pack to Abdomen:

A castor oil pack is placed on the skin to increase circulation and to promote elimination and healing of the tissues and organs underneath the skin. It is often used to stimulate the liver, relieve pain, increase lymphatic circulation, reduce inflammation, and improve digestion. Just remember to use a cold-pressed castor oil and 100% cotton flannel (or wool) – no synthetics. You can use either a hot water bottle or a heating pad as the heat source. Here are detailed instructions:

Castor Oil Pack Components

•    Castor oil.
•    Two sheets of plastic (garbage bags OK).
•    1 yard cotton or wool flannel.
•    Heating pad (if indicated).
•    Large old bath towel.
•    3 safety pins.

Preparing a Castor Oil Pack

1. Fold flannel into three thicknesses to fit over your whole abdomen.

2. Cut a piece of plastic 1-2 inches larger than flannel.

3. Saturate the flannel with gently heated oil, but not so much that it is drippy. Fold it over and squeeze until it is oozing. Unfold.

4. Place plastic and old towel over flannel to prevent staining of surface you will be lying on.

5. Lie down, placing flannel over abdomen, putting fitted plastic over the flannel.

6. Now wrap the towel under you, around your torso and pin with safety pins (or just tuck in tightly).

7. Place a heating pad (low heat) or hot water bottle on top of the towel.

8. Rest for 30-60 minutes. Use visualization, meditation, or just sleep. A good time to use castor oil packs is just before bedtime.

9. When finished, it’s best if you don’t get up and walk around and be busy (except to go to the bathroom). Try to stay still and relaxed.

If you are doing your pack at bedtime, have a zip-lock baggie next to your bed, and a towel to remove any excess oil and protect your bed sheets. Fold the oily pack up and put it into the baggie, then drop it to the floor till morning. In the morning, put it in the refrigerator.

11. Store the pack in the covered container or baggie in the refrigerator. Remove it from the refrigerator 1-3 hours before you plan to use it, so that it is at room temperature when you are ready to use it.

12. Each pack may be used repeatedly. When it starts to smell stale, throw it out (don’t try to wash it) and make a new pack.

Note: If this procedure is way too complicated for you, apply a generous amount of castor oil to the skin of your abdomen. Cover that with an old cotton t-shirt or other cloth you won’t mind eventually discarding. Lay your heat source (hot water bottle, heating pad) on top of that. Keep the cloth you use to protect your heat source from the oil to reuse. Eventually it will smell like stale oil, but can be kept for a few weeks at least in a plastic bag. Rest for 30-60 minutes. Stay covered and warm so you can relax. Have a soft cloth or rag handy to catch any oil dripping off your body. You may want to put a towel or plastic underneath your body so your bed doesn’t get oily. It’s not necessary to have a castor oil pack that you keep in the refrigerator. Just do what works for you.

Frequency of Use

To be effective, a castor oil pack must be used at least 3 times a week, although 5 times a week is better. In cases of long-term chronic pain or acute stricture/obstruction, it works best to commit to a 6 week treatment period using the DMSO solution in combination with a castor oil pack 5-7 times per week, then as needed. Full healing may require 3 months of treatment.

If you don’t want to use the DMSO solution first, the hot castor oil pack on its own will provide significant relief from pain and softening of tissues. To actually begin to break down the scar tissue though, you’ll want to combine it with the DMSO solution.

Colonic Massage for Obstruction

If your intestine is obstructed, it is a good idea to also do this colonic massage after the DMSO / Castor Oil treatment – while the abdomen is soft and you are relaxed – to help massage the stuck food through the stricture:

Lastly, you can listen to this podcast with Larry Wurn from Clear Passage Therapy, who works manually to soften strictures and adhesions.

Let us know what works for you in the COMMENTS section below….

All I've used is Aubrey GPB Shampoo & Conditioner - no hair color, no serums, no gel, just healthy hair

I have added a new line of awesome hair and skin products to JPT Holistic Health Shoppe!

Our old line (Avalon Organics) was bought out by Hain, and as often happens, the ingredient list started to downgrade.

So I’ve been looking and testing (lucky me I have 5 guinea pigs in my family to test on!) and the winner is: AUBREY ORGANICS

This is a company that has been going for a long time and they’ve steadily upgraded their formulas (and packaging) as the years have gone by. And I must say – they have really arrived!

When I first tried their stuff about 15 years ago, it was good, but not great. Well now, I can honestly say, their products are GREAT!

In my picture here, ALL I’ve used on my hair is the Aubrey GPB Shampoo and conditioner – no shine product, no gel, nothing.

Supplements For Healthy, Shiny, Thick Hair

Now, whilst a great shampoo and conditioner can make a big difference to how your hair looks, you can make an even bigger difference by feeding your body the necessary nutrients to produce thick, shiny hair.

In my experience (and this includes working with chronically ill people and with post-natal women whose hair almost always thins out), ingesting these nutrients DAILY will make a noticeable difference in 3-4 weeks to both your hair and your skin:

• Cod Liver Oil – 4 capsules or 1 tsp per day
• Udo’s Oil – 1-2 tbsp. per day (take this straight, or use to make salad dressing, drizzle over cooled veggies – do not denature with heat – or add to your shakes and smoothies)
• Lots of organic (preferably raw) butter – try to consume 1/4 cup per day
• Cook only in organic extra virgin olive oil or unrefined coconut oil

If this freaks you out, you need to know that 40% of the cell membrane is fat! But it’s composed of GOOD FATS (like the ones listed above). So you will also see a big improvement in your skin and your gut mucosal lining from consuming adequate amounts of these good fats.

You will not gain weight by ingesting these healthy fats, but you may need to reduce the amount of food on your plate since good fats contain more calories than the same amount of carbs or veggies – to keep your daily caloric intake the same.

Having said that, many people who are overweight find these good fats help them to lose weight, because their body is finally satiated, thus their cravings decrease and they feel satisfied with less food.

Even if you just implement 2 items from the list above, you will likely see an improvement after a month or two.

Ideally, you should get your digestive enzymes from your food (raw foods, fermented foods, homemade yoghurt, etc) and from your body’s own production. However, for those times when you just cannot get enough natural enzymes, or you need some additional support as your own body’s production is not up to par, I have found these high quality, natural enzymes in both a capsule and chewable form that you can eat with or after meals. The chewable ones are an organic grape flavor and yummy enough that even my 4 year old will crunch them!

Many digestive enzymes are cultured on aspergillus oryzae (mold), but then are not filtered properly and you end up ingesting the spores – not good for someone with unbalanced or susceptible gut flora to begin with! This is the main reason I stayed away from using or recommending digestive enzymes for so long.

But, thankfully, filtration technology has improved and these Houston Enzymes derived from Aspergillus have been purified from the fungal matter using 8 to 12 different methods of purification. No fungal matter is present in this enzyme product.

If you have a known allergy to Aspergillus proteins, then caution should be used in taking any fungal-derived enzyme product, however, the allergenic portions of Aspergillus are usually those parts of the fungi removed from the enzymes during processing.

The other reason I like this particular brand is they combine ALL the enzymes needed – for protein, carbohydrate and fat digestion – into one product. They do not contain cellulase though, so they won’t interfere with timed-release medication.

When To Take Enzymes

Take digestive enzymes with the first few bites of your meal or just prior to mealtime. But more important is to take the enzyme, if not at the beginning, then during or after eating. Food stays in the stomach for up to 3 hours, therefore, introducing enzymes anytime during the meal will still provide benefits.

If one is a “grazer”, that is, eats constantly during the day, you may wish to take the enzymes at fixed dosing intervals, such as every 4 or 5 hours during the day.

*Remember, that if you’re having more than 3 bowel movements per day, you must not swallow pills/capsules (gut transit time is too fast) – in that case, it would be best to use the chewables.

What Are Enzymes?

Enzymes are proteins made by cells in our bodies. They are specialized proteins that do work, such as synthesizing chemicals and compounds, rearranging molecules, adding elements to compounds, and breaking down compounds. There are many types of enzymes, and each type does a specific function. For an enzyme to work, it must have access to its substrate, the material upon which an enzyme exerts an action. If no substrate is available to the enzyme, the enzyme performs no function. For example, an enzyme called catalase is present in our blood. Catalase converts hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen, which is why peroxide bubbles when it is placed on a wound. Since peroxide is not usually in our blood, catalase circulates within the blood, doing nothing until peroxide is introduced into the system. A substrate works as an “on-off” switch for its particular enzyme. Catalase will only be activated in the presence of peroxide and nothing else.

How Do Enzymes Work?

Enzymes work as catalysts of biochemical reactions. A catalyst increases or accelerates the rate of a chemical reaction. The thousands of chemical reactions that occur in our body every second could not happen without enzymes to speed up these reactions. For example, a protein can be broken down into amino acids in the lab without the use of an enzyme, but to do so requires extreme temperatures, high pressure, and very strong acids; conditions not compatible with life. Even with these conditions, it requires hours to complete the reaction in the lab. With enzymes, in this case a mixture of proteases, the reaction can be completed within minutes in water at normal temperatures.

Another unique aspect of enzymes is that they are not changed during the reaction, that is, they facilitate the reaction without being destroyed or changed in the process. Because of this, one enzyme molecule could theoretically change an infinite amount of substrate if given an infinite amount of time. Increasing the amount of enzyme decreases the time required for completing the reaction. For example, one molecule of catalase could convert a whole bottle of peroxide to water and oxygen given enough time. If you double the number of catalase molecules, you decrease the time for converting the bottle of peroxide by half.

This is related to enzyme dosing in the following manner: Higher doses of enzyme will result in the reaction reaching the “finish point” faster. Since a meal resides in the stomach from 90 to 180 minutes, the enzymes have that amount of time to do the majority of their work before the food enters the small intestine, where peptides may be absorbed (no peptide absorption occurs in the stomach). Larger meals will require more enzyme to accomplish the task of food breakdown in a given amount of time. This is the applicable message concerning enzyme dosing; getting the proteins broken down in a specified period of time.

The nice thing about enzymes is that if the particular molecule they work on is not present, the enzyme does nothing. If you take the enzyme lactase, and lactose is not present, the lactase has no job and does nothing, except get passed on in the GI tract as food protein.

If you have a loved one who wants to stick with medical treatment for Cancer, then here is a really good natural therapy that can be done at the same time, which increases the efficacy of the medical treatments AND decreases their nasty side-effects:

(OMNS Apr 14, 2011) Scientists have long studied the effects of mega-doses of vitamin C to treat a wide variety of illnesses and diseases. Research documents vitamin C as one of the best antiviral agents available. Vitamin C has been shown to neutralize and eliminate a wide range of toxins, and to enhance host resistance, greatly augmenting the immune system’s ability to neutralize bacterial and fungal infections. Most importantly, there is extensive published research demonstrating vitamin C’s anti-cancer properties. (1)

In the 1970s, Hugh D. Riordan, M.D. and colleagues began studying the underlying causes of cancer and ways to treat cancer in a non-toxic fashion. From this research came the Riordan Intravenous Vitamin C Protocol for Cancer. (2) This protocol is widely recognized in the integrative and orthomolecular medicine community and is commonly used as an effective adjunct to conventional oncologic therapy.

Oncologist Victor Marcial, M.D., has experience using it. He says:

“We studied patients with advanced cancer (stage 4). 40 patients received 40,000-75,000 mg intravenously several times a week. . . In addition, they received a diet and other supplements. The initial tumor response rate was achieved in 75% of patients, defined as a 50% reduction or more in tumor size. . . As a radiation oncologist, I also give radiation therapy. Vitamin C has two effects. It increases the beneficial effects of radiation and chemotherapy and decreases the adverse effects. But this is not a subtle effect, is not 15-20%, it’s a dramatic effect. Once you start using IV vitamin C, the effect is so dramatic that it is difficult to go back to not using it.” (3) [emphasis mine]

Free Access to Twenty-One Expert Video Lectures Online

In 2009 and 2010, Riordan IV-C and Cancer Symposiums brought together medical professionals, researchers and IV-C practitioners from the United States and abroad. The latest advancements in intravenous vitamin C cancer therapy were presented in detail, recorded on video, and are now available for free access at

http://www.riordanclinic.org/education/symposium/2009.shtml (twelve lectures) and http://www.riordanclinic.org/education/symposium/2010.shtml (nine lectures)

Also of Interest:

Video clip: Is Vitamin C Better than Chemo for Cancer?
If your hospital or doctors say that they cannot obtain injectable vitamin C
If your hospital or doctor says that the hospital will not allow IV vitamin C
If your hospital or doctor says that IV Vitamin C is illegal

References:

(1) Free access to full text papers.
(2) Download the Riordan protocol free of charge.
(3) Presentation at the Medical Sciences Campus, University of Puerto Rico, April 12, 2010.

Source: Orthomolecular Medicine News Service

However, if you’re open to 100% natural treatments, one of the most promising cancer treatments I’ve seen is Dr. William Donald Kelley’s – currently being practiced by Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez in NY (among others), you’ve really got to read this fascinating summary of this holistic cancer treatment and it’s amazing success rates. Likewise, don’t forget to investigate Dr. Simoncini’s baking soda treatment – it has some limiting parameters, but if your cancer/tumour falls within the guidelines it’s certainly the easiest thing to try first.

Shower filters protect your health by removing chlorine and other harmful elements from your shower water. These chemicals are more toxic in your shower than in your drinking water. Here’s why:

• Chlorine is re-vaporized in the shower, inhaled into the lungs, and transferred directly into the bloodstream. In fact, the chlorine exposure from one shower is equal to the chlorine you would ingest from drinking a day’s worth of tap water.
• The heat in your shower opens your skin’s pores. This allows your skin to absorb chlorine and other harmful chemicals in the water. This can cause skin damage and make existing skin problems worse.
• You’ll breathe easier when you’re not inhaling concentrated chlorine in every shower. You’ll see improved skin and respiratory health and possibly more overall energy.
• You’ll have smoother skin and softer hair within a week of installing a shower filter. Chlorine dries skin and hair by stripping it of its natural oils. After installing your shower filter, your skin and hair will take about a week to replenish their natural oils.

My youngest son Hugo suffered from excema patches – until we installed shower and bath filters and then all his eczema cleared up within 3 weeks. Although he can now swim in a salt water pool without any irritation, a chlorinated pool (or bath or shower) instantly brings out all the itchy patches again. Here’s our video where we test all of the filters in our house and choose the best one:

What to Look For in a Shower Filter

To effectively filter your shower water, choose a filter that contains both KDF and a complementary filter media, such as high quality carbon or Chlorgon.

Most water filters contain carbon filtration. However, carbon alone is not enough for a shower water filter and a small carbon filter cannot handle the volume of water that passes through a shower water filter. For carbon alone to work, the filter would need to be so big it couldn’t be attached to your shower head.

Thus, KDF is the key to effective shower filtration. KDF is a finely granulated alloy of copper and zinc, which removes or neutralizes chlorine, iron, dust, sediment, balances the water pH and softens it. KDF-55 (used in Sprite shower filters) reduces surface tension while removing damaging minerals, giving you softer water. This means you’ll rinse cleaner – and so will your shower. Soft shower water will help your shower stay clean longer, so you’ll also spend less time cleaning.

Also, don’t buy a filter that puts a carbon cartridge before a KDF-55 cartridge. Activated carbon takes oxygen out of the water, but the KDF needs oxygen to work properly.

