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Health and Wellness Headlines for August 17

Pivio: The Complete Health Improvement Program

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on August 16, 2022, 7:00 am.

Learn about this community-based education program informing physicians and patients alike about the power of nutrition as medicine. “The … Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


Which Diet Works Even Better the Longer You Do It?

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on August 11, 2022, 7:00 am.

The most well-published community-based lifestyle intervention in the medical literature is also one of the most effective. CHIP, the Comple… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


The “Optimal Diet” Is Put to the Test

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on August 9, 2022, 7:00 am.

The CHIP program (now called Pivio) has attempted to take the pioneering lifestyle medicine work of Pritikin and Ornish and spread it out in… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


Secretin for Autism

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on August 4, 2022, 7:00 am.

The secretin story holds an important lesson that extends far beyond autism. “Many families, if not a majority of families” with a child… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


Ginger Powder as a Pain-Killer

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on August 2, 2022, 7:00 am.

There have been at least eight randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials of ginger for pain. You may recall that I’ve previously… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


Foods That Improve Sexual Function in Women

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on July 28, 2022, 7:00 am.

Addyi (flibanserin), the drug marketed for “hypoactive sexual desire disorder,” is ineffective and unsafe. What about dietary approaches… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.

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Symptoms of Heavy Metal Toxicity

Microphone and Computer; this broke my heart.
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The symptoms of heavy metal toxicity can manifest in many different ways including diarrhea, nausea, chills, etc. Because of the many different symptoms that often mimic other conditions, it can be difficult to determine if you have heavy metal toxicity. Fortunately, there are some steps you can take now that can help support your body’s detoxification pathways in filtering out metals and other toxins.

Show Notes:

00:00:01 – 00:05:03

Welcome to the green wisdom health podcast, with Doctor Stephen and Janet Lewis, where you will learn about natural solutions to common ailments. And now, here are your hosts doctor Stephen and Janet Lewis. Hello and welcome to the green wisdom health show. I’m Janet Lewis. And I’m doctor Lewis. And today we are going to discuss heavy metal toxicity. The name of this show is called symptoms of heavy metal toxicity. Doctor Lewis, can you tell us why you felt the need to discuss heavy metals? He’s thinking about why he’s discussing heavy metals. It goes back to the 70s in the music, but no, not really. Well, you know, I’ve talked about being toxic off and on for many, many years, even before we got into this. And I noticed that as I tried to fix people’s joint pain, nerve pain, musculoskeletal pain, that if I would put people on something that could displace toxins, heavy metals and others, that their pain would get much, much better. Much more quickly, they could achieve or we could achieve the goals with fewer adjustments and less time. So I think we should always be taking up new trends to help our bodies detox, not just metals, but other things. And the side effect of being cleaner is deep sleep. You know, most of us don’t get the deep restorative sleep, which not having good sleep actually helps induce leaky gut, which we’ve talked about. And that can lead to insulin resistance. So when we talk insulin resistance, we’re talking about pre diabetic or diabetic. And it can lack of the sleep can lead to actually autoimmune disorders. We’re seeing more and more autoimmune disorders and people say, well, what’s chiropractor doing? Talking about, oh, no immune disorders. Well, guess what? That has a lot to do with osteoarthritis, which I’ve already gotten most of that podcast written for the future about how osteoarthritis can be helped with nutrients as well as the chiropractic adjustments. But to get deep restorative sleep puts you in a better position to detox and heavy metal is a big part of that. You know, I think a lot of people out there don’t really realize they’re even exposed to heavy metals and they’re probably thinking, well, I’m not around any of that. So, I’m not really sure how it pertains to me, but there’s good metals like zinc and copper and iron that are beneficial for your health, but there’s also some very toxic ones like cadmium, arsenic, chromium, lead mercury, you know, and people are like. Yeah, and where do you get those bad ones from? Is everyone exposed to one or more of those? Absolutely. And people say, I’m not exposed to that. It’s like, yeah, you are, you just don’t know it. I mean, if you walked into a newly sprayed build and has had pesticides in it, or even new building materials or the outgassing of carpets and those are not necessarily metals, but they can be seen in styrene and Styrofoam cups. There’re so many toxins in the world. If you’re not exposed to it, one of the polar bears have thyroid problems in osteoporosis. We don’t spray anything up there. And we’ll probably go over a list today. And I’ve always said, please don’t try to diagnose yourself at all, but if you don’t diagnose yourself off this list because of these lists, we may say, well, this is hypothyroidism. Well, it could also be leaky good. It can be chronic fatigue, syndrome. And you know, I had a kid one-time, young man who was not very developed, and you could tell he had some problems. And he brought me a book and says, here, what do you think about it? And it was only focused on mercury. Well, mercury is a bad thing. And if you’re drinking or eating anything with high fructose corn syrup, you are getting mercury. It’s that bad. High fructose corn syrup. And it’s not just people say, but I don’t drink soft drinks. Well, it’s in your ketchup and barbecue sauce. Check the ingredients. But it’s got too much mercury in it. So, I told this guy a young man. I said, yeah, taken out the mercury is a good thing. And I read the book. It was a pretty good book, but I said, the problem is there’s so many chemicals in our environment. And there’s about 5 new ones each day that join the 80 to 85,000 in that includes anti-inflammatory drugs and antibiotics and that can have a very negative effect on the health of your intestinal flora.

00:05:04 – 00:10:20

So when we talk about detox, I try to skim over it because Janet says sometimes I get too technical. They’re smarter people than me, but I’m really good practitioner. So we talk about liver methylation sulfation, acetylation, there’s a lot of different liver detox pathways. We don’t talk about the P450 cytochrome pathway very much, but you have to have extra nutrients in order to allow your body to kick that in gear because you do not get enough nutrients inside of your food. It’s impossible. You can not do it. So 80 to 85,000 different toxins in our environment in many of those are metals. Well, and then to make it in little simpler form for some of us that don’t understand all the scientific words like myself, there are some common symptoms that you could experience if your body is high and toxic metals. One of them is headaches. Abdominal pain, especially the headaches in the morning. Oh, really? Why the morning? Because that’s when the body is geared to dump. Especially in bladder. And most of us are behind. That’s why Janice is famous for her. Well, if you’ve got three trains going into a tunnel, have any trains should come out. That means if you’re eating three meals, you need to have two or three baobabs per day. That makes sense because that’s 5 to 7 in the morning. Chinese body clock. Yeah, that’s the meridian. And the thing about it is it’s complicated and I’m not being glib when I tell people we’ve made an intelligent educated decision about what you should take when you should take it. But then you need to throw it in and let God sort it out because one of the things that’s killing us faster than anything is the stress over trying to do it perfectly or the stress over trying to do it halfway. So will make a good decision and I tell my patients use your discerning spirit or your intuition. And then follow up and never lose your faith. Some more symptoms of toxic toxicity in your body from heavy metals is nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, chills, and a general feeling of weakness. One of the complaints that I’ve heard just a few times, well, I got on your supplements, and I had diarrhea, or I had a loose stools, and I said, well, you know, we can slow it down, but can you realize that that’s your body trying it has the nutritional aspect to increase detoxification that your body tried to detox? Now, we can slow it down and make it comfortable. That’s very important. But for God’s sight, don’t quit. That’s a good thing. People say, but I’m not comfortable taking this this, this. I said, well, you know, throwing up makes me sick. I mean, I’m ugly. UGLY I’m ugly when I throw up. But I know that’s a good thing because my body’s getting rid of toxins. Yeah, that is something that a lot of our clients say is like, well, this made me uncomfortable. I’m having a little more diarrhea it smells bad. I’m not used to going to the bathroom this much. It is very common that our supplements will start dragging out toxic things. You have to think about if it’s not coming out and it’s just sitting there and then you don’t do anything with it for years. What does what does that lead to down the road? We had a lady I don’t know if his early this week late last week. My urine stinks to high heaven. And she was kind of embarrassing that. And slime well, that’s a good thing. Here’s the thing. People signed by my son. I heard this. My son has acne. I said, well, he’s not pooping enough. Well, he poops once or twice a week. I said, well, the primary channels of elimination is the colon and through the bladder, urinary tract and Cullen. And if you’re not getting an out fast enough, it’s going to try to come out through the skin. That’s a secondary path of elimination. It’s true. And more severe and chronic cases of heavy metal poisoning include burning and tingling sensations, brain fog, insomnia, paralysis, and chronic infections, and that seems to be we’re hearing more and more people telling us they’re having the burning and tingling sensation and a lot of brain fog. So possibly it’s heavy metal issues that need to have need to be dealt with. So I guess if you have this in your body, is there a way to pull these things out? Do you have certain supplements that pull those type things out? Doctor Lewis? We talked the other day when I think it was Casey that was here that there are definitely some things that you can take.

