Category Archives: Health Newsletter

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The Healing Process: Role of the Immune System – Part I

  PROTOMORPHOGENS

    Here’s where our consideration of the Healing Process takes a turn away from the orthodox medical model and indoctrination and toward a more accurate understanding of the disease process : what causes it, where does it begin and how can it best be reversed by supporting the healing and re-building processes of the body. 

     Let us start with a recap of what we think we know about disease. Following Louis Pasteur’s “outside-in” thinking, medical science took off and developed on the basis of the theory that disease was brought into the body from the outside.  The “germ theory” gained popularity and soon we were developing antibiotics (literally, anti-life) to kill germs and pathogens of all kinds. We were given soaps, sprays and gels to sanitize ourselves and prevent the invasion of and contamination by these invaders.  And if we did get invaded, then we used antibiotics to “fight infection,” the body’s own natural way of dealing with harmful bacteria and viruses.  We even started “pasteurizing” our milk in an endeavor to kill the germs, only to kill the natural enzymes needed to digest the milk in the process.  Our blessed parents brought us up on whole milk we got from our cows and we gave our immune systems a good education on how to deal with sore throats (strep), boils (staph) and other symptoms of bacteria-fighting in our bodies, and we’re better off for it today.  The end result of all this waring against germs has been the adaptation of viruses and other pathogens to our powerful antibiotics and the appearance of super viruses and bacteria that are immune to our antibiotics, which has medical scientists deeply concerned.

Shortly after the time when Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) was selling his theory to medicine and the general public, another theory was put forward by Dr. Royal Lee and a scientist by the name of Antoine Bechamp.  Other important players in this arena were the renowned Dr. Royal Rife and Gaston Naessen, whose stories we will visit in my post next week.

Born the same year Louis Pasteur passed away, Dr. Royal Lee (1895-1967), a dentist who believed and proved conclusively that the health of the teeth was directly proportionate to and reflected the health of the body, developed and worked with a nutritional approach to the reversal of disease and the restoration of health.  His “Protomorphogen” discovery helped us turn the corner in our search for the real cause of disease and a natural solution to the cure of disease and to healing.  Today he is honored as the “Father of Natural Vitamins.”  His line of wholefood nutritional supplements and his legacy are kept alive and well-preserved by Standard Process Laboratories in Palmyra, Wisconsin.  

In his own words: 

“One of the biggest tragedies of human civilization is the precedence of chemical therapy over nutrition. It’s the substitution of artificial therapy over natural, of poisons over food, in which we are feeding people poisons trying to correct the reactions of starvation. You all know how ridiculous that it. But you all know how widely it’s being done.” Dr. Royal Lee, 1935

In a nutshell, here is the theory:  There are mineral protein essences secreted by the cells that carry the blueprint for cellular regulation and growth.  These “protomorphogens,” as Dr. Lee called them, help grow new and healthy cells and even help repair and rebuild cells that are damaged.  By enhancing the integrity of the body cells, invading pathogens (bacteria and viruses) are kept at bay.  They only attack sick and weak cells.  In Dr. Lee’s own words:

 A protomorphogen is a cell secretion given off by all living cells at all times in minute amounts that promotes the synthesis of protein for cell repair and cell maintenance on the outside of the cell wall, after which it is absorbed by the cell. Protomorphogens are chromosome end products, made in the cell nucleus, probably the agents by which the basic functions of the chromosome are exercised. All living proteins carry a protomorphogen component by which the protein is made specific in nature, specific in causing organic reactions, specific in function, specific in its ability to act as an antigen in provoking immune reactions. All antigens may be antigenic by reason of accompanying protomorphogens, in some cases instead of being attached to a protein molecule, the protomorphogen may be attached to a lipoid or polysaccharide aggregate. When a protein has been separated from a protomorphogen, it is said to be denatured and is no longer fully capable of antigenic action; that is, cannot create an antibody specific to it in the circumstance of its injection into an animal blood stream.

Since no cell can grow or maintain itself unless protomorphogens, as secreted by itself, are available in the pericellular [outside and around the cell] fluids, it is obvious that here we have the possible biological growth regulator. Suppose that the immune-body producing mechanism, heretofore looked upon only as a defense against invading organisms (cells) from the outside, were to be found to exert the same controlling action on every organ and cell of the body, we would have the answer to the long-sought questions of why animal organs and living creatures in general were able to regulate their cell growth exactly according to a well-ordered plan.

 We find, on investigation, that there is just such a reaction of the immune body producing mechanism (the reticuloendothelial system) and it has been described under the general designation of “Natural Tissue Antibody” (NTA).

IN CONCLUSION 

Protomorphogens are in reality mineral chains whose sequencing determine the amino acid (protein) structure of individual cell types. In living tissues these minerals are organically bound and accompanied by enzymes. . . .

. . . Dr. Lee refined the theories of Bechamp, Rife, Naessens and others and put them to practical use in formulating protomorphogens for virtually every tissue type. These PMGs have the potential to rebuild every organ and gland in the body. The concentration gradient both inside and outside the cell regulate this growth. The “health” of the cell regulates both the concentration gradient and “health” of the protomorphogen. The concentration and health of the protomorphogen also regulates the immune system in forming natural tissue antibodies (NTA). If an excess of PMGs accumulate outside the cell, normal cell division stops and an excess of autoimmune factor (NTA) can cause damage to the cell. The PMGs in living systems are “wrapped” in lipoid layers because of their potential toxicity to a living system. This is called “hypersensitivity” in immunological terms. The lipoid “wrapping” can be either incomplete or damaged in disease or malnutrition states.

Because of hypersensitivity, Lee chose not to use human genetic material in formulating his supplements – but rather to use animal tissue which would be taken orally. The PMGs are processed to be absorbed through the GI tract intact. The animal kingdom is removed from the human so that hypersensitivity is not a large issue. By providing the genetic material through the PMG, the body is able to “jump-start” the healing process and use the blueprints to reprogram healthy cell division  (underscore mine). Dr. Lee believed that every disease produced an autoimmune component which through the process of inflammation prevented normal cell division and caused most of the damage. This fact is being recognized by the medical profession more frequently in various illnesses.

Protomorphogens (PMGs) have two major functions: Control healthy cell growth and  Regulate immunity

Our own PMGs inhibit cell division. However, when taken orally in pill form (from other mammals), PMGs stimulate normal cell division and reduce the autoimmune component by reducing excessive amounts of the natural tissue antibodies. They stimulate the organ to regenerate new healthy tissue by supplying the blueprints or by “jump starting” the organ to manufacture more of its own PMG.

PMGs are taken from specific organs of other mammals. In supplying extracts of the specific organ to the organ that is diseased, we can influence the local nutrient environment of those particular cells. This increases the activity of the tissue which then increases the secretion of PMGs so that the net effect is the concentration of PMG is balanced. The tissue of the organ begins to grow and regenerate normal healthy cells and thus helps to reestablish normal growth patterns with control. . . .

. . . The theory of protomorphogens is fundamentally what stem cell research is about. 

For product information and to start benefiting from protomorphogen supplementation, simply contact me by email at tpal70@gmail.com. 

See you next week for another installation on the role of the Immune System in the Healing Process.  We will talk about other important players at the turn of the 20th Century who pioneered health-based healthcare as opposed to disease-based medicine.  

To your health,

Dr. Anthony Palombo 

Email:  tpal70@gmail.com 

Website: HealingandAttunement.com 


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The Healing Process: Role of the Redox Signaling Molecule

Redox Regulation of the Healing Process – New Science

We have come to the crux of our considerations around the Healing Process.  In this post we will see exactly how the healing process works and what players are involved.  Again, Dr. Gary Samuelson will tell the story in his own easy-to-read words.  We will start with two video clips: one of the process called “Covalent Bonding” and the other on how free radicals and antioxidants work in order to help us better understand how “free radicals” (oxidants) do their damage and how the antioxidants neutralize and disarm them by a simple exchange of electrons between “oxidants” (electron donors ) and “reductants” (electron acceptors).  At the end of the day, restoration of balance is the goal of the healing process, as we shall see, and the “villains” of the free radicals turn out to be essential players in the process of maintaining homeostasis.  This, I promise, will be a fascinating read.  Enjoy!  (Newcomers to my blog would enjoy reading the previous posts in this series on The Healing Process for background information.)

Video clips: Covalent Bonding (4:32), Free Radicals vs Antioxidants  (4:30)

Redox Regulation of the Healing Processes-New Science

Emerging science from the past five years has solidly established that the chemical balance of small reactive redox messengers is essential to the healing process and the regulation of the immune system. These small reactive “redox” molecules participate in the same homeostatic balancing act that is used to balance the proper amount of the various proteins inside the cell (as we already have discussed). These “redox” messengers are constantly being produced, mostly by the mitochondria in the cells, and then constantly being eliminated at the same rate by a variety of protective enzymes (generally called “antioxidants“) that are strategically stationed inside and outside of the cells.

