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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.

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Turn stress into peace and calm!

     

THE CALM, CONNECT AND COORDINATE SYSTEM       

  You’ve heard of the “fight, flight or freeze syndrome,” haven’t you? That system is turned on by stress, or by reaction to stressors which makes you distressed. Well, the calm, connect and coordinate system is what turns it off, restoring you to a state of calm wherein you can sink back into your skin and reconnect with your body as well as your environment instead of fleeing from them. It also gets the cells of your body functioning as a well-coordinated whole once again rather than galvanized, or frozen, in an isolated state of self-defense. This syndrome is turned on by a rarely talked about and scarcely understood hormone: Oxytocin.      

 Produced in the hypothalamus–a part of the brain that coordinates pituitary hormone production with the central nervous system and with what’s occurring around you–and stored in the posterior pituitary where it is released as a hormone to circulate through the body, oxytocin functions by altering or modulating the activities in other major body systems. It can have very long-lasting effects as these major systems work in a feedback loop and stimulate more oxytocin production. New discoveries are showing oxytocin is produced in many different places, including the heart and blood vessel walls, ovaries, and testes.       

 The hormone, Vasopressin–which stimulates the stress syndrome–is also produced in the hypothalamus and is stored and released by the posterior pituitary gland. Also known as an anti-diuretic hormone (ADH), it functions to maintain the body’s fluid volume and balance. In addition, vasopressin acts to increase aggression, hyper-vigilance, and other fight or flight type reactions.    Our understanding of oxytocin and the calm and connection system is in its infancy. Almost all study has been directed to the fight or flight or distress handling system. Most textbooks still state that oxytocin’s only functions are to simulate uterine contraction and facilitate lactation in females (along with prolactin).     

 In oxytocin producing cells the electric impulses do not occur one by one, but in a cluster. When the cells are powerfully stimulated, as in breast-feeding, (or other oxytocin stimulating behavior) the electrical activity becomes coordinated and the cells act in concert. This is part of the reason large amounts of oxytocin can be released in nursing women.  Estrogen can activate the oxytocin system and prolong its effects. Therefore, at certain times oxytocin affects females more potently than males. Testosterone can activate vasopressin and sustain its effects. Therefore, at certain times, vasopressin affects males more potently than females. Neurons that contain serotonin stimulate the release of oxytocin. This may be part of the mechanism of action of SSRI drugs that affect mood and anxiety levels. (Dopamine and noradrenalin also stimulate oxytocin release.) As you can see by the following list, there are many ways we can foster the calm, connect and coordinate system.     

So, next time you find yourself stressed out over something, start producing oxytocin!      

What stimulates Oxytocin release?  

 Giving thanks, being thankful and grateful, coming into the present moment with unconditional acceptance of things the way they are as being perfect; feelings of security, sensation and pleasure; touch, stroking, rhythmic touch; friendship, closeness, bonding experiences; sexual behavior, sex and intimacy, childbirth (uterine contractions), nursing and sucking (thumb-sucking); thoughts, memories, feelings of all the above; and probably such things as . . .   

 Some types of massage, chiropractic spinal adjustments, acupuncture, and other body-mind-spirit based techniques; energy work, attunement healing (Reiki); laughter and random happiness, deep sleep (delta), deep rhythmic breathing, Yoga, tai chi, and other related practices; rocking, singing, meditation, certain types of music, dance, art, literature, poetry; giving and receiving unconditional love; interaction with animals; a job or activity well done, especially if it benefits many; play and other positive and meaningful experiences. 
 
Isn’t it wonderful how our bodies look after us and respond to our every wish and intention!  The body never makes a mistake.  Everything it does is perfect.  We have every reason to trust it.  
 
 To your health,  
 
 Dr. Tony Palombo  
 References:   Dr. Janet Lang’s Nutritional Seminars, HealthLight Newsletter, Fall 2004   
 

 

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Inner Ear Infection

 

Tony Pics for SA BookWhat a trip this has been!

Two weeks ago I woke up with a mounting pain in my left ear.  Within 12 hours I had a full-blown inner ear infection.  Two days later my right ear, no doubt feeling left out, got into the act as well and I practically lost my hearing altogether.  Wow!  I haven’t had an ear infection since childhood!  This one lasted about 10 days!  I ran a moderate fever and felt rotten the whole duration.   Not fun!

Staph & Virus

Thanks to my dear friend and partner, who is a wonderful and capable healer herself, we were able to determine very early what was going on.  With CRA (Contact Reflex Analysis), a form of muscle testing, the culprits were revealed: a staph bacterial infection accompanied by a virus.   So I went to work right away with a regimen of nutritional and herbal protocols, which, I’m here to report, worked quite well.   Supporting my immune alliance was really all that was needed.   So, I thought to share this experience with my blog readers may be helpful for others.

