Why haven't you been on for a while?

Asked by
Anonymous

I have had my hands full but some of the distractions are finalized and some are just beginning which will enable me to pay more attention to answering questions. All positive! I have been a consultant on some very promising new pharmaceutical and nutraceutical delivery vehicles that have the potential of revolutionizing the  nutrition industry. All in good time-I say. It has been exciting and at the same time exhausting to try to get off of the ground. New physics applications to old outdated pre-conceived notions takes some explanation- which I have been doing adnauseum. When I can go public with it, I will.

    What are the best brands for a multivitamin? I hear that alot of brands are junky or mostly filler? It is confusing.

    Asked by
    Anonymous

    life essence Some of my favorite multivitamins are: Life Essence by Pure Essence Labs ( I love their targeted vitamins as well-prenatal, menopausal, women’s and men’s), Garden of Life’s Vitamin Code line, New Chapter's line, the Alive line by Nature’s Way, the Source of Life line by Nature’s Plus, Reliance's whole food vitamin line (they private label for a number of companies and are identifiable by the first six digits of their upc code which are 787500) and a number of others who are either 100% whole food or who have a good coverage of needed vitamins with added whole food complements and clean ingredients.

    It is easy to identify higher end vitamins with a few simple rules. If they care enough about the consumer and their ingredients to leave out food dyes, additives, preservatives and hydrogenated fats ( which I have seen in cheap vitamins believe it or not), and will fully disclose their ingredients and are open to questions about their products, they are usually higher end brands.

    Most of these lines also offer a one a day version for those that insist although these are necessarily low in the bulkier minerals and whole food substances.

    I always get this image of the little girl in Willy Wonka  and the Chocolate Factory when she was demanding what she wanted with the statement-” I want it and I want it now!”-when someone gives me a list and it goes like this: I want a vitamin that  has all of the minerals and vitamins I need for a day and I will only take one and it has to be cheap and it has to taste good and I want my essential fatty acids in it too and I have to feel the difference.  It doesn’t exist.

    I do feel the difference in many of the vitamins I mentioned above, but they are usually at least two a day with a separate mineral or they are three or four a day with decent amounts of mineral or they are all whole food at four a day with still yet a separate mineral. Some mineral forms are six a day just to get the standard 1000 mg of calcium and magnesium in a citrate form which is bulky.

    If your mineral is highly compressed into a one or two a day form you are not likely to break it down anyway. There are new disintegration techniques that will deliver breakup in short periods of time in digestion and they will usually have done testing and can guarantee breakup in reasonable time. I know this is true of the Alive line which is about 18 minutes ( if I remember their test correctly) and they have both tablets and capsules. I happen to have met the formulator of that line, Dean Morris and have met the formulators of many of the other vitamins as well. They care about their products and are truly trying to improve the health of the individuals that buy their products. They are not “dime a dozen” formulators. A lot of research and careful ingredient selection goes into these lines. Most of these list websites and have toll free numbers right on the bottles or on their websites.

    I remember having a number of my associates tell me that they could tell a difference when they took the Life Essence vitamins. There is a great deal of research and ingredient selection and experience that went into  those vitamins and even though they don’t claim to be 100% whole food and organic that is what they shoot mostly for. I like naturally sourced materials. I am not a fan of synthetics for at least the reason that they have found in research that the body can tell the difference and creates a larger and more elaborate pathway to move isolated synthetic ingredients out.

    Whole food and natural ingredients for whatever reason show evidence of circulating in the system for longer periods of time and with better results as I have been shown by a number of researchers. There are also energetics behind these theories as well as chemistry that are only just beginning to be understood. There are those that flatly reject these theories but the evidence that they make a difference is there- sources for raw material. I hope this helps! Thankyou for asking. I have a lot more specific information for you if you still have questions!

      Are there any natural supplements someone can take for hypothyroidism?

      Asked by
      Anonymous

      Hypothyroidism  can be linked to other endocrine problems and some to chemical exposure and can seriously impact daily function and general health, so it must be treated. I know a number of physicians that will use complementary medicine to encourage maximum recovery and function along side the prescriptions traditionally used.