Let us more closely examine these reactive “redox” messengers for a minute. They are made from simple rearrangements of the atoms in H20, NaGI and N2 and are put together by special molecular complexes in the cell. Some examples of redox signaling molecules are H202, H02, HOCI and NO. About half of the redox messengers can be categorized as “oxidants” and the other half, in fairness, can be categorized as “reductants.”  “Reductants” is a contrived nickname, the official name being energetic “electron acceptors.” Oxidants, incidentally, can also be referred to as energetic “electron donors” in the same sense.

Not much is said about “Reductants” in the literature. In fact this nickname was just fashioned to be able to talk about this group of electron acceptors in this booklet. The basic concept, however, is very familiar to chemists and physicists. The laws of conservation of charge, mass and energy dictate that every time an oxidant is made from a neutral solution, a reductant or combination of reductants must concurrently be made to counterbalance it. The electron acceptors must balance out the electron donors. The ability of the resulting molecules to oxidize or reduce the molecules in their environment is referred to as the “redox” potential, a key player and motivator for all of the chemical reactions that take place in nature.

The name “redox” itself comes from the ability of these messengers to “REDuce” and/or “OXidize” molecules in their environment. Reduction and oxidation are chemical terms that relate to the potential that the molecules have to “give away” (oxidize) or “accept” (reduce) electrons to and from other molecules in their environment. As mentioned, all chemical reactions taking place in the cell depend on this redox potential in order to happen. Redox messengers have the ability to change the redox potential of their environment, thereby altering the chemical reactions that take place. Strong reductants and oxidants can both be harmful and destructive to the cell if they are allowed to wander around at will.

The oxidants, in particular, have made a really bad name for themselves; several of them are free radicals that have high energy, unpaired electrons that will blow apart whatever they come into contact with (like tiny molecular cannons). Oxidants will damage DNA, blow holes in cellular membranes, destroy important proteins, etc. The reductants are also hazardous, they will grab electrons away from molecules (with the ferocity of small molecular sharks), thereby causing destruction. To be perfectly clear, reductants are not antioxidants. Reductants are simply the chemical counterparts of oxidants (much like acids and bases). Antioxidants, on the other hand, are a class of much larger organic molecules produced by genetic coding that act as catalysts capable of facilitating the reverse chemical processes needed to ultimately “untie” and neutralize both the oxidants and the reductants. Antioxidant cycles require both oxidants and reductants in order to work correctly.

Let us focus on the antioxidants for a minute. The antioxidants were historically considered as the heroes of the cell because they broke down the harmful oxidants by pulling them in and neutralizing them together with reductants, leaving just common harmless sea-water molecules in their wake. Over an antioxidant cycle (some of which are complex multi-step processes) the oxidants and reductants are neutralized [view clip], however the antioxidant itself remains unchanged, ready to do it all over again to the next set of oxidants and reductants. The antioxidant in this sense is a catalyst that speeds up the neutralization of oxidants with reductants and yet of itself remains unchanged. You can think of an antioxidant as a black box: reactive and potentially dangerous oxidants and reductants go into the box and harmless neutral sea-water molecules come out.

Ironically, the oxidants (that historically have been thought to be the villains) are now seen as central players to the healthy function of the cells. We have recently learned that we would not be able to live without either the reactive oxidants or the reductants. The truth be told, these tiny reactive molecules play an absolutely essential messenger role in our cells and tissues [my underscore]. The most critical aspect of healthy redox-messenger balance is in that the oxidants and reductants must be produced and eliminated in perfectly-balanced and equal portions. As long as there are equal portions of oxidants and reductants in the interior or exterior of the cell, the antioxidants can readily neutralize them both as fast as they are created. As discussed, the antioxidants need equal portions of oxidants and reductants in order to function, in the case of Glutathione (an abundant antioxidant made in our cells). The large mouth of the relatively huge antioxidant molecule lures in a reductant (that is electron hungry) and then lures in an oxidant (that has an energetic electron to donate) and then pulls them both together into the “active site” in the middle. At the active site, the reductant and oxidant are combined together, neutralizing them both. The resulting harmless molecules float away.  The antioxidant is then free to do it all again. If there is an ample supply of reductants and oxidants in the neighborhood, one antioxidant molecule can typically neutralize tens of millions of oxidant molecules every second, as measured in the lab.  [Emphasis and underscores mine]

This was a eye-opener for me when I first read it, and I believe it is crucial to a better understanding of homeostasis.  There are no “good” and “bad” players in this microcosm of the biological universe that comprises our bodies.  There’s only “appropriate” and “inappropriate” based on place and timing, balance and imbalance.  To quote a poet friend and colleague, “Nothing is wrong.  Everything matters.”  

The antioxidants are purposefully manufactured, sent to and positioned around the areas of the cell, such as the nucleus, that are vulnerable to oxidative damage. As equal portions of oxidants and reductants approach these protected areas, the antioxidants standing guard around these areas pull them in and neutralize them both. The antioxidants are thus able to keep these potentially harmful reactive molecules away from protected areas and corral and use them for their own best purposes. Consequently, the immune system uses large amounts of such oxidants, along with strong demolition enzymes, as its weapon of choice against harmful invading bacteria and viruses. The foreign invaders do not even stand a chance against these potent weapons. After the invaders have been torn apart and destroyed by the enzymes and oxidants, the surrounding antioxidants standing guard and other enzymes clean up the mess, toxins and hazards.

THE HEALING PROCESS DESCRIBED

The key to understanding how this redox balancing process helps the body heal itself comes when considering what happens when the cells become damaged or defective for some reason or another. There are thousands of different processes with thousands of different proteins taking place everywhere inside the cell. When something is not working right, how does the cell detect the damage? The answer lies in the fact that as the normal homeostatic balance that exists in healthy cells is disturbed, somewhere in the cell there is either a build-up or deficiency of the normal quantity of proteins. There is a high probability that this
growing imbalance will at some point make the metabolism of sugars less efficient. When this happens, the redox-messenger production in the mitochondria becomes unbalanced, producing many more oxidants than reductants or vice versa. In other words, the damage will ultimately manifest itself as a build–up of oxidants or reductants. This condition is called “oxidative stress” and is a real phenomenon seen (under the microscope) to occur in almost all defective or stressed cells (in both animals and plants).

An imbalance in the redox messengers, usually manifesting itself as oxidative stress, sends a clear signal that damage has occurred somewhere and that the cell is defective. The excess oxidants are not balanced by reductants and cannot be effectively neutralized by antioxidants. These oxidants end up causing even more damage to other parts of the cell. This clear signal for help causes the DNA to code for the “fix–it crew” and cytokine messengers that are sent out to alert the immune system. If this imbalance (oxidative stress condition) is not corrected by the attempts of the fix–it crew, the oxidants continue to build up. Then after about two hours, the fatally damaged cell starts a “programmed cell suicide” cascade (apoptosis) that will end up with the cell killing and dismantling itself. This is not a bad thing. Normal healthy neighboring cells will then be able to divide in order to fill in the vacancy. On the microscopic scale, this is essentially the healing process. [my underscore]

The oxidative stress condition in a stressed or damaged cell also causes the DNA to code for messengers to be sent to neighboring cells, advising them of its condition. Redox messengers can also be used as these intercellular messengers. If the damaged cell, such as those found in tumors, is not able to kill itself, then its neighboring healthy cells will send back “death domain” messengers as well as distress messengers to the immune system that will either cause the damaged cell to die or to be attacked by the immune system. This system is regularly used to detect and destroy practically all of the damaged and dysfunctional cells in the body. Remember, it only takes one undetected dysfunctional cell, out of the trillions that are successfully detected and killed, to start seeding an abnormal growth.”

This brings our series to a turning point.  The posts that will follow will look at the role of the immune system in healing and how this system is activated by the Redox Signaling Molecules.   View this video clip to prepare for the next consideration.

Clip:  The Healing Revolution – the Science Behind ASEA.

To your health and healing,

Dr. Tony Palombo

For information on ordering ASEA, click here.


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The Healing Process: Signaling Messengers and Diabetes

Redox Signaling Messengers

Like any community, the body cells depend on communication for their coordinated and harmonious function together. Communication depends on messengers, both inside the cell between the various actors and “micro machines”  and outside the cell between the one-hundred-billion cells that compose our bodies.  These next few posts will be about these messengers, most recently discovered among them being the Redox Signaling Messengers that turn out to be a most important players in the healing process.  We will have a look at a very significant scientific breakthrough in the field of health and healing.  Again, we will call upon Dr. Gary L. Samuelson to help us envision and understand the Healing Process as he presents it in his recently released booklet, The Science of Healing Revealed – New Insights into Redox Signaling.