Choosing Your Shower Filtration Media

Here are 4 types of filtration media commonly used in shower filters:

KDF is a mixture of copper and zinc. When water flows through KDF, a tiny electrical charge is created.
This electrical charge forces free chlorine to combine with minerals in the water (usually calcium or another alkaline mineral). The combination of chlorine and these minerals is a harmless chloride. KDF is most efficient at warmer water temperatures typically used in the shower.

Carbon removes impurities from water because it has a sticky surface. Carbon media comes in many grades but a high grade must be used in the shower because of the warm water temperatures. Carbon is primarily a cold water filter. It is most effective at temperature ranges of 50-80 degrees (F). So at higher temperatures, carbon needs to be used as a second-stage filter.

Chlorgon converts free chlorine and some combined chlorines into harmless chlorides. Chlorgon is very efficient at a wide range of water temperatures, so it’s a great combination with KDF.

Crystals, Magnets & Mineral Balls are used to soften water by reducing the size of the clusters of water molecules. This makes the water feel softer and makes soaps and shampoos sudsier.

Let’s have a look at shower filters that use each of the above filtration mechanisms.

Aquasana shower filters have a unique two-stage filter process for the healthiest shower possible. Stage 1 removes chlorine and enhances pH balance with a natural copper/zinc mineral media called KDF-55D. The second filtration stage uses a carbonized coconut shell medium for the removal of synthetic chemicals, THMs and VOCs that vaporize from tap water and are inhaled or absorbed through the skin, potentially causing adverse health and cosmetic effects.

If you’re sensitive to chemicals, or have a respiratory illness, activated carbon can make a noticeable difference by filtering volatile organic chemicals (VOC’s) and trihalomethanes (THC’s) from your shower – as well as chlorine.

Sprite shower filters use KDF and then Chlorgon as a second stage filter. They remove chlorine, iron, dust, sediment, balance water pH and soften water. The main difference between the various Sprite shower filter models is how long the filters last and the design features of the shower head. All Sprite shower filters are certified to NSF Standard 177.

Removing these elements from your shower will not only result in healthier skin, hair and lungs, your shower will also be easier to clean since these filters soften the water and balance the pH.

Sprite Bath Ball filter uses KDF and mineral balls to remove chlorine, iron, dust, sediment, soften your water, and neutralize pH.

In my house, we have the Aquasana shower filter on one shower, the other two showers have Sprite filters - the Royale is my favorite – and we have a Sprite Bath Ball for the bath. Of course, in a pinch, you can fill a bath using your chlorine filter on your shower, but this takes a long time and you lose a lot of heat from the shower spray and distance the water has to travel before reaching the tub.

The only points to keep in mind with this bath filter is that (a) your bath faucet has to be straight (like the one in the photo) and cannot be curved – otherwise you cannot attach the filter and (b) you need to be able to adjust the flow of water coming out of your bath faucet. The water flow from your bath tap into the filter has to be slow enough so the filter has time to filter the water, without it overflowing.

If you’re unsure as to whether removing chlorine is necessary for you, I encourage you to just try one shower filter and see/feel the difference in your skin, hair, lungs, etc.

My good friend, Jay Baluk is putting together a free ebook about people’s success stories living medication-free with IBD. As Jay says:

“This book is going to showcase the stories of 20-35 med-free people who are now living awesome, healthy, med-free lives. This book will go into details such as: what struggles they endured, what protocols they used, how they appreciate their life after they overcame their disease, how they are paying it forward to help others, and many others.

This book will NOT just be a blind testament that we commonly see on so many health websites selling false promises. I’m sure we all have seen these before “I’ve tried PRODUCT X and wow I’m cured……..Betty in NYC”  This book will tell med-free people’s stories and list their first name (last name will not be required for privacy reasons unless you want your last name present). It would also provide some form of contact for the reader if they have questions. The best bet would be to provide an email address where someone could email you. If anyone is thinking, “I do not want to put my email address on this document” I would be more than willing to setup an email address for you and have it forwarded to your email address, which can then be kept private if you are worried about this.

Try and remember when we were suffering from our IBD’s how LOST we felt with everyone trying to sell us something: Cure report, special 1 pill cure, miracle cures, high price consultations, and many other bogus product offers. Do you remember how confusing this was that all of these testimonials never provided a direct contact to verify their claim?

I remember being diagnosed and looking on the internet and everything I came across was pessimistic saying there is no cure. It also told me I would most definitely live a poor quality life in which I would take meds forever and get multiple operations to remove diseased portions of my intestines. The truth is the future looks bleak when you’re first diagnosed and we become potential victims for the people looking to benefit financially by promising us false hopes without backing up their claims.

Now imagine being newly diagnosed: Searching the net for an IBD Cure, Crohn’s cure, IBS cure, Ulcerative Colitis cure etc and coming upon a free e-book which shows the inspiring stories of people who have overcome their disease and are living amazing lives. It always seems like everyone wants proof and this book will show them that we are indeed overcoming these diseases and provide a contact email for verification. I’m sure each one of us has had someone tell us that we can’t overcome our disease, and that we are just merely in a short remission period.  …..

Well tell this to the people who have been med-free for 1-5+,10+,20+ years and enjoying their lives, and pardon us if we fail to share this same opinion.  Right?

I understand that many of us may have used different protocols to overcome our IBD’s and we may have different opinions on what works and what doesn’t (different strokes for different folks). But, at the end of the day our objective to help people is our ultimate objective. This book is not going to be used as a sales pitch or to promote any treatment etc.  Yes, if you have a website or a blog we will put the address in the e-book with your story for reference to your story but that’s it.

Each person will get a full copy of this e-book to put up on their site, or to email to anyone they can think of etc. The ultimate goal of this e-book is for it to be spread VIRALLY over the internet where the potential for it to help so many people is exponential. We must spread the word about our stories to give people hope and to give them the opportunity to get the second chance we have experienced.

So now I ask you from the bottom of my heart to please respond to this call-out saying you are going to join this group collaboration project to promote the truth: that we are indeed overcoming our IBD’s and living great lives.

Also if anyone has any insight or advice on how we can make this project a success, please send any thoughts to me via email.  I can’t stress enough that I am not doing this for any angle or any pitch but just to spread hope and the truth. This e-book will always be free and all of ours to spread viral to promote hope and opportunity for people suffering unnecessarily with these diseases.

What’s Required of You???
If you are okay with telling your story please send me an email to: medfree@crohnsboy.com expressing your interest. At that point I will send you an open-ended questionnaire which will take 15-20 min to complete and will give you a chance to tell your story. There will be a general structure but all questions will be open-ended to let you tell your story. After all the questionnaires are completed we will collect them and have them formatted into an e-book.

I have noticed when speaking with people who have overcome ANY disease or illness that: they are very happy people; they achieve great things, will tell you the disease has made them stronger, they appreciate things in their lives more than ever, and most importantly they have NEW passion for life and the people present in their lives.”

******
So as Jay has written, this ebook will be about people who are either managing their illness, or healthy, but not taking any prescription medication. And you can share the protocols and strategies you used to achieve this – to give other’s hope, direction and ideas for their own Healing Journey.

I’ve filled out Jay’s questionnaire and I really hope you do too! Just email Jay and he’ll send you the questionnaire:
medfree@crohnsboy.com

Soar higher,
Jini

We’ve been experimenting with DMSO-based formulas over at JPT Wellness Circle for a couple of years now  – you may have already seen my Quad-Synergy Pathogen Protocol on this blog.

DMSO is dimethyl sulfoxide – a natural substance derived from tree bark. But it has some pretty amazing characteristics that make it a potent healing tool. Of course since it is a very potent substance, you need to be careful handling it, since it transports into the cells pretty much any substance it comes in contact with. Here’s a few nuggets about DMSO:

• After application, anywhere on the body, you can taste DMSO on the tip of your tongue within 30 seconds – it travels through the bloodstream that fast.
• DMSO binds to free radicals and forms a substance (dimethyl sulfone plus water with the hydroxyl ion) that is readily excreted through urine.
• DMSO substitutes for water, so it pulls substances through cells that ordinarily would not move through them. The DMSO-water bond is 1.3 times stronger than the water-water bond.
• DMSO is readily absorbed via topical (skin) or oral application. However absorption is even better from the GI tract (oral).

So, what does all this have to do with anal stenosis, internal hemorrhoids and rectal strictures? Well, since the 60′s, DMSO has also been used with burn patients, since it dissolves scar tissue so well. When mixed with potassium iodide (SSKI), it also heals hemorrhoids – usually within 1 week.

Over at JPT Wellness Circle, we have been testing a mixture of DMSO, potassium iodide (SSKI) and aloe vera and have been getting great results with both internal hemorrhoids and anal strictures.

Monica (not her real name) had a stricture in her rectum (just above her internal anal sphincter muscle), the opening was so narrow she could no longer defecate. Her doctor did not want to stretch it because he said it would just worsen the problem. This is true – if you stretch, cut or otherwise damage scar tissue, the body just repairs it by making more scar tissue!

Hence people often have their strictures dilated on a regular basis and people who have had sphincterectomies, or laser removal of scar tissue may either have the same problem recur in a few years, or they are left fecal incontinent from the procedure. Hint: when you look at the research on these procedures, don’t just look at one year outcomes, look at 10 year outcomes/assessments.

Anyway, Monica’s doctor confirmed by sigmoidoscopy that she had a stricture about one inch in length, most likely the result of her proctitis. So Monica – an admirable guinea pig – took a glass dropper, flipped her legs over her head every night and squeezed 15 drops of 70% DMSO into her rectum. She did this every night for 2 months. Then she went for a colonoscopy and her doctor confirmed what she already knew – the stricture was completely gone and there was absolutely no sign that it had ever been there. Because she used straight DMSO, Monica says she experienced some discomfort initially, but nothing too major. She says she also used my Healing Visualization mp3 for strictures and believes that was key.

I tried Monica’s 70% DMSO solution, but I mixed mine with aloe vera instead of water – however, it was MUCH too strong for my tissues and my rectum pretty much shut down – I had some bleeding and I didn’t defecate for 5 days! I’m very glad it worked for her, but it makes sense that it would be too strong for mucosal tissue, since DMSO used on the face should never exceed 50% – or it can damage the tissue.

I’m experimenting right now with a 12:1 dilution and a 6:1 dilution and also adding some other substances that help dissolve scar tissue. I also have a friend testing my formulas, so we’ll see how it goes with her as well. I’ll update this post when we have something definitive that works and is also well tolerated.

If you have any questions, or data to share (perhaps you’ve been experimenting?) please leave them in the COMMENTS section below.

I myself used the DMSO, potassium iodide (SSKI) and aloe vera to heal internal hemorrhoids I’d had since the birth of my daughter six years prior – they healed in 6 days.

Unfortunately, the FDA (as with many powerful natural substances) has banned DMSO for everything but interstitial cystitis (patent held by pharmaceutical company) – so you cannot sell DMSO as part of a formula or remedy and when you sell it straight, it has to say: For Use As A Solvent Only on the bottle. So the way around this is to provide people with the formula, instructions, ingredients and let you make up your own remedy! Once I have some more data in from my testers, I’ll be releasing these formula instructions to you – so make sure you subscribe to this blog and you’ll be notified when it’s ready.

WARNING: As I said above, DMSO will transport instantly into the cells anything it comes in contact with. So only store in glass, wash hands with natural soap before handling, only use unvarnished wood, stainless steel or glass to apply – avoid plastics or anything that contains synthetic chemicals that could be transported into your body.

As the mother of three children – with thinner skulls, higher water content in their skulls (= higher conductivity) and undeveloped immune systems – it is very important to find out what levels of microwave RF radiation my kids are being exposed to, so that I can take measures to protect them where needed.

So the first component of protecting your kids from wireless radiation involves testing and measuring their daily environment – school, home, dance or gymnastics studio, friends’ houses, etc. Anywhere your kids spend over an hour continuously should be tested (in my opinion) so at least you can get a good idea of their daily radiation exposure.

Baubiologie – standard Building Biology testing methods – lists RF safety readings in the home (especially in sleeping areas) in the following manner:

No Concern - less than 0.10 microwatts/m2 (microwatts per meter squared)

Slight Concern – 0.10 – 10 microwatts/m2

Severe Concern – 10 – 1000 microwatts/m2

Extreme Concern – greater than 1000 microwatts/m2

Magda Havas PhD recommends that (especially for children) microwave radiation levels do not exceed 0.10 microwatts/cm2 (per centimetre squared) and indoor areas do not exceed .001 microwatts/cm2. In my recent teleseminar with her, she said:

“We did a study just last– a few years ago, itʼs just coming out this year, where we tested the response of the heart to microwave radiation and the arc exposure was 0.3 microwatts/cm2, so itʼs 3 times higher than that guideline that I just mentioned – and several of the people we tested blindly, so it wasnʼt a psycho-somatic response, they developed tachycardia which is a rapid heart rate and arrhythmia instantly as soon as we exposed them to the radiation from a cordless phone at 2.4 GHz. So, if adults start having those symptoms and I know quite a few adults who have them, they suddenly feel; their heart starts beating, they have this pressure and pain in the chest area, theyʼre having an anxiety attack, thatʼs how the interpret it, or theyʼre having a heart attack and they donʼt know which and it scares them incredibly. Well, children are now beginning to have these problems.”

Once you know what you’re dealing with, then you can take steps to reduce or eliminate their radiation load – I’ll get into all that in a separate article. For now, let’s just look at what RF meters are on the market, at what price, and what each of them do – so that you can find the right one for your needs and budget.

As a mom, you’ll likely want to test primarily for:

• Radiation from WiFi routers in your kids school – where is the safest place to sit in the classroom?
• Radiation from nearby cell towers to see what’s coming into your home and which rooms have the highest levels.
• Whether your neighbour’s WiFi (wireless internet) is coming into your house, which rooms are affected and how strong is it?
• Combined microwave radiation load in friend’s houses and after-school activities/sports from cordless phones, cell phone towers, wireless games (like PlayStation, Wii, X-box, etc.) and wireless internet.

The Main Differences Between Meters

The main distinctions between the different types of meters (and hence the price) usually boils down to 3 specifications:

1. Is it a Tri-Axis meter, which means you can stand in one spot and the meter will measure ALL the radiation, coming from every direction, to that spot? Or, it is a Uni-Directional meter; which means it will only measure the radiation coming from the direction you are pointing the meter towards. So in order to measure all the radiation with a uni-directional meter, you have to rotate in a circle through 8 different positions to be able to measure accurately. This means you start by pointing the meter North. Then you rotate 15 degrees to your right and measure again, then 15 degrees again to your right (you are now facing East) and measure again, and so on, round the 8 different points of a complete circle. So while the uni-directional meters are a lot cheaper and useful for measuring devices (like a cellphone, Xbox, etc.), for measuring the total radiation load in a room, they can be very time-consuming.
2. What’s the range of radiation the meter can measure? Again, the cheaper meters often only measure up to 3 GHz, so while they will pick up on most cellphones, many other types of radiation (from certain cordless phones, new generation cell phones, baby monitors, WiMax, etc.) will not be detected. To measure the current full spectrum of microwave radiation from all the different types of devices, you need a meter that goes up to 8 GHz.
3. Can the meter also measure magnetic and electrical fields and how wide is the range? For people who are hypersensitive, they are affected not just by microwave RF radiation frequencies, but by electrical and magnetic fields as well. A meter that can measure all three fields is called a tri-field meter.

