Healthy Digestion for a Healthy Life

As Dr. Elie Metchnikoff said so many years ago, “Death begins in the digestive system.”

I once audited a college course called Critical Thinking. Much of the class was focused on a technique called Active Listening. This is where you actively ask yourself critical questions as you listen or read a claim, looking for “why it cannot be true.”

It was negative and mistrustful and I hated it.

But I learned many valuable life lessons from Critical Thinking that have served me for decades now. One gem in particular was the technique of turning a statement around like a mathematical equation: if 1+2=2, then 2-1=1.

As a tribute to Dr. Metchnikoff, here is my Active Listening statement: If death begins with a dysfunctional digestive system, then vitality must begin with a healthy digestive system!

Health begins in the digestive system
If our digestive system (DS) is working as designed, we will have a good appetite, sweet-smelling breath, abundant energy and daily elimination of waste. When our DS works well we feel on top of the world!

If our digestive system is not working optimally, we will have a bizarre appetite. This is often characterized by no desire for breakfast and a ravenous, insatiable appetite in the evening. We may even awaken in the middle of the night feeling as if we need to eat and yet never being satisfied with normal foods. When our digestive system is “broken” we will develop food allergies, gas, bloating, indigestion and excess stomach acid. If our DS malfunctions, we will have constipation or alternating diarrhea and constipation. Plus, we will have abdominal pain.

As time progresses and our DS becomes more imbalanced, we may experience chronic inflammation in the mouth (leading to sores in the mouth and on the tongue), stomach (leading to GERD, ulcers and indigestion), small intestines, pancreas, liver, gallbladder and colon. And because “bad” bacteria and yeast multiply in an unhealthy DS, we may start to experience chronic infections that migrate to our kidneys, bladder and reproductive systems. Chronic infections also trigger autoimmune attacks on healthy organs.

However, as we assist our DS to find balance, our health will rebound and return to a vital state very quickly. You see, our DS cells are the most prolific in our whole body – many of them possess a lifespan of only four hours! So, it’s easy to un-balance and upset our DS, but it’s also easy to re-balance and heal it.

Our “gut-garden”
What we need to rebalance our DS is the “Weed, Seed and Feed” program we use in our garden. We “weed” out all of the toxins in our DS with enzymes and herbs. We “seed” the DS with probiotics and we “feed” them with prebiotics for better colonization and a long, healthy life.

Weed
Enzymes help begin the healing process because they remove toxic proteins and discourage bad bacteria, yeast and parasites from breeding in our gut. And they help digest our food for more energy. Dandelion root works with the Lipase enzyme as it thins the bile from the liver and gallbladder. Bile helps Lipase to digest fat. Bile also discourages bad bacteria, yeast and parasites from breeding. Milk thistle helps reduce the autoimmune impact from an imbalanced DS, and helps reduce cramps, pain and bloating.
Seed
Prebiotics lay the groundwork for probiotics, as prebiotic fibers help probiotic bacteria establish colonies by providing a food source. Probiotics also have a marvelous impact on the rest of the body and brain as they coordinate the immune system of the DS. Prebiotics and probiotics work together to improve digestion and elimination.
Feed
To have a healthy body and brain, we must have a healthy DS. It provides us with digestion and defense. TriVita’s FloraVita™ supports these processes by supplying our probiotics the food they need – called prebiotics – and by replanting healthy colony-forming units of probiotics. Also, FloraVita supports digestion and defense with a wide array of digestive enzymes and immune-modulating botanicals.
Our digestive system is a miracle of creation! It is the primary way we take in energy to fuel a life of passion, mission and purpose. Take care of it starting today

VitamIn D and Your Brain

Vitamin D and Your Brain

I recently read an article in the medical and scientific literature that discussed the role of Vitamin D in the human brain. The article correlated the low levels of Vitamin D in the bloodstream with high levels of anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and oppositional-defiant disorder. The most important discussions, however, were about the role of Vitamin D in two plagues: autism and Alzheimer's disease.

Autism
The number of people diagnosed with autism is increasing at an epidemic rate. Greater than 1 in 150 children born today will have autism. The gender rate is also alarming: Boys are four times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than girls.

No one can agree as to the cause of autism. This may be because there is more than one cause. In fact, the last time I counted there were 11 suspected causes. However, two things that nearly all children have in common are poor methylation (inability to use Vitamin B-12 to create whole proteins) and poor hydroxylation (inability to convert inactive Vitamin D into its active form).