How the Actors Work Together – The Signaling Messengers

So far in our abbreviated organization chart, a small sample of the cast of actors has been put together in order to provide a tiny taste of what they look like and what they do. There are thousands more (not listed, thankfully) that fill major roles inside and outside the cell; and the list is growing every day as new actors and roles are being discovered. The real story, however, lies not so much in what they look like or what their job description is, but in how they interact with each other and how they determine when and where to do their job.

For the most part, the cellular micro machinery is controlled by the various signaling messengers, as has already been mentioned, that go about carrying messages inside the individual cells (intracellular communication) as well as carrying messages between the cells (intercellular communication). As has also been mentioned, the very identity and behavior of the cell depends on the quantities and types of messengers being passed around in its surrounding environment.

The inner-cell (intracellular) messengers float around inside the seawater solution (cytosol) inside the cells. There are generally two types of intracellular messengers: (1) protein messengers that are coded by the DNA and built, delivered, passed around and modified by enzymes and cellular machinery and (2) a recently discovered network of messengers called “redox signaling and regulation” messengers made out of small, highly reactive molecules (ROS and RS) that are formed by the REDuction” and “OXidation'” (redox) of the very sea-water bath that surrounds all of this cellular machinery. These messengers modify the behavior of the machinery by changing the chemical potential in the salt-water environment where all of this machinery exists. Since these “redox” messengers are integrally involved in the healing process, they will be the topic of further investigation in this booklet.

The between-cell (intercellular) messengers are passed back and forth between cells. In order for them to work they must be able to leave one cell and “latch onto” or pass into surrounding cells. There are specific places built into the outer membranes of the cells, called “receptors” and “co-receptors,” where these messengers are allowed to “latch onto” the outside of the cell. Each different type of messenger molecule (called agonist) has its own custom-built latch (receptor) that allows it to pass a signal into the cell.

In many cases, the receptor itself, when latched, will cause intracellular messengers to be released to continue carrying the message into the cell. Most cells are stuck together with a scaffolding of adhesive molecules that allow messages to more easily be passed around among neighboring cells.

Redox messengers are able to alter the chemistry of the receptor latches that can either enhance or inhibit their ability to latch onto their messengers and pass messages into the cell. Sometimes the presence of these redox messengers themselves will spontaneously trigger a receptor to send messages into the cell.

In my next post we will explore further some amazing technology that has made it possible for us to enhance intra-and-inter-cellular communication.  Before leaving my blog, take a few minutes to view this video clip on the Redox Signaling Molecule (5 min).

Besides giving a visual demonstration of how these signaling messengers work, this clip presents recent groundbreaking technology that is being used to stabilize these highly reactive molecules outside the body and then use them as bio-active, non-toxic agents inside the body to assist in the healing process.

The end result of this research is a formulated “water” called “ASEA” that is now available to the public through network marketing.  I have become an associate distributor of this product because of the great promise it holds for my patients and clients at a foundational level in their healing and health maintenance, offering new solutions to longevity and quality of healthful living.  It also gives people a tool they can use safely and obtain directly from the company without the requirement of becoming a network marketer themselves, although that is available as well as a home-based business with minimal investment.  So, enjoy the clip! Until next week then, my best wishes . . .

To your health and healing,

Dr. Tony Palombo

For more information about ASEA and ordering instructions, simply click here.


Here’s a bonus for my readers concerned with their blood sugar levels and diabetes: The 39-day cure for Type II Diabetes.

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The Healing Process: The Cell, Part 3 Communication

The Signaling Messengers

We’ve been entertained and edified by the inner life of the cell — how it’s “micro machinery” makes protein molecules from amino acids in the ribosomes and produces its own energy (ATP) in the mitochondria.  We will now move on to learn how these inner parts of the cells communicate with one another, as well as how the cells communicate among themselves and with the various systems of the body.  Again, I will call upon Dr. Gary Samuelson to help tell the story from his booklet The Science of Healing Revealed – New Insights into Redox Signaling.

Looking at the simple molecular keys that control the kinase fuel gates that energize the machinery in the living cell gives us a first glimpse at a very important class of molecules and proteins that act as messengers that are sent off to make sure specific things happen or do not happen. As can be imagined, these signaling messengers serve a very important role in the working of the cells. They send signals between the machinery in the cell that determines how the cell’s machinery operates and responds to the normal changes in its environment as well as drastic alarms like threats, damage, lack of oxygen, changes in temperature, the arrival of a nerve signal, etc. They can also be sent as long distance messengers to send signals between cells and tissues, as well as general messengers released into the blood and lymph that affect the working of whole systems throughout the entire body, like adrenaline for example. A few of these are listed below. The rest of this booklet, however, is focused on the emerging science that explains, in part, how signaling messengers do what they do and the processes that keeps them controlled and balanced when the body is healthy.

Redox messengers – Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and Reduced SpeCies (RS) — The smallest and most fundamental universal signaling molecules in the body are the simple but extremely important reactive molecules that are formed from combinations of the atoms (Na, CI, H, 0, N) readily found in the salt water bath that fills the inside of the cells (cytosol). All of life’s players mentioned so far float around in this bath and can be surrounded by a balanced mixture of these reactive molecules…. “

Dr. Samuelson lists a few of these reactive molecules, such as Superoxide,  Hydrogen Peroxide, Hypochiorous Acid, Nitric Oxide, only four of some 20 of them.  Then there are these players:

Charged metal ions – Their movement alone makes the electric current that carries signals along our nerves and muscles. They also play signaling roles in hundreds of different life processes. Three examples or these are the Calcium ion (Ca2+), the Potassium ion (K+) and Sodium ion (Na+).

Cytokines  – The messengers that activate and regulate the immune system, controlling inflammation, white blood cell movement and natural cell death; Interleukins (regulate immune cells); Interferons (identify invaders,viruses).

Then there are the Endocrine messengers that control and regulate digestion, metabolism and organ function: Adrenaline, Insulin, Gastrin.  And the Hormone messengers that determine tissue growth and reproductive function: Testosterone, Estrogen and Progesterone.

Another group of fascinating players in the life of the cell are what are called the “Transcription Factors.“ These messengers cause the DNA inside the nucleus to call for increased production or reduction of certain specific proteins: NF-kappaB calls for inflammation; NRF2 calls for antioxidants; and TNF calls for tumor death.

Enzymes – the “break-it-down clean-it-up and recycle-it crew.”

There are enzymes in the cell that are assigned to the clean-up and recycling crew. They speed up the elimination of the cell’s “garbage,” breaking down the unneeded or excess molecules into smaller useful components.  Without these enzymes we would quickly die from the accumulation of excessive and possibly harmful unneeded molecules inside the cells.  They also protect the cells by breaking down toxins that come in from the outside environment.

In a very real sense, these enzymes are more than just the garbage disposal crew, they form an indispensable part of the system that maintains the chemical balance needed to sustain all of the life-critical processes that take place inside the cells. In the cell, molecules (large and small) are constantly in the process of being built up from smaller pieces and then torn back down into smaller pieces again.

Antioxiants – “The clean-up crew that is placed strategically in the cell, like guardians, to break down and eliminate the oxidants that would otherwise accumulate and cause damage.” They are: Glutathione Peroxldase (GPx) that breaks down various oxidants (free radicals), Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) that breaks down superoxides, and Catalase that breaks down hydrogen peroxide.

Proteases– The large protein break-it-down crew, used as digestive enzymes to break down food and used by cells to break down unneeded or defective proteins.  They are Trypsin, Chyotrypsin and Pepsinogen.

Other “Staff Members” are: Collagen, Cholesterol, Glucose, Triglycerides, Prostaglandin, Quinine, Oleic Acid, Cocaine, Caffeine, Levidopa, and Histamine.

As we can see, there are many and varied types of “actors” playing various and sundry roles to make life possible in our bodies so that we can live and serve in this earthly plane of existence.  It’s helpful to have them placed in a context the way Dr. Samuelson does in his booklet.

In my next post we will learn how all these actors work together via the signaling messengers, whose crucial role it is to keep all the actors in touch with one another and all the systems of the body well-informed on what’s going on with each part and within the whole body. Then we will be prepared to study and learn the important role chemical balance plays in the healing process, and how the body keeps everything balanced.  Until then,  if you haven’t viewed it already, take the time now to enjoy David Bolinsky’s “Fantastic Voyage Inside the Cell” (10 min).

