I am thankful this film has been produced and grateful to Dr. Mercola making it available.  People feel so strongly about the importance of “low cholesterol” (a dangerous idea) that when I have told them that we need our cholesterol they have a hard time believing me.  Life style practices seem to be much more important in determining heart disease than “cholesterol.”  We wish a pill could take care of all of our problems.  Sorry, that is for fairy tales.  What we eat, drink, how much exercise we get, how much sleep we get and how we manage stress are the key ingredients.

The movie is free to watch this week.  I highly recommend you take advantage of this to educate yourself about this essential topic.

In case you have forgotten, animal studies show that GM foods contribute to allergies and affect the immune and endocrine systems as well as contributing to cancer and premature death.  The American Academy for Environmental Medicine has recommended that ALL doctors (my emphasis) advise their patients to avoid GM foods.  Patients who have done so have commonly found their symptoms diminish if not go away all together.  Farmers are finding the GM foods are greatly reducing the reproductive capacity of their herds.  Have you noticed that there is a fertility problem increasing in humans across the earth.  Look at how many more fertility clinics have opened.  GM foods are a disaster for humans and animals alike, now and for future generations.

Please click on the link and inform your legislators.  Also, let everyone else know.

For your health and the health of future generations, thank you.

Due to popular demand, we are reinstating my approximately monthly health information newsletter.  Please let us know if you would like to be added to the email list.

People can test for these sensitivities using several methods.  One is basically avoiding the food, then waiting 3 or 4 days to test the food by eating a lot of it.  If you are sensitive to the food, your symptoms will be bigger than ever.  This is because the avoidance period unmasks what the person’s reaction really is.    While this method works, I caution you not to use it if you have a serious illness like asthma or seizures.

Other methods include muscle testing, blood tests, and electrodermal testing.  While muscle testing is often useful as a quick screen, there is often so much subjectivity that the result is questionable.  Many doctors are now recognizing the significance of food allergies and are willing to order tests for their patients.  I like the electrodermal testing I do in my office (using an FDA-registered biofeedback device) because it is a quick screen and I can see, in real time,  what remedies might alleviate the sensitivity or which foods really need to be avoided.

If you have more questions about whether food allergies are an issue for you, check out Dr. Brownstein’s book.  I am also available for consultations.

Fluoride Action Network

Thanks again to Dr. Mercola, there is an excellent brief video about the dangers of Flouridated Water.  Fluoride is a byproduct of industrial processes.  It is not meant for human consumption.  We can obtain very adequate amounts of fluoride from a healthy diet.

Supposedly fluoride is added to strengthen our teeth.  Tell that to the majority of the earth’s countries which do not add fluoride.  Is there something they know that we don’t?  “You betcha!”  Fluoride contributes to dental fluorosis or mottled staining of the teeth.  The percentage of this has increase to include almost 1/2 of the young population in our country now since fluoride was added in the 1940′s to the water supply in most of our cities.  Some scientists are concerned fluoride is also associated with thyroid dysfunction and even with certain cancers.  And, if that is not enough, it does not work.  Studies show that there is no significant difference in the amount of tooth decay whether populations drink fluoridated water or not.

The residents of Portland are being asked to fluoridate their water.  If you know anyone who lives there, let them know about Dr. Mercola’s video.  If you don’t live in Portland, filter your water so that you don’t have to imbibe the fluoride, or buy filtered water for drinking and cooking.  The average carbon filter does not filter it all out.  Reverse osmosis does as does distillation.  Imagine having to go to so much trouble and expense to have to remove a toxin from the water that was not there in the first place.  Some people’s priorities are questionable.

To your health…

For 14 years LAUSD has been leading the way through the cooperation of every discipline in the organization.  I sit on the advisory board.  Despite the wars we see in the press everyday, despite the complaints  about the bureaucracy, the advisory board functions for the benefit of all the students and employees of the school district.  The members include a teacher, a principal, maintenance and operations personnel, food services, parent volunteers, community workers, the health department, environmental safety, an integrated pest management expert and an outside medical advisor (me).  We all come together in cooperation to advise this amazing program.

Considering the 1000 buildings, over 600,00 students, and 60,000 teachers and personnel, the amount of pesticides LAUSD uses in one month adds up to ounces and grams instead of gallons or barrels.  And the list of what is acceptable is limited to the least toxic pesticides we have available.

I have no doubt this program is contributing to reduced risk for future neurological disease and cancer in the students and employees because they are not being exposed to the more toxic pesticides during each school day.  It also demonstrates that people from diverse units who share the same values can overcome their differences and work together for the greater good of all.

Thus I am feel very privileged to be amongst members of the team to be honored this coming Friday for the 14th anniversary of the program and in honor of Earth Day.

Congratulations to LAUSD and to the whole IPM team.

There is a big problem with this study that might scare women away from using hormones.  The problem is that it studied progestin, not progesterone.  Doctors who prescribe bioidentical hormones would never prescribe progestin. Bioidentical means the product is the same chemical formula as we have in our body. Progestin is not bioidentical.  Progesterone is the bioidentical form.

Why does this matter?  Imagine trying to use your house key if it is similar but not exactly the same to fit into your lock.  The key might go part way, you might have to jiggle it, it would not work very well.  Now imagine the hormone you are taking is similar but not just like the one in your body.  It will not work as well either.  Generally, our hormones have hundreds of uses in our body, not just one.  Thus, if the replacement is not accurate, then some functions will not be addressed, or worse, might go awry.  That is why if someone is going to use hormone replacements, the proper ones to use must be bioidentical.