The most common cause for these defects is toxicity: environmental toxins and/or geno-toxins (poisons created by abnormal genes).

Alzheimer's disease
There are three characteristics of Alzheimer's disease in the human brain: neurofibrillary tangles, beta-amyloid plaques and glial cell inflammation. Interestingly, some people with plaques and tangles - but no inflammation - appear to function normally into their advanced years. It is brain inflammation that seems to be the spark which lights the fire of Alzheimer's disease.

Vitamin D may help reduce inflammation in the brain. A notable attribute of Alzheimer's disease victims is low levels of Vitamin D.

The same two problems that exist in children with autism also afflict adults with Alzheimer's disease: poor methylation (inability to use Vitamin B-12 to create whole proteins) and poor hydroxylation (inability to convert inactive vitamin D into its active form). Methylation is measured by a blood test for homocysteine. And one of the ways to measure hydroxylation is with a blood test for Vitamin D.

Are autism and Alzheimer's disease related? At this point it is hard to say; perhaps it is even impossible to say that they are connected conditions. But they share remarkably similar imbalances in biochemistry and they share at least two common deficiencies: Vitamin B-12 and Vitamin D.

Certainly, it would be an amazing coincidence if they were not somehow linked, don't you think?

Conclusion
In the 1990s I was overwhelmed by the mountains of evidence linking homocysteine to the increase in autism and Alzheimer's disease. This was eventually linked back to a methylation defect that led to poor protein formation and Vitamin B-12 metabolism. Now, we are seeing new mountains of evidence emerging about hydroxylation defects leading to poor hormone formation and Vitamin D metabolism.

We can say with greater certainty than ever before that these imbalances are caused by toxicity, deficiency, injury and stress. Let's increase our efforts to combat these "causes" and reduce the chance of being victimized by the effects!

MORE HEALTH BENEFITS

Cracked Skin: What Can It Mean?

Do you have cracked skin around your heels, on your hands or at the corners of your mouth? Each of these conditions may be described as a failure in the protective nature of your immune system. And they each tell a story about life balance and lifestyle choices, as well as your environment and even genetics that affect your health.

Heel cracks
Fissures called xerosis form around the edge of the heel as the skin dries out. The more we stand on our feet - and the older we get - the more likely we are to experience heel fissures. However, xerosis is not an inevitable part of aging or standing. Many people who stand all day or survive to age 100 don't have heel cracks. What is different between those who get them and those who don't?

Frequently, it is nutrition, exercise, rest and stress management.

Heel cracks appear most commonly in people as they age, it is true. So does diabetes. My experience tells me that heel cracks commonly appear as we lose our ability to balance our glucose (blood sugar). They are more common in people with pre-diabetes and diabetes. Control your blood sugar and you can often help control the cracking in your heels.

Two nutrients are important in glucose management: zinc and Omega essential fatty acids. Zinc helps control blood sugar, helps improve mental function, helps reduce the number of colds and viruses that affect you and even helps with ringing in the ears (tinnitus). Essential fatty acids help produce more lubrication (sebum) in the skin of the heels and help speed up healing. GlucoManage® is a good source of zinc and, of course, OmegaPrime® is my favorite source of essential fatty acids.

Consult with your healthcare provider if heel cracks:

Become painful
Become so deep they begin to bleed
Become infected
Hand cracks
Fissures affect the hands as well as the feet. However, the causes are not the same. For example, cracked skin on the hands can be a sign of an autoimmune disorder such as Sjogren's or psoriasis - inflammatory conditions appearing in the skin. I say "appearing in the skin" because psoriasis is a condition involving the whole body. Psoriasis and other skin disorders causing fissures in the hands and fingers may be autoimmune disorders - a condition where the immune system attacks normal, healthy skin and destroys it.

Interestingly, essential fatty acids are often effective in teaching the immune system to "work smarter, not harder." They do not "boost" the immune system or bolster it in any way. (In an autoimmune disorder you do not want to "boost" your immune system because that causes more damage.) Instead, essential fatty acids along with Vitamin D help the immune system more clearly identify healthy and unhealthy tissues so it may react appropriately.