My best to your health and healing,

Dr. Tony Palombo











 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 









 





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The Healing Process: Chemical Balance

CHEMICAL BALANCE AND HEALING

I trust you are enjoying these articles exploring the the anatomy and physiology of the cell in the context of The Healing Process.Now that we know how the cells make protein and generate their own energy (ATP), let’s look at what role chemical balance plays in the Healing Process.  Dr. Gary Samuelson explains it in layman’s language in his booklet The Science of Healing Revealed – New Insights into Redox Signaling.

The Chemical Balance-How the Body Keeps it all Balanced

Once a protein messenger has delivered its message, it does not “live” very much longer to continue sending more messages. The cells manufacture enzymes (protease “break-down crews”) that quickly disassemble the messenger proteins and recycle their parts (Amino Acids). Thus an adrenaline “burst” lasts only as long as it takes for the protease crews to break down the excess adrenaline in the blood; after which the normal adrenaline balance in the blood is restored. In the body, the phrase, “kill the messenger,” takes on a whole new meaning.

This process of continuous production and subsequent elimination of molecules is not restricted only to the messenger proteins. A careful chemical balance is maintained for hundreds of thousands of types of molecules in every cell that depends on a stable condition where the rate at which the molecules are being produced is the same as the rate that they are taken apart elsewhere. This kind of a balance is called a homeostatic balance. The secret behind almost all biological processes lies in how the body works to maintain this balance.

When the homeostatic balance inside any cell is disturbed, there is either a build-up or a depletion of certain types of molecules. This growing unbalanced condition triggers the cell to respond. If there is a deficiency of a certain type of molecule, the cell can respond by increasing production of this molecule. If there is an excess amount of a certain molecule, it can increase the production of the enzymes that break down this molecule, thus helping to eliminate the excess. The cell can also take a more complex course of action and send out messengers that will help correct a possible problem, or it can even signal for a series of more complex processes that will help the cell adjust to adverse conditions. If the action is successful, then the normal balance will be restored and all is well.

One example of this balancing act is “blood sugar” levels. If the blood sugar level goes up, then the pancreatic beta cells respond by producing more insulin. These insulin messengers speedup the sugar metabolism machinery in the body, causing it to burn some sugar and store the rest as fat. As the blood sugar level decreases, the rate of insulin production also decreases. The elevated amount of insulin in the blood triggers the production of the insulin clean-up crew enzymes. The blood insulin level will eventually go back to normal levels as the excess insulin broken down and removed by these enzymes.

It is interesting to note that if too much sugar is placed in the blood all at once (due to eating easily digestible carbohydrates and sugars, such as white breads and candy bars), the pancreatic beta cells are stressed to work extra hard and they end up producing too much insulin. Since the gross excess of insulin takes a while to clean up, it often happens that too much of the blood sugar is processed and blood sugar levels drop well below normal. This deficiency in blood sugar triggers the production of “hunger” messengers. If this cycle is continued, [and consumption of sugar and carbohydrates is how one alleviates one’s sugar cravings], it may cause obesity and may also lead to over stressing and killing the pancreatic beta cells that produce insulin, causing diabetes (insulin dependent Type I). The body is not built to handle too much blood sugar all at once.

Type II diabetes occurs when the receptor sites of the cells for insulin messengers become saturated, creating the condition of “insulin resistance.”  The only way to free up the insulin receptor sites is to stop the production of insulin by fasting from insulin spiking carbohydrates and sugars completely for 30 days, then ease back on a moderate intake of such foods as white rice, white bread, candy, sugar, Irish potatoes, pasta, bananas and other sweet fruit (plums, prunes and blueberries are okay). Refined carbohydrates the body can do without altogether as they simply do more harm than good.  Click here for proof this works.

The key to health is to make sure the cells have the raw materials they need to maintain a healthy chemical balance in the machinery that keeps them alive. If the cells are healthy, consequently the whole body is in good health. Good health then lies in being able to sustain a healthy chemical balance.

Of course, it is not possible to maintain perfect health all of the time. Eventually, some of the cells that make up the body will be damaged by injuries, infections, age, the sun, radiation, cold, heat, external toxins and even physical exertion. In fact, the cells in the body are undergoing damage all of the time; thus the body has developed methods to heal itself and thereby restore and maintain healthy balance throughout the whole organism.

Our next consideration will be “Redox Regulation of the Healing Process — New Science.”   Enjoy this video clip on covalent bonding before leaving my blog which will help you understand the chemistry involved in free-radical damaging to healthy cells and the process by which they are neutralized by antioxidants.  Until next week, then, my best. . .

to your health and healing,

Dr. Tony Palombo


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The Healing Process: The Cell, Part 2 Energy

ENERGY!  Where does it come from?

We’ve seen how the cell makes protein molecules.  The names of some of these proteins are familiar to us, such as adrenaline, testosterone, estrogen, insulin, cholesterol, dopamine, triglycerides, ATP.  Others are not so familiar, such as collagen, the connective tissue used through the body to hold tissues together.  Then there are countless other proteins found in bones, muscles and hair.  Many do not have names but only numbers for identifying them.  Some are coded as catalyst and messengers to set in motion various events and processes, such as caffeine and “signaling messengers,” to which I’ll dedicate several blog posts later on.

But before we get too much further into our thematic consideration of  the healing process, let’s look at where the cell gets its energy to power its complex machinery.  I’ll call on Dr. Gary Samuelson again to help tell the story as he tells it so well in his booklet, The Science of Healing Revealed . . . New insights into Redox Signaling.

First, let’s view a couple of video clips:   Powering the Cell: Mitochondria (2 min)   Powerhouses of the Cell (1 min)  [Note: video clips are best viewed in full screen mode and using headphones.  To return to the blog, exit full screen mode and then click on the BACK arrow up top left on the screen.]

(Or simply view these embeded videos, although one of them does not have a full screen mode option.)


After viewing these computer animated models of the life and inner workings of the cell, is there any doubt there is a God governing intelligent unfoldment of creation?  Watching these inner “micro machines” of the cell move about in buoyant salty fluid with such grace and certainty, demonstrates the nature of what we’ve come to call the “subtle energy” of life.  Life is in no hurry.  Why should it be?   It is in control of the entire universe, and that’s not going anywhere, has no agenda to accomplish within a “deadline.”  Nor does it use “power or might” to accomplish its work. “By my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts” are the eternal miracles of life accomplished. The subtle energy that empowers our cells is our very lifeline –  and “subtle energy work,” such as attunement and sacred sound healing, is the “wave of the future” in the field of health and healing, as well a lifestyle, simply because it supports the healing process and doesn’t “intervene” with or impose upon the innate wisdom of the body.

Now, on with our lesson for the day . . . .

THE FUEL REFINERS

Almost all of the machinery inside the cell is adapted to use only one type of fuel, namely ATP, providing, providing 95% of the energy necessary to keep this machinery and thus the whole body working. The cell’s fuel, ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) has three high-energy phosphate molecules on one end. They are put together by the burning of simple sugars with oxygen from the blood in a process that is called the “metabolism” of sugar. ATP itself is built up while passing through a complex protein called ATPsynthase. . . .  Most of the ATPsynthase is embedded in the wall of the main energy powerhouse in the cell, the mitochondria. It is in the mitochondria where most of the ATP fuel is manufactured. The ATPsynthase in the mitochondria produces the vast majority of the cell’s fuel, in the form of ATP.

Video clips: ATP Synthesis (1:12),  The Krebs Cycle (0:27)


The mitochondria are interesting objects by themselves, they have their own circular DNA, called “mtDNA,” and behave much like bacteria, they divide and reproduce themselves and manufacture some of their own proteins, but they are always under the control of the nucleus; something like domesticated, energy-producing “cattle” of the cell. There are anywhere from 10 to 5000 mitochondria in each cell, often comprising up to 50% of the total cell‘s inner volume. Consequently, the mitochondria also consume the lion‘s share of the cellular oxygen in exchange for the ATP fuel they produce.

The importance of ATP cannot be over emphasized; every time your muscles move or a thought runs through your brain, every time you sweat or salivate or look at something, billions upon billions of ATP molecules are being consumed in order to power the process. The chemical reactions powering your cells are blurringly fast on the molecular scale. Most of the complex reactions take place in less than one millionth of a second.

THE FUEL STATION ATTENDANTS:

Just like the gas pedal 0n your car, most of the molecular micro machines inside your cells have “throttles,” called kinases, that control how fast the ATP fuel is consumed by these machines and consequently how fast these little machines operate. ATP is expensive to produce and thus is carefully conserved and used to fuel the most important processes of the cell first. This ATP fuel is also carefully regulated so that no part of the cell receives more than its fair share and ensures that the fuel goes to the place where it is most needed. A few examples of the actual
protein regulators that determine how much ATP fuel is used and where it is used are listed next. The keys to these kinase fuel gateways are determined by a variety of different molecules that are floating around in the neighborhood as well as the presence of oxidants and reductants that will be explained in following chapters.