00:10:21 – 00:15:04

The environmental detox is very, very popular with our people. It’s got the Z a lot clay, the activated charcoal, shallow sheet, which is fully fulvic acid in humic acid. It’s a really incredible product. That works really, really well. And I tell people, then you need to go through the Malta minerals, but you want to do it at a different time because you want to make sure that the activated charcoal and zealots not getting the good minerals. I’m a big fan of our active mega multi and it’s got some good minerals in it. But just as a matter of real estate, so to speak, the amount of room that it takes, it’s good to take not just the multi vitamin, but the multi minerals also ours has calcium magnesium zinc, selenium, manganese, chromium, potassium, sulfate, which is great for blood sugar and insulin resistance. And in boron, folks, if you don’t get it up on, you can’t have strong bones, especially if you’re a woman. Man, if you don’t have enough boron, which is almost impossible to get out of your diet, you can’t build testosterone. They perked up when they heard testosterone. So the minerals are a really, really good thing. It’s a smart thing, but it helps to bind with these heavy metals. And I said manganese. Well, manganese, it depends on the form. You know, I’ve talked about research where a welders that were exposed to the fumes had higher levels of manganese and in higher neurodegenerative effects. Abnormal effects on the nervous system. But it’s the wrong form of manganese. So you have to be careful. And I’ve talked about this over and over again. I’m going to keep doing it when it says tracks, TRA, CS, which are in every time that it’s possible that stands for the real amino acid chelate system. And you get up to 20 times more absorbable. One of my favorite ones is our reduced glutathione. And doctor Lewis can tell you exactly why it works, but I know that it helps immune system also by detoxifying and gives energy. So that one is really good. It’s quick. I know that if you do too much of it and you don’t do something about it, it can build up and not come out well. I mean, I know that. It’s like you can overdo glutathione as well, right? Well, you have to make sure you’re drinking a lot of water. The water is the universal solvent. They taught me that in chemistry a million years ago. Alcohol is a solution, but waters the universal solvent so don’t think vodka is the other clear drink. It’s water, water, water, and it needs to be filtered. Reverse osmosis is my preference. But so you have to make sure that when you’re giving your body the nutrition for it to crank up the mitochondria or the energy producers, so that it binds these toxins or conjugates them that happens in the liver, that’s why I always pay attention to liver for those of you that are patients. You’ve got to make sure that it’s going through. So if you have thick bile, then I will recommend terrain because that thins the bowel and if you thin it, then it goes through your fatty liver, which many of us have. Because of decades of too much high fructose corn syrup and mercury. When it ends the body goes through the liver through the gallbladder and squishes out into the small intestine. More readily, so it detoxes a lot faster, but you have to have a massive amount of good probiotics in the small intestine because the probiotics actually affect. In a good way. When the microbiome of the small intestine and that has to do with conjugating and keeping these conjugated harmful products from unconjugated and becoming toxic and be in reabsorbed, so that’s why good bowel movements and fiber is super, super important because this glutathione, some people call it the master, antioxidant. I think we’ll get in trouble for this, but I think sometimes Janet has a tendency too.

00:15:05 – 00:20:01

Oh yeah, she’s looking at me. Waiting to see what I’ve done now. Wait to see what kind of trouble I’m creating for myself. But I think sometimes she overdoses on things she gets really excited. She was taken, I said, you know, you’re 5, 430 pounds. And she says, Steven, I’m not that fat. Okay, well, I think three glutathione might be a bit much, honey. Please, I’m sorry for whatever I did. But glutathione is incredible for detoxification. And as you detoxify, you increase your immune system health. Immune activation and as you do that, you’re less prone to have the autoimmune diseases that we see develop more and more and more. That really does help brain fog though. I can tell you that the reduced glutathione really helps quickly to reduce the brain fog. Yeah, and to tie this together because many of you that are listening are already patients. I tell people, well, if you have brain fog, it’s usually because you have too much candy. They create something called foundation, steel, or have you had the inability to utilize thymine that you don’t get enough of anyway. So that goes back to if you have all these things going on and bad metals are famous for adversely affecting the microbiome. And that’s why I candida can go into overgrowth and that’s why you have to promote the use of and the growth of good probiotics and you have to be consistent with it because even glyphosate that people say on glyphosate is not bad for you. We got most Vietnam veterans or dead because of H and orange, look up glyphosate and H and orange and compare the two. It changes the glyphosate in our foods. Changes the microbiome, which lets the candida go ballistic, which steals your thumb in, which causes brain fog and brain fog can be just from, oh my God, I got too much aluminum. You get aluminum because we’re consuming it out of our canned goods. These fast foods hang on. I have a sneeze. I thought he was going to whisper two weeks. Most of these pre package that I’m trying to sneeze. That’s another avenue of detoxification. But most of our foods that we buy better prepackaged are cooked in huge aluminum vats. Think about that for a minute. Mercury, I had two different dentists that would get the amalgam mercury fillings, mercury amalgam fillings, out of teeth, and both on us bat crazy. But I felt better. Now, what’s that all in my head or was it because I got more mercury out of my system. Now, one of them just took it out, drilled it out, and of course you’re inhaling those vapors and I got 6, 6, 6, and my liver enzymes went crazy high. The other dentist was much more meticulous. She loves that word, and she’s an incredible person, perfectionist, meticulous dentist. She used the rubber dam and got the rest of my amalgam fillings out. And I didn’t get sick at all. So I got the mercury out. Now, whether it’s in my head or real, I don’t know, but I felt better. And my headaches went way, way down in frequency, Janet mentioned, headaches, and my blood pressure went way down. Well, and you get a lot of the mercury two out of the different kinds of fish that you eat. I know like the larger fish like swordfish, king mackerel, tuna, Marlin, are all bigger carriers of mercury. Because I have more time to bow accumulate as they’re eating the little fish, and it just accumulates in the body. And I kind of like tuna, but we make sure we buy the young. Smaller tuna. The young tuna? Yeah. We do. I don’t know. I never looked at, I guess, I always let you pick that out. So I guess we’re buying baby tuna. I don’t know. Maybe tuna. I know on salmon that little fat. That Brown thing at the bottom, I used to think you were supposed to eat that. And the first time I was even, I first started dating, he goes, what do you eat in that? And I said, it was part of the same and he goes, that’s where all the metals are stored all the toxins. And I was like, oh my God. Now I can’t stand it. It’s that little colored brown strip. And I don’t know why these chefs don’t scoop it out with a spoon, but I cut it out. You’re going to help yourself.

00:20:01 – 00:25:06

If you just do that much and you know I like research polluted air causes high blood pressure and in the polluted air are many, many of these heavy metals. And even the American journal of public health says that polluted air racist blood pressure, there’s actually a lot of studies done on even low doses of heavy metals and how they disrupt the structure and the function of platelets. And platelets are about clotting. It helps plaque occur much more likely. And that’s not a good thing. That’s from journal of environmental pathology, toxicology and oncology. So even low doses and we get the mercury, we get from high fructose corn syrup from big fish, we get a lot of aluminum from processed foods. And arsenic is actually in high levels of it are in rice. You know, it really is. And I do more rice now because I found out how horrible gluten treats me, but I still try to reduce it somewhat. Arsenic is bioaccumulated in the Ross fields. And then your cosmetics and body care products are, they have numerous heavy metals like lead, cadmium, and aluminum, you know, you always hear about that in the deodorants. That you’re putting aluminum right in a soft tissue of your arm. And he’s going right into your body. So we always try to use something different. We use pretty pretty Frank deodorant. We get it our local natural health food store here. You just need to try to avoid as much of the chemical stuff that you’re putting on the outside of your body. It was soaps and all of that kind of stuff because that’s just toxins you’re trying to get rid of. And there’s some people that would tell you that the aluminum has a lot to do with breast cancer. I’m not going to say that’s true, but I’ve read things that had a pretty good case to that effect. Because it’ll be absorbed and not be pushed through the lymphatic system. And I see people cooking with aluminum pans still, and I’m thinking, are they still really around? Because I remember my grandmother used to have aluminum pans. Lord only knows what they got. Got from that. Yeah, the Teflon pans. That’s another one because they’re full of a bunch of chemicals also, and then you look at the pan later and there’s like pieces of the pan miss. And so you’ve not only got some of that. You also, you also ate it. And people are like, well, how’s she supposed to keep things from sticking to your pans without those? Oh, lord, you stainless steel. Or glass. Yeah, and then there’s also foods that can help you detoxify naturally like cilantro. We have a lot of cilantro in Texas. We like it. And it’s really good. And that’s because the Hispanic influence. And Janet mentioned cadmium. Well, we have cadmium batteries, welders, fabricated metal products, those people have about four times the increased incident of prostate cancer compared to the average gap. And that’s because of the cadmium, which also you get if you smoke. Who are these people? What people? People that fabricate metal products and welders. They smelled the inhaled all of that for all that time. Yeah, four times the incident. And that means that welders, people at fabricate, need to tighten more the heavy metals are then borrowed detox, the multi minerals, the glutathione, really is they say the master antioxidant. And folks, it’s prostate. Only one R people say prostrate is like no, no, no. That’s a whole different word. I’m sorry. You’re not supposed to correct people. And the bug exterminator people are full of them also. I know that. Yeah, and they have more but Tennessee toward neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s and different types of dementia. And a spraying the inside of our House with those things also. Yeah, which we pretty generally don’t happen except she saw roach this morning. It’s like holy gs, if we do have them spray with chemicals, we take the dog and go along trip and then we have some air cleaners and then we have a holistic, more natural, cleaning products that are made uses. So some of the things that happen because of these excess metals and again, we’re talking about 80 something thousand different toxins, which is not just metals, but that creates what you think is a disease of aging.