      It is dangerous not to do anything- so that is not an option. It can seriously impact even heart health so this is a diagnosis that must be managed by a physician. Some are better than others at making sure all options are explored. I have worked for a few that do make sure you are iodine sufficient and free of other antagonists before they jump to just a prescription. That is necessary in most cases anyway but is not the only way to insure optimal function. There are a few chemicals that are similar to iodine and will sit on the iodine receptor sites and sicken the thyroid. A few are; bromine, lithium, chlorine and fluoride. In the case of a diseased thyroid I would assess exposure to these chemicals in food, profession and daily activities.

      I recently read that other goitrogens (foods that suppress iodine) need to be assessed in the diet for possible overuse. Another chemical that exists in some of these recognized goitrogen foods  (that I’ve been aware of for some time) and that is in soybean and a number of other foods is  thiocyanate. It decreases iodine uptake by competitive inhibition causing a negative thyroxin secretion and increased secretion of thyrotrophin which stimulates the gland.

      In the 70’s an animal science professor at a local university discovered that the calves they were raising off of their dairy herd were having adverse responses to their soy supplement. They had not had this problem before so they set out to find out what made this batch different from previous batches. The school had a grant for a mass spectrometer gas chromatograph that year, so they ran a chemical analysis of this supplement through the spectrometer and discovered that a few of the chemicals in the analysis were not just higher but thousands of times higher in the newer formula than the older readouts of previous years batches of supplements. They isolated one chemical  in particular that  happened to be phenylisothiocyanate and using  the same dilution of chemical found in the supplement , challenged the calves in an intradermal test. They raised a positive wheel meaning there was an immune response to the particular concentration of the chemical found in that years batch. They then did the test again using the dilution found in soy supplements used in other years where they had not had a negative reaction. There was no positive wheel. Different dilutions of the same chemical were tolerated or not tolerated depending on the concentration found in the plant. They then checked the source of the two supplements. They found that the one that had been tolerated was not genetically modified and the one that was not tolerated had been genetically modified to make it more disease resistant by raising the phenylisothiocyanate. They had their answer and a new reason to be cautious about altering the genetic structure without taking in account the consequence to it’s ingestability. 

      I make this case in point to show that recent evidence shows that soy has a negative impact on the thyroid. But was this so decades ago before we started altering it’s structure? Food for thought!

       There are some natural thyroid supplements that still remain under prescription but give your practitioner some choices. Standard Process is a line of glandulars that is physician dispensed and has a good track record. There are over the counter glandulars that can be purchase in a health food store. I would encourage you to do some educational research on the protomorphogen theory behind glandular therapies. It is a simple to understand theory and I have seen it do well for a large number of clients. This one is not a simple answer but will at least steer you in a direction of self exploration and education that will give you food for thought and some direction in identifying possible causes and treatments.

        Are there any natural diuretics I can take? I am retaining water but don't want to go to the dr. yet.

        Asked by
        Anonymous

        There are a number of natural ways to encourage extra retained fluid to exit. One of the simplest ways is juicing a lemon and diluting it in a few ounces of water (I add liquid or powered stevia to it to take off the bitter edge and make it more palatable) first thing in the morning. It really doesn’t matter what time of the day, but I know for dieters that is usually the best time to take it in. One of the concepts behind retained fluid is a sodium/potassium imbalance in the cells. The sodium/potassium pump in the cell ( to over simplify it) lets sodium hold water in the cell and potassium to let it out. So if you consume high sodium foods without eating potassium rich foods you will create an imbalance that causes too much fluid to be retained within the cells creating water retention.

        This is not the only cause however. If the heart is pumping inefficiently or the kidneys are filtering inefficiently or a number of other medical issues are present, you can retain water as well. These need to be ruled out  so as not to mask a more serious problem. There is also intracellular fluid that is held for other reasons.  There are a number of natural diuretics that are herbal in composition. They usually contain a mix of uva ursi, parsley, buchu, celery seed, green tea, cranberry, dandelion, apple cider vinegar, etc.

        There are also a number of foods that encourage loss of water through the kidneys and the foods that work have to do with the cause.  In general, foods that are rich in potassium and are detoxifying, such as your leafy greens, are going to help and foods that are highly processed and sodium rich are going to add to the problem. Most health food stores have a hand full of natural diuretic products that are geared at increasing kidney output and increasing potassium and are usually labeled for easy identification.

        An experienced employee might know about homeopathics or other less identifiable products that work as well. I would encourage you to identify the cause before you use just any product because chronic fluid retention is often just a symptom of a more serious cause. If you know that you are consuming a lot of processed, high sodium foods and not a lot of fruits and vegetables that are rich in potassium, that is an easier solution. A dietary change is in order. From here- if you absolutely know that you are retaining water chronically for no identifiable reason- it really does need to be evaluated by a health care provider. 