Pyruvate-Kinase — surprisingly, some of these tiny molecular kinase molecules, like Pyruvate Kinase, actually look like throttle valves that, when activated, physically open up a passage to let the ATP through.

cAMP and cGMP are a few of the hundreds of messenger “keys” that unlock the “fuel gates” (Kinases) on the molecular machines so that they can accept the fuel (ATP) that they need to work. These messengers are often released by signals coming from the outside of the cell and regularly unlock the gates that regulate sugar intake and smooth muscle control of the blood vessel dilation. cGMP, for  example, helps open up blood flow and is one of the active ingredients in the popular drug, Viagra.

Ck2a Kinase with IP3 — some kinase gates, especially gates that let through certain metal ions used in muscle control and rapid signaling, are controlled by small molecules like IP3 that hold the fuel gate closed or open.

Video clip:  Glycolysis and Cellular Respiration (3 min 17 sec).   This is a look at the practical, rubber-meets-the-road application of all we’ve just considered.

Aren’t these YouTube video clips entertaining, as well as educational?!  I just love them . . . and I am so thankful to their various creators for making them so freely available on the Web.

I don’t know about you, but I am totally blown away by the biological immensity and complexity of the cell’s anatomy and physiology.   And we’ve only been looking at a single cell’s internal activities.  Multiply what you’ve seen by 100,000,000,000 cells . . . that’s one-hundred-trillion!  It’s mind-boggling . . . for me anyway.   It definitely makes me more aware of the miracle that life is, and it engenders in me a profound sense of respect for the cells of my body and a desire to offer them as much help as I can to make their work easier – such help as eating wholesome foods and taking nutritional supplements and herbs when needed with an attitude of blessing them all, as well as eliminating as many toxins from my life as possible, and doing moderate exercise daily, if only a twenty to thirty minute walk outdoors where fresh air is available and nature’s beauty abounds.

But even more important, I help my cells by maintaining a internal climate of peace and joy, because I  know they feel what’s going on inside my heart, as well as the vibrations of my thoughts.   I will think of these beautiful cells every time a negative thought creeps into my head, a resentful or complaining attitude wants to take root in my heart, or an ill spirit comes along to vex my soul.   In the words of the Psalmist, “Let me dwell in the secret place of the Most High, and abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”  Let me love unconditionally myself, my neighbor, my world.  Let there be peace in my house of being.

Tune in to my next installation in this series of articles exploring the nature of The Healing Process for a consideration of  “The Signaling Messengers” and the critical roles they play in maintaining chemical balance (homeostasis) in the body and implementing its healing process.

I will also be sharing a very significant scientific breakthrough and its application via innovative technology: The Redox Signaling Molecule. I look forward to it because it will represent the “golden nugget” of this series on the healing process.

I’ll leave you to the enjoyment once again of David Bolinsky’s entertaining presentation of the “Fantastic Voyage inside the cell.”  (10 min)

My best to your health and healing,

Dr. Tony Palombo


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The Healing Process:The Cell, Part 1 Protein Synthesis

BASIC CONCEPTS

We’ve been considering the role of the cell in facilitating the healing process, sharing some of Dr. Gary Samuelson’s booklet The Science of Healing Revealed – New Insights into Redox Signaling. In this post we will look at the basic concept of the cell’s function in manufacturing protein molecules, the fundamental building blocks of our anatomy.

(Note: This post contains several video clips for your visual aid and entertainment. They are best viewed in full screen mode and with headphones. After viewing a clip, click the full screen option again to exit full screen mode, then click on the BACK arrow at the top left hand corner of the screen to return to the blog.)

We’ll start with this beautiful video clip of The Inner Life of the Cell (8 min).  Brief ABC Report (3 min).  If you have the time, enjoy  David Bolinsky’s  entertaining Fantastic Voyage inside the cell (10 min.)

An Overview of How Healthy Cells Work

All life processes take place inside of our cells. In the simplest definition, a cell is a tiny bag filled with salt water and organic chemicals. The bag itself is made out of a bi-lipid [phospholipid] membrane (3 thin sheet that has waterproof layers on both sides and a thin layer of fat [cholesterol] in between).

Note the need for cholesterol in the cell structure, not at all the “bad” thing medicine and pharma would have us believe.  Balance and ratio, as in all things, is the primary factor.

View clip Anatomy of a cell (3:38)

All of the materials that the cell needs to maintain life must be passed through this membrane into the inside of the cell and also all of the unneeded garbage that is generated inside tile cell needs to be passed back out through this membrane to the outside of the cell. The cell manufactures certain portals or gateways, called receptors and co-receptors, that are embedded in the cell membrane to let the materials in and out and to pass chemical messages from the outside to the inside of the cell and vice versa. Everything that affects the cell must be able either to pass through these portals or to diffuse through the membrane. (4:40)

(Click on picture for a larger view, then click on BACK arrow to return to blog)

In the middle of each cell there is another smaller double bag (made from two bi-lipid membranes) that contains the nucleus and DNA. The DNA [Deoxyibonucleic Acid] has encoded instructions on how and when to build the proteins that the cell uses. A DNA strand is made out of two molecular spines twisted into a double helix. Between the spines there can be found only four distinct types of molecules called nucleotides (labeled A,T,C,G)  which are arranged in sequenced groups like rungs on a ladder. Groups of three of these rungs are called “codons” (A-T-G1 for example).

The exact sequence of these codons in the DNA strand determines the specific order in which amino acids are chained together (called polypeptide chains) in order to form proteins, thousands and thousands of different varieties. Most of the cell’s machinery and inner structure is formed out of the proteins manufactured from these genetic instructions. One exception to this rule is the formation of an organelle called the Mitochondrion. The Mitochondria (plural) contain their own DNA (called mtDNA) formed in circular strands and they divide and reproduce inside the cell much like bacteria divide, but are controlled and regulated by protein messengers from the nucleus. The Mitochondria’s primary job is to efficiently produce the fuel (ATP) that energizes the micro machines inside the cell that carry out the life processes. There are anywhere from 10 to 5000 Mitochondria in a typical cell, taking up to 50% of the cell’s volume.

YouTube video clips:   DNA and RNA (1:45)   Protein Synthesis (3:30)  Transcription: From DNA to Flesh and Blood (4 min)

In theory, the DNA sequences of instructions (genes) inside any given cell in your body are entirely identical to the DNA sequences (genes) that are in every other cell (with the exception of the reproductive cells). Lately researchers have cloned whole animals by placing the DNA from a single skin cell inside an empty egg cell. The egg cell starts to divide and form a complete organism. The DNA package Inside every ceil in the animal has all of the instructions necessary to form a whole new animal. This begs the question: If the DNA in every cell is identical, then how does there come to be so many different varieties of cells and tissues, brain cells, bone cells, skin cells, liver cells, etc.? The answer to this question is found in the understanding that the individual cells do not act alone they are grouped and bound together into tissues.

The genes activated in the individual cells depend largely on messengers sent back and forth from their neighbors and are specific to where the cells are located in the body. After a while, the chemical (protein) messages sent from the surrounding cells activate the genes that determine the behavior of all the cells that collectively form similar tissue. So in a real sense, the cellular function is determined by the environment in which it lives.  Cells, in this sense, “become what they eat.”   [Underscore mine]

Cellular differentiation and “stem cells.”

The ability of a cell to change its form and function depending on the protein messengers surrounding it is called “cellular differentiation.” A cell gains its identity (brain, muscle, liver, etc.) from the messengers it finds around it and/or builds inside it. A recent triumph in science came when “stem cells” were discovered. These cells can take the form of any cell they come into contact with (they are undifferentiated cells). If you want to grow new brain cells, for example, then all that is required is to place stem cells in the brain. They will soon transform into new brain cells that fit flawlessly into their new environment as they are programmed to become new brain cells by their neighboring cells. This also happens if they are placed in the liver, heart, etc., the stem cells ultimately become similar to the cells that surround them. It is an interesting fact that the cells in your body can also genetically shift due to the intake of nutrients that you eat. What you eat can literally change the form and genetic function of your cells. There have been experiments with identical twins in mice, both having exactly the same DNA, that were fed different diets. One mouse grew shiny brown fur and was skinny. The other grew light gold fur and was fat and sickly. The only difference between the two mice was in what they ate.”