Not to be overlooked, the immune system is the most intrinsically involved body system in the mind-body connection. Any stress, large or small, is immediately reflected in the immune system. Adaptogens help mitigate the impact of stress on the immune system.

Mouth cracks
Infections from tooth abscess to thrush can cause cracks in the corners of your mouth. Autoimmune conditions including celiac disease can as well (celiac disease is triggered by an extreme allergy to wheat and other gluten-containing grains). Toxins also cause cracks in the corners of the mouth. For example, fluoride in toothpaste and too much Vitamin A can both reach toxic levels and cause cracking and fissures in the lips.

The most common cause of dry, cracked lips is dehydration. Drink pure water and make sure you have enough essential fatty acids and minerals to hold that water in your skin.

Conclusion
Our skin says much about our life. It is a special window into our immune system. For healthy skin we must learn to listen as our body speaks to us. If you have dry, cracked skin anywhere on your body, seek appropriate medical care and consider the impact that proper nutrients and nurturing will have as we strive to be like the people with perfect, beautiful skin!

Take Control of Your Health

Heel cracks:
OmegaPrime
GlucoManage

Hand cracks:
OmegaPrime
Nopalea™
Adaptogen 10 Plus®

Mouth cracks:
OmegaPrime
Wellavoh® or VitaDaily™ AM/PM
Drink Pure Water

Learn more!
http://bit.ly/B12BWell

Living with Crohn's: Jennifer's Story

When Jennifer was diagnosed with Crohn's disease at age 28, she was immediately placed on a strict diet. With help from a nutritionist, she started taking supplements that would specifically help her digestive system and keep her symptoms under control. It was difficult to stay on track with all of her new restrictions, but just a year later, Jennifer was beginning to return to her passions.

Jennifer's story, in her own words, is reprinted below from the CCFA Community Forum.

"I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease on September 26, 2009. I was having a lot of stomach pain and nausea when I ate, and my vision began to get very blurry. I'm not one that likes to go to the doctor, but my symptoms only got worse. I would throw up anything I ate and double over in pain. When I was first admitted they thought I just had the flu that was going around. I knew it had to be more than that."

"After running a CT scan they said I had ulcerative colitis. My twin sister has had UC for over 11 years now, so it wasn't that much of a shock to me. I was, however, upset, because when my sister was first diagnosed a doctor had told me that if I did not get this by the time I was 25 I would not get it. Well, I was 28 when they diagnosed me. Guess they were wrong. Then the results from my colonoscopy showed that I actually had Crohn’s, not colitis. I was put on steroids – Asacol and Prednisone – and a very strict diet. No fruits or vegetables, no dairy products, no foods high in fiber/fat. When I got out of the hospital I knew things were not going to be easy."

"I decided to see a nutritionist to help my body heal on the inside. I found out that I was sensitive – "allergic" – to corn & honey. He advised that I stay away from any products that contained high fructose corn syrup, honey and wine, or that were high in refined sugar. I was not allowed any dairy because it would feed on the infection that was making me sick. After testing me with over 20 different types of supplements he put me on supplements that would specifically help me. I returned to the nutritionist every four weeks until my symptoms were under control. Each time he would test to see if the supplements were still working; if they weren't, he would put me on a supplement that would."

"After eight months I was finally off steroids. This would be the true test to see if I was healing. I was still on a strict diet and dealing with this the best way I could. Constantly having to read the labels of everything you buy is not easy, but I knew that was the only way I was going to get better. I have had to give up some of the foods I loved to eat like corn, popcorn and pancakes, but I know that in the end these foods will make me sick – it's just not worth it. Almost a year after I was diagnosed I had a colonoscopy. Everything came back completely clear. I was very happy to know that everything I had been doing for the past year had worked. I hear it's not common for someone to have a normal colonoscopy just one year after they were diagnosed. My sister just got her first normal one after ten years."

"I still see the nutritionist every twelve weeks. I have been on the same few medicines for months now and they are really helping. I still have a day every once in a while where I get sick, but I realize that it's because I ate something that I shouldn't have. I know now that I just need to take it one day at a time. Thankfully I have been able to get back to the way my life used to be. I work out 3-4 days a week, recently ran a 5K in April and am training for a 10k! I pray to God every day to help me choose the right foods to put into my body and that the medicine I'm taking heals and strengthens me. I know with His help I can fight this!"