If you can’t be bothered to read through the detailed meter descriptions below and you just want to know: What’s the cheapest, easiest meter that can measure pretty much everything? Then this Tenmars 8 GHZ RF Meter is your answer.

Here’s an In-Depth Description of the Various Radiation Meters and their Pros and Cons:

1.  Simple Radiation Finder ($39.95) – this is your most basic digital RF meter. It will not tell you the exact level of radiation, but will simply light up a warning if the radiation falls at pre-determined categories of green-safe, yellow-caution, and red-unsafe.

The downside of this meter is that it is only a single-axis meter. This means it can only read the radiation coming from the direction you are pointing it. So if you want to measure the radiation in any given spot, you need to rotate and point the meter at 8 different points/directions around in a complete circle – pausing at each new point to let it pick up the new reading. Obviously, this is going to be very tedious. But if budget is your primary concern, then this may be the option for you.

Also, for me, the other big drawback of this type of meter is the range it reads goes from ‘less than’ 20 microwatts/cm2 – ‘over’ 100 microwatts/cm2. Well, in Canada and the U.S., the upper allowable radiation limit is 1000 microwatts/cm2, so whilst this meter would be fine for Europe, Russia etc (where the upper limit is only 10 microwatts/cm2) it doesn’t provide enough information for North America. And yes, whilst obviously, anything over 10 microwatts/cm2 is not safe, I still want to know HOW much radiation over the safe limit my kids (and I!) are being exposed to.

The other feature about this meter you need to keep in mind is that it reads BOTH RF (radio frequency) microwave radiation and magnetic fields. So if you get an unsafe reading in your child’s classroom, for example, you won’t know whether that’s due to the WiFi or the lighting in the room – so you would need to turn off all the lights and unplug anything in the room. But again, if you don’t care about the details and budget is key, then this one may meet your needs.

This meter covers 50 Hz – 3 GHz – so it will give you readings for most cell phones, wireless computers and cell towers. However, the newer generation of cordless phones and other technology on the 5.8 GHz frequency will not be picked up by this meter. More details here… (scroll down the page)

2. E-Alert Meter ($29.95) – Another really simple RF meter – but like the one above, this one also measures magnetic fields, which is either a beneficial feature, or a confusing one – depending on your needs.

This one also does not give actual readings, but just has different colored lights: green-safe, yellow-caution, and red-unsafe. Also like the one above, this one is only a single-axis meter. This means it can only read the radiation coming from the direction you are pointing it. So if you want to measure the radiation in any given spot, you need to rotate and point the meter at 8 different points/directions around in a complete circle – pausing at each new point to let it pick up the new reading.

The better feature of this meter (over the Simple Radiation Meter above) is that covers 30 Hz – 5.5 GHz, so a much wider range of devices – but it still won’t catch the new 5.8 GHz cordless phones, baby monitors, etc.

It is also really small (keychain sized) only 1″x3″ – which again, may be a positive or a negative, depending on what you want it for. More details here… (scroll down the page)

3. Basic RF Meter ($89.95) – This is another simple RF Meter and this one ONLY measures radio frequency microwave radiation (not electrical, nor magnetic fields), so less room for confusion. This one only measures up to 58 microwatts/cm2, so same problem using in North America where our upper “safety” limit is 1000 microwatts/cm2 – you’ll know it’s unsafe, but you won’t know how bad it is.

Also like the meter above, this one is only single-axis. So you’ll have the same tedium of having to measure at 8 different points/directions around in a complete circle – pausing at each new point to let it pick up the new reading – to get an idea of what radiation exists in any one spot. The good part about this meter is that it will give you the actual meter reading (e.g. 18 mW/m2) PLUS give you the color-coded ranges of safe/green-caution/yellow-unsafe/red.

This meter covers 100 Hz – 3 GHz – so it will give you readings for most cell phones, wireless computers and cell towers. However, the newer generation of cordless phones and other technology on the 5.8 GHz frequency will not be picked up by this meter. More details here… (scroll down the page)

4.  3-Axis RF Meter ($199.95) – As you move up the price scale, you’ll notice you get more features and more accuracy. So this meter is a 3-axis meter, rather than a single-axis, like the three meters above. This means that you don’t need to rotate around, but can simply stand in one spot and the meter will scan 360 degrees around you to give you the complete/total radiation level for that particular spot. This meter will also give you the actual radiation level, but again, it only measures up to 30 microwatts/cm2. So if you just want to know whether a spot or room is “safe” this meter is fine, but if you want to know how much radiation above 30 microwatts/cm2 is present, then you’re out of luck (remember, US and Canada upper allowable limit is 1000 microwatts/cm2).

This meter covers 50 Hz – 3.5 GHz – so it will give you readings for most cell phones, wireless computers and cell towers. However, the newer generation of cordless phones and other technology on the 5.8 GHz frequency will not be picked up by this meter. More details here…

5. 6 GHZ RF Meter (Uni-directional $119 + free shipping) – this meter is very reasonably priced and will measure 100 HHz – 6 GHz. It also measures electrical fields (power lines etc.) The only downside is that it is uni-directional only (not a tri-axis meter). This means that you will have to rotate slowly in a circle, stopping and pausing at each point to get a measure of total radiation for any one spot. On the other hand, it makes it easy to pinpoint which direction the radiation is coming from! More details here…

6. 8 GHZ RF Meter (Uni-directional $178 + free shipping) – This meter is much cheaper than the 3-Axis meters below because it only measures radiation coming from one direction, whereas the Tri-Axis meters below measure radiation coming from all sides. This meter also only measures electrical and RF (not magnetic). However, if price is key, then this is a very good choice, since it measures all RF devices (cell phones, cordless phone, WiFi, surveillance bugs, microwave ovens, etc.) from 1 MHz – 8 GHz. More details…

7.  8 GHZ RF Meter (3-Axis, Tri-Field $499 – Ships from USA) – For me, this meter is the best use of my money for what I want to measure. Because I blog about this issue, I write letters to government officials and school admin people, I need to be as accurate as possible and I need to back up my assertions with specific data. This meter is 3-axis (no need to rotate), it measures from .0001 microwatts/cm2 up to 3,000 microwatts/cm2 and it covers from 10 MHz – 8 GHz – so it will measure every wireless device around (including surveillance bugs!), plus leaving room for future technology developments. This meter also measures electrical and magnetic fields. For the informed layperson (like myself) this is probably the best combination of needed features and ease of use. More details here… I plan to do more blog posts and also some videos showing you how to measure your home, school, office, etc. so be sure and SUBSCRIBE to my blog so you’ll be notified.

8.  8 GHZ RF Meter (3-Axis, Tri-Field, $345 – free shipping) – This meter has all the features of the meter above in #7, but this meter ships from Israel, while the one above is in the USA. So your shipping time is going to be a bit longer on this one, about 2 weeks, but, the great thing is, the shipping is free. I have ordered from this company myself to test and everything went smoothly and the meter arrived in 2 weeks. As I said above, if you want to be able to test EVERYTHING, with ease – because this measures the radiation coming from all directions (tri-axis), so you don’t have to keep turning and re-measuring, until you’ve measured a full circle – you can just stand in one spot, facing any direction and it will measure ALL the radiation coming from every direction to that spot – then this is the meter to get. Likewise, it also measures up to 8 GHz so will cover every device around, and you can set it to which field you want to measure; electrical, magnetic, or microwave RF. More details here…

For people who need to get more specific, there are more complicated meters for this, but of course, they are also much more expensive (thousands of dollars).

You can also check with your local (or country’s) citizen action group as some have meters they will rent to you for a fraction of the purchase price. Here’s a list of citizen radiation protection groups to get you started – if they don’t have meters for rent, be sure and suggest this to them!

Note: All prices listed are correct at time of writing, but of course, are subject to change.

This to me is the most basic question: If European countries – who have examined the same research – set their safe exposure levels for microwave (RF) radiation at 0.1% -1% of ours – how can this be okay for us long-term and especially for our children??

COUNTRY EMR SAFETY LEVELS

Austria – 0.10 microwatts/cm2

Lichenstein – 0.10 microwatts/cm2

Russia – 10 microwatts/cm2

Bavaria – 10 microwatts/cm2

Hungary – 10 microwatts/cm2

Italy – 10 microwatts/cm2

France – 10 microwatts/cm2

Switzerland – 10 microwatts/cm2

Australia – 200 microwatts/cm2

U.S. – 1000 microwatts/cm2

Canada – 1000 microwatts/cm2

Again, The Bioinitiative Report – dismissed by Health Canada as not being accepted by “the international scientific community” – was the very study on which the European Parliament based their 2008 resolution to take a “Precautionary Approach” and set stricter electromagnetic waves exposure limits in its 27 Member countries. The European Parliament adopted that resolution almost unanimously, by 522 votes to 16!

So, once again, we need to get active and force our governments to change legal limits for microwave radiation exposure – from cell phones, WiFi, children’s games (Wii, playstation, x-box, nintendo, etc.). In the meantime, we can do a number of things to reduce our radiation exposure, or at least give ourselves a safe place to sleep and regenerate every night – to repair the damage. ESPECIALLY for our kids, pregnant women, or people already battling illness or impaired immune systems.

In my next article, I’ll share with you my review of radiation testing meters, so you can figure out what you and your kids are being exposed to in your daily environment – work, home, school, friends’ houses, etc.

NOTE: If you have a chronic illness, you need to reduce your electromagnetic radiation exposure wherever possible to give your body a space to heal – especially at night while you sleep. Famous neurosurgeon, Dr. Charlie Teo, says he does not put his cell phone to his head or carry it on his body. He may say a quick hello inside, then he carries the cell phone outside, puts it down and speaks on speakerphone.

So here are some easy adjustments you can make right away to reduce your radiation exposure levels:

• switch your cordless phones to corded phones – you know, the ones that plug in with a curly cord between the handset and the phone? Good quality corded phones are really cheap ($15 at Best Buy) or you can buy really cool, retro phones.
• get rid of wireless (WiFi) computers and use cable internet instead – added bonus is it’s faster and more secure!
• turn your cellphone off whenever possible – just dial in and check for messages periodically or use it to call out in emergencies.
• when you need to speak on your cellphone, use speakerphone, or a headset with an air tube intersecting the wires (disrupts the radiation from travelling up the wire into your head). Make sure you’re outside, or a window is open nearby.
• switch the wireless games in your house (x-box, playstation, wii, etc.) from wireless controllers to corded ones and disable the WiFi on the console.

Implement these 5 easy fixes and watch everyone in your house start sleeping better. If you’re not ready to get rid of wireless devices (like WiFi or cordless phones) at least unplug them from the wall (turning them off is not enough) while you sleep. Oh yes, and unplug any electrical devices in your bedroom before sleep as well – to reduce the electrical currents. Remember, all your cells communicate electrically and your body has its own electromagnetic field and balance to maintain.

I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT I FIND THIS VERY ENCOURAGING!

Corporate Crime Reporter 14, March 27, 2011

So far, there have been only a handful of lawsuits.

Lawsuits alleging personal injury – primarily brain cancers – from cell phone radiation.

There are maybe a dozen or so cases pending in DC Superior Court.

And studies on health effects from cell phone radiation are all over the board.

But the trial lawyers are preparing to significantly ramp up cell phone litigation.

Ever heard of the Cell Phone Radiation Litigation Group?

No?

That’s because it was just set up under the auspices of the American Association
for Justice – the trial lawyers trade group.

The Cell Phone Radiation Litigation Group is headed by two veteran Louisiana trial
lawyers – Hunter Lundy of Lake Charles and Jim Klick of New Orleans.

The group will be meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada soon to plan a litigation strategy.

Lundy says he became interested in the subject of cell phone radiation when
a friend of his – “he was on the cell phone all the time” – was diagnosed with
brain cancer at age 40.

“He died at 45,” Lundy said.

“Look at people who are in my age group who got on the cell phone in the
late 1980s – look at Ted Kennedy and Johnny Cochran (both died from brain
cancers) – They got on the phones and used them hours a day,” Lundy
said.

Lundy quotes studies showing an increased risk of brain tumors from heavy use
of cell phones.

And of course, Lundy does have a cell phone.

But he has simple advice – if you are going to use the cell phone –
text, or use a speaker phone.

And keep it off your body.

Last month, the Journal of the American Medical Association published
a study finding that yes – cell phones change brain activity.

Dr. Devra Davis is an American epidemiologist. And she is the author of a book – Disconnect:
The Truth about Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry Has Done to Hide It
and How to Protect Your Family (2010).

Davis says that studies of heavy cell phone users over a 10-year period find
an increased risk of brain tumors.

To get people’s attention, Davis asks two questions:

Did you know that most cell phones come with a notice that says “do not
hold closer than one inch from your body”?

Did you know that insurance companies refuse to provide coverage to cell phone
companies and operators in case of claims of health damage from long-term operation
of their devices?

Lundy and his colleagues are determined to get answers.

In a court of law.

All I can say is Thank God Dr. Mercola (with his list of over 2 million) is informed and active on this whole WiFi, cellphone, electromagnetic, microwave radiation debacle! His latest article, estimating that deaths from microwave radiation will surpass deaths from cigarette smoking and asbestos combined, features this latest EXCELLENT video from EMR expert, Magda Havas PhD:

I did a teleseminar with Dr. Magda Havas a few months ago to try and get clear on the risks of this technology and what each of us can do to protect ourselves and our children, you can download the mp3 recording here and / or download the pdf transcript here.

DNA Breaks

Of special note in Mercola’s article is this slide from the European Reflex Report, visually showing DNA breaks in a comet assay test from 24 hours of cell phone radiation exposure compared with DNA breaks from 1600 chest x-rays:

Cell Towers And Cancer

And what REALLY freaked me out is the data about the cell tower in the UK – 500 metres away from the village. My eight-year-old daughter Zara’s gymnastics club has 4 cellphone towers, mounted on a high voltage powerline, less than 100 metres away from the club- and she’s there 9 hours/week:

“when the Wishaw T-Mobile phone mast went up in her small U.K. village, an estimated 77 percent of the residents within 500 meters became ill with a range of health problems from symptoms of electrosensitivity to infertility and cancer. Seven years later a cancer cluster was discovered in the village, after which the tower was forcefully removed.

Six ladies developed breast cancer, there was one case of prostate cancer, one case of bladder cancer, one case of lung cancer, three cases of pre-cancerous cervical cells, one man developed a spinal tumor and motor neuron disease (MND), many cases of breast lumps and pervasive symptoms of electrosensitivity, such as sleep problems,headaches, dizzy spells, vertigo, fertility problems, immune disregulation, and fatigue. An Olympic level horse was also treated for blood problems.

When the mast came down, the symptoms of electrosensitivity went away, and with few exceptions, cancers people were treated for never recurred and the Olympic horse no longer suffered with blood problems.”

Cell Tower + WiFi = Nosebleeds

So what does this mean in terms of my daughter’s current risk? We have already noticed that if she goes to school (6 hours of WiFi radiation in the school + cellphone radiation from teachers and students) and then straight to her gymnastics (3 hours), she will get nosebleeds. And not little ones; massive, gushing nosebleeds.

However, if I keep her home from school for half the day, twice per week, on the days she does her gymnastics training, she does not get nosebleeds. So her body has shown us where her exposure threshold is, that results in visible, noticeable negative symptoms – but what’s going on at the cellular level, that we don’t know about?

How Much Is Too Much?

It’s so hard as a parent and someone who also understands that health is a holistic phenomenon. What I mean by this, is that I can give my kids ALL the physical elements they need to be healthy. But if my kids do not have joy and zest in life, if they do not feel loved, accepted and secure, then they will likely not be healthy.