This point is one to give pause for deep consideration, so I will end this post with it.  It is this kernel of truth that emerged out of the fascinating work of world renown Cellular Biologist, Dr. Bruce Lipton.  Click on his name below when you have 35 minutes to relax and listen to this brilliant man as he tells his story of how he violated the central dogma that is the pillar of modern biomedicine.  This dogma is the concept, formulated by Francis Crick, co-founder along with Jim Watson of the DNA double helix molecule, that the flow of information in biology goes from DNA to RNA to protein, and since you body is made of protein, and protein is coded by the DNA in the cell, which carries your genetic heritage and fingerprint, your behavior is controlled by your genes, and you are a victim of your heredity past.  This is not the truth of the matter, but I’ll let Dr. Lipton tell his own story and leave you to your listening and learning pleasure . . . and with this prophetic pearl from Albert Einstein, who wrote: “The field is the sole governing agency of the particle.”

To your health and healing,

Dr. Tony Palombo

Video of  Dr. Bruce Lipton (35 min.)


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The Healing Process: Introduction

Tony Pics for SA BookWE LIVE, HEAL AND DIE AT THE CELLULAR LEVEL

My primary job as a doctor is to teach health as I administer healing of dis-ease. Teaching is what I most enjoy.  This blog is all about teaching health.  The more you understand your body and how it lives at the cellular and molecular levels, the better equipped you are with the knowledge and wisdom to manage your health.

The general heading of this and the next several articles is “The Healing Process,” and I promise that you will understand what it is and how it works at the cellular level when you finish reading the next few blog posts, and it will take several posts to cover the subject matter.

Our subject is the cell.  Our objective will be to gain an understanding and deepen our appreciation for the individual cells that make up our body: how they live, facilitate the healing process, and give their lives to maintaining the integrity and homeostasis of the whole body.  We stand to learn much about life and about how we might give our lives, dedicate our living, to the healing of the body of mankind, which is, in reality, the Body of the Creator on this planet, and to the building of a healthier community on Earth.

To help tell the story of the life of the cell, I will call upon Dr. Gary L. Samuelson, who holds a Ph.D. in Atomic and Medical Physics from the University of Utah. He has dedicated his career and knowledge to the advancement of promising technologies addressing the major health issues facing mankind today. His study of the science of healing takes him deep into the microcosm of life itself, beyond mental judgement and labeling.  Through his eyes we can see clearly the truth of all the elements that go to make up our bodies – the “good” and so-called “bad” – all of which are essential to the healing process and the maintenance of balance in our body’s chemistry.  In truth, there isn’t “good and bad,” but simply what is, and it is all good.

The deeper we go into the micro structures of the fabric of creation, where there is yet pristine terrain untouched by human hands, the clearer is the design and function of the creative process . . . and that’s my keen interest.  For if we understand the ways of life and the processes by which life brings about creation, we may better understand how we, as creator beings, can work together to bring about a healthier world.

I invite you to sit back and allow your mind to relax its effort to grasp meaning and simply settle down and go deep with me, and with Gary Samuelson, to enjoy a fascinating journey and molecular tour of the human cell.  I promise this will be a most enjoyable book review and reading, presented in sections over several blog posts so as to give the reader time to fully digest and process the material. Enjoy the tour!

The Science of Healing Revealed — New Insights into Redox Signaling,  by Gary L. Samuelson, Ph.D.

Dr. Samuelson has found a way to take a complex and difficult subject and make it lucid and understandable to the lay reader. It is very rare that someone can convey concepts in science with such clarity and still maintain a degree of accuracy and precision. Dr. Samuelson possesses this unique talent; he explains the body‘s natural healing process on the molecular level in a way that conserves the precision of the science, and yet exposes the technical terms and underlying concepts in clear language able to be understood by any interested reader.

The reader stands to gain a much better view of the science of healing and a good understanding of the basic concepts of how the body‘s healing process works.   (Chase N. Peterson, MD, Former President of the University of Utah)

FORWARD

I have always been fascinated by the process of life. How does a blade of grass grow, what determines its shape and function? If it is chopped off, how does it know to grow back? I was sometimes accused of being a strange child, yet my inquiring mind turned me toward the study of science. This love of truth and science stayed with me into my adult life. I soon realized that the mystery of life is one of the most fundamental questions facing us. Shortly after obtaining my Ph.D. in Atomic and Medical Physics, I was set on a path that would ultimately lead me to find the answer to some of these questions and to better understand the overall framework of life processes, approached on the most basic atomic level.

The purpose of this booklet is to help the reader explore and understand this newly emerging science about healing, in a clear, concise, straightforward manner, one that sets a framework around the fundamental principles of the inner workings of the body: explaining how the micro machinery of the body allows the body to thrive when it is well and to heal itself when it is not well. This topic is approached from a first-principles basis, the science is explained as best my language will allow. This book also outlines some emerging cutting-edge science related to the role that redox signaling plays in the healing process.

It is my hope that the reader will be able to follow and comprehend some of the basic, yet incredible, processes that allow us to live and then be motivated to apply this new-found knowledge toward living a healthier every–day life.

INTRODUCTION

Imagine what would happen if our body suddenly lost its ability to heal itself. Within hours, our body would age several years, tissues would degrade, infections would take hold and our body would quickly wither and die. The root of the word “health” is “heal” [to make whole]. The body is constantly healing itself. The body’s ability to heal is one of the most fundamental and essential principles of life. Since conception, our body has been abundantly endowed with this ability. In order to better understand how it does this, we must start by looking at the smallest components of life, the workings inside the living cells that make up our body.

Human cells are generally very small. In a cell’s-eye view, the wrinkles in the palm of your hand are huge cavernous canyons with cliffs and ledges, stretching on for miles. A single hair on the back of your hand is a huge towerinq column of proteins jutting far up, out-of-sight. And yet, even on this tiny scale, the cell is very large compared to the micro machines that perform the processes of life inside the cell. If we were to now dive down inside the cell with a camera that is small enough to see a single strand of DNA, we would see a bustling metropolis of thousands of different types af molecular actors floating around in the salt water, full of activity, extending for hundreds of yards in all directions; proteins being manufactured and folded, delivery systems on microtubules taxiing these proteins around to where they need to go, receptors receiving and transferring messages from inside and the cell and factory-like organelles, hubs where the most complex manufacturing takes place.  In the center would be the nucleus containing the DNA spitting out the instructions needed to manufacture and transport all of these micro machines and messengers. Within this thriving buzz of activity is found the mystery of human cellular life.

Our knowledge of these life processes is doubling in less than five years time now. In fact, the emerging science and framework contained in this small booklet have been mostly developed in the last five to ten years and is the result of literally thousands of investigators who have devoted their lives to build such knowledge. The state of our understanding is constantly changing and evolving. Our understanding of the role of oxidants [free radicals] and antioxidants, for example, has done a turn-about in the last five years. The oxidants (made naturally inside the cells) were thought of as an unfortunate toxic by-product of our metabolism, and the antioxidants (also made in the cells) were thought of as the heroes that were made to clean up these evil oxidants and save us from their toxic grip. Our present understanding, however, is more enlightened. We now have come to see that the oxidants, themselves, play a crucial and essential messenger role to maintain basic chemical balance inside and outside of our cells and, in truth, we cannot live without them.

The picture gradually becomes clearer and clearer as time goes along. As scientists put together the edge pieces, the whole puzzle starts to take shape. In this booklet, we will look at some of these pieces and how they fit together. However, the major emphasis of this booklet will be to take an overview of the whole puzzle and set up a framework that will help us understand how the bigger picture is taking form and how we can use this knowledge to make a future of better health and a better life for all.

The first 4 chapters in this booklet will introduce you to basic cellular biology and function; this part is helpful in order to familiarize yourself with the microscopic workings inside your cells and the basic concepts. Some of these concepts will be useful. including the chapter on the immune system, in order to get the big picture. The last 2 chapters, however, contain the real heart of the material and new insights on the body’s natural healing precess. These last chapters should be read carefully in order to comprehend the huge potential benefits offered by emerging technologies.

Tune in to my next blog post for a continuation of the story of the life of the cell and our ongoing exploration into “The Healing Process.”  We will take a journey inside the cell.  Click on this link for a YouTube video preview: Journey Inside the Cell

To your health and healing,

Dr. Anthony Palombo

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Body-mind and Nutrition

 

Tony Pics for SA BookMind and body are inseparable until death.   The human mind arises from the physical body and vanishes with it.  The health of the mind, then, is directly related to the health of the physical body, particularly the health of the brain.  A child, for instance, diagnosed with an attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), or attention deficit disorder (ADD), may well be simply undernourished, or consuming too much sugar.