00:25:06 – 00:30:00

It’s not really a disease of aging. It’s a disease of accumulation. So I use things like cilantro, garlic, lemon water, drink green tea, all of those things are really good at detoxifying heavy metals and doctor Lisa, I also know we got several things happening here, but we’ve had some people ask about our new programs. We just we just got it put on our website. There are 30 day programs, I guess you can explain what you decided. Do you want the reason you added these in? We’ve got four of them. One for white loss. There’s one for energy. There’s one for hormones. And there’s one for thyroid. And can you explain why you decided that maybe people needed help and added these programs to our to our site? Yeah, because those of you that have used our services and thank God, literally, I have so many people that continually do this. You know, like Richard and Rebecca and California like Alan from Maine, I could go on and on talking about people that do that. But some people say, well, what should I eat? What should I not eat? It’s like, you know, I’m like read a book. A lot of them want to know if we have a dietician. I’m incredibly busy. And I’m glad because there are people that are getting well. So instead of telling you all to read a book, we have created an integrative nutrition concierge team. That’s the technical term. So you don’t have to read a book. That’s it for you. Yeah, yeah. These people that we’ve employed teamed up with, what it is, a functional medicine registered dietitian and a certified nutrition coach and we have ways that you can take pictures of your food and own this app. It saves you time, and it’s not really so much a diet, but it’s a way of eating that will have more than nutrients that will support, for example, weight loss or energy or hormone thyroid, whichever one you choose. We have a few supplements to go with that to get you going because there’s some people say, well, I don’t want to take 8 or ten or 12 different nutritional supplements like the smart ones, the ones that get the best results are the ones that do this program and take even more nutritional supplements. And that way well, it helps you shop for the right foods. It’s cost effective way to eat. Because a lot of the people when we do their labs, they’re trying to eat right. They’re trying to do the right things, and they honestly don’t know which things are not good for their particular issue. Or hormones, and these nutrient plans are based on you getting those particular issues under control. So it’s not really such a diet, but it’s nutrient dense eating. And it makes it easier, the meal plans, the recipes, they’re all quick, easy, and inexpensive. You get weekly calls with the coaches, you get in app messaging any time that you take pictures of your food, they help you figure out well, why did I not feel good that day or maybe you’ve got a big party or something coming up and you’re trying to do the right things, but you don’t know what it is you can eat there to help you and the people that are overseeing this. Right. Yeah, that’s why I would say that people had already doing our programs. There’s couples out there that do our programs together. If you’re having the same issues, you could literally get one program and both of you learn how to eat differently and have recipes and that kind of thing. You don’t do it forever. It’s 30 days. You learn how to change your habits. And then you can go forward with that and do the right kinds of food and things. And it’ll help you get better with the nutrition that we’re doing on this side. Even faster and with each of these programs we have some complementary products that come in the packages that are different for each of the programs. But you can go on green wisdom, health dot com, there’s a tab there that says 30-day programs you can read about it. They’re pretty outstanding. We’re pretty impressed with all the people we’ve employed, and it takes a lot to impress me. I promise you; we’ve had many, many, many people try to team with us, and I’m like, nah, isn’t going to happen. You’re getting a whole lot of value for what it cost.

00:30:00 – 00:33:43

Is that I guess that’s a good way to put it. That’s a better way than I was going to say. I was going to say I’m blown away with what they can add to your life and your health and your energy and your thyroid function, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah, and we literally have some patients that are due for lab work again. And we’re telling them, hey, we really think this 30-day program might behoove you to do that. Before you do lab, because you can see tendencies that the people don’t really know what to eat or what to purchase and we don’t want you to keep making the same wrong choices and then having to buy more products all the time, we’d like you to learn how to change that. So that’s what all this is about. And gosh, we’ve come to the end of our show, doctor Lewis. I can’t believe it. So along with not being toxic from heavy metals anymore and getting a new lease on life here with eating. Is there any final words that you’d like to leave for us this week? Well, you know, one thing I’d like to say is that we’re doing our best to get back to doing more podcast. We have people saying I wish you’d put out more podcasts and it’s like, yeah, it’s been a crazy two years and then my dad’s had some health issues, so we were trying to make sure we were there for that, but he’s all good now. Got him a new heart valve and ready to roll. So, we hopefully get back on schedule with some of that. And his sergeants at Baylor Scott and white. And I love the medical profession. I always have, but they said, you know, we don’t understand why this win as quickly and as smoothly. On an 85-year-old man, he’s 85 going on 60. But we know for a fact, it’s because genetic keeps him jacked up on some really good supplements all the time. Folks, yeah, two more things. Number one, I can see things coming months. Sometimes years before they happen, there is, and there’s been plenty of people that stocked up because of the supply chain issues and it turned out to be a really wide choice on your part. Here’s the other thing. We talked briefly about autoimmune diseases. Folks, it’s really, really time to get serious with your health. You need to make an investment in your health for reasons I won’t go into. Now is the time and the opportunity to get started and get a healthier immune system. It’s getting to the point where it may be too late, really quick. So, get started now so that you can make it through any challenges that may be thrown our way. And I want you to understand, even though it’s been a crazy stressful two years or two and a half years, our stress should not be embalmed, it should be cremated, so burn it and let it go. And I like that. We thank you for listening to this week’s show. If you’re new to our podcast, please go to green wisdom health dot com. You can click on the health survey and get started. If you have questions about what you need to do, let doctor list give you a call. We can help you through any of that. It will recommend you a lab panel and we try to make it as easy as possible for you. We will be here next time on the green wisdom health show. Once again, our show has come to an end, but your hope in your health is only beginning. If you or a loved one are in need of a different outcome and are waiting for a brighter future, take the first step and go to our website and fill out the health survey. Please don’t keep us a secret. If you know someone that could benefit from this podcast, please share the show with your friends and family. You are only one step away from a life worth living.

Products Mentioned in Today’s Show

Enviro Detox – Broad-spectrum binding formula containing natural ingredients from the purest sources to support enhanced clearance of heavy metals, unwanted organisms and organic compounds from the GI tract.

Reduced L-Glutathione – Glutathione is the master antioxidant in the body and is heavily concentrated in tissues such as the liver, spleen and heart. Therefore, it plays a crucial role in immune function, detoxification capacity and protection against oxidative stress. This formulation is preformed, reduced glutathione (GSH) and provides a 250 mg dose in a one-capsule serving.

Multi Minerals Ultra – Provides an ideal balance of highly-absorbed minerals combined with the benefits of betaine HCl to prime digestion and improve the absorption of vitamins and minerals. This formula provides mineral amino acid chelates in optimal ratios to help the body maintain mineral balance and avoid competition between minerals for absorption.

You can also listen to Symptoms of Heavy Metal Toxicity on our Spotify here.

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Health and Wellness Headlines for August 10

The “Optimal Diet” Is Put to the Test

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on August 9, 2022, 7:00 am.

The CHIP program (now called Pivio) has attempted to take the pioneering lifestyle medicine work of Pritikin and Ornish and spread it out in… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


Secretin for Autism

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on August 4, 2022, 7:00 am.

The secretin story holds an important lesson that extends far beyond autism. “Many families, if not a majority of families” with a child… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


Ginger Powder as a Pain-Killer

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on August 2, 2022, 7:00 am.

There have been at least eight randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials of ginger for pain. You may recall that I’ve previously… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


Foods That Improve Sexual Function in Women

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on July 28, 2022, 7:00 am.

Addyi (flibanserin), the drug marketed for “hypoactive sexual desire disorder,” is ineffective and unsafe. What about dietary approaches… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


Aloe Is Put to the Test Against Cancer

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on July 26, 2022, 7:00 am.

From a case report to a randomized controlled trial, aloe is put to the test against cancer. For a half century, aloe vera “gel processors… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


Takeaways on Soy and an Edamame Recipe

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on July 21, 2022, 7:00 am.

Edamame is soy in its most whole-food form. The pods containing young soybeans are a snack or starter, first popularized in East Asia. Soybe… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.

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Health and Wellness Headlines for August 3

Ginger Powder as a Pain-Killer

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on August 2, 2022, 7:00 am.

There have been at least eight randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials of ginger for pain. You may recall that I’ve previously… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


Foods That Improve Sexual Function in Women

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on July 28, 2022, 7:00 am.

Addyi (flibanserin), the drug marketed for “hypoactive sexual desire disorder,” is ineffective and unsafe. What about dietary approaches… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


Aloe Is Put to the Test Against Cancer

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on July 26, 2022, 7:00 am.

From a case report to a randomized controlled trial, aloe is put to the test against cancer. For a half century, aloe vera “gel processors… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


Takeaways on Soy and an Edamame Recipe

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on July 21, 2022, 7:00 am.

Edamame is soy in its most whole-food form. The pods containing young soybeans are a snack or starter, first popularized in East Asia. Soybe… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


Aloe Fails to Help Radiation Therapy Skin Burns

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on July 19, 2022, 7:00 am.

What are the effects of aloe on radiation burns caused by cancer treatment and on the cancer itself? “Worldwide attention was drawn to the… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


How Effective Is Chemotherapy for Colon, Lung, Breast, and Prostate Cancers?

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on July 14, 2022, 7:00 am.

How effective is chemotherapy for colon, lung, breast, and prostate cancers? “Over the last several decades…medicine has waged a major w… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.

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Improve Your Insulin Sensitivity Naturally

Insulin resistance can be difficult to detect without medical tests. However, its effects can be dangerous if left unchecked.

This month we are taking a look at the risks and symptoms of insulin resistance, plus 10 preventative measures you can take to reduce your risks of insulin resistance and increase your insulin sensitivity.

What Is Insulin Resistance?

Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas which allows blood cells to absorb and use glucose. When a person experiences insulin resistance, their cells are unable to use insulin effectively. Consistently high levels of glucose develop, which can lead to prediabetes or type 2 diabetes if left untreated.

In order to prevent insulin resistance and its progression to diabetes, you must increase your insulin sensitivity. Insulin sensitivity means that your cells respond well to insulin—the opposite of resistance.

Who Is At Risk of Insulin Resistance?

Certain factors increase your likelihood of developing insulin resistance:

  • Being overweight or obese, especially when excess weight is around the midsection
  • A sedentary lifestyle or lack of exercise
  • Smoking
  • Consuming large amounts of alcohol
  •  Lack of sleep or sleep issues
  • High levels of cholesterol
  • High blood pressure
  • A history of gestational diabetes
  • A family history of diabetes
  • A high-carbohydrate diet
  • Sleep apnea

While it may not be possible to eliminate all risk factors as some are genetic, most are avoidable and doctors typically recommend lifestyle changes to prevent the condition.

What Are The Symptoms of Insulin Resistance?

Insulin resistance is difficult to detect without medical testing, as symptoms don’t usually present until the condition has developed into diabetes. The CDC has reported that over 85% of people with prediabetes do not know they have it. That’s unfortunate since lifestyle changes can reverse the development of diabetes.