And the flip side of that is that even though they may not have all the ideal elements that contribute physically to health, but they also have no emotional/psychological stressors and they are happy and vibrant every day, then it is likely they will be healthy. It is a question of balance. And this is what’s so hard to judge with microwave radiation – as emitted by cell phones, wireless computers, iPads, Playstations, Xboxes, Wii’s, etc. – HOW much is too much? And can the body repair the cellular damage, the DNA breaks – and under what circumstances or conditions?

For example, if all the other health elements are in place, is it okay if the kids are in a school that has WiFi, as long as their home and sleeping environment is shielded so that radiation levels are lower than 0.01 microwatts per cm2? Can the body then repair sufficiently while they sleep – to prevent cancer or serious illness?

Increase In Cancer & Effects On Microorganisms

Then you have the statistical picture: If current trends show that daily WiFi exposure increases the risk of cancer tenfold (for example), but cancer incidence in children is only 14.8 per 100,000 kids, then a tenfold increase would equal 148 kids per 100,000 – which is still only a 0.15% risk. So then, even if my kids are exposed, if their risk is only .15%, is that worth taking them out of school and sports for? Especially if sports confers a protective effect against cancer?

Emotionally, I want to grab onto the above statistical scenario with both hands and breathe a big sigh of relief: Whew, I don’t have to worry after all! But then you have other nasty little bits of research that show (for example) yeast increases rapidly when exposed to microwave radiation – scientists theorize this may be because the micro-organisms feel under attack and so replicate quickly to fend off the threat. Other preliminary studies have shown that microwave radiation at 2.5 GHz can reduce airborne microorganisms. So, just one more aspect to wonder/worry about: how is this technology affecting the balance of microorganisms in our bodies, our environment, animals, etc? Just one more thing no one’s bothered to test before flooding us with microwaves!

And what about viruses and bacteria inside our bodies? How do they behave when exposed to WiFi and cell phones? I know that just about every kid around has a wart or two, my daughter had a nasty herpes outbreak that spread from one sore on her lip to multiple sores over about 1/3 of her face (call me paranoid, but I kept her out of gymnastics for one week), this latest flu bug (for both kids and adults) is seeming to go on for about 6 weeks, waning after 3, then boomeranging back again, how many kids have rashes and eczema? And how many people do you know that sleep deeply and peacefully every night for a full 7-8 hours? Yeah, me neither.

Common sense says that if you are one of the vulnerable: children, elderly or ill, you should err on the side of caution. But as these technologies become ubiquitous (see Magda’s video above), how do you protect children without removing them from society? And what effect will that then have on their joy and life-force energy? I know if my kids are not allowed to play soccer (there’s a massive cell tower with relays in my son’s training field), nor compete in gymnastics, nor go to their friends’ houses, nor see their friends at school – they’re not going to be very happy and they would find all those restrictions quite stressful!

As you can see, I’m still struggling with this one. I feel really hamstrung over this issue and I’m not in a position to act decisively, yet. I know I have a lot of very intelligent, discerning readers, so let me know your thoughts in the COMMENTS section below as I would really like to hear your perspective…

A reader shared this video with me and it literally lit me on fire! And every one that comes after it in the series is SO inspirational – I watched about 9 in a row:

Hope they move you, excite you, inspire you, like they did me! Click here to watch all the episodes.

The series is called:
Second Act: Real stories celebrating life, passion and reinvention

These videos are particularly meaningful for me, because last year a TV producer in L.A. asked me if I would like to do my own show. She said, “No budget, no restrictions, you can do anything you want, what would be your dream show?”

After much thought and connecting to my gut, I told her I would like to do a show about people who have somehow gathered the motivation and courage to change their lives, leave the “rat race” and are now living meaningful, fulfilling lives – in whatever form that takes for them. And explore WHAT went into them being able to implement such radical change. And of course, show how they are living and what they are doing, how their lives have changed.

Well, that project didn’t work out (for a number of reasons), but look! Now Yahoo is doing this show that’s similar in spirit to what I most wanted to see! And, although short, I think they’ve done a great job with it.

Soar higher,
Jini
p.s. you don’t have to sit through the Yoplait ad at the end every time, just click the next video in line and it will start.

After I told my Listen To Your Colon readers about adding magnesium citrate to an Absorb Plus or whey protein shake to buffer it, I received a number of emails from readers who tried it and confirmed that it worked well for them to reduce the pain and spasming that magnesium citrate can cause. As one person wrote:

“Taking my magnesium at night in a smoothie like you suggested helped head off the extreme nausea & cramping I had been experiencing.”

So that’s great news and since then, I’ve been experimenting with two more substances to alleviate constipation: magnesium oxide powder and Triphala powder.

Triphala

Triphala is an Ayurvedic herbal remedy derived from three different fruits (amalaki, bibhitaki and haritaki) that helps to correct constipation. It cleanses and tonifies the gastro-intestinal tract, promotes detoxification of the whole body and improves digestion and assimilation. Triphala also helps to reduce high blood pressure and hypertension and improves blood circulation.

The great thing about Triphala is it is not considered a laxative. It is viewed as more of a bowel cleanser and tonifier and hence it is safe for long-term or ongoing use. It tastes quite bitter, so whilst Absorb Plus masks it really well, just mixing it in juice makes it very hard to get down! Hence you may want to take it in capsules, if you can swallow pills.

I experimented with the powdered organic Triphala. 1 tsp added to my Absorb Plus shake was definitely noticeable, but still tolerable. At that dose, I felt some pain in my lower abdomen – but it felt more like a muscle pain than an intestinal pain. At 1/4 tsp, the Absorb Plus masks it quite well and the bitter taste is only mildly detectable. I still experienced a bowel clearing effect at the 1/4 tsp dose, but no pain or discomfort. A reader whose girlfriend has very slow bowels said she uses 2 tsp per day, whilst he could not tolerate more than 1 tsp per day.

So I suggest you start with 1/4 tsp  (1-2 capsules) and gradually increase from there to find your tolerance level. I REALLY like the idea of using Triphala for constipation as it is not just producing a bowel movement, but addressing the long-term dysfunction that often underlies constipation.

Magnesium Oxide

For those of you who prefer to use magnesium – or perhaps a mix of Triphala and magnesium works best for you – I have been testing pure magnesium oxide in powder form (available from NOW supplements). Although its absorption is very low, it is probably the easiest form of magnesium to use since it has virtually no taste! In the pure powder form from NOW, only 1/8 tsp = 200 mg. So you also need to use very little.

It works well just mixed in water – since it is so tasteless. And of course, you can mix it into juice or a smoothie undetectably. The easiest way for me to take it, since I was travelling, was to take a sip of water and hold it in my mouth. I tipped 1/8 tsp into the mouthful of water and swallowed. Then I would follow it with at least half – 1 glass of water.

In this form, the magnesium oxide causes NONE of the abdominal discomfort that the magnesium citrate does! So you can take it easily on an empty stomach, and with nothing other than water – you don’t need to buffer it. But then make sure you are taking your magnesium in nanoparticle form to ensure a good supply for your body’s use – since magnesium oxide is only about 5% absorbed.

Hope that helps… And if you haven’t checked out my new book on constipation remedies yet, be sure and get the free downloads and watch the videos!

To keep yourself and your children healthy and maintain good bowel health on an ongoing basis, make the following dietary guidelines your normal, regular diet.

Everyone in your family should follow these guidelines, whether they suffer from gut issues, or not, since they get the disease-causing elements out of your daily diet and replace them with health-promoting foods.

Those of you who have my book, Listen To Your Gut, will recognize this diet – it is the final diet in the sequence of Healing Diets, that you follow once you are symptom-free (no more gas, bloating, diarrhea, etc.)

JINI’S HEALTH MAINTENANCE DIET

• No processed, pre-packaged foods. It doesn’t matter if it’s organic; if it comes in a package on a shelf, the nutrients have usually been compromised or denatured – boxed breakfast cereal with extruded grains are a good example of this. Eat fresh!

• No foods containing preservatives, nitrates & nitrites (these have actually been banned by the FDA, as they are so carcinogenic to the gut, but the meat industry refused to comply and so they are still in all your commercial hot dogs and deli meats), monosodium glutamate (MSG – it interferes with neural functioning), carrageenan (large quantities have been used to induce Ulcerative Colitis in guinea pigs and primates), or anything else that sounds like a manufactured chemical compound.

• No margarine or butter substitutes – often treated with chemical solvents and bleaches, resulting in deformed, highly toxic, trans-fatty acids. Even the cold-pressed margarines are not good as your body doesn’t need so much of those oils, and they prevent you from using butter – which your body needs a lot of. Use real organic butter (from raw milk if you can get it), cold-pressed virgin olive oil, or unrefined coconut oil instead. Do not use regular mayonnaise either – use only mayonnaise made from cold-pressed oils.

• No artificial sweeteners of any kind (like aspartame, nutrasweet, saccharine, splenda, sucralose, acesulfame-K, etc.) – these are toxic and proven to cause memory loss, can also be highly addictive and contribute to hyperactivity and seizures in some people. No artificial colors or flavors – especially since the introduction of neural flavor blockers and enhancers.

• No pasteurized milk products; milk, yogurt, cheese, ice cream, etc. Raw milk products are okay and actually promote health, but pasteurized or ultra heat-treated (UHT) dairy products must be strictly avoided. For more info on the health benefits of raw milk, or to find a supplier in your area: www.realmilk.com

• Keep your sugar intake as low as you can. Use stevia, honey, rapadura sugar, molasses, maple syrup instead when you need sweetness. Here are some healthy treat recipes to get you started. I teach my kids to save their sugar for when it counts – this means you only have a sugar item when you REALLY want it and then you stop eating as soon as you’re not super lovin’ it.

For detailed dietary information on what to eat and how to prepare your foods for maximum nutrition and absorption, see the articles database at: www.westonaprice.org or purchase the cookbook, Nourishing Traditions.

A low-residue diet can be helpful during an IBD or diverticulitis flare-up, to get rid of common irritants and to help calm the gut. This low-residue diet can also be used as a low-fibre diet (less than 10 grams of fibre per day) before or after surgery to reduce bowel volume.

Of course, the best way to calm a flare and produce minimal fecal matter is an elemental diet – but as that can be costly, you can try this low-residue diet first and see if it’s sufficient to calm inflammation.

Good supplements that help calm intestinal inflammation quickly are George’s Aloe Vera Juice, MucosaHeal, L-Glutamine (take on an empty stomach if you want to reduce diarrhea) and probiotics.

JINI’S LOW RESIDUE DIET

Grain Products:
• avoid wheat – since an intolerance or allergy to wheat is highly likely.
• white rice, quinoa, millet, buckwheat
• gluten-free cereals
• gluten-free crackers (unflavored), rice cakes
• rice or quinoa pasta

Fruits:
• fresh non-acidic fruit juices (except prune juice) like apple, pear, mango, papaya – but keep to a minimum to avoid the sugar load
• applesauce, apricots, banana (1/2), cantaloupe, honeydew melon, peaches, watermelon, mango, papaya (very soothing)
• avoid raw and dried fruits, raisins and berries.

Vegetables:
• fresh-juiced vegetable juices
• red potatoes (no skin)
• well-cooked and tender vegetables including green/yellow beans, carrots, celery (remove strings), mushrooms, squash, zucchini, cucumber, butter lettuce only, avocados
• avoid vegetables from the cruciferous family such as broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, Swiss chard, onions, etc.
• avoid beans and lentils, soybeans and soy derivatives
• avoid nightshade family vegetables; tomatoes (too acidic), peppers, eggplant

Meat and Protein:
• organic chicken or turkey, fish and eggs
• avoid tofu

Nuts and Seeds:
• avoid all nuts and seeds, as well as foods that may contain seeds

Dairy:
• pasteurized dairy (milk, cheese, yoghurt, etc) is another top allergen, so avoid.
• raw milk or raw cheddar (unpasteurized) can be okay, so test. Raw goat milk is usually more easily tolerated than raw cow’s milk.
• organic butter (raw or pasteurized) is usually okay.

Fats:
• unrefined coconut oil (MCT’s are healing for the gut), extra virgin olive oil, cold-pressed flax or Udo’s oil and organic butter
• avoid commercial vegetable oils like canola, soybean, safflower – anything that is not cold-pressed, margarine or butter substitutes, deep fried or high heat pan frying

Additives:
• no artificial sweeteners, flavors or colors
• no preservatives, conditioners, extenders, MSG, nitrates/nitrites (found in deli meats and hot dogs), or anything else that sounds like a chemical compound. Just buy and eat FRESH!

NOTE: A reader asked whether it is okay to eat organic, grass-fed beef on a low-residue diet. Technically, beef is not included in the list of allowable foods. However, I feel it would be okay if sliced super thin and eaten raw – like carpaccio. Or, the best way would be to consume as Beef Broth. So here is a recipe for you to use for a strengthening, nourishing beef broth where you will benefit greatly from both the gelatin and the minerals which are pulled out of the bones by the vinegar. Don’t worry about the vinegar as any acidity disappears during the cooking process. Recipe excerpted from The IBD Remission Diet.

Beef Bone Broth

• 3 pounds grass-fed or organic beef soup bones (marrow, knuckle, ribs or neck bones)
• 5 whole celery stalks
• 1 whole onion peeled
• 1 bunch of parsley (optional)
• 8 cups of water
• 2 tbsp. Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 tsp. of salt (use sea salt or Himalayan salt for better flavor and electrolytes)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sprinkle beef soup bones with salt and roast, covered in the roasting pan, in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour. Cook the bones long enough so that the meat on them is done (you can also cook the bones in a large saucepan, on the stove top if desired – but the taste won’t be as good).

2. Fill a large stock pot with water up to ¾ full (or 6 – 8 cups of water), and bring to a boil. Place the cooked bones, onion, parsley, apple cider vinegar and celery in the boiling water. Boil uncovered for half an hour and remove any scum from the top. Then cover and simmer on low heat for 7 – 10 hours.

3. Remove pot from heat, mix well and then pour contents through a fine strainer into a large bowl (give bones to your dog, or neighbour’s dog). Place this large bowl uncovered in the fridge for 12 – 24 hours, or until broth has become jelly-like and the fat has risen and congealed on top.

4. Skim fat off top of bowl with a spoon. Portion up the remaining beef soup jelly into individual servings in zip-lock plastic bags and put them in the freezer to use as needed. Don’t worry about making too much because even when you’re back on regular food, this beef bone broth is excellent as a stock for soups, sauces, etc. When you’re ready to eat some soup, stir in 1 tsp. – 1 tbsp. of organic butter or coconut oil to each serving of soup. Add sea salt to taste.

I had three friends call me up this week for help/advice about their kids’ digestive troubles. This signals to me that many others must be having the same issues and it’s time for a blog post to share the knowledge!

First, my friend Cecile called me about her 10-year-old daughter, Megan. Megan had pretty much refused to eat for most of week. She said that everything she ate hurt and that Megan had no appetite. Cecile told me that she looked very pale and at times green, during a pain episode. Their doctor had already ordered a gliadin test (for gluten allergy) and hemoglobin (oxygen-carrying red blood cells) test. Megan’s bowel movements were normal in texture and frequency and there was no blood in the stool, toilet bowl or left on the toilet paper. Here’s what I told Cecile:

If the child (or adult) is experiencing significant pain after eating, that usually means there is inflammation present. Now, the gastrointestinal tract may be inflamed for any number of reasons, and it takes time and testing to figure out what exactly are the underlying causative elements.