Sugar and the Brain

The brain and central nervous system run on sugar.  But not the kind of sugar found in candy and soft drinks.  The sugar the brain needs is called glycogen and is made in the liver.  Supplementing with inositol will stimulate liver production of glycogen.   Ironically, the process of making  glycogen in the liver is compromised with the intake of too much dietary sugar from candy and soft drinks.  High fructose corn syrup/sugar is probably the biggest offender simply by reason of the prevalence of it in processed foods.  It’s everywhere in our foods and beverages making our children fat and unable to process sugar at all.  It should be outlawed.  

ADD and ADHD

The problem with ADD is one of focus and concentration.  I’ve treated many children with ADD over the years and all of them responded favorably to inositol supplementation, often the next day.  They were able to get off Ritalin.  They were able to focus and concentrate on their lessons.

Ritalin is speed.  It’s a drug.  We are teaching our children to solve their problems with drugs.  What a horrible disservice, to say the least.   I’ve heard reputable psychiatrists say on television that more children needed to be put on Ritalin.  They should have their licenses revoked, and Ritalin should be forbidden to be given to children.  There’s a natural way to correct the cause of attention deficit and hyperactive disorders.

The problem with ADHD is one of poor nutrition and chronic stress.  The brain is simply starving to death and does not have the energy to turn itself off at night.  It runs all night and all day at breakneck speed.  I’ve treated many ADHD children with wholefood nutrition supplementation with favorable results.  Feed the brain with wholesome nourishment and it will perform like a Swiss watch.

Adrenal fatigue brought on by chronic stress can also cause ADD.  With chronic stress, the adrenal glands become exhausted and fail to produce sufficient adrenalin for the cells of the brain to function, even to retire for the night.   Every cell of the body needs adrenalin in order to function at all.  Waking up in the morning feeling exhausted is a classic symptom of adrenal fatigue caused by chronic stress.

Simply supporting the adrenal glands with therapeutic wholefood supplements and herbs will bring favorable results, often overnight.  Of course, the chronic stress needs to be dealt with in order to address the cause.  There are excellent herbal preparations now available that help us adapt more easily to change and environmental stress.

For more specific information on the nutritional and herbal remedies alluded to in this article, please do not hesitate to contact me.

To your health,

Dr. Anthony Palombo

Advanced Clinical Nutrition. Email dranthonypalombo@live.com .  Phone 337-802-5510

Visit my HealingTones.org blog for more inspiring reading on handling sacred energy and energy topics in general.

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How about a “media fast” to start the New Year?!

“FAST MEDIA / MEDIA FAST”

(Lengthy but timely and rewarding)

Tony's picture 2 from PeggyWe had an interesting event happen in our family over the Holidays, which I think may be an eye-opener to others besides ourselves.  One of our close relatives commented that for the first time their children didn’t know what they wanted for Christmas, and the reason they gave was the eye-opener: for the first time they didn’t have live television in their home, so the kids didn’t know what toys were out there.  In other words, they had not been exposed to mass media advertising.  Wow! What a testimony to the influence of television in our lives!

A couple of months before the Holidays, a close friend for many years, Dr. Tom Cooper, asked me to read a book he was about to release entitled “FAST MEDIA / MEDIA FAST.” Well, I read the first two chapters and then had to set it aside until after our move to Southern Oregon from the Denver area.  I had offered to do a book review on my blog, so to keep my word I recently returned to his book online, more out of my integrity in making good on my offer than out of keenly piqued interest.

Quite frankly,  I had already grown somewhat weary of reading all the data the author had presented up front enumerating the many horrible things we are allowing the Media to do to our lives.  To be totally honest, in a peculiar way I felt irritated that someone would take icons that are such an integral part of our daily lives – television, movies, the Internet – and suggest we even consider the possibility we are addicted to them. But then, why not, if indeed we are?

Not that he does it without a lot of compassion and understanding – and certainly not at all to bash the media.  The data is presented very objectively without the slightest tone of condemnation or criticism. And he does re-count the many blessings in changed lives great programs of mediated material (movies, books, music, TV programs, etc.) have bestowed upon us and continue to bring to our lives as we’ve used them consciously and creatively.

Nevertheless, for me it was akin to the discomfort I felt listening to all the data warning against smoking in years gone by when I once enjoyed  the companionship of a cigarette and especially my pipe. Fortunately, I developed an allergy to tobacco in answer to a prayer that the Almighty find a way to take the addiction away from me.  It was the addiction that I found limiting and distasteful and not the tobacco.

As it turns out,  this is the real message Dr. Cooper conveys is his well-written, thought provoking, and reader-friendly (for an intellectual professor, that is) book: it’s our addiction to and abuse of mediated entertainment and information that the author brings to our attention – as seems typically the case with what we do with the good things life brings to us.  We tend to lose our balance and allow ourselves to become addicted, like the proverbial couch potato, to the consumption of our own creations and media of entertainment.

With the added incentive spurred by the story about our relatives whose kids didn’t know what they wanted for Christmas in the absence of live TV in their home, I returned to Tom’s book with renewed interest and a stronger commitment to hear him out all the way and tell my blog readers about this painfully essential and wonderfully important book.  So, here it is. . . . a truly important book with a timely message for all inhabitants of the planet.

“FAST MEDIA/MEDIA FAST”

I will start by saying the author, Thomas W. Cooper, PhD, a very personable and sweet-hearted gentle-man, besides being a fellow and fine musician, is a scholar and a Harvard-groomed university professor from Swampscott, Mass.  This, in and of itself, speaks volumes about his scholastic dependence on media in his chosen field of service.  His publisher, Dr. Michael Gaeta, also a good friend and colleague in the healing arts, introduces his author/friend in the Forward of the book:

In this cacophony of fast media, which make for superficial lives, comes Dr. Cooper’s learned voice, speaking words of wisdom and balance. Brilliant academics are at times disconnected from most people’s daily life experience, preferring complex theoretical frameworks to wisdom sourced in authentic experience. Dr. Cooper is remarkable in that his impeccable academic credentials are balanced by a heart-filled, spiritual, and eminently practical perspective, based in deep life experience.

Now, here’s what got my attention, and I think will grab your’s as well when you read his book. In preparation for his research project on the media’s influence in human affairs, Tom decided to go on a month-long fast from all media.  That’s right, he unplugged the TV and avoided the Internet for an entire month. After that, he decided to punctuate his media fast with an additional week-long fast from talking . . . except, of course, when he was spoken to and where it was necessary to his teaching duties.  Then he turns around and writes a book sharing his experiences during his fasts, which are really quite interesting, even inviting as they open opportunities in the privacy of personal introspection for honest self-examination.

He then proceeds to lay out not only thoroughly researched and well documented  data on the ramifications of the involvement of the media in our lives, both “good and bad,” but, even more helpful, how to go about taking a fast once in a while from our daily media diet, a diet to which we have grown accustomed, perhaps even addicted.  He even outlines how to do group fasts for families, classes or any group, and cites whole communities who permanently fast from all electronic media, even telephones and computers, such as the Plain People — the Amish and Old Order Mennonite, the Hutterite, and other subcultures.

Dr. Cooper gives guidelines in the form of symptoms of addiction, to which his readers may readily relate:

Long-term effects of addiction may often be … subtle ….  Staying up later each night, or changing one’s job to see the soaps, hiding an earphone line up one’s sleeve in class to hear the conclusion of baseball games, uninterrupted listening to music on the job to avoid boredom, missing appointments to see the next episode, wearing headsets while jogging to blot out the environment, reading a book through meals and events because “I couldn’t put it down,” and showing up late for meals whenever online, are all examples of media hooking us and rescheduling our lives….

He further helps us understand the nature of and distinction between habits and addictions:

 

One definition of the word habit is “act that is acquired and has become automatic.” Addiction carries the additional connotation “devoted to” or “given up to” or “controlled by” a specific habit. Usually, a habit forms prior to an addiction to that habit. For example, I might consciously eat ice cream periodically late at night. It is only when I eat it consistently and eventually automatically late at night that it becomes a habit. If I become conscious of the habit from time to time and decide to go without ice cream, I “break the habit” at will. When I discover that the habit can no longer be broken easily or will bring discernible consequences (depression, headaches, eating ice-cream substitutes late at night, etc.), the habit has become an addiction.

Similar to books on dieting and fasting from food, FAST MEDIA/MEDIA FAST includes a detailed guide on how to go about a media fast . . . and I must admit the author does so with keen sensitivity and generous support based on his own well earned understanding of the enormous undertaking such a fast could and likely would be for most of us.