High insulin and blood sugar levels are the hallmark symptoms of insulin resistance. Your health practitioner can use several methods to measure your blood sugar and insulin levels, such as an HOMA-IR test. Waist measurements in excess of 40 inches for men and 35 for women can also indicate insulin resistance.

In addition, there are links that have been drawn between insulin resistance and other health conditions:

  • Acanthosis nigricans. This skin condition causes dark spots on the groin, armpits, and back of the neck. It can be an indicator of insulin resistance.
  • Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). There is often an overlap between PCOS and insulin resistance. The symptoms of PCOS include irregular menstruation, infertility, and painful periods.
  • Major depressive disorder. High levels of insulin in the blood have also been associated with an increased likelihood of depression.

If you are experiencing any of these conditions or conditions, it may be worthwhile to seek a test for insulin levels and insulin resistance.

How To Prevent Insulin Resistance

There are numerous natural and science-backed ways you can increase your insulin sensitivity:

1 – Sleep more

Getting enough rest is important for your health in many ways. A lack of good sleep has been linked to reduced insulin sensitivity, so be sure to catch up on your Zs.

2 – Fit movement into your day

Regular physical activity is a major key to increasing insulin sensitivity. Exercise will move sugar into the muscles for storage and promote insulin sensitivity immediately. This can also help keep off excess weight, which is another risk factor for insulin resistance.

3 – Reduce stress

Recurrent stress keeps hormone levels high and increases blood sugar. Stress also makes the body more insulin resistant.

Practicing meditation, getting regular exercise, and other stress-reduction techniques like conscious breathing will help lower your stress and increase your insulin sensitivity.

4 – Choose your drinks carefully

Even seemingly “healthy” drinks like kombucha can be loaded with sugar. Limit alcohol including beer, spirits and wine, especially pre-made cocktails with added sugar.

Hydrate well with water, at least 2 L a day, and choose herbal or green tea which has been linked to improved sensitivity.

5 – Eat more fiber

Studies have found strong links between fiber intake and insulin sensitivity. Incorporate fiber-rich foods into your diet such as legumes, oatmeal, fruits, and vegetables.

6 – Add high-antioxidant foods to your diet

A diet that includes a variety of plants is highly beneficial for health. The antioxidants in brightly colored produce prevent inflammation in the body and boost insulin sensitivity. However, be sure not to eat too much fruit at once, as many types of fruit are high in sugar.

7 – Reduce carb intake

Carbohydrates are the primary stimulus of rising insulin levels. High-carb diets tend to lead to blood sugar spikes. Spread out your carb intake throughout the day to prevent this, eating smaller portions at regular intervals.

8 – Supplement wisely

In addition to a well-rounded diet, certain supplements can help increase insulin sensitivity. Magnesium, chromium, berberine, and resveratrol have all been studied for their effects on insulin, with positive results.

9 – Cut back on processed sugar

The two major processed sugars are high-fructose corn syrup and sucrose. These are different from the natural sugars found in nutrient-dense foods like fruits and vegetables. Many studies have found that high doses of fructose and sucrose increase insulin resistance. It is best to avoid candy, sugary beverages, cakes, and cookies.

10 – Cook with herbs and spices

The medicinal properties of herbs and spices have shown good potential for increasing insulin sensitivity. Cinnamon, ginger, and garlic are some popular and flavorful ingredients that have been shown to increase insulin sensitivity.

If you’d like to learn more about developing lifestyle habits for healthy insulin levels, don’t hesitate to reach out. Together, we can assess your symptoms and develop a plan.

Sources:

Attvall S, Fowelin J, Lager I, Von Schenck H, Smith U. Smoking induces insulin resistance–a potential link with the insulin resistance syndrome. J Intern Med. 1993 Apr;233(4):327-32. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2796.1993.tb00680.x. PMID: 8463765.

Borghouts LB, Keizer HA. Exercise and insulin sensitivity: a review. Int J Sports Med. 2000 Jan;21(1):1-12. doi: 10.1055/s-2000-8847. PMID: 10683091.

Donga E, van Dijk M, van Dijk JG, Biermasz NR, Lammers GJ, van Kralingen KW, Corssmit EP, Romijn JA. A single night of partial sleep deprivation induces insulin resistance in multiple metabolic pathways in healthy subjects. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2010 Jun;95(6):2963-8. doi: 10.1210/jc.2009-2430. Epub 2010 Apr 6. PMID: 20371664.

Liu CY, Huang CJ, Huang LH, Chen IJ, Chiu JP, Hsu CH. Effects of green tea extract on insulin resistance and glucagon-like peptide 1 in patients with type 2 diabetes and lipid abnormalities: a randomized, double-blinded, and placebo-controlled trial. PLoS One. 2014 Mar 10;9(3):e91163. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0091163. PMID: 24614112; PMCID: PMC3948786.

Medagama AB. The glycaemic outcomes of Cinnamon, a review of the experimental evidence and clinical trials. Nutr J. 2015 Oct 16;14:108. doi: 10.1186/s12937-015-0098-9. PMID: 26475130; PMCID: PMC4609100.

Jalal R, Bagheri SM, Moghimi A, Rasuli MB. Hypoglycemic effect of aqueous shallot and garlic extracts in rats with fructose-induced insulin resistance. J Clin Biochem Nutr. 2007 Nov;41(3):218-23. doi: 10.3164/jcbn.2007031. PMID: 18299719; PMCID: PMC2243241.

Li Y, Tran VH, Duke CC, Roufogalis BD. Gingerols of Zingiber officinale enhance glucose uptake by increasing cell surface GLUT4 in cultured L6 myotubes. Planta Med. 2012 Sep;78(14):1549-55. doi: 10.1055/s-0032-1315041. Epub 2012 Jul 24. PMID: 22828920.

Guerrero-Romero F, Tamez-Perez HE, González-González G, Salinas-Martínez AM, Montes-Villarreal J, Treviño-Ortiz JH, Rodríguez-Morán M. Oral magnesium supplementation improves insulin sensitivity in non-diabetic subjects with insulin resistance. A double-blind placebo-controlled randomized trial. Diabetes Metab. 2004 Jun;30(3):253-8. doi: 10.1016/s1262-3636(07)70116-7. PMID: 15223977.

Anderson RA, Cheng N, Bryden NA, Polansky MM, Cheng N, Chi J, Feng J. Elevated intakes of supplemental chromium improve glucose and insulin variables in individuals with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes. 1997 Nov;46(11):1786-91. doi: 10.2337/diab.46.11.1786. PMID: 9356027.

Yin J, Xing H, Ye J. Efficacy of berberine in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Metabolism. 2008 May;57(5):712-7. doi: 10.1016/j.metabol.2008.01.013. PMID: 18442638; PMCID: PMC2410097.

Guerrero-Romero F, Tamez-Perez HE, González-González G, Salinas-Martínez AM, Montes-Villarreal J, Treviño-Ortiz JH, Rodríguez-Morán M. Oral magnesium supplementation improves insulin sensitivity in non-diabetic subjects with insulin resistance. A double-blind placebo-controlled randomized trial. Diabetes Metab. 2004 Jun;30(3):253-8. doi: 10.1016/s1262-3636(07)70116-7. PMID: 15223977.

Anderson RA, Cheng N, Bryden NA, Polansky MM, Cheng N, Chi J, Feng J. Elevated intakes of supplemental chromium improve glucose and insulin variables in individuals with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes. 1997 Nov;46(11):1786-91. doi: 10.2337/diab.46.11.1786. PMID: 9356027.

Paul-Labrador M, Polk D, Dwyer JH, Velasquez I, Nidich S, Rainforth M, Schneider R, Merz CN. Effects of a randomized controlled trial of transcendental meditation on components of the metabolic syndrome in subjects with coronary heart disease. Arch Intern Med. 2006 Jun 12;166(11):1218-24. doi: 10.1001/archinte.166.11.1218. PMID: 16772250.

Caminhotto Rde O, Lima FB. Impaired glucose tolerance in low-carbohydrate diet: maybe only a physiological state. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2013 Dec;305(12):E1521. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.00580.2013. PMID: 24336921.

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Heavy Metals In the Body: What You Need to Know

Heavy metals are naturally occurring elements that can be found throughout the environment. Given their prevalence in the foods that we eat and even the air we breathe, we are exposed to high levels of heavy metals every day.

Certain metals– including zinc, copper, and iron—are beneficial for your health in small doses. However, overexposure to other heavy metals poses serious health risks. Cadmium, arsenic, chromium, lead, and mercury are some of the most toxic. Heavy metal poisoning has become a growing health concern as human activity has increased their presence in our environment.

Risks and Symptoms of Heavy Metals In The Body

A doctor can test your level of exposure to harmful heavy metals in your blood, urine, and hair. If toxicity is high, you may be experiencing symptoms such as:

  • Headaches
  • Abdominal pain
  • Nausea
  • Vomiting
  • Diarrhea
  • Fatigue
  • Chills
  • General feeling of weakness

In more severe and chronic cases of heavy metal poisoning, symptoms may include:

  • Burning and tingling sensations
  • Brain fog
  • Insomnia
  • Paralysis
  • Chronic infections

The toxicity of heavy metals can have serious effects on the brain, liver, and lungs. Long term exposure is even associated with cancer.

Who is most at risk?

Although heavy metal exposure poses a risk to everyone, it is a special concern for pregnant and breastfeeding women. This is due to the fact that toxins can be passed to the child through the placenta and breast milk.

How To Reduce Your Exposure to Heavy Metals

While they can hardly be escaped in everyday life, there are certain sources of heavy metals you can deliberately avoid and cut back on to prevent overexposure.