What’s Wrong With GI Exploratory Tests?

The medical treatment route at this point is usually to perform invasive GI exploratory tests (endoscopy, colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, barium enema, barium swallow, etc.) to determine the actual physical markers. Personally, if it were my child, I would never submit to these tests unless every previous indicator (starting with blood tests) pointed to cancer. And even then, with my knowledge base, I would try other natural treatments first.

The reason you don’t want to rush your child into the GI exploratory tests is that firstly, they are seriously traumatic and frightening for the child. And in many cases, painful. Secondly, the GI tests significantly alter the bacterial flora in the gut and leave it wide open to secondary infection – in many cases, the scope itself infects the colon. In the case of colonoscopies, the colonoscope itself can cause colitis (called gluteraldehyde-induced colitis).

So your child may not have had Crohn’s or colitis initially, but by the time the gastroenterologist gets done with him, he may have. Download my Colonoscopy Dangers Report for all the details (from peer-reviewed medical publications) on the risks of these supposedly “standard” procedures and what you can do before and afterward to protect your child (or yourself) if you truly need to have one done.

So, in my personal opinion, there is no need to have any medical exploratory tests done at this point and Cecile has plenty of time to figure out what’s causing Megan’s intestinal inflammation/pain.

Usually, intestinal inflammation and pain is caused by one or a combination of these factors:

• Pathogenic (disease-causing) bio-terrain in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract
• Food allergy or food intolerance
• Stressful or upsetting emotional component
• A standard western diet

Let’s take a more detailed look at each of these causative factors…

1. Pathogenic bio-terrain in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. This means too much (overgrowth, or infection) bad bacteria, yeast/Candida, fungal organisms or hybrids, viruses, etc. and not enough good bacteria (probiotics).

2. Food allergy or more often, food intolerance. Food intolerance is a tricky thing to nail down, because children often have tolerance thresholds for a particular substance. For example, if Joey is intolerant to wheat, he may be okay to have one wheat-containing item twice a week, but if he goes above that, he gets symptoms. Or, he might be okay if the wheat item does not contain yeast, but add the wheat and yeast together and it tips him over his threshold. This is why careful, methodical testing is necessary and yes, this is VERY difficult.

It is so much easier to take the drug your doctor wants to give you to suppress your child’s symptoms. But know that this will just force the damage deeper into the child’s body. If your child’s body is sending clear messages, “don’t feed me wheat,” but you give him a drug to suppress the messages, the damage from the wheat will continue. You will just be unaware of it until it has built to the level where it is going to burst forth in full force – in this way a food allergy or intolerance develops over time into irritable bowel syndrome, or if other factors are also present, into colitis, or Crohn’s.

As with everything else involved in raising a child, there are no shortcuts: pay now, or pay later. If you don’t put the time and work in now to figure out what the actual, underlying causative problem is (and no, your standard MD is not interested, nor trained to do this) it will just bite you in the butt big-time later. And your child’s suffering will be exponentially increased. Believe me, I help thousands of people a year heal themselves from digestive diseases and if you let it get to the colitis, Crohn’s or diverticulitis stage, you have a hard road ahead. A holistic Healing Journey may seem very difficult initially, but it is nothing compared to the never-ending drugs/surgery/hospital route of the medical system.

Just remember when testing for food allergies/intolerances, you need to completely eliminate the suspect for a minimum of 10 days – then reintroduce it to test. My book, The IBD Remission Diet tells you how to do this (following a bowel rest diet to clear allergens) and has a Food Reintroduction chart to guide you step-by-step. If you don’t need the bowel rest diet (see below), there are plenty of instructions on allergy testing and food reintroduction on the Internet.

3. A stressful, or upsetting emotional component. The gut is the “second brain,” (a book with this title has been written by an MD), there is an entire field now established to study the brain/gut/emotional connection called pyschoneurogastroenterology. Go and watch my Healing Journey Movie and at the end you can download a teleseminar I did with Dr. Gabor Mate (MD) all about this topic, called When The Body Says No (named after his amazing book of the same title). You really need to get this and understand that ANY gut issue is also the child simultaneously crying out for help. Most likely, your child doesn’t consciously know what’s wrong, or doesn’t know how to articulate it. Again, you have to be the detective and lead your child on the path of exploration into his emotions, stressful events, fears, etc.

Cecile embraced this component and identified that Megan was being bullied at school and was also carrying stress due to the family’s financial troubles. A meeting with the school teacher and principal ensued and then lots of talking and explaining to Megan about their finances and their plan for moving forward. This helped Megan to feel safe and relax, rather than continually picking up and carrying the “money stress” vibes in the family.

Once children know clearly what’s going on and that there’s a plan in place (for which they may have good insights and ideas to contribute – I know mine usually do!) their stress levels usually drop and they feel more safe and that someone’s in control. For more serious issues, or traumatic events, EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) is a fabulous tool you can learn yourself – the Basic Training Manual is available at no charge – or you can take your child to a therapist. My kids actually ask me to do EFT for them now, since they’ve seen repeatedly how effective it is.

4.  A standard western diet. If your child is eating what all of his peers eat, you are damaging his gut daily and not providing him with the building blocks for a healthy body. No, I am not exaggerating. Our diet and consequent health is so poor, that we have lost perspective on what a normal, healthy child looks like – because there are hardly any left! The “average” child gets sick with colds or flus 12 times a year. Medical doctors tell you this is normal. But for people who are feeding their kids diets that promote and protect health (along with protective supplements like probiotics, vitamin D and cod liver oil, whilst minimizing environmental pollutants like pesticides and WiFi radiation), their kids are sick about 1-3 times per year – and in my experience, recover in 1/5 – 1/3 of the time a “normal” child takes.

See the end of this article for the standard Health Maintenance Diet that all kids (and adults!) should follow to get the pathogenic elements out of your standard western diet. For specific dietary help, for more complicated circumstances, you can visit the article database at: www.WestonAprice.org for more in-depth info and guidelines. Or if your child already has IBS or IBD, then you’ll need the specific Healing Diets in my book, Listen To Your Gut.

So now that we know what usually causes intestinal inflammation, what are the steps needed to get on the pathway to healing childhood tummy pains?

1.  Elimination (Bowel Rest) Diet – if your child’s pain or loss of appetite is severe (as in the case of Megan) the fastest, easiest way to both heal and test for food intolerances is to put the child on an clearance diet (to provide bowel rest) and then introduce foods one by one to test for food allergies or intolerances. Depending on your child’s palate, a bowel rest diet can consist of one or several of these:

a) Absorb Plus - this is a pre-digested, elemental shake I formulated specifically for people with inflammatory bowel disease. I used this formula to heal myself when I was 99 pounds (normal weight is 130) and hemorrhaging from my colon. There’s lots of free reports and usage instructions on the Absorb Plus website, or you can get my book that details everything step-by-step: The IBD Remission Diet.

b) Raw (unpasteurized) cow or goat milk – type in “raw milk” in the search box on this blog or my website and it will pull up all the articles I’ve written on this – including podcasts, teleseminars and videos where I go on a Raw Milk Diet. The key points to implement are to make sure the milk is from pasture-fed animals only (not kept in a barn and/or grain-fed) and that the farmer tests regularly for pathogens to ensure the milk is healthy. Raw goat milk is the most similar in composition to human breast milk, but it is not so good for weight gain and many kids can’t tolerate the taste. If you use raw cow’s milk, also give magnesium once per day if needed to facilitate bowel movements (raw cow’s milk contains a lot of calcium; great for bones and teeth but it can slow down the bowels in susceptible people, when consumed exclusively).

c) Raw vegetable juices - this is harder to do with kids since they usually don’t have the palate to tolerate veggie juices. Sure, you can add a bit of apple or carrot to improve the taste, but if you add too much then you’re feeding your child a high sugar diet, which will increase Candida albicans (yeast infection) and bad bacteria.

d) Free-form amino acid shake – If your child is completely allergic to dairy (remember Absorb Plus has the most common allergenic milk components removed – casein protein and lactose – so is often fine for people with a dairy allergy) then you can use just a natural free-from amino acid product like Nutramed. But keep in mind, that your child will not gain weight (and may even lose weight) on a free-form amino acid product. So if your child is underweight, or needs to be on a bowel rest diet for more than a week, you may want to try Absorb Plus or raw goat milk first.

If you’re going to use elemental shake products other than the ones given here, be sure and read the ingredient list carefully: If there is too much oil (often listed as triglycerides or MCTs) it can cause the intestines to spasm (even in a healthy person!), if there is a lot of sugar (often listed as corn syrup, corn solids, glucose, etc.) it will just increase pathogenic (bad) yeast and bacteria. If there are artificial colors, flavors and sweeteners, it will be just one more product that is degrading your child’s health. Lastly, you need to check the protein sources in these products – if they contain casein, or whey concentrate, or soy, then they are highly likely to be a cause of allergic reaction.

Along with whichever daily nutrient source you choose to use, you also need to give your child Bone Broths (explanation and recipe) as the gelatin is key in healing the mucosal lining of the gut. Absorb Plus also contains plenty of L-glutamine and other key amino acids specifically targeted to heal the intestines.

If your child’s pain or discomfort after eating is not so severe, then often doing a half-elemental diet, or a low-residue diet can be enough to calm things down.

2.  Medical Blood Work – Gluten allergy (gliadin) test and basic blood work (hemoglobin, iron stores, vitamin D and if possible, mineral levels). Gluten allergy is increasingly rapidly among both children and adults, so get this tested right off the bat to know whether you’re dealing with Celiac disease. Megan’s gluten test came back negative – she is not allergic to gluten – however, there is still a good likelihood that she is gluten intolerant, or intolerant to wheat. Her father decided to test this and gave her some toast while Mum was out – Megan immediately went into intestinal agony that lasted 16 hours.

3. Vitamin D – Vitamin D helps the body combat just about any disease and improves viral immunity, so it’s very important to know whether your child is getting enough vitamin D3 and in the right form, here’s lots more information on dosing with Vitamin D and Cod Liver Oil - fish oil and good fats (see Diet below) are also crucial for intestinal health.

4. High Dose Probiotic Supplementation – children need 1/2 tsp of each Natren powdered probiotic (mix in milk, yoghurt, pudding or non-acidic juice) – Megadophilus, Bifido Factor, Digesta-Lac (if you want to be extra-sure, add Life Start as well) per day. The Natren powders come in dairy-based or dairy-free formulations – the dairy-based is milder tasting and mixes undetectably in yoghurt. If your child is old enough to swallow capsules, then you can also give capsules instead – unless there are heartburn or esophageal issues, then stick with the powders. Detailed dosage/usage instructions are in any of my books, or you can download a Probiotic Report on my Free Stuff page.

How Long Should My Child Stay On A Bowel Rest (Clearance) Diet?

In Megan’s case, Cecile got the single-serving, 3-flavor sample pack of Absorb Plus and Megan liked the Chocolate Royale, so they decided to use Absorb Plus to provide bowel rest. When Cecile tucked Megan into bed and they had their quiet time together, she asked Megan to close her eyes, place her hand on her tummy, take some deep breaths, and ask her body how long she needed to stay on Absorb Plus and chicken broth. Megan said, “Six days.”

Cecile was blown away by this, but also thrilled. The added bonus of having the child direct the treatment, is the child then provides most of the motivation to stick to the diet. I told Cecile that healing takes a lot of energy. So whilst she could put Absorb Plus in a thermos for Megan to take to school, she should let Megan decide whether she wanted to go to school during the six days, or stay home and rest.

By the end of six days, Cecile said Megan was feeling fantastic, she’d been “eating” lots of Absorb Plus shakes and organic chicken broth and when she began eating regular food, she had no pain and had a huge appetite. I warned Cecile to take it easy though with the Food Reintroduction though, as too much too soon can trigger old issues. It’s key not to lose self-discipline at this point, because the child is feeling so good, but to stick with the slow, methodical food testing.

It was at this point that Megan’s father gave her toast and she reverted instantly back into pain and refusal to eat. I advised Cecile (after commiserating with her frustration and desire to pummel her husband) to put Megan back on Absorb Plus and chicken broth and get things calmed down again – likely it would take only a few days this time. Then go back to the careful process of Food Reintroduction – and by the way, wheat is a Stage Four (final stage) food to test.

For most children with no bleeding or anemia (which can often signal hidden bleeding), 7 – 10 days is a sufficient time on the bowel rest diet to calm inflammation and clear allergens. For people with a diagnosis of IBD, colitis or Crohn’s, the duration varies between 3 weeks and 6 weeks (in stubborn Crohn’s cases, up to 3 or 4 months). Diverticulitis usually requires the person stay on the liquid diet for the length of time it takes for the infection to subside, or the blockage to clear, plus an extra few days just to cement the healing.

When Cecile started Megan on the Absorb Plus shakes she also started giving her the probiotics – you can mix (by hand, do not use a blender as it will damage the bacteria) them into the shakes and give once per day (or twice if you really want to speed up the good flora process). I told Cecile that she must keep going with 1/2 tsp of each probiotic even after Megan was back on regular food and continue at this dosage for at least one year.

For my family, my kids have had no digestive issues but I give them probiotics ongoing (sometimes daily, sometimes every 2 or 3 days), they also drink raw cow’s milk (contains probiotics and enzymes) and eat ice cream made from raw milk and raw cream. Their cheese is also made from raw milk (widely available now throughout the US and Canada)

Once a gut flora has been compromised, it takes a long time to bring it back to the levels where it can actually be protective. As Megan continues on the probiotics, she will gradually be able to eat more foods, or increase her tolerance thresholds, as her digestive and absorptive capabilities improve. I have plenty of information on why it is crucial to give Natren probiotics – yes they are expensive, but nothing else we’ve tested provides the same efficacy, nor shows (via stool sampling) that the gut flora has actually improved.

Natren are available in high quality health or organic stores (or they can order them in for you) – just make sure they have been kept refrigerated at all times to preserve their potency. If you’re going to buy them online, you need to buy only from vendors that store them in a refrigerator and provide refrigerated shipping – otherwise, again, you are not getting what you pay for.

Check For Constipation

Constipation is also on the rise among children and once your kids start going poo on their own, they often won’t tell you when they start going only once every 2 or 3 days. Also, they may not be aware that they are only passing small amounts of stool and never having a complete evacuation. So it is important to ask AND have your child show you their stool after every bowel movement for a few weeks.

Constipation can also cause tummy pain and loss of appetite, so this may be a quick-fix and worth checking into first, if your child has those symptoms. If your child is seriously constipated (where occasional magnesium citrate or dietary changes are not sufficient) then I recommend you get my book on natural healing for constipation: Listen To Your Colon, which has specific instructions for treating constipation in children after every section – or at least download the free stuff available there on the site and watch the helpful videos.

If your baby is constipated, then this article may be enough to provide you with a solution: Constipation Protocol For Babies

My friend Laura found this was the case with her son, Nicholas – he was constipated, but had never said anything about it until she questioned him specifically. Nicholas was seven-years-old and he was complaining of tummy pains, his appetite was diminished (but still present), he wasn’t sleeping well and he had a rash on his face and leg that just wasn’t going away.