To balance it all out, Dr. Cooper cites the many, many ways that the various kinds of media are useful in our lives and how we may return to our consumption of mediated material in a balanced way so as not to be consumed and controlled by it.  That aspect of the book I really appreciated and thoroughly celebrate.  Here’s a sampling of Tom’s balanced perspective, as well as a taste of the appeal and quality of his writing style, as he writes of and from his own experience:

During my media fasts, I consciously chose to be a creator, not a consumer. I let my mind relax, find different routings and mix new ingredients. By returning to composing and playing instruments I had abandoned, I found a strong river of inner creativity that had been dammed. Although I am not condemning reading, I found that a temporary switch from reading books to writing one restored a full measure of initiative to my work.

This “single switch” in consciousness and in action might be described as living from the inside out, rather than from the outside in. It is characterized by rediscovery of the creative process, which many of us abandon—some forever—usually during childhood. Motivation sharply increases, so much so that virtually any procrastination from the creative process seems a total waste of time. As a child I can recall times when the games, tree houses, sports or skits we were creating became so all-consuming and enjoyable that we could not wait for the next day to begin.

“MEDIA AS FRIENDS, NOT VILLAINS”

When the “single switch” is made from information gluttony to creative communication, one may return to media with new ears, eyes and thoughts. Instead of viewing media as mind pollution, each medium may be employed as a tool of creativity. When the mind and emotions begin to originate creative images and sounds, why not extend that creativity through books, radio, cyberspace, cassettes, or whatever is suitable? Media never have been enemies, in and of themselves. Rather, they simply amplify, disseminate and perpetuate the nature of human consciousness….   To the extent one’s work genuinely originates in the creative process, rather than duplicates conventional programming, it will assist in the liberation rather than enslavement of audience members. The single switch is contagious.

Rarely does one find an author who is as intimately familiar with his/her subject as Dr. Cooper reveals when writing about our “other freedoms” of which we are robed by our subjugation to mediated material, such as movies that bring us to tears against our will every time we see them.  I’m a real softy when it comes to joyful scenes in movies like “It’s a Wonder Life,” which Tom sites in his book.  As a physician, I was intrigued by his inquiry about the impact of manipulated emotions on our health:

Are these emotions genuine? Do they serve a purpose? To what extent are they voluntary? How do they affect our nervous system? Which ones will be replayed when triggered in the future? Do they upset the endocrine glands? Does this affect our emotional expression in the “real world”? Our emotional stability? No one seems to be asking or answering these questions with authority.

Then there’s the impact of over consumption of television on our children, scary to say the least:

Healy’s 1990 research suggests that television may be related to children’s attention and learning difficulties. In one sense, TV is a multi-level form of sensory deprivation that may stunt the growth of children’s brains. The combined research of Poplowski (1998), Gross (1999), Mander (1978), and Scheidler (1994) remind us that children are not just watching programs or surfing the Net, but are staring into flickering, radiant computer monitors and into fuzzy cathode-ray electron guns.

Johnson (1999) synthesizes this research to show what common sense might dictate: since repetitive screening allows functions of the corpus callosum, cortex, neocortex and limbic system to atrophy, children become more mentally lazy, uncoordinated and underdeveloped. She concludes that what children truly need to develop their minds are purposeful activities using their hands, feet and whole bodies; much exposure to nature and imaginative books; and much less media….

…More than anyone, parents and teachers may explain the difference between the “consumer” and the “creator” to children. The music classes, sports programs, summer camps, family outings, and educational or therapeutic hobbies in which we enroll our offspring pay lifelong dividends.

But, hey folks, our children will inevitably do what we do and not what we say.  This is one of my most favorite passages from Dr. Cooper’s book:

However, those who are addicted cannot bring others out of addiction. Since children are watching us for leadership and example, our own habits will loom large to them. In that regard, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s persuasive quotation applies as much to what adolescents see in us as to what they see in the hidden optical patterns in TV, video and computer screens. Emerson stated: “Do not say things. What you are stands over you the while and thunders, so that I cannot hear what you say to the contrary.”

The author sums up his perspective on the benefits of a media fast, such as regaining our five lost freedoms:

….   If there can be media addiction, then there can also be media liberation. But media liberation does not necessarily mean liberation from mass communication. Rather, it means liberation from the rigid attitudes, manipulated emotions, frozen thoughts, assumed identities and truncated perspectives that both contribute to and result in media addiction….  Fasting from any substitute for living can be liberating and empowering. The transition from consumer to creator can increase effectiveness and influence simultaneously.

Then there’s the impact of FAST MEDIA on our sense of meaning and time to keep up . . . with life itself:

“When I was faster, I was always behind” is a catchy refrain from Neil Young’s “Slow Poke.” (Reprise Records, 1999) Young’s apercu suggests that there are unintended and ironic consequences due to speed changes. As a child, I would play the long-playing 33 1/3 rpm records at the faster speeds of 45 rpms and 78 rpms with my friends. We found there were comic, absurd, and even fascinating effects at the faster speeds. But we could no long understand the song’s meaning. Is it the same for society?  …If so, the death of meaning, or of the time to find it, could be one of the most tragic unintended effects of the three “uppers”—keep-up, speed-up and blow-up….

Then there’s the role of choice:

The ultimate freedom rests in seeing that one has a choice—to identify with the creator or the consumer. Becoming the creator does not mean mindlessly bashing the media any more than mindlessly digesting it. In fact, one of the easiest, cheapest and most creative ways to publicize your liberation is to create a Web site or printed article about your creations.

Or, as I discovered for myself, start up a blog!  It doesn’t matter if anybody follows it either.  The real benefit to me is the writing of it, the delightful flow of creative thought and feeling; the creative release of my spirit through the carrier waves of words and ideas.  That’s the real benefit of creative use of any and all forms of media.

ALL SOUND ARISES OUT OF SILENCE . . .  AND RETURNS TO SILENCE

As a sound healer, I know that the purest and finest moment to connect with the healing current within is the golden moment of silence after the sounds fade out.  All sound arises out of silence and returns to silence.   True communication arises out of silence.  If I have something important to say, let me be quiet first in order to listen and hear what it is. Sound can be a tool for healing when used as a carrier wave for spirit and consciousness.  Not just any sound.  Sound that arises out of the silence that lies within.  The Sufi Hazrat Inayat Khan called that “Music.”   Dr. Cooper sees silence as a door to deeper awareness of presence:

Such personal silence emphasizes not so much what is absent, but rather hidden dimensions of self which suddenly become present. I am not suggesting that “enlightenment” or “wisdom” are automatically more available to the silent than to the loquacious. After all, a zombie seems silent; a corpse is still. But if the stillness is purposeful, consistent, focused, intelligent, and deliberately connected to a creative process, a larger awareness can appear, step-by-step.

Finally, as any good author would do, Cooper saved the best until last and brings his reader all the way Home to the inner soundscape of being itself.  I personally think that his final chapter is the most inspiring of all.  In writing about his speech fast, he crafts timeless words of insight and wisdom:

Naturally, there are other purposes for a speech fast—to enlarge one’s awareness of sound and listening, to learn of and from one’s interior soundscape, and to discover who is present beneath the mask…. …When clichés are liberated from our overuse, we discover in stillness the deeper meaning of “still waters run deep…..”   …being is the central ingredient of such depth, and the core of such stillness. Of course, when one stops over-reading and listens…. and indeed invigorates one’s own expression, yet another level of being is known.

What is discovered in these depths, or paradoxically at these heights, might be called being fully present. Fasting from all distraction, including one’s own post-dubbed narrative over the sounds and images of life, allows a sense of anchoring in this ground of being…present. The answer to the question “What is present when my programming is absent?” is “I am.”

IN THE END . . . TRUTH

Fasting from food with only juice and water to purify the body’s cells and fluids is a wonderful experience when done during a speech and media fast, as Dr. Cooper testifies toward the end of his book . . . and he ends his book with a wise suggestion as to the end purpose of any fast:

Our deepest danger is that we would ignore truth and not care, that we would persist in belief and hope, and thus avoid evidence. The longing for truth unites the spirit of education, religion, philosophy, science and journalism. If fast media were to ring true, not attract through the cosmetic, there would be less need for a media fast. It is to that quest for the ongoing discovery of truth, as best we may determine it, that this book, fast and life are dedicated. One and the truth are a majority….  So one of the deepest purposes of a media fast lies in the pursuit, and even the revelation, of truth. What is the truth of myself beneath my programming?

I highly recommend my friend’s book to my blog readers.  Order it online today and start the New Year with an enjoyable read on a timely subject.

So, here’s to your good health in 2011 . . . . and how about a media fast to start off the New Year?!

Dr.Tony Palombo

P.S. Tom’s book is available as an E-book (no e-reader necessary) at Gaetapress.com and  can also be pre-ordered there whether as a hard copy or paperback.  It will be available from the usual sources (Amazon; Barnes & Noble, etc.) this spring.