Perhaps we should not replace the hormones if our body is low in them, you ask?  We don’t think twice about a person taking thyroid hormone or insulin if those levels are low.  We know how essential they are for healthy functioning.  One can take the same attitude towards estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, cortisol, pregnenolone, and melatonin because supplanting our body’s level may make a huge improvement  in how the person feels.  Yes, there are herbal remedies and nutrients that can alleviate symptoms.  For some people however, nothing diminishes the suffering like the actual hormone.  One example is a 55 year old woman who experienced terrible insomnia and hot flashes at night for 3 years.  She tried herbs, acupuncture, homeopathy, nutrients.  Each might help a little, yet her symptoms continued and she became exhausted.  Finally, with the proper combination of hormone replacement to balance her she was able to sleep, her energy and her mood improved giving her, literally, a new lease on life.

What is essential in the prescription of hormones, as with any other medication or “natural” remedy is that the program fit the individual.  There is no one dose of any of the hormones that is right for everybody.  That is why we are fortunate to have compounding pharmacies which can prepare any dose that the doctor and patient agree works best.  Do not fear, these pharmacies are under strict guidelines about how they are to operate, just like any other pharmacy.

Finding the right hormone combination for an individual can alleviate even symptoms you would not think are “hormonal” like chronic anxiety, recurrent or chronic depression, irritability, low stamina, cravings for certain foods, excessive sensitivites to chemicals or increased allergies, decreased muscle strength, feeling chilled much of the time, gaining weight without changing your diet, high cholesterol, chronic infections, dry skin, and/or painful joints.

If you are wondering about your hormones, consult a doctor who specializes in the bioidentical kind in your area.

Lest you think this cannot happen here, think again.  Monsanto just got passed, in our Congress in Washington, DC, exclusion from judicial court decisions about GMO’s.  That means they are free to do whatever they want and we have no judicial recourse.  No wonder this was called the “Monsanto Protection Act.”  And President Obama signed this! That is not my idea of speaking up for “main street” or for the common person.

If you don’t want to be one of those frogs in the boiling water, I implore you to check out these articles, educate yourself about Codex Alimentarius, and write your senators and congress people telling them you want the freedom to get information about and to choose what supplements you wish and the type of health care you wish.

If you thought the “government” is watching out for bees and for us, think again.  “US Pesticide Approval “Grievously Flawed.”   “Following on two years of research, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a watchdog group, has found that as much as 65 percent of the 16,000 pesticides the EPA approved between the late 1970s and 2010 were greenlighted through a hasty and potentially incomplete process.” (Italics mine)

How do we get people to recognize that chemicals that are dangerous for insects and “pests” are likely to be dangerous for all of us in the long run?  Remember, the “cide” part of pesticide means “kill.”  Chemicals that affect the nervous system, the immune system, the reproductive system, the endocrine system of an insect are likely to damage our own system.  We are not that different from the other animals.  Yes, the pesticide in small amounts may not kill us, but that does not mean it won’t interfere with any of the delicate and finely tuned thousands of reactions that occur in our body.  Scientific studies have shown repeatedly the dangers of the wide-spread use of pesticides.  One example is the increased suggestion that the epidemic of autism, world-wide, is a result of our increasing use of pesticides and other chemicals.  We use them without adequate testing.  If we followed the Precautionary Principle, I have no doubt we would only be able to use a fraction of the 80,000 new chemicals that have been created since World War II.

The Precautionary Principle would have us NOT use a new product, eg a chemical, until we have proven it is safe for animals and children alike.  Our current approach is to use a chemical until we have connected it to the myriad deaths or cancers or epidemics of animal deaths that are occurring.

Please let the EPA know, if you agree, that you want them to use more stringent regulatory policies before permitting companies to release chemicals into our environment.  Our lives and the lives of our children depend on our being proactive about this.

As if this isn’t enough, guess what is being put in the milk that children are drinking in school.  Remember, the American Dairy Association has made certain that people believe they are not being well fed if they don’t get their milk every day.  Besides, milk builds strong bones, right? Wrong!  There are many countries where the residents don’t drink milk at all, and they have very strong bones because exercise is an important part of their lives.  They also don’t eat lots of sugar or soda pop or junky carbs.  In contrast, we drink more milk per capita than most countries and we have a higher rate of osteoporosis than most countries.  So much for that piece of misleading advertising.

Dairy Industry Tries to Hide Artificial Sweeteners in School Lunches

Thanks to the Alliance for Natural Health, we now are informed that artificial sweeteners are being used in the flavored milks (I bet those are the preferred kind.  I know I wanted chocolate milk when I was a kid.) provided for children in schools across the country.  Aspartame is certainly not healthy for children.  It seems to be a carcinogen.  It also is an excitotoxin, meaning it upsets brain function.  Here we are trying to give children food so that they can learn in school, yet the food we are providing is filled with chemicals that are going to impair their ability to learn.

And to top it all off, the dairy industry wants to remove from the label the information that the aspartame is in the milk.

Please at least read this brief article, and then sign onto the petition requesting that such important information not be deleted from the label.

A wise man said to me many years ago “Freedom is not free.”  We must be diligent about what we expose ourselves to, what companies are doing that affects our health and well-being, and what the government proposes in order to “protect” us.  Thank you to organizations like ANH-USA for keeping us informed.