Assess WiFi Exposure

I went through all of these points with Laura, but the sleep disturbances and rash also hinted there may be another complicating element at work. Sure, both these symptoms can be caused by an unbalanced (pathogenic) gut flora and hence constipation, but they can also be caused by microwave radiation – in the form of WiFi, cell phones, cordless phones, iPads, Wii, PlayStation3, etc. exposure. Again, I have done plenty of blogging and videos about this very hidden pathogen that most people have never even considered – just type “WiFi” into the search box on my site and it will pull up the relevant info for you. Or just go directly to this excellent teleseminar I did with international expert, Magda Havas, PhD

Nicholas is considered a high-exposure case since his parents have cordless phones and wireless Internet at home, his school is a very high WiFi environment, with every student working on a laptop. He also has a Wii in the home that is played regularly and both his parents use cellphones.

Considering that microwave radiation (microwave radio frequency waves) could be causing her son’s health problems was a big leap for Laura to make – particularly since she works for a telecommunications company! So, I suggested that she start by implementing some easy testing and see if his symptoms changed. I suggested that she at least give him a low intensity EMR environment during the night – by unplugging all the cordless phones and the wireless internet and the Wii from the wall. It is not enough to just turn these devices off (I have personally tested this) as they will continue to transmit radiation – even if the power light is off. In many cases, you may have to actually phone your internet service provider and get them to turn off WiFi at source (and switch to cable Internet) in order to stop the transmission. If you have a DECT baby monitor then throw it in the garbage as this is a major cause of sleep disturbance in infants.

Whether this will be enough of a reduction in electromagnetic radiation (EMR) exposure to make a difference to Nicholas’ health, remains to be seen. Coincidentally, one of the girls in my weekly art class is in Grade 11 at the same school Nicholas goes to. After she came to class repeatedly complaining of a headache, or stomachache, I asked her how many of her friends at school suffered the same symptoms. She thought for a bit and said, “Everyone.” Is this due to a high stress environment at school, or microwave radiation both at school and at home? Until you test it, you cannot know. My point is, that until we do know, we should hardwire all the computers at schools and ban cellphones on school grounds – why are we experimenting blindly with our children’s health?

So again, currently there is not enough awareness of biological (cellular) effects of non-ionizing (non-heating) radiation – so don’t expect your doctor to connect the dots on this one. You will just have to eliminate all possible factors, including wireless radiation exposure and see what results in a reduction or disappearance of symptoms.

An adult friend of mine developed severe IBS and through a process of elimination discovered it was caused solely by the WiFi internet in her home office. The kicker is that she thought she was on cable, but the telco had turned on WiFi without even notifying or asking her. When she had the telco turn off the WiFi at source, her symptoms disappeared. Unfortunately though, she has now been rendered electrohypersensitive and so has to shield herself using radiation blocking cloth – particularly over her head – wherever she goes. There are many stories like this and if this sounds familiar, then you need to get active in pushing for governments to force industry to make these technologies safe.

The good news is, if you implement all the health-protective measures recommended in this article, you will at least be giving your child’s body  support to repair the cellular damage from WiFi and to reduce his susceptibility.

Do You See Any Blood With Bowel Movements?

If there is a small amount of blood loose in the toilet bowel, streaking the poo, or on the toilet paper after wiping. First check whether it is due to a rectal fissure or tear, or hemorrhoids. You can either get your doctor to check this (bring along comfrey salve to use as the lubricant – very healing), or you can just try some FissureHeal suppositories, or comfrey applied inside the anus with a finger tip or Q-tip and see if this takes care of the problem first. If your child’s stool is hard, or large, be sure to apply comfrey, or insert a FissureHeal suppository (break off a 1/2″ piece – no need to use the entire suppository) prior to a bowel movement to prevent further tearing. Then apply/insert again at night for maximum undisturbed healing.

If bleeding is moderate to severe and occurs several times a day (often accompanied by loose stools) then you need to get my comprehensive book of treatments (over 500 pages), Listen To Your Gut. Again, you do not need a medical diagnosis to begin treatment using Listen To Your Gut, since all the treatments are based on symptoms – which you can easily define yourself.

If you have any questions – but please be aware that I legally cannot give personal health advice – just leave them in the COMMENTS section below.

If you wish to consult with a medical doctor who is familiar with my protocols and can guide you through testing and treatment, Dr. Carolyn Dean MD ND is very good and so is Dr. Silvio Najt MD.

JINI’S HEALTH MAINTENANCE DIET

To keep your children healthy and maintain good bowel health on an ongoing basis, make the following dietary guidelines their normal, regular diet. In fact, everyone in your family should follow these guidelines:

•    No processed, pre-packaged foods. It doesn’t matter if it’s organic; if it comes in a package on a shelf, the nutrients have usually been compromised or denatured – boxed breakfast cereal with extruded grains are a good example of this.

•    No foods containing preservatives, nitrates & nitrites (these have actually been banned by the FDA, as they are so carcinogenic to the gut, but the meat industry refused to comply and so they are still in all your commercial hot dogs and deli meats), monosodium glutamate (MSG – it interferes with neural functioning), carrageenan (large quantities have been used to induce Ulcerative Colitis in guinea pigs and primates), or anything else that sounds like a manufactured chemical compound.

•    No margarine or butter substitutes – often treated with chemical solvents and bleaches, resulting in deformed, highly toxic, trans-fatty acids. Even the cold-pressed margarines are not good as your body doesn’t need so much of those oils, and they prevent you from using butter – which your body needs a lot of. Use real butter (preferably made from raw, organic milk), cold-pressed virgin olive oil, or unrefined coconut oil instead. Do not use regular mayonnaise either – only mayonnaise made from cold-pressed oils.

•    No artificial sweeteners of any kind (like aspartame, nutrasweet, saccharine, splenda, sucralose, acesulfame-K, etc.) – these are toxic and proven to cause memory loss, can also be highly addictive and contribute to hyperactivity and seizures in some people. No artificial colors or flavors – especially since the introduction of neural flavor blockers and enhancers.

•    No pasteurized milk products; milk, yogurt, cheese, ice cream, etc. Raw milk products are okay and actually promote health, but pasteurized or ultra heat-treated (UHT) dairy products must be strictly avoided. For more info on the health benefits of raw milk, or to find a supplier in your area: www.realmilk.com

• Keep your sugar intake as low as you can. Use stevia, honey, rapadura sugar, molasses, maple syrup instead when you need sweetness. Here are some healthy treat recipes to get you started. I teach my kids to save their sugar for when it counts – this means you only have a sugar item when you REALLY want it and then you stop eating as soon as you’re not super lovin’ it.

Intestinal obstructions can result from a number of different factors: Strictures or scar tissue that has built up to the point where the intestine is extremely narrowed, or a spasming length of intestine, or a volvulus (twist/kink in the intestine), or a diverticulitis flare-up. It is thought that mechanical blockage of a diverticulum, possibly by a piece of feces or food particles, leads to infection of the diverticulum. (Review article: management of diverticulitis Aliment Pharmacol Ther 26 Suppl 2, 67–76 2007 M. M. SZOJDA, et al)

What Can Help?

Long-term healing of diverticulitis and recurring strictures involves a 4-step process:

1.     Healing inflammation and eliminating infection

2.     Restoring a beneficial gut flora (good bacteria and reduction/elimination of bad bacteria, fungi, yeast, etc.) throughout the GI tract

3.     Restoring intestinal tissue (tone, structure) and mucosal lining

4.     Normalizing digestion, absorption (throughout the gastrointestinal tract) and defecation

Detailed instructions, explanations and dosages for each of these healing protocols are contained in my book, Listen To Your Gut. For now, let’s look at a short-term strategy you can implement right away to bring relief and start you on your pathway to healing.

Note: In the case of strictures, if the scarring is severe, you also need to go a step further and implement strategies to directly soften the scar tissue; like craniosacral/visceral manipulation therapy, hot castor oil packs and DMSO.

Resting & Flushing The Colon

For the best treatment and management of diverticular  or obstructive GI disease, your diet should vary according to your symptoms. During good/calm times, it’s best to eat a diet that promotes easy digestion and absorption and tonifies the intestinal wall. But during a flare-up (diverticulitis or acute stricture), it’s best to consume a liquid, pre-digested diet to provide a form of bowel rest and flushing of the colon, to help prevent a blockage or obstruction from occurring. It is also easiest to heal infection or inflammation whilst on a liquid (but highly nutritious) diet.

When you are in a diverticulitis flare (the diverticula – pouches – are inflamed or infected) it’s ideal if you can immediately consume liquid nutrients only. By ingesting only liquids, you give your body the best chance to flush out the food particles that are stuck in the diverticulae and you also avoid causing an intestinal obstruction through the build-up of stuck food.

Additional substances, like wild oregano oil, aloe vera juice, probiotics and MucosaHeal can be used to eliminate the infection and heal inflammation during this time.

Eating During A Diverticulitis Or Stricture Flare-Up

There are three forms of liquid nutrition that work very well during diverticulitis or an acute (narrowed/inflamed) stricture:

1.     Raw vegetable juicing – juice primarily vegetables, with only enough fruit added to make them palatable (or sweeten with stevia instead).

2.     Raw (unpasteurized) cow or goat milk – from pasture-fed animals only (not barn-raised and grain-fed).

3.     Absorb Plus elemental shakes

Each of these liquid nutrient sources are best when combined with homemade bone broths (Chicken and Beef Broth). You can derive your nutrients from only one of these sources, or you can mix and match and combine them together.

If you consume raw vegetable juices, buy organic or ‘no spray’ produce and juice fresh every day (or freeze portions to consume later). Make sure you consume enough juice to provide you with adequate energy each day. Or, combine raw juicing with raw milk or Absorb Plus to add the protein and good fats needed for energy.

You can find a raw milk supplier in your area by going to: www.RealMilk.com – just make sure the animals are pasture-fed only and the farmer tests regularly for pathogens.

Absorb Plus Elemental Nutrition for Diverticulitis & Stricture Flares

Absorb Plus is probably the easiest way to consume excellent nutrition during a flare. Since it was specifically formulated for people with all forms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), it contains many substances targeted to calm inflammation and promote mucosal healing of the intestines, like:

• 1000 mg of L-Glutamine per serving – primary substance used to rebuild the intestinal mucosal cell lining and used for muscle repair and growth
• L-Serine – needed for proper metabolism of fats and fatty acids, aids in production of immunoglobulins and antibodies
• L-Threonine – helps maintain protein balance in the body, aids formation of collagen and elastin
• L-Cystine – aids in skin formation, helps heal burns and wounds, assists in the supply of insulin to the pancreas
• L-Aspartic Acid – increases stamina, protects the liver, aids cell function and RNA/DNA formation
• L-Proline – used in healing cartilage, strengthens joints, tendons and the heart muscle
• L-Tyrosine – aids function of pituitary, adrenal and thyroid glands.

The ion-exchange whey protein in Absorb Plus also creates sustained increases in glutathione (a key antioxidant and antiviral) which creates resistance to a variety of diseases and carcinogens. Other components of whey protein isolate provide the following beneficial actions in the body:

• Alpha-lactalbumin consumption enhances tryptophan and immune function and reduces the stress hormone cortisol
• Tryptophan is used by the brain to manufacture serotonin. This is important because serotonin deficiency plays a role in the development of depression, anxiety, moodiness and insomnia

• Glycomacropeptides stimulate the hormone cholecystokinin, which is responsible for the release of pancreatic enzymes and the healthy contraction of the gallbladder and bowels
• Lactoferrin is an antioxidant that is also a powerful antiviral and antibacterial agent shown to inhibit the growth of E.coli, salmonella and candida in the gut. It also helps ensure the optimal use of iron in the body by binding to iron and preventing oxidation.

Whey protein is also an alkaline food, so it’s ideal for counteracting the usually hyper-acidic body pH levels of people with gastro-intestinal problems. If you have heartburn, don’t be surprised if it lessens or disappears after using Absorb Plus regularly – especially if you consume 3 or more servings per day.

Since Absorb Plus is 100% natural, most of the vitamins, minerals and trace minerals are natural-source extractions, the maltodextrin and fructose are certified non-GMO, the whey protein is lactose-free and cold-extracted – so the protein is not denatured, the amino acids are specifically targeted for gut inflammation and the flavors are certified organic – I think I can safely say that it is the highest quality elemental nutrition shake on the market.

If you’ve read the story of Absorb Plus, you’ll know that I originally formulated Absorb Plus to heal myself of intestinal hemorrhaging. Although I’m healthy now, I continue to use it whenever I’m too tired to cook or I simply don’t have time. Many of my readers use it for breakfast every morning, since it’s a great way to give themselves a healthy start to the day.

How Much Should I Take?

If you’re using Absorb Plus during a flare – or whenever you’re under stress, or likely to develop a flare – you should drink the number of shakes you require for your specific caloric needs each day.

Each Absorb Plus shake (blended with 1 tablespoon of cold-pressed flax or Udo’s oil) equals roughly 480 calories. Normal people usually require 15 calories per pound of body weight. So if you weigh 100 pounds, you need 1500 calories per day to maintain that weight. So you would consume three Absorb Plus shakes per day.

If you want to use this time to drop a few pounds, then you simply figure out how many calories you need to consume to maintain a weight that is 20 pounds less than your current weight – and consume the number of shakes needed to maintain that weight.

If you are malnourished or underweight, you can use this period of liquid nutrition to gain some muscle (healthy weight). In that case, you would take your ideal weight and multiply it by 20. So if you want to weigh 170 pounds, you need to consume 3400 calories per day; which is seven Absorb Plus shakes per day. If your infection is severe, or if you want to gain weight quickly, add another two shakes per day (so you would consume nine shakes per day).

How Long Should I Use Absorb Plus?

Ideally, it’s best to consume only liquid nutrition for entire duration of your flare-up. For some people, this means three days, for others, it means a few weeks. Since your diverticulitis or stricture flare-ups will depend on the severity of your disease, your environment (is it healing, or stressful?), other healing strategies or substances you are using, and your foundational level of health – your healing may be a lot faster, or a lot slower than someone else’s.

So, it’s best to listen to your own body and stay on Absorb Plus shakes for as long as your infection is acute and you are at risk of a blockage. It’s also best to alternate your Absorb Plus shakes with bone broths since the gelatin in the broth is very healing for the gut and the savoury soup provides needed taste variety.

When you’re ready to introduce solid foods again, start with pureed foods and soups to gradually ease yourself back into solid foods. You may want to stay on a mix of Absorb Plus shakes and soft foods for an additional week or two, just to be sure you are well over the flare and give your body the best time/space for healing.

In my continuing quest for cavity-free dental health for my family, I have taken a second look at fluoride. Whilst knowing that fluoride hardens tooth enamel very effectively, we have stayed away from it because of the negative systemic effects (toxicity and fluorosis).

As I took a second, more in-depth look at this mineral though, I came to realize that there is a big difference between ingested fluoride (fluoridated water, fluoride supplements) and topical fluoride (toothpaste, mouthwash, fluoride trays on your teeth at the dentist).

Watching my daughter receive three anesthetic injections prior to her latest dental work, I thought, “Okay, but which is more toxic to her body: fluoride toothpaste topically, or these drugs directly into her bloodstream?”

I’m also wondering about the synergy of using fluoride in toothpaste and then holding the Bone Support nano-sized minerals in the mouth immediately afterwards – would this re-mineralize the teeth further and provide even harder enamel?