The Protocol: *

I took the following nutrients methodically for the duration of the infection and fever –  the daily dosage, spread out through the day, is the number inside the parentheses:

For the Staph:  Thymex (9), Thymus (6), Golden Seal (3 tabs), Spanish Black Radish (6), Echinacea Premium (3 tabs). 
For the Virus:  Immuplex (6), Congaplex (12), Cataplex E (6), St John’s Wort (3 tabs).
For fluid drainage:  Fen-Gre (10-16 per day), Antronex (6).
 
These nutrients and herbs are all Standard Process and Medi Herb products and are available through licensed health professionals.  The protocols for staph and virus listed here are good for all kinds of such infections (boils, carbuncles, styes). *
 
Note: Drink plenty of fluids and remember the old addage: “Feed a fever and starve a cold.”  There’s nothing like a warm bowl of chicken noodle soup when you’re in sickbay.  Healthy Choice puts out great soups.
 
Energy Healing
  
It’s very important to balance your energy fields when your body has a crisis such as this.  Again, my wife was able to share attunement with me to balance my endocrine system, and I sought out the services of a friend and colleague who does BEST (Bio-Energetic Synchronization Technique) here in the Denver area to clear any negative sub-conscious or conscious thoughts and feeling that may have been interfering with the flow of my eneregy.   What a huge difference these energy healing arts made in restoring my energetic clarity, balance and strength.
 
Insight
  
This cycle took 10 days, and there is good reason for it taking so long.  You see, it takes 7 days for the immune system to identify and tag a new foreign invader and then produce the antibodies to deal with it.  I say “new” because it only takes a day or so for the immune system to recognize an old pathogen, one that it has encountered before and learned how to deal with.  This is the wisdom and value of not administering antibiotics to children, or yourself, indiscriminately.  The young immune system becomes educated when allowed to deal with pathogens early on.   Apparently, what I encountered was a strain of bacteria and/or virus my body was not familiar with.  After 7 days, however, it began to go after the invaders and within 3 days the fever left and I began to feel the relief throughout my body.  Now, I’m working with the fluid in my inner ears, which is draining a little every day, thanks to the help of  Fen-Gre and Antronex, natural decongestant and antihistamine respectively.  
 
Health Alert!  
There’s a deadly fungus on the move.  Check this website out for more info … and watch the video at the bottom of the site.  Very shocking information about the drug industry.
http://www.naturalnews.com/029593_fungus_Canada.html
 
So, next time you have an ear infection, have hope!  Call or email me for coaching and to obtain these nutrients.  I can have them drop-shipped to you within 2-3 days, and even overnight with a little more postage.  Better yet, order them now and put them in your medicine cabinet so you’ll have them when you need them. 
 
To your good health,
 
Dr. Tony Palombo
tpal70@gmail.com 
(337) 802-5510 
 
*These products have not been approved by the FDA are not intended to diagnose or treat any diseases.

 

 

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Understanding Psoriasis

 Tony Pics for SA BookTaking care of your liver

[ Psoriasis is a chronic condition, which means it’s been festering, or at least coming on, for quite some time due to underlying conditions.  Chronic conditions such as psoriasis have complex underlying causes, along with adaptations the body makes just to survive.  Therefore, this blog is lengthy but well worth reading in its entirety if we are to understand the complexities of this disease.  I appreciate your forbearance and promise you will not be overly taxed nor disappointed, but will be greatly rewarded with in-depth understanding of a little-understood disease.]

Your skin serves at least three functions:  protection, perception and perspirations.  It’s a membrane, made of the same embryonic tissue matrix (ectoderm) as the brain and nervous system, communicating with central control about environmental conditions ’round the clock 24/7.  It also clothes the body in a protective layer, giving you a somewhat more appealing appearance than if you didn’t have it.   It’s also an organ of elimination, so it reflects the conditions of the bowels, liver, kidneys, lungs and lymphatic system.  What these primary organs of elimination cannot handle, falls to the skin and sweat glands to carry out . . . literally.

An immune disorder

I found this explanation of what psoriasis is thought to be by Dr. Howard Sofen, Assistant Clinical Professor of Dermatology at UCLA School of Medicine: “We’ve really changed our whole idea of what psoriasis is, in that it’s really the immune system that’s driving this disorder.

“Psoriasis is a chronic, inflammatory skin condition. . . .  The immune system is somehow triggered, which causes a series of events, including inflammation and acceleration of skin cell growth. Instead of falling off (shedding), the cells pile up on the surface of the skin, forming psoriatic plaques. . . .  Psoriasis often appears in adolescence or young adulthood, but can occur at any age. . . .  People with psoriasis typically experience patches of thick, red skin covered with silvery scales called plaques. . . .  While there is no known cure for psoriasis, there have been many advancements in psoriatic disease research and psoriasis treatment. The evolving understanding of psoriasis as a disease