Category Archives: Health & Nutrition

If you’ve got an hour, this is a good video. Dr. John Bergman, D.C., talks about Leaky Gut Syndrome … what it is, what causes it, what cures it.

Interesting points I noted while watching …

• The sympathetic part of the nervous system controls “fight or flight” while the parasympathetic part controls “rest, digest, and repair.” I’ve heard those words in the context of stress control, but didn’t really understand what they meant. It’s actually quite simple!
• A researcher Bergman cites suggests that things like vaccines, antibiotics, pesticides, and stress, only INDIRECTLY cause problems, like autism, which are now epidemic in our culture. The DIRECT problem they cause is gut dysfunction, which in turn causes all the other stuff.
• This makes total sense to me. There are pounds of beneficial bacteria and yeast living on the lining of a healthy gut. These probiotics interact with the Central Nervous System and also make up 80% of the human immune system. So duh … if you mess up the gut biome, you will in turn mess up your physical, mental and emotional health!
  

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Resistant starch reaches the large intestine undigested, where the friendly bacteria can eat it and grow stronger and more numerous.

The friendly bacteria that eat resistant starch excrete short-chain fatty acids, such as butyrate, which is the preferred fuel of the human cells that line the colon wall.

The short-chain fatty acids that aren’t used by the cells in the colon wall can travel via the bloodstream to the liver and other parts of the body where they have various beneficial effects.

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New research finds that probiotics can reduce negative thoughts.

Research from the Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition in The Netherlands has determined that one’s gut bacteria affect negative thinking, which is defined as a spiraling of thinking that takes a person from one negative thought to the next.

The research studied 40 healthy people for four weeks. The group was split into two groups. One group was given a probiotic supplement each day. The other group was given a placebo for the same period. This was a triple-blind study.

After the four weeks, the patients were tested for negative thinking and cognitive reactivity for moods of sadness. The researchers found a significant reduction in negative thinking among the probiotic group. They also had lower cognitive reactions to sadness compared with the placebo group.

Source:

• http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/probiotics-reduce-negative-thinking

This article is worth reading in full.

Excerpt:

The Los Angeles Probation Department, after reviewing the evidence in Alexander Schauss’s Diet, Crime and Delinquency has banned candy, soda, chocolate, sugar and refined flour products from its juvenile centers. Schuss says “…when a person is placed on a good diet, at least it gives him or her the chemistry to respond to direction, information and education. There have been a lot of programs, a lot of studies, and not one of them has failed to show substantial results.“

• https://drcarolyndean.com/2018/02/diet-and-drugs-are-the-problem-not-guns/

Calcium and magnesium must be kept in balance for proper cellular function to occur.

Animation demonstrates the interaction of calcium and magnesium at a cellular level.

Seven toxic chemicals commonly found in fabric softeners:

1. Alpha-Terpineol: This causes central nervous system disorders and can also cause loss of muscular coordination, central nervous system depression, and headache.

2. Benzyl Alcohol: This causes central nervous system disorders, headaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, central nervous system depression, and, in severe cases, death.

3. Camphor: This is on the US EPA’s Hazardous Waste list. It is a central nervous system stimulant that causes dizziness, confusion, nausea, twitching muscles, and convulsions.

4. Chloroform: This is on the EPA’s Hazardous Waste list. It is neurotoxic and carcinogenic.

5. Ethyl Acetate: This is on the EPA’s Hazardous Waste list. It is a narcotic. It may cause headaches and narcosis (stupor).

6. Linalool: This is a narcotic that causes central nervous system disorders. In studies of animals, it caused ataxic gait (loss of muscular coordination), reduced spontaneous motor activity, and depression.

7. Pentane: This causes headaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, drowsiness, and loss of consciousness. Repeated inhalation of vapors causes central nervous system depression.

What else can you use to soften your clothes? Wool dryer balls.  3 balls for small/med load, 5-6 for large.  You can buy a six-pack here for $17, which is a heckuva deal, since the 3 skeins of 100% pure wool yarn you’d need to make your own costs nearly that much:

But if you want to make your own, maybe cuz you already have wool yarn scraps in your craft stash, simple instructions are posted here:

How To Make Wool Dryer Balls

Sources:

• https://healthylivinghowto.com/healthy-body-7-toxic-reasons-to-ditch-dryer-sheets/
• https://www.naturalnews.com/002693_personal_care_products_dryer_sheets.html

Check your prenates for choline. Prenatal vitamins have not contained it in the past, but research has inspired the AMA to vote to include it. I dunno how long it’ll take manufacturers to get a round tuit, though, so if yours does not contain choline, seriously consider buying it separately. It’s important to brain development.

Screenshot from Consumer Lab:

We got one of these for Christmas. It’s BRILLIANT, especially in a hot shower. HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who has “hot” trigger points, especially in back where it’s hard to reach on your own.

http://www.theracane.com/

Most carnivores, particularly men, are able to meet their iron requirements from food alone. Young children and pregnant, menstruating, and lactating women have higher requirements and vegetarians have more trouble absorbing what they eat, because the iron in plant sources is absorbed only half as well as that from animal sources.

If you or your doctor decide to include an iron supplement in your diet, here are a few tips:

• Taking iron with Vitamin C improves the uptake of the iron.
• Antacids, soy protein, coffee and tea, eggs, whole-grain cereals and breads, and spinach decrease uptake. Separate these foods from your iron supplement by one hour.
• Calcium, zinc, manganese, magnesium or copper supplements decrease uptake. Separate mineral supplements from iron supplements by two hours.

Taking iron on an empty stomach improves uptake, but it also upsets lots of tummies.

• If your iron supplement gives you a tummy ache, take it with a meal and/or switch to a different form.  Ferrous bisglycinate, ferrous glycinate, or iron amino acid chelates are supposed to be tolerated better.
• If your iron supplement makes you constipated, try a different form. The type of iron in each supplement is listed on the label.

I suffered internal bleeding in 2016, losing enough blood that it took a year on iron supplements to get back to normal. The first one I tried made me itch. Simply changing brands solved the problem.

Excessive iron intake can be harmful. Don’t take too much!

Upper Limits:

• Ages under 13: 40 mg per day
• Ages over 13: 45 mg per day

The RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) is the minimum needed to avoid deficiency.

Ages 1-3: 7 mg
Ages 4-8: 10 mg
Ages 9-13: 8 mg
Ages 14-18: Males 11 mg; Females 15 mg
Ages 19 and older: Males 8 mg; Females 15 mg
Ages 19 to 50: Females: 18 mg
Ages 51 and older: Females: 8 mg
Pregnancy: 27 mg
Breast-feeding women younger than age 18: 10 mg
Breast-feeding women ages 19 and older: 9 mg
Following blood donation: 37.5 mg

Source:

• https://www.consumerlab.com/reviews/iron-supplements-review/iron/