“A report by Czechoslovakian researchers indicates that fluoride matters little when it comes to preventing tooth decay. A study of 745 children aged 6 to 14 years, from several localities of Czechoslovakia where the drinking water contains calcium and magnesium in large amounts, showed impressively fewer caries in these children than in others throughout the country. This finding was no surprise to other scientists who reported previously that calcium combined with magnesium has a beneficial effect on the resistance of teeth to caries. Interestingly, in all of the localities where tooth decay was below average, the fluoride content of the water was also low.” (Cesk. Stomat., May-June, 1966.)

“Fluoride gets a lot of the credit for preventing tooth decay that should go to magnesium, a University of Colorado dental researcher says. He is Dr. Lewis Barnett, who has been doing research into tooth decay since 1950. Barnett said that magnesium also strengthens teeth and bone. ‘It is just as feasible for communities to add magnesium to their water supplies,’ he said. Given a choice between fluoride and magnesium, Barnett said, he would choose magnesium.” (“Researcher Says Magnesium Aids Dental Health,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Aug. 28, 1966)

You’ll notice that these two quotes both referred to fluoride in the drinking water – not topically applied fluoride. As you read through this report, you’ll begin to understand what the difference and significance is between these two methods of usage.

What follows is a sampling of my research into the fluoride issue and what led me to my decision to try topical fluoride next for my family:

DOWNLOAD FLUORIDE USAGE REPORT HERE

And then please tell me your thoughts, questions and own stories in the COMMENTS section below…

Soar higher,
Jini

Jini Patel Thompson interviews Natasha Trenev – author of 5 books and founder of Natren probiotics – about probiotic usage and dosing for “normal” people, i.e. people without a chronic illness.

Natasha answers these common questions:

• Should “normal” people also take probiotics?
• What about prebiotics – do they help good bacteria to colonize and do you recommend them?
• Should you take probiotics during and after a course of antibiotics? And at what dosage?

Use these guidelines for all the members of your family and to pass along to friends.

Probiotic Dosing During Antibiotics Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1004)

Five days after the birth of my third child, Hugo, I was diagnosed with seven different bacterial infections. No one could figure out why/how they occurred, but the most serious involved two bacterial infections in my blood (sepsis) and also a bacterial lung infection (pneumonia).

As an aside: I know why they occurred – it involves a mind/body pathology and I’ve written briefly about it here. Back to my story…

Unfortunately, we do not have any naturopathic or holistic hospitals in Vancouver, so I had to check into a regular medical hospital BUT I agreed to do so only if my MD brother would oversee my treatment – thus ensuring my safety.

The first thing he did was to make them culture out the infective bacteria to identify the pathogens and see WHICH antibiotics were effective against the pathogens. Only then were they allowed to administer those antibiotics (which we knew would work).

This is not standard procedure. In many hospitals, they immediately start with a common antibiotic and hope it works. This means you could end up cycling through numerous antibiotic drugs until they find the one(s) that work. Obviously, this is not a good thing since drug antibiotics create a lot of collateral and systemic damage. Not to mention the extra time you’ll spend in a very unhealthy (infective) environment.

Next, my brother Millan researched the drugs they said I should receive for 10 days and discovered plenty of recent research showing a 7-day course was just as effective, so my treatment time was cut to seven days, rather than ten.

I took my own Natren probiotics into the hospital with me. Since I was on IV antibiotics, I didn’t worry about scheduling (normally you would take probiotics 2 hours after antibiotic dose), but just took 1 tsp. of each powder, 3x/day. I also did not touch the hospital food and instead drank Absorb Plus shakes (with all the healing supplements added as recommended in The IBD Remission Diet) and homemade broth for all my meals, along with Emergen-C. The Absorb Plus was doubly needed since my mouth had broken out in painful ulcers from the antibiotics.

Lastly, I brought in my own 100% cotton bedding and used a lambskin (from Ikea) for a mattress pad – this keeps you from breaking out in bed sores or pressure sores, the wool regulates your body temperature and it is just really comfortable. I also made sure the window was left open (just a bit) night and day to provide fresh air.

The woman in the bed next to me could not use the toilet, otherwise, I would have had to take extra precautions to ensure I didn’t pick up any infections from her feces. Regardless, I brought my own toilet paper and Kleenex.

At first, I didn’t want my children to visit and risk picking up an infection from the hospital (SARS, MRSA, etc.). But that was just too hard on all of us and so I had Ian bring them, but from the second they stood outside the hospital door, they had to clasp their hands behind their backs and were not allowed to touch anything (no door handles, elevator buttons, chairs, counters, etc.). In retrospect, it probably would have been easier to get them to put on a pair of disposable surgical gloves (available at any pharmacy).

When I checked out after a week in the hospital on IV antibiotics, my lungs still weren’t completely clear of fluid. So here’s what I did next to clear them, further heal the damage done by the antibiotics and ensure against any secondary or opportunistic infection:

Pneumonia Natural Treatment Protocol

- Acupuncture daily for 5 days, then 3x/week for a month, with infrared heat lamp on lungs.

- Intravenous Vitamin C (the Vitamin C must drip in slowly over 3 – 3.5 hours to be effective, no faster), 10 sessions, every other day

- Intravenous Hydrogen Peroxide, 10 sessions, every other day. This is the heavy-hitter antibiotic and although it gave me headaches on the day of treatment, it was well worth it.

- Inhaled Glutathione (through a nebulizer) 3 times/week

Something to keep in mind: Not only did  the infection clear completely and the fluid drain completely from my lungs, but there is also no residual scarring. It is now 4 years later and I have also not had pneumonia or any other bronchial infection occur during the winter.

This regimen would no doubt help viral infections as well – since between the Vitamin C and the Hydrogen Peroxide, you’ll pretty much kill everything and give the immune system a tremendous boost (glutathione is also key for immune system and detox.).

Unless you can find an integrative MD, all these therapies are available through a naturopathic (or perhaps an osteopathic doctor).

The only side effect is the IV hydrogen peroxide can sometimes cause a temporary headache in susceptible people. Also any good doc will proceed/test slowly with the IVs initially just to rule out rare allergies, etc.

I’m wary about trying hydrogen peroxide orally since my intuitive feel is that it might be too harsh for the GI tract. It would probably be fine for a normal person, but someone with a history of IBS or IBD would need to proceed/test very slowly; starting with diluted amounts and gradually building up to the recommended dose. Here’s a very detailed instruction manual for all methods of using hydrogen peroxide.

Something you can try at home is a Hydrogen Peroxide Footbath. I don’t know how well it works and haven’t tried it myself, but many MD’s have reported good results from it. Also, I know from applying progesterone to the soles of the feet that the uptake into the system is very good:

Hydrogen Peroxide Footbath

5 cups of warm water
8 ounces (1 cup) of 3.5% Hydrogen Peroxide (use food-grade to ensure purity)*
1 teaspoon of Epsom Salt
1 Foot tub (big enough to comfortably place your feet without crunching your toes).

Soak feet for 15 – 20 minutes. If redness or irritation occurs, the amount of peroxide used can be reduced. This foot soak is also used by diabetics to restore leg circulation.

*A 3.5% solution can be made quite easily by first pouring 1 ounce of food-grade 35% hydrogen peroxide into a pint jar. To this add 11 ounces of distilled water. This will make 12 ounces of 3.5% hydrogen peroxide. Be VERY careful when handling 35% hydrogen peroxide as it will burn your skin instantly on contact. If it’s in a plastic bottle, then direct the opening away from you when you open it, in case it spits some out from the pressure build-up.

Note:

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IF THE AUTO INDUSTRY OPERATED LIKE A PHARMACEUTICAL FIRM…
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This is a really fun (but at the same time sobering) article that highlights some of the problems with prescription drugs – use, manufacture, sale, price, etc.

On the positive side, as with anything in our world (factory farming, cell phone towers, GMO foods, etc.) industry follows the money. And what we spend our dollar on, determines what businesses stay in existence. So my doctor just informed me that the pharmaceutical reps are starting to present him with NATURAL remedies for ailments – like Iberogast. Change is a comin’…..

Also, this article came from an interesting health website with free e-books on topics you may be interested in.
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If the auto industry operated like Big Pharma: fifteen things you might notice

1. Your average car would cost $4.5 million, representing a 30,000% markup over cost, which is typical for prescription drugs. Automakers would justify this price by saying they needed the money to fund research and development, but in reality, most of their research would be funded by taxpayer dollars through government grants and university research centers.

2. That exact same car could be purchased in Mexico or Canada for under $5,000.

3. Automakers would lobby Congress to outlaw or regulate alternative forms of transportation such as bicycles and airplanes, forcing Americans to rely exclusively on cars.

Explanation: the drug industry works hard to discredit alternative medicine, herbs and nutritional supplements, hoping to force consumers to rely on drugs alone.

4. Cars with no safety systems (no seatbelts, no airbags, no crumple zones) would be declared perfectly safe by federal regulators. Car companies, rather than address this lack of safety features, would focus on publicizing the dangers of riding bicycles.

Explanation: the FDA currently approves deadly drugs as “safe.” Meanwhile, drug companies ignore the dangers of their own drugs and, instead, try to get people to believe that herbs or vitamins are dangerous.

5. The manufacturers of those cars with no safety systems would grow tired of being sued by customers who were injured in their cars, and they would lobby Congress to pass “legal reform” that would immunize all car companies against class action lawsuits.

Explanation: drug companies are currently trying to get Congress to pass laws that would make it illegal for consumers to sue for damages. This would shield them from the financial consequences of their dangerous products that kill hundreds of thousands each year.

6. All auto imports would be banned, forcing consumers to buy only U.S. manufactured cars. And if you bought a Toyota and drove it to the U.S., you might be arrested or searched.

Explanation: the FDA works hard to maintain a U.S. monopoly on all prescription drug sales. The agency once famously conducted a “drug raid” search of a bus load of senior citizens returning from Canada who had purchased nothing more than prescription medications.

7. Car companies would heavily publicize the release of new car models each year, but in reality, the new models would essentially be “me-too” cars with no real improvements over those made in the 1970′s. Explanation: most prescription drugs, even though they are touted as “breakthrough” drugs, are little more than me-too drugs that do nothing different than older, off-patent drugs.

8. Car crash dummy tests that produced fatalities and other disturbing data would be censored by the auto industry, never to see the light of day. Any safety scientist who produced such results would be blackballed from ever conducting crash tests again. Explanation: drug companies routinely bury clinical study results that show the dangers of their drugs. They specifically design studies in a way that exaggerates benefits and minimizes risks. Researchers who don’t “play ball” and help distort these drug trial results are blackballed and will never find work in the industry again.

9. Car dealers would be visited by hoards of automobile sales reps promising bribes, first-class vacations, free food and free cars as long as those car dealers would push the right products onto consumers. Explanation: drug companies spend billions each year on handouts to physicians, including outright bribes, fully-paid vacations to exotic resorts (disguised as “Continuing Medical Education” programs), free drug samples, and a never-ending supply of free lunches and other food items.

10. Driver’s education programs would be cancelled nationwide. Instead of teaching people how to avoid accidents or repair damaged cars, automakers would encourage people to keep buying new cars. Explanation: organized medicine doesn’t teach healthy safety or disease prevention. Instead, the entire system is designed around waiting for people to get sick, then treating them with expensive drugs, surgeries and other medical procedures. The system actually encourages chronic illness by neglecting to teach prevention.

11. Companies would make up new reasons why you need more automobiles, hoping to convince you to buy a dozen or more. They might say you need one car to make you feel happy, another for basic transportation, a third to match the color of your house, and so on. Explanation: drug companies frequently invent new, fictitious diseases, and then try to sell you drugs to treat those made-up afflictions. Examples include ADHD, FSD (female sexual dysfunction), General Anxiety Disorder, and other made-up diseases that have no purpose other than selling drugs. Essentially, Big Pharma wants to define everyone as diseased in some way, and then convince people they need a lifetime of prescription drugs to “manage” those diseases. From the moment you’re born, the drug companies say, you’re already diseased.

12. Car advertising would show happy, healthy people driving down country highways with the wind blowing through their hair. But once you get the car, you find out it breaks all the time, it doesn’t perform as promised, and after a couple of years, it won’t even start anymore. Explanation: prescription drugs are advertised with images of happy, healthy, youthful, energetic people. But the reality is that once you start taking prescription drugs, the health of your entire body and nervous system (brain included) starts to go downhill. People who take lots of prescription drugs are nearly always extremely unhealthy, with obvious disease physiology and muddled cognitive function.

13. Cars would be hyped to buyers with fancy, full-color brochures touting all the benefits of the vehicle. But federally-mandated warnings about car safety problems would be printed in 6-point type on a tiny label hidden under the driver’s seat. Explanation: drug companies are required by the FDA to print safety warnings on certain product labels and advertisements, but these warnings are almost always presented in an impossible-to-read format and are, therefore, routinely ignored by doctors and patients alike.

14. Driving certain cars would have unexpected side effects. Driving one car, for example, would make you extremely aggressive and violent… perhaps even suicidal. Driving another car might make all your muscles hurt. And a third car might make you feel an instant loss of sexual drive. Explanation: prescription drugs always have unintended side effects. Antidepressant drugs cause violent behavior and suicides. Statin drugs can cause severe muscle pain (rhabdomyolysis) and loss of cognitive function. They also block the production of cholesterol, the precursor to sex hormones.

… and finally …

15. Cars would be sold to you with high-priced features like a sunroof, air conditioning, 6-CD changer, navigation system and other items, but upon delivery, you would find none of the features you paid for. The car would be completely different from the one you thought you bought. Explanation: drugs are sold to patients with hyped-up promises of multiple health benefits. But once people start taking the drugs, they find the benefits were exaggerated. In other words, the drug they end up taking is nothing like the drug they thought they purchased — the drug advertised with all the features and benefits on TV.

NewsTarget Network (c)2004,2005 Mike Adams. All Rights Reserved.

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Detailed information on prescription drugs used for Crohn’s, colitis and IBS, why you should wean off them, and how to do this, are in LISTEN TO YOUR GUT, Chapter Five. Topics covered include:

- Suppression vs. Healing
- Symptoms Or Messages?
- Symptoms Or Side Effects?
- Immunosuppressive Drugs & Hormonal Health

“The Listen to Your Gut program is a tour-de-force in better understanding our body’s second brain. From the specificities of a wide variety of physical treatments, to probing the inner workings of our psyches and how they relate to our gut, it has something to offer almost anyone who has an intestinal tract. In fact, I have already recommended it to two friends with intestinal/rectal problems and begun using a few of the recommended supplements myself.”
- John W. Travis, MD, MPH
Co-author, Wellness Workbook: How to Achieve Enduring Health and Vitality Founder, first wellness center in USA Co-founder, Alliance for Transforming the Lives of Children
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In the last year or so, I’ve received a few emails from people suggesting that Absorb Plus is not actually an elemental diet product. And that only products with free form amino acids as their protein source qualify as “elemental”. Back when I first formulated Absorb Plus (in 1998), whey protein isolate was considered one of the best protein sources for an elemental diet. And at the time, the clinical studies on “elemental diets” varied between using free form amino acids, whey isolate, whey concentrate, egg albumin, etc. and all were considered acceptable ingredients in an “elemental” shake.

However, I’ve conducted a review of the current med literature and it seems that the definitions are shifting, but as yet, are still not clear. Here’s a summary…

According to the Medical Dictionary:

Elemental Diet – contains nutrients as small molecular weight compounds, i.e. proteins as amino acids or peptides, carbohydrates as oligosaccharides or monosaccharides, and fats as medium-chain triglycerides. Used in the treatment of gastrointestinal disease. Called also monomeric diet.