          How did you get experience in the nutrition field?

          Asked by
          Anonymous

          Thank you for asking! I have wanted to shed some light on that for readers.

          Professionally, I started out as a research assistant for a research physician who was also a widely published author. He had also done research for the FDA and had branched out in private practice alongside his research. After 30 years we still collaborate and are friends.  (Dr. Dennis Remington http://www.freedommedcenter.com/)

          I started out as a critically ill patient of his with a serious auto immune disorder and he took me on as an experimental patient trying to find an alternative path for me besides the 10 different medications and 9 shots a week I was currently being treated with. I started responding positively to our trials and within 2 months I was off of all medication and shots. My terrible headaches were lessening and I was thankfully able to get off of the prednisone I had had to exist on. It was all up from there.

          After working with him as an assistant for three years my husband and I moved to Cincinnati, Ohio to pursue his Doctorate in music from Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. We were there for five years and I worked in Natural Life Nutrition Shoppes for Jay Davis. I learned a lot of things available in the nutritional supplement field during that time as I met with the various national trainers and reps from all of the companies we bought from. We had a full service shops from bulk foods and herbs to literature and a juice bar.

          I had grown up with a mom who was a health oriented nurse and who had been raised by a mom who knew the Mississippi woods and gathered and harvested herbs and doctored her own family. She had 11 children . I had a great grandfather who was a doctor. It seems that we have on both sides of the family the nurturing blood and a love for gardening and nature and all that goes with it.

          When we returned to Utah after Rob’s doctorate I taught a full studio of music students for many years as all of my college background is in music. After needing a break from the very family intrusive hours of private instruction, I stepped back into the day time hours of retail and after a few months of gaining my bearings again in Good Earth Natural Foods, I was offered a full time career position as a manager for the company. This afforded a great opportunity to  get reacquainted with the companies and products and research  available again and move forward in the experience of helping customers find effective products and services in and out of the store. That is where I have made great contacts with the industry in general and have met with many of the movers and shakers of the industry in general.

          My primary interest is in helping people find self help tools and lifestyle management ideas that fit them and their budget. Much work can be done to help ourselves with the right knowledge. I have no degree- just a passion and a lifetime of exposure and experience in unleashing the body’s own ability to restore itself to optimal function with understanding of the things that work against us to prevent that from happening and the tools that cause it too happen. Our bodies want to move toward health at all times and if the tools are provided it can do that. 

            I started out a critically ill infant because of medications given to my 41 year old mother to control morning sickness. Both she and I nearly died and spent years trying to regain a balance again. She was affected for the rest of her life even though she lived into her 80’s. Insult was added to injury with me as I was prescribed a continual round of antibiotics which in the 50’s were almost thrown at everything and I had a completely malfunctioning immune system and gastrointestinal tract because of it. For my first 20 years it was a roller coaster of hospitalizations and fungal infections and ill health. I had a few rest spots here and there because I was lucky enough to live on a farm where we grew almost all of our own food and had very little to do with manufactured and processed products. We ate good cultured foods and raw dairy and the variety was astounding. I believe if it had not been for the fact I would not have made it through childhood at all. My mother was a nurse and during the 60’s there was a general mentality that medicine could do very little wrong and that it was going to be the ultimate conqueror of all ills. I think we know better now. Nature plays that role a little better. We are not going to get better at it than our creator already is. I have seen a lot in  my 50 plus years and will see a lot more to come.

          I have loved both of my fields of expertise and currently serve in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir as an Alto. My husband also is a tenor in the same organization and that fills out my love for music on a volunteer basis leaving me free to pursue the passion for educating people about the tools they can use for bettering their personal health and quality of life. Maybe understanding where I am coming from will allow questions to come in that will make more sense from my experience.

          I have been able to spend decades antibiotic free. I do have some challenges with a difficult diagnosis that my sister and I share that appears to have a familial basis. I do better than most patients with my diagnosis do with the tools I have learned to use. My husband and I go hiking and running on a weekly basis and that is something I was told I would never do again. My immune problems are very managed and I enjoy good digestion even after the antibiotic cocktail I was on for years- thanks to the development of great probiotics. I know the nutraceutical industry inside and out and know what is out there. If I can shed light on that subject for anyone- I would love too.