1- Be mindful of your seafood consumption

Certain types of fish tend to contain high levels of the heavy metal mercury, which can be harmful in large amounts. The FDA has guidelines for avoiding mercury when eating fish– those with the highest levels are typically larger fish including:

  • Swordfish
  • Shark
  • Tilefish
  • King mackerel
  • Orange roughly
  • Tuna
  • Marlin

Fish (and seafood) with the least amount of mercury include wild caught salmon, trout, herring, haddock, sole, shrimp and shellfish such as oysters, scallops and mussels.

2 – Quit smoking

Cigarettes and e-cigarettes both contain high levels of cadmium, a heavy metal linked with increased cancer risk, among many other harmful ingredients. Avoid smoking to avoid this toxic element, among others.

3 – Opt for organic

You’ve heard it before – organic is best. But some foods even more so to avoid heavy metals. Rice tends to contain high levels of the heavy metal arsenic. This is due to its absorbent property—rice absorbs arsenic from pesticide-ridden soil, irrigation water, and even the water that you cook it in.

Buying organic rice can prevent overexposure to the heavy metal. Be sure to always rinse your rice well (until the water runs clear) before cooking it.

Bone broth is a popular health food for lowering inflammation and promoting gastrointestinal health. However, when animals are exposed to heavy metals, they can store it within their bone materials.

Choose organic bone broth from grass fed cows and pasture raised chickens.

4 – Clean cosmetics and body care

There are numerous heavy metals—including lead, cadmium, and aluminum—which are often present in makeup and skin products. Many deodorants and antiperspirants also contain aluminum salts, which clog the pores and can enter the body through injured skin (after shaving). Exposure to aluminum can contribute to serious diseases such as breast cancer.

Find an aluminum-free deodorant to reduce this risk and seek out organic cosmetics.

5 –  Invest in clean water and safe cookware

Due to environmental contamination, heavy metals tend to build up in groundwater and then enter the human body in large amounts. Water pipes also are frequently made with lead or copper, two metals which can be harmful to health. Investing in a water filtration system can help reduce absorption of these heavy metals into your body.

Heat can increase the chance of toxins leaching into food, making cookware an important place to start when trying to limit heavy metal and toxin exposure. Research shows the safest cookware is that made of ceramic, glass, cast iron, or stainless steel, especially higher qualities without contaminated glazing.

6 – Sweat it out

Far infrared saunas have become an increasingly mainstream addition to any heavy metal detox protocol. Research shows that sweat produced by an infrared sauna is only 80 to 85% water, with the remainder made up of harmful substances like cholesterol, sulfuric acid, ammonia, and heavy metals. Infrared saunas produce a heat that penetrates more deeply into tissue than a traditional sauna, helping to mobilize and excrete the mercury and other toxins stored in fat.

Further Treatment

If you find upon medical testing that your exposure to heavy metals has reached harmful levels, there are medical treatments available. It can take time to safely detox heavy metals from the body, but it is possible.

Medications can be delivered intravenously to remove toxins. These medications bind to the metal, a process called chelation. Note that chelation therapy should only be used in serious cases of heavy metal toxin build up, and under the close supervision of a medical professional.

There are, however, alternative and more gradual ways to detox heavy metals from the body. One way is consuming certain foods which electrically attract metal and will help move it out. These foods include:

  • Cilantro
  • Garlic
  • Lemon water
  • Green tea
  • Spirulina
  • Chlorella
  • Dietary fiber

Another option is taking supplements. For instance, selenium helps detox mercury, and Alpha-lipoic acid can renew antioxidants and detox metals.

Furthermore, vitamin B, B-6, and C deficiencies can lead to poor tolerance of heavy metals and easier toxicity, so it may be worth supplementing with these vitamins if you find that you are deficient. As always, take care to consult with a healthcare professional before adding any supplements or detoxification substances to your diet.

Exposure to high levels of heavy metals can cause serious health concerns. And while human activity has increased their prevalence in our environment, there are certain steps you can take to avoid overexposure to these harmful substances.

Heavy metal exposure can feel frightening, but there are plenty of steps to minimize its impact. A healthy lifestyle, including regular exercise and plenty of sleep can help. If you have any questions about heavy metal exposure, reach out to us.

Sources:

Tchounwou, P.B., Yedjou, C.G., Patlolla, A.K., Sutton, D.J. (2012). Heavy Metal Toxicity and the Environment. In: Luch, A. (eds) Molecular, Clinical and Environmental Toxicology. Experientia Supplementum, vol 101. Springer, Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7643-8340-4_6

Zhai Q, Narbad A, Chen W. Dietary strategies for the treatment of cadmium and lead toxicity. Nutrients. 2015 Jan 14;7(1):552-71. doi: 10.3390/nu7010552. PMID: 25594439; PMCID: PMC4303853.

Monro JA, Leon R, Puri BK. The risk of lead contamination in bone broth diets. Med Hypotheses. 2013 Apr;80(4):389-90. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2012.12.026. Epub 2013 Jan 31. PMID: 23375414.

TatahMentan M, Nyachoti S, Scott L, Phan N, Okwori FO, Felemban N, Godebo TR. Toxic and Essential Elements in Rice and Other Grains from the United States and Other Countries. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Nov 3;17(21):8128. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17218128. PMID: 33153201; PMCID: PMC7663342.

Sears ME. Chelation: harnessing and enhancing heavy metal detoxification–a review. ScientificWorldJournal. 2013 Apr 18;2013:219840. doi: 10.1155/2013/219840. PMID: 23690738; PMCID: PMC3654245.

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Health and Wellness Headlines for July 27

Aloe Is Put to the Test Against Cancer

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on July 26, 2022, 7:00 am.

From a case report to a randomized controlled trial, aloe is put to the test against cancer. For a half century, aloe vera “gel processors… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


Takeaways on Soy and an Edamame Recipe

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on July 21, 2022, 7:00 am.

Edamame is soy in its most whole-food form. The pods containing young soybeans are a snack or starter, first popularized in East Asia. Soybe… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


Aloe Fails to Help Radiation Therapy Skin Burns

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on July 19, 2022, 7:00 am.

What are the effects of aloe on radiation burns caused by cancer treatment and on the cancer itself? “Worldwide attention was drawn to the… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


How Effective Is Chemotherapy for Colon, Lung, Breast, and Prostate Cancers?

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on July 14, 2022, 7:00 am.

How effective is chemotherapy for colon, lung, breast, and prostate cancers? “Over the last several decades…medicine has waged a major w… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


Benefits of a Half Teaspoon of Brewer’s Yeast Daily

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on July 12, 2022, 7:00 am.

A half-teaspoon a day of brewer’s yeast is put to the test in a randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial. In 1854, a case repor… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


Treating the Root Cause of Toenail Fungus

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on July 7, 2022, 7:00 am.

Does Tea Tree Oil Work for Nail Fungus? Tea tree essential oil is pitted against the antifungal cream lotrimin for the treatment of fungal n… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.

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Health and Wellness Headlines for July 20

Aloe Fails to Help Radiation Therapy Skin Burns

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on July 19, 2022, 7:00 am.

What are the effects of aloe on radiation burns caused by cancer treatment and on the cancer itself? “Worldwide attention was drawn to the… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


How Effective Is Chemotherapy for Colon, Lung, Breast, and Prostate Cancers?

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on July 14, 2022, 7:00 am.

How effective is chemotherapy for colon, lung, breast, and prostate cancers? “Over the last several decades…medicine has waged a major w… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


Benefits of a Half Teaspoon of Brewer’s Yeast Daily

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on July 12, 2022, 7:00 am.

A half-teaspoon a day of brewer’s yeast is put to the test in a randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial. In 1854, a case repor… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


Treating the Root Cause of Toenail Fungus

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on July 7, 2022, 7:00 am.

Does Tea Tree Oil Work for Nail Fungus? Tea tree essential oil is pitted against the antifungal cream lotrimin for the treatment of fungal n… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


Tea Tree Oil vs. Tinactin for Athlete’s Foot

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on July 5, 2022, 7:00 am.

Are the effects of tea tree oil anti-fungal or merely anti-inflammatory? Our entire understanding of the cause of dandruff shifted with a la… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.


Stevia and Monk Fruit vs. Aspartame and Splenda

Story from NutritionFacts.org. Originally posted on June 30, 2022, 7:00 am.

The natural plant-based sweeteners stevia and monk fruit (Luo Han Guo) are pitted head-to-head against aspartame and Splenda. A number of ar… Read the full story on NutritionFacts.org.

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Supporting Long-Haul Syndrome

Microphone and Computer; this broke my heart.
Play

Many people have been experiencing long-lasting symptoms after going through an illness. The cause of these lingering symptoms is still unknown, but some people have reported that certain supplements and lifestyle changes have reduced some of their symptoms like fatigue and brain fog. In this week’s episode, Supporting Long-Haul Syndrome, we’ll discuss some things you can do that may help support your body in dealing with these symptoms.