So according to that definition, whey isolate (which Absorb Plus contains) would qualify as an “elemental” product since it is a protein peptide.

However, according to this paper, Absorb Plus would be considered “semi-elemental” and a “specialized formula”:

The EN [elemental nutrition] formulas differ in their protein and fat content and can be classified as elemental (monomeric), semi-elemental (oligomeric), polymeric or specialized. Elemental formulas contain individual amino acids, glucose polymers, and are low fat with only about 2% to 3% of calories derived from long chain triglycerides (LCT) (3). Semi-elemental formulas contain peptides of varying chain length, simple sugars, glucose polymers or starch and fat, primarily as medium chain triglycerides (MCT) (3). Polymeric formulas contain intact proteins, complex carbohydrates and mainly LCTs (3). Specialized formulas contain biologically active substances or nutrients such as glutamine, arginine, nucleotides or essential fatty acids (Table 1). Although elemental and semi-elemental formulas cost about 400% more than polymeric formulas (4) they are still widely used because they are believed to be 1) better absorbed, 2) less allergenic, 3) better tolerated in patients with malabsorptive states and 4) cause less exocrine pancreatic stimulation in patients with pancreatitis.

(Source: Elemental and Semi-Elemental Formulas: Are They Superior to Polymeric Formulas? By Diklar Makola, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., Gastroenterology Fellow, University of Virginia Health System, Digestive Health Center of Excellence, Charlottesville, VA. PRACTICAL GASTROENTEROLOGY • DECEMBER 2005

In terms of taking this into the realm of practical application, I stand behind what I first discovered using elemental diets for myself and consequently wrote about in The IBD Remission Diet and that is that whilst free form amino acids are considered more ‘hypo-allergenic’, they are not often useful for inducing disease remission – because the person cannot gain weight and address malnutrition using only free form aminos. This becomes especially important when dealing with children on an elemental diet, who need to make up for lost growth and height.

I searched high and low to find the answer as to why people would not gain weight ingesting only free form amino acids as the protein source and finally learned why from a PhD in nutrition, who specialized in treating athletes: He said that the body will use free form amino acids more as a supplement (hormone pathways, mucosal lining, etc.), but it cannot use them to build muscle unless they piggy-back on a di-peptide (or higher) bond protein (like whey isolate). A really good paper that goes into this in detail is Protein digestion and amino acid and peptide absorption By D. B. A. SILK et al, Department of Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Central Middlesex Hospital, Proceedings of the Nutrition Society (1985), 44, 63-72

Yet more evidence that a semi-elemental diet is preferable to a strictly elemental diet is provided in numerous clinical trials, like this one with Crohn’s disease:

“A controlled trial was performed to compare enteral feeding with either an amino acid based feed or a whole protein feed as sole treatment for active Crohn’s disease.” In the group given the amino acid feed, 69% achieved remission within 3 weeks. In the whole protein feed, 72% achieved remission. But the interesting thing was, when researchers then switched the groups over onto the other diet – i.e. the amino acid group got switched to whole protein and the whole protein group got switched to amino acids only – 43% in the group switched to amino acids relapsed, but NONE of the group switched to whole protein relapsed.
(Source: Enteral feeding as sole treatment for Crohn’s disease: controlled trial of whole protein v amino acid based feed and a case study of dietary challenge. A H Raouf et al, Gut 1991;32:702-707)

So, as to whether Absorb Plus is an elemental or semi-elemental product, the jury’s still out. However, I would say the literature is evolving to eventually classify it as “semi-elemental”. But that will not take into account that back when many of the clinical trials were conducted on elemental diets, Absorb Plus was at that time considered elemental and so can reference these results for expected outcomes. Although, not really.

Because keep in mind that the IBD Remission Diet is NOT just a straight elemental diet, like those used in the medical clinical trials – it is so much more and I will do another blog post specifically on the differences. Likewise, Absorb Plus differs significantly in ingredients and quality from the pharma elemental products used in clinical trials – so in my opinion, the outcomes are likely not comparable; I would think using Absorb Plus and the IBD Remission Diet would result in much higher remission rates than current clinical trials indicate.

Then there is yet another ambiguous term in play in the world of elemental diets: hydrolyzed whey protein, or, hydrolysates. Again, it is difficult to pin down a consistent definition of this substance – that is used consistently throughout the literature. Here are two definitions that are pretty similar, but again, one includes peptide proteins and the other only free form amino acids.

Protein Hydrolysate – a sterile solution of amino acids and peptides prepared from a protein by acid or enzymatic hydrolysis and used intravenously for the maintenance of positive nitrogen balance in severe illness, after surgery of the alimentary tract, in the diets of infants allergic to milk, or as a high-protein dietary supplement.

OR

Protein Hydrolysate - a mixture of amino acids prepared by splitting a protein with acid, alkali or enzyme. Such preparations provide the nutritive equivalent of the original material in the form of its constituent amino acids and are used in special diets or for patients unable to take the ordinary food proteins.

Sounds like protein hydrolysates would be highly tolerated and nicely hypo-allergenic if used in an elemental diet shake, right? But again, we have the same problem with it being difficult to build muscle from these formulas. And the other huge problem is that hydrolysates are incredibly bitter in flavor, thus difficult to ingest and usually paired with lots of synthetic, artificial flavoring agents to make them palatable. Many however, are just pumped in via a stomach shunt, or intravenously.

If, for some reason, you cannot tolerate Absorb Plus and you must use a free form amino acid elemental formula, then the best ones (natural, no nasties added) I’ve found are the Alpha formulas from Nutramed. Most of the mainstream pharmaceutical formulas contain a truck-load of sugar, really high oil content and artificial flavors, colors, etc. – so although they can be cheaper, they are not what I would call a ‘health product’. In fact, here’s a quick price comparison of elemental shake products.

For a probiotic to have reliable, therapeutic results, it must fulfill ALL of the six criteria listed to below to ensure safety, potency and bioavailability:

1. Manufactured in a cGMP Facility and stored in dark, glass bottles only

Make sure the probiotic is manufactured in a facility that carries the cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practices) certification, otherwise you risk consuming a contaminated product. Contaminants could consist of lead, mercury (and other poisonous heavy metals), and undesirable bacteria. A 1990 independent laboratory study found that nine out of ten brands of popular Lactobacillus acidophilus probiotics actually contained no acidophilus at all. All nine contained contaminants and other species of lactobacilli instead. Probiotics are also sensitive to (and damaged by) light and moisture. Only a glass bottle will keep out all moisture – all plastic is permeable to varying degrees of moisture. In addition, the glass must be dark (or amber colored) to keep out light, which also damages bacteria.

2. Different species must not be touching each other

Different species of bacteria placed together will compete for space and try to dominate each other, resulting in competitive exclusion by the dominant species. In vitro studies have shown that when you place different species together, the dominant (strongest) species will usually produce bacteriocins that kill closely related species.(1)

Therefore, each species (eg. acidophilus, bifidum, bulgaricus) must be kept in its own bottle or in separate capsules. Refrigeration does not prevent this from happening either, since certain bacteriocins have proved stable at temperatures as low as -20 degrees Celcius. I know most probiotic manufacturers sell regular capsules or powders with anywhere from 3 to 14 different species packaged together in one jar, or one capsule. Again, I’m absolutely mystified as to why they do this. However, check the bottle and you’ll see that none of these manufacturers guarantees the number of live, viable bacteria in their product at the time of opening, or consumption. Nor do they guarantee how many of each species and strain remains alive and viable for effective colonization in the gut at time of consumption. See Quality Concerns below.

3. Probiotics must be kept refrigerated at all times

The bacteria need to be stored in a fridge at the store and they must also be shipped in refrigerated trucks to the store. Heat quickly kills bacteria and even at room temperature they will become active and soon live out their life cycle – think of what happens if you leave yoghurt on the counter. The best way to preserve bacterial potency is by keeping it cold at all times, until you’re ready to ingest it. Freeze drying is the best method of preserving the bacteria and for this to be maintained, they must be kept very cold at all times until you’re ready to ingest them. Of course, keep your probiotics refrigerated at home too.

4. Strain and number of bacteria per serving must be listed on the bottle

Only certain strains of bacteria are potent and effective (eg. L. bulgaricus DDS-14 is excellent, L. bulgaricus DDS-13 is useless – remember, ‘bulgaricus’ is the species, ‘DDS-14′ is the strain). If the manufacturer just lists ‘acidophilus’ for example, chances are they’ve used a cheap and ineffective strain of L. acidophilus. There are approximately 200 identified strains of L. acidophilus, of these, only 13 have good antibiotic (against bad bacteria) qualities, thus, the strain is indeed very important. They must also list the number of bacteria guaranteed per serving (and this should be between 2-5 billion colony forming units per serving) at the time of opening. This guarantee is key: If a manufacturer only guarantees the number of bacteria at the time of manufacture, this is meaningless. At manufacture, a bottle may contain 2 billion cfu (colony forming units) per serving – however, by the time that bottle gets to you, the bacteria may be mostly dead. Another trick to watch out for is that manufacturers will list (for example) two different strains of L. acidophilus, one of which is a good strain and the other a cheap useless one. Then they will list the total guaranteed bacteria per serving at 2 billion cfu. However, they haven’t told you how much of that total count is the effective strain and how much is the ineffective one. It’s also a good idea to use human strains (vs. bovine or porcine strains) for safety’s sake.

5. Avoid centrifuged or filter-extracted bacteria

The cheapest way of extracting the bacteria from their growing culture is by centrifuge extraction. In centrifugal extraction, the bacteria (which are embedded/attached to their growth medium) are put in a centrifuge and whirled around with great force at high speed. This greatly damages the bacteria as they’re hurled against the walls of the centrifuge and many of them are left ruptured and useless. However, the manufacturer can still put this damaged, ruptured bacteria in a bottle and include it in the guaranteed count per serving. Technically, you’ll still be ingesting that amount of bacteria, it just won’t do you any good. In ultrafiltration extraction methods, the bacteria are pressed through a filter that removes the larger molecules of their growth medium. However, when bacteria are growing in their culture, they form into chains as they multiply. Ultrafiltration results in the breakup of these chains, separates the bacteria from their beneficial growth medium (supernatant) and can also damage the bacteria themselves. The best method of preserving bacteria (and the most expensive) is to freeze dry it along with its growth medium. Many scientists maintain it’s best to consume bacteria along with it’s growth medium (also known as the substrate or supernatant) since this protects the bacteria from stomach acid and provides a ready food source for the bacteria to consume as they establish themselves in your gastrointestinal tract. Also, as the bacteria grow in the culture (of milk or vegetable matter), the growth and culturing process produces valuable substances such as vitamins, antioxidants, immune system factors, antimicrobial compounds and digestive enzymes that greatly benefit your body when ingested. Make sure your brand of bacteria states on the bottle that it doesn’t use ultrafiltration or centrifugal extraction methods (if it doesn’t say so, chances are it does use these methods) and ideally, purchase bacteria that is freeze dried along with its growth medium.

6. Avoid prebiotics

Some companies package their probiotics with fructooligosaccharides (FOS) and/or inulin – indigestible substances referred to as prebiotics, which they claim feed the bacteria, thereby improving performance. Keep in mind though, that many bacteria (both good and bad) can feed on these substances. So if you have a predominantly bad bacterial flora (as most, if not all people with IBD do) consuming prebiotics may exacerbate your symptoms. Also, most FOS is manufactured via chemical synthesis and in many instances has been shown to cause abdominal pain, bloating and gas. I especially don’t recommend it for people with IBS or IBD. Also avoid FOS and inulin in vitamin/mineral supplements, whey protein powders, etc. Be sure to read labels as it’s become popular to add it to all kinds of products. For perfectly healthy people with an established good bacterial flora, prebiotics are probably okay, especially if they are not able to obtain these substances naturally through a good diet.

If you’ve read any of my books, you’ll know that the only probiotics I’ve found so far that meet all of these selection criteria are Natren brand. And I’m also a big fan of making your own yoghurt using Natren’s Yoghurt Starter and lacto-fermenting veggies – to get ongoing food-source probiotics in your diet.

Health Canada put out a pretty good discussion paper on probiotics, which addressed some of these concerns about most probiotics not being manufactured or stored properly to ensure potency. Here are just a few highlights from that paper:

Impact of processing, environment and diet on probiotic bacteria

“Probiotics in NHPs [natural health products] and foods are fragile and particularly sensitive to processing conditions (such as freezing, drying, exposure to oxygen) and to storage conditions (such as room temperature, oxygen, moisture).”

Quality Concerns

“A significant quality issue for probiotic supplements is the viability of bacteria in the product, specifically how many organisms are alive when the consumer purchases it as many products claim only the amount at the time of manufacture. As well, the product should contain the bacterial species that it claims on the label, and potentially pathogenic microorganisms should not be present.

A recent Canadian study assessed whether commercially prepared probiotic products contained viable organisms, as claimed by the manufacturers, and particularly whether products labeled as containing Lactobacillus did so.(2) An additional objective of the research was to identify and quantify as many species as feasible and to compare them with the contents listed on labels. The design was randomized, double-blind trial of 10 brands of probiotic preparations bought over-the-counter in British Columbia ‘s lower mainland. Only products claiming to contain Lactobacillus were included in the study. The study measured the viable organisms in each probiotic brand and quantities of Lactobacillus in each product.

The results showed that none of the 10 products tested matched their labeled microbiologic specifications and two brands grew nothing aerobically or anaerobically. No Lactobacillus grew in five brands, although their labels stated that this was the main species. Eight brands contained viable cells, but only 10% of the number stated by their manufacturers. Most product labels did not adequately identify or quantify microbes which led the author to conclude that the use of probiotics should not be recommended at this time.

In research conducted by a media outlet and broadcasted in 2003(3), two different probiotic capsules were each tested twice, including newly stocked retail product to determine the number of live bacteria and secondly near the end of the product’s shelf life to test if the counts had fallen. The first label claimed 6 billion live cultures per capsule but testing showed only 1.7 billion and within two weeks, millions more bacteria died, with 460 million still alive. The second product did contain the label claim of more than one billion in the first test. But on the follow-up test, 692 million bacteria remained alive.

Dr. Gregor Reid, director, Canadian Research and Development Centre for Probiotics, Lawson Health Research Institute, and professor of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Ontario , London was quoted on the program as stating “This is particularly disheartening, as you’re getting a massive drop in viability, even within two weeks. You’ve picked two products but you could have picked 10 or 15 and, according to European studies, you’d find the same kind of results where you get a drop off in viability.”

Research has further shown that products should contain between one million and one billion live bacteria to be efficacious.(4) The media program concluded by stating that ” … manufacturers can say whatever they want on those containers. That’s because there are no Canadian government regulations on how much live bacteria there should be, and no rules on what labels have to tell us about quantity”.”

References:

(1) “Lactobacillus and bifidobacterium in irritable bowel syndrome: Symptom responses and relationship to cytokine profiles” by Liam O’Mahony et al. Gastroenterology March 2005;128:541-551,783-785

(2) Huff, B.A. 2004. Caveat emptor. “Probiotics” might not be what they seem. Can. Fam. Physician. Apr. 50:583-7.

(3) CBC MARKETPLACE: PROBIOTICS. Testing bacteria levels. September 9, 2003. www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/ files/food/yogurt/

(4) Reid G, Jass J, Sebulsky MT , McCormick JK. 2003. Potential uses of probiotics in clinical practice. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 16:658-672.