Show Notes:

00:00:01 – 00:05:15

Welcome to the green wisdom health podcast, with doctor Steven and Janet Lewis, where you will learn about natural solutions to common ailments. And now, here are your hosts doctor Stephen and Janet Lewis. Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of the green wisdom health show. I’m Janet Lewis. And I’m doctor Lewis. And today we are going to discuss a topic you guys keep asking us about that we keep trying to dance around. So we’re going to keep dancing, but we’re going to give you our best shot at explaining what we do and what’s going on. Now that we have your curiosity, you’re wondering what it is. I know. But we can’t tell you. We have to just kind of talk in code. The name of the show is called treating long, I’m sorry. It’s not treating. We’re supporting long haul syndrome. So we do not treat that. We just give you things that might help you get over long term chronic sickness. And you’ll just have to fill in the blank on what that is. But, you know, many things can help with that sort of thing. And we also have a symptom list of you figuring out if you have these long haul symptoms or the syndrome. So chronic immune system depletion. There you go. So we’re going to tell you the things that we do, the things we recommend because we’re getting another round of people getting sick and we want to make sure you stay healthy, especially going into this fall, you know, we’ve got Saharan dust attacking us now and people have a bunch of allergies. And then you have this virus stuff that just seems to be on the loose. So doctor Lewis, I think you should go ahead and explain what we’re doing. You know, before we started this, we asked God to help organize my mind. You know if you’ve listened to me before organization in my mind is pretty much nonexistent and I’m way off the charts today. I’ve got too much to say and not enough time to get there. So what we’re talking about is helping your body boost immune system. I’m a chiropractor, so I always approach you from a musculoskeletal sense. But if you support musculoskeletal, you’re supporting all the cells, which are supporting your immune system. So we’ll get into that. I wanted to talk about mushrooms and Janet kind of changed that. I’m going to talk about mushrooms anyway. Maybe he’s wanting to smoke mushrooms. I’m not sure which one, but we’re using them for immune system. Yeah, and I do not treat cancer, God knows you need a hematologist that understands natural stuff too, but when Janet’s first said, we talk about mushrooms and she changed her mind. She never changes her mind about me, but everything else may be. There’s a lot of cancer books. And again, I don’t treat cancer, of course, but mushroom extracts are used sometimes it’s mataki, sometimes shiitake, a turkey tail lines made. And the beta glucans that you can get from that. And this is in some of the books that talk about how some people natural doctors treat cancer. And that’s certainly not the only thing you should be doing if you have cancer, but other things that are anti proliferative, which means they kind of help keep the cancer and if it works for cancer, it’s going to work for immune system. And you people that have chronic fatigue, some of the anti prolific agents are selenium, fish oil, garlic, cat’s claw, mataki, diffraction vitamin a, vitamin K, of course, in bovine cartilage, which actually we’ve been proved our collagen has just come in again. Thank you. But that all might assist the cancer patient in this manner. There’s also a lot of studies that said, these nutrition supplements do not interfere with chemo. And there’s a lot of controversy and sometimes lies are told so much that people actually start to believe it. Which gets into one other lie. And I want you to think about it. There’s this big long line that’s been going around for years that says cancer can’t live in an alkaline environment. Folks, you know what BS stands for? Belief systems. There’s plenty of research and I’m saying this because if this is true of this, therefore it’s true in your chronic fatigue, long haul symptoms. The optimal PH medium for growth, the optimal PH for staff is 7.4. That’s alkaline, streptococcus, pneumococcus, diphtheria, tetanus, influence, gonococcus, meningococcus, brucella, abortus, and H pylori, all of those prefer and alkaline environment, and people are doing their dead level best to get alkaline.

00:05:16 – 00:10:00

God has alkaline acid alkaline acid buffers in the body. You need to quit trying to manipulate that. A good, healthy flora, which means the microbiome, the good bacteria needs and loves acid, pathogens, love, and need alkalinity. And then there’s a study that it’s a very good study. I read it. It says cancer thrives in an alkaline environment. Well, you get on the Internet, it’ll tell you the opposite. Quit believing everything you read on the Internet. I’ve told people, I was just Satan tissues, is that control you manipulate you, put fear and doubt in there and people look at me. It’s like, well, what do you believe in sight or not? I don’t know. There’s negative entities, so. Well, it ain’t even that. You’re seeing what they want you to see too. So you don’t get the whole picture of other truths that could be out there that doesn’t fit into what they would like you to know. So you only get to hear what they want you to hear. So don’t believe everything you read because I mean, maybe that is a one sided deal, but there’s also a bunch of other opinions that don’t ever get published or get taken down. Because they don’t like the research. And what everybody should do in my opinion, let’s go get a good picture of the food pyramid and then eat exactly the opposite of how it says because on the base of the pyramid it says 6 to 11 servings. A brand cereal RAS pasta dot, and usually there’s a massive amount of weight in there and weight and H pylori go together. Yes, it does. People say, oh, I have GERD or acid reflux. I said, well, it’s weight or H pylori or lack of stomach acid, which goes back to the lack of stomach acid would be alkalinity. So folks, just because it’s been promoted for 75 years, you don’t have to believe it. And I had a call the other day, lady says, well, my MD tested my B 12, and it was 1300 something, and it was so high that I got off your methyl B 12. Folks, a bad B 12, Sino cobalamin can cause and will cause your lab to go high on your B 12 test. It doesn’t mean it’s being absorbed. And it has to be in large amounts for your body. Especially this lady’s age. For your body to have a lot in order for it to be available to be absorbed. So be careful who you listen to and even when I sit down to somebody here locally or own zoom or phone calls, I say, listen with a discerning spirit. Use your intuition, even when I’m speaking, you need to always listen to that. So owning, again, I’ve got about three four hours worth of notes and we’re going to try to cram most of it in 30 minutes. So there is some common symptoms of long haul syndrome. They are fatigue, shortness of breath, or difficulty breathing, and we’re just telling you, we’re going over all this because we have many people walking into our store now that are emailing us, some are on shooting straight with doctor Lewis on Facebook. They’re all asking what can we do, what can we do? We felt like it’s our job to try to help you through it because I guess it isn’t going anywhere for a while and you need to be strong enough so whenever these other illnesses come along that you can withstand some of this and not be brought down. So if you don’t know what some of the symptoms of it are, there’s a chronic cough joint pain, chest pain, memory, lots of people say they’ve got tons of brain fog concentration or sleep problems. Muscle pains or headaches, they have a faster pounding heartbeat. They have lost their smell or taste, and I mean for many months, depression or anxiety, fever, dizziness when you stand. And your worst after physical or mental activities and they result if you keep these things and you don’t do anything to try to help it, the result of the damage is the following to these body systems. Your pulmonary lungs will be permanently injured, your immune, allergy response. Your mitochondria energy system, your heart, and your central peripheral nervous system. So doctor Lewis, I’d like maybe you could discuss some things that someone could take to help maintain or get better from many of those things. Tell us what mitochondria energy is.

00:10:00 – 00:15:01

I mean, what are you trying to achieve with these products? Well, the mitochondrion each cell has a lot of them in there. And it’s like the spark plug that ignites the gasoline vapor or which releases the energy, so mitochondria are the powerhouses. And there’s a lot of different facets to good health. It can be community purpose. We’ve talked about doing good for others, diet, nutrition, and they’re signals the macronutrients and micronutrients total energy, glycemic impact. Signals, environmental signals. We’ve talked about the toxins and chronicity, whether it’s long-term shift workers, seasonal regular rest vacation, sleeping time, stress response signals and we do a lot of that with your cortisol. Some of the things you just have to throw it in and let God sort it out. And I’m sorry that people that are trying to get you healthier more and more being silenced. And I work with the medical profession. I tell people get lab and a guy came in and he had a horrible lab. I’m not an MD, I can’t judge this, but I knew he was within a week or two or very close to death. And I said, well, you need to go to your MD because of this, this, this, and this, he said, I’ve been to several of them, including the VA, and they won’t pay attention to me. I said my supplements are not going to help you as too little too late. There are limitations to time and there’s limitations to matter and call me back after his medical doctors paid attention to him. He says, you saved my life because he had some stuff going on. So the first thing you should do is get lab. Yeah, and I wanted to get there too because there’s an important test on there that we run now, but I wanted to talk a little bit more about the supplements you’re using and why the people, a lot of people already know about vitamin D, you’ve heard about vitamin D, you’ve heard about zinc. A lot of them are taken that, but zinc, vitamin C, because it comes down inflammation, the D is prevention. And it helps the long haul symptoms. But there’s a few other ones that people have not heard of. The mushrooms are one, like you spoke about. Which is the immune essentials we have, especially for people who have weak lungs, I take that every day because I know I’d be dead without it. Yeah, cordyceps is absolutely incredible. And there’s several others in there like turkey tail racing talking shiitake, like I talked about earlier. But there’s things like glutathione and in acetylcysteine or neck that I know people don’t really hear much about that maybe you could tell us why that’s necessary and if you have something that has that in it or is that like is that something you do daily or is that just when you’re sick or what do you do? Some people do it just when they need to. I’m more like, I don’t get my toe in the water. I die then and I try to live life a 110%. Complete is really, really, really popular. It’s got some good vitamin D zinc. And people say about zinc displaces copper. Not if it’s attracts zinc, TRA, CS, the real amino acid chelate system. So it goes through a different pathway and does not displace copper. And it has an acetylcysteine in the quercetin dihydrate. One of the things, if you want to get simple, multi element buffered, say, and it’s got it’s got some minerals to buffer it. But it has a copper manganese potassium quercetin and glutathione. Explain why that one is because it says multi element buffered C, you know, people are going to buy vitamin C much cheaper than that at the drugstore. What makes that different as a product? Because it is kind of expensive. But what’s in it? Three to 6 months worth depending on dependent on how you take it. What do you take to a day or four? Well, one of the things calcium, we don’t talk about calcium a lot because she’s sometimes usually you can get enough out of your diet. But did you know calcium lowers cholesterol helps prevent cardiovascular disease and bat along with the pulmonary issues or some of the things that are going out has to do with muscle growth and contraction can or may lower blood pressure, although I push magnesium more for that. But lower calcium or calcium deficiency can cause brittle nails, eczema, elevated blood, cholesterol, insomnia, muscle cramps, nervousness, numbness, and arms, but now one thing you’ve got to realize, you’ve got to have stomach acid to assimilate calcium.

00:15:02 – 00:20:01

Now, this in the multi element buffered C yeah, okay. And some of the other things I like to talk about copper because you don’t hear much about it. Lack of copper, and I’ve seen this a few times. But copper has, well, if you have a deficiency, so you can have a dysfunction in hemoglobin and red blood cell formation. It works to balance with zinc and vitamin C to form elastin and this is not the most important thing about it lasting, but ladies, that means if you have all that, you’ll have fewer wrinkles. And it’s important, well, it’s skin protein. Healing process, energy, hair and skin coloring, taste sensitivity, it doesn’t mean you won’t get gray, but I’m getting gray very, very slowly. I just have my driver’s license. Oh, go ahead, go right ahead. Renewed. And Janet put brown gray on the form and I couldn’t decide. I couldn’t decide if it was brown or gray. And the lady said, we couldn’t pick both. You gotta pick one. I said, well, honey, you pick it. She’s just Brown. I said, I love you. So everybody’s hearing. Batman. Copper is essential for the formation of collagen and once again, the really good holy gs the best in the world college in his back in stock. You don’t want to type too much. Without taking out anything from it. That was the main thing. That’s why it was out of stock so long is because they did not want to change the formula because it worked. And we had Casey explaining that. It has magnesium and you hear me talk a lot about magnesium so I’ll try to be quick, but it’s a catalyst in enzyme activity. You’ve heard of, say, 300 different enzymes. I’ve read as many as 600. And it’s the enzymes involved in energy production assist in calcium and potassium uptake. So it’s like holy cow, important. But it has manganese in it. You don’t hear much about manganese. And it’s needed for utilization of B one, B one is the one that will stop brain fog almost all the time because you have too much east in your guts. It helps in the utilization of vitamin a and it has to be a good vitamin E, not the rector DL alpha to go for all that’s not a good one. And it has manganese has to do with overall feeling of well-being. Oh my God, people sit and pay attention on that one. A lack of manganese can cause high cholesterol, hypertension, irritability, so if your spouse is irritable, it might actually be you. But memory loss I forgot, honey. Muscle contraction. Pancreatic damage profuse perspiration. So there’s a lot of good things that’s in the multi element buffered C and then you have potassium potassium can help prevent stroke aids in proper muscle contraction works with sodium for the water, the body’s water balance, so to speak. It’s a significant factor in the development of high blood pressure if it’s missing. Now you got to be careful with potassium for God’s sake, don’t take too much because that could be dangerous. So yeah, the multi element buffer sees the simple place to start. I love the environmental detox. Which I tell people, take that at night because you’ve got to do two things. One, you’ve got to clean out too. You got to build. So you want to take some of these things at slightly different times. And the amino plate is good. The immune essentials, well, I think I’m going to die of old age with a smile on my face, but we’ll say. Because they say this long haul problem is clearly a GI syndrome issue as well. So that’s why you’re saying the environmental detox, right? Where you help pull off some of those toxins. I’m glad you mentioned GI and this is not planned and I have different notes and we don’t know where we’re going. We kind of think that adds to the excitement of doing this. But yeah, it has a lot to do with inflammation and intestines. Inflammation creates leakiness, which includes diverticulosis, but it can be a lot of other things. I’ve talked about. Nick it off. I can’t pronounce it. One word you can’t say. I’ve never known you to not be able to do that. I can’t say Nicaragua either. The Nobel Prize in medicine was 1908 for work in probiotics and we’re still not practiced in that over a hundred years later. There’s about ten times more. Biotics are probiotics or microorganisms than our cells in our body. So it’s very, very good. Inflammation in GI always go together. And that’s always a common factor. I don’t give a flying flip. What you’ve got, your intestines and inflammation are part of the equation.

00:20:02 – 00:25:02

The intestines can actually affect gene expression. So think flora, flora, more flora, good probiotics. And one thing I wanted to mention on that multi element buffered C that is one product I’ve heard several people tell me they’ve gotten their taste back to the smell and taste. Just wouldn’t do it. I shouldn’t say never, but it’s usually not that simple. Right. That’s why we do the lab work. And some of the things about getting healthy would include weight loss. You’ve heard me talk about 40% of us are obese and a total of 72% of the American population are overweight. We’re going to get to that exciting feature at the end. We have something about weight loss at the end. But I also want to ask you about a new blood test that you’ve added on. It’s on the men’s panels, specifically because men have an issue more so with this, but a lot of people have probably never heard of this test. It’s called a D dimer test. And since we’ve had this long haul syndrome come out, that test has been a very important lab panel that needs to be added on, especially if you have these symptoms and women he can do it on YouTube if you have those symptoms we can add it, but can you tell us what it is, why you would need to know about that? Yeah, well, let me back up. You know, I can’t say it simply soaked. We made an executive decision to add that to the comprehensive plus male hormones and the super panel. For men, because we have a little bit more of a tendency to have the pulmonary embolisms, the strokes, the heart attacks and all that. And we decided to add the thyroid anti globulin antibodies and the TPO to the women’s because they have a little bit more Tennessee to have a thyroid autoimmune disease. And Janet threw her incredible negotiation. I don’t know how the heck she pulled it off. She got the lab to add those tests and we didn’t go up on the price because they came down. One of them used to be a $140 just in and of itself. And she negotiated. And I said, how did you do that? She looks at me with that little sparkle in her eyes as you didn’t have a chance, so just trust me. And God is good. He helps us. Every chance we get in everybody out there that is asking. That’s right. The D dimer and I’ve heard it pronounced dimmer, but I think diamonds. It’s a protein fragment. It’s found in the blood once a clot becomes degraded. And that can help in the assessment of thrombosis. That’s why I told it one guy said, man, you need to go back to your doctor. I’m sorry, they’re not paying attention to you, but you need to demand that because it’s D dimer and was like holy Jesus. And he went and got medical care. Again, we work with the body’s innate ability to heal itself and we work with the medical profession. Which if that comes back high at the doctor, many times they’re just told to take an aspirin, can you explain if you’ve got anything different if you think that’s what you’d use on somebody as an aspirin or could you tell us about anything you may have different beside an aspirin or what makes aspirin where I always think this story is great about what does my gasparin work? Am I going down all these rabbit holes now? Yeah, I’m not sure we have time for all that. Well, basically, if I had a high D dimer and I don’t, but I take these two things anyway. I take the vitamin E and I take the NATO canace and NATO kinase is a pretty serious serious enzyme used to support normal blood flow circulation in blood pressure levels. For example, that was the one we told you about our 70, 71 year old patient, and they said, well, you’re about 3% away from having to put stance in your carotid artery because it’s so plaqued up, and I put him on that O and vitamin E and the day with the vitamin K, the magic numbers, 180 micrograms or above. Oh, and we have a new vitamin D now also for you out there that are taking two. Two of the fat two 5 two. We now have one called D three K two max. So we don’t have a picture yet, but we have the product. So that’s 10,000 D plus the magical 180 micrograms of them. Okay, but anyway, this guy took his stuff. The E, the NATO and the proper amount of K and a year or so later, he has zero plaquing, and he’s, I don’t know, he’s 70 or 71. Of course he takes a lot of stuff, and he’s super healthy. He acts like he’s more like 40. But the D dimer is a very indicative if it goes high.

00:25:02 – 00:30:01

You have the possibility or maybe possibility of blood clots. It’s a protein fragment produced by the body when a blood clot dissolves. Well, it can indicate the possibility of intravascular coagulation, pulmonary embolism that I mentioned deep vein thrombosis. Trauma bleeding, pregnancy. It goes higher. Liver disease and chronic high per coagulation, which means more than what you should. Now, I do the narrow I do the vitamin E I do not make medical decisions so I’ll never take I don’t give advice about medicines, but I can show you research that says aspirin. Double your risk of stroke and there was 84 85 different studies that said aspirin did nothing for heart health. And then Bayer in their infinite wisdom. Yeah, wisdom. That goes back to BS, but belief systems. They added a little bit, I think it’s 15 milligrams of magnesium oxide. And it magnesium is so needed for heart health that even the oxide, which is not a good form. Made the heart work better, even with a bad magnesium. And so because of that one study that it was actually the magnesium that helped cardiac function. Now they’re selling a billion a day or whatever they sell 1 billion 2, 3 billion aspirin a day. Now, would I take it? No. But we’re not telling you to not take it if your doctors told you to take it by all means you do what your doctor tells you. We’re just telling you the history of aspirin. And how it got there. But I read research and I have a good memory and yes, I take stuff from a memory and it makes a huge difference when I take it versus not taking it. And I read probably, I don’t know, a thousand research articles a year. I’m making a number up, but I usually read 50, 75 books a year. And not all books are good. Some of the books that are read are like total horsemen here. And I would like to say that if you guys are having problems out there finding a doctor that will help you with these long haul symptoms that they look at you like you’re crazy. There is a group of doctors across the country called the front line doctors. They won’t look at you like you’re crazy. You can follow standard of care. They actually practice. And again, I’m not an MD, so that’s just what they are MDs. They RMDs and they’re a group of them that are trying to help people be healthy. So don’t think outside the box at work with functional medicine doctors like what we do. Yes, so look them up. They may be an answer to someone’s prayers out there. Also want to mention doctor Lewis, you know, I can’t tell you the number of times we’ve had people call here or they’ll ask doctor Lewis. What do I eat? We’ll do lab work on them. We gave them some supplements. Doctor list loves to read. And so he always recommends a book to them. Well, there’s a lot of people that don’t like to read. They want this shortcut. They want hand holding. Think Trish from Pennsylvania. I love you. Just call me and tell me you’re still around. And they don’t know what to eat. They may something bad one day. They don’t know if it’s good or bad. They’re going to reunion. They want to know what they can have. And frankly, with what we have going here is enough to keep us busy enough. Too busy. Too busy that we want to be able to give everybody the care they need and doctor Lewis is not able to just hand hold like that. But what he has decided to do is very careful consideration and research out. In the different programs and finding the absolute best for the money. We are adding in an integrative nutrition concierge team. To our staff. And what that will allow you to do over the next few weeks, you’ll start noticing it on the website. It will offer you 30 day programs to work with our functional medicine registered dietitian and certified nutrition coach via weekly phone calls and in app messaging through our new program by neutrino body. So you will start seeing that show up on the website. We’ve selected about right now about four different programs, ones for and it’s not a diet plan. It’s a nutrient based meal plan. So we’re not taking anything away from you, but we’re actually going to be adding in the nutrients that doctor Lewis is giving you through supplements with blood work and combining those together so that you’re actually eating the things of some of the products that he’s been giving you. So it’s a complete.

00:30:01 – 00:34:00

It’s a win win. One plus one equals three because synergistically they’re going to work together very, very well. For those of you that have wanted to lose weight and even a few that wanted to gain weight. Yeah, there’s one that’s going to be one for white. There’s one for thyroid. There’s one for energy. And I can’t remember what the other one is, but we’ve got a memory loss. What we’re talking about. But they’ll be on the side. I said they’re 30 day programs. They’re reasonably priced. You’re going to be able to just take pictures of all your food and just send it instantly. They make it easy for you. You don’t have to journal it, just take a picture and send it. There’s a lot of communication going on. And I think we’re going to put one of them on sale for a limited time too to just let people dip their toe in the water. So stay tuned for that. And we’ve come to the end of our show again. I can’t believe it. Hopefully you’ve learned something today with us dancing around subject matter. I hope that you got out of it. What you’ve been asking us and if we can help you anyway, sometimes just pick up the phone and call us because it might be easier than emailing or you can now if you’re in our healthy app. If you’ve downloaded the healthy app and all the people out there that don’t know what I’m talking about, if you’ve been a patient of ours, you are in our new program called healthy it’s where we share our lab documents with you now and we also share any kind of nutritional programs doctor Lewis. It’s giving you. But there’s also in app messaging. So you’re able to speak to doctor Liz, leave him a message. He’ll chat back with you because some people are saying, I wrote you an email, you never responded to my email. He does actually respond. We had a problem with our email at one point and some of that was going in spam for people, so they thought he wasn’t answering. He’s actually answering till 8, 9, 10 o’clock at night on the couch because I watch him do it. So we moved to this app to kind of keep it all inclusive in that way. We can keep up with everybody’s conversation a bit better. It’s healthy. If you have been a patient of ours, all you have to do is change your password, you’re in, and then you’ll be able to talk to him also, new ones that’s how we process our lab orders from now on. So you might as well get it now. Doctor Lewis, would you like to leave us with closing words or maybe help people go to the website and tell them how to get started if they’ve not done lab? Yeah, I always tell Janet, thanks for helping me be technologically more confident. Thanks for dragging me into the 20th century. She said Steven is the 21st. So yeah, go to green wisdom health and look at over and what I’d like to tell you is difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations, don’t quit. And in the happy moment, we should price God in difficult moments. We should seek God in the quiet moments. We should worship God in every moment. We should thank God. I like that. And like you said, go to green wisdom health dot com, click on the health survey, get started. If you don’t know what lab panels are best for you, it will actually recommend the lab panel that it decides his best for you based on what you fill out. And we appreciate you listening to our show. We hope you stay healthy. And we’ll be here next time on the green wisdom health show. Once again, our show has come to an end, but you’re hoping your health is only beginning. If you or a loved one are in need of a different outcome and are waiting for a brighter future, take the first step and go to our website and fill out the health survey. Please don’t keep us a secret. If you know someone that could benefit from this podcast, please share the show with your friends and family. You are only one step away from a life worth living.

Products Mentioned in Today’s Show

Nattokinase – Nattokinase is a powerful enzyme used to support normal blood flow, circulation, and blood pressure levels. Maintaining healthy blood circulation and balanced coagulation is a key part of supporting cardiovascular health. Fibrinolytic enzymes, such as plasmin, produced in the endothelial cells are responsible for ensuring proper blood flow. However, production of these enzymes decreases with age, which can result in increased fibrin levels. In vitro studies have highlighted that nattokinase triggers the release of substances that lead to production of other important enzymes, like plasmin, which help regulate fibrin formation.

Multi-Element Buffered C – Vitamin C is important for immune function and antioxidant protection, as well as collagen and connective tissue production. Multi-Element Buffered C adds calcium, magnesium, and potassium to ascorbic acid to create a buffered product that is gentle on the stomach. This formulation includes zinc, manganese, and copper in well-utilized forms. Quercetin, a powerful bioflavonoid, and reduced L-glutathione, an antioxidant, are included to potentiate the function of vitamin C.

Immune Essentials – Immune Essentials supports immune health with a blend of highly researched and effectively concentrated mushroom extracts combined with the polyphenol nutrient support of green tea. This formula provides beta 1,3/1,6 d-glucan and a range of bioactive compounds that have been shown to potentiate immune response.

You can also listen to Supporting Long-Haul Syndrome on our Spotify here.

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Mushrooms: The Underrated Superfood                

Mushrooms have been used for centuries, across many cultures as both food and medicine. A growing body of research now centers on the many benefits of mushrooms both on our physical and mental health. If you’ve only thought of mushrooms as a nice addition to a stir-fry, it’s time to learn more about these fascinating fungi, and their medicinal and adaptogenic varieties that are becoming mainstream superfood supplements!

What Are Mushrooms Anyway?

Mushrooms are edible fungi, which might not sound too appetizing, but the contributions that fungi make to the planet and to our own health can’t be overlooked. Fungi help to regulate carbon dioxide and recycle nutrients in the soil, and they are an often-delicious secret weapon for improving overall health when part of a rounded diet.  

Of course, some types of mushrooms aren’t edible at all, and a few are even deadly if eaten. Mycologists (people who study mushrooms) estimate that there are about 14,000 different species of mushrooms, with about 800 new species discovered annually! About 70-80 species are poisonous. Many poisonous mushrooms closely resemble edible mushrooms, so it’s important to educate yourself on different types if you gather wild mushrooms. The aptly named Death Cap mushroom is responsible for about 90% of mushroom fatalities, but overall, mushroom poisoning is relatively rare (an average of 2.9 cases each year in the U.S.).

The Underrated Superfood

Mushrooms are low in calories, with only about 20 calories per cup, but packed with nutrient density and goodness. One recent study found that adding one serving a day of mushrooms boosted intake of many essential nutrients, without any negative effects. Here are just a few of the ways mushrooms are a nutrient powerhouse:

  • Mushrooms are one of the best plant-based sources of vitamin D. Note that the amount of vitamin D declines gradually, so for optimum benefit, consume them before their “best before” date. Fun fact: You can boost the vitamin D content of your mushrooms by placing them in direct sunlight, like right under a window, for a couple of hours before eating!
  • Mushrooms are a great source of folate, and oyster mushrooms in particular contain the most.
  • Adding mushrooms to soups or sauces is an easy way to boost your daily fiber intake. Mushrooms are particularly high in a type of fiber called beta glucan, which has been shown to help lower cholesterol.
  • Many kinds of mushrooms are at par with bananas for potassium content.
  • A powerful antioxidant, selenium found in mushrooms helps boost your immune system and protects your heart health.

Fight Stress with Adaptogenic Mushrooms

Over the last decade, modern research has really begun to understand and harness the powerful benefits of functional mushrooms for human health. Certain varieties of mushrooms contain adaptogens, substances found in plants that help the body respond, manage and reduce the damaging effects of stress. Adaptogenic mushrooms include varieties like reishi, cordyceps, lion’s mane and chaga.

Although studies are still ongoing, results show positive effects on those who incorporate adaptogenic mushrooms in their diet.

  • Lion’s mane mushrooms may benefit people with depression and anxiety. Studies show that lion’s mane may also protect against dementia and help repair nerve damage.
  • Reishi mushrooms have been shown to help offset both physical and mental stressors, especially in athletes. They have also been shown to possess immune-supportive properties, support normal blood glucose metabolism and liver health.
  • Cordyceps mushrooms are often touted as a natural energy booster and popular with athletes looking for a natural performance enhancer. Cordycepsmay promote cognitive health and mood, good energy balance, stamina and exercise performance while reducing fatigue and listlessness.
  • Chaga mushroom extract has been shown to help support a normal immune response. It has potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, making it a potential alternative remedy for things like arthritis and high blood pressure. If you find yourself drinking too much coffee during the day, this mushroom extract has been produced in a pretty decent coffee substitute! With a flavor that truly resembles coffee, mushroom coffee can help you kick your coffee habit and studies show improved energy levels in those who regularly consume it.

Compounds from adaptogenic mushrooms can be taken in the form of capsules, teas, and tinctures. Always consult first with a healthcare practitioner before incorporating new supplements or herbs – some adaptogens can cause unwanted side effects in certain people.

Psychedelic Mushrooms: Emerging Research Points to Potential Benefits

The hallucinogenic qualities of so-called “magic mushrooms” have long been associated with recreational drug use, but exciting new research points to their meaningful psychological benefits. Microdosing, or consuming very small amounts of a hallucinogen, is gaining attention as a way to potentially experience the benefits of these mushrooms without the drawbacks. However, it’s important to note that this research is done under highly controlled conditions.

Creative Ways to Incorporate Mushrooms in Your Diet

Because mushrooms have that umami flavor, they make excellent main dishes and easy meat substitutes.Try using them in place of ground meat in tacos, lasagna or stuffed peppers in your next “Meatless Monday” dish!

When shopping for mushrooms, look for firm, dry mushrooms that are free from mold. Most mushrooms can be refrigerated in a paper bag and last for about five days.

Wondering how mushrooms can help you manage stress, enhance immune function, improve brain health, let’s chat! We are always here to help you take your health to the next level. Give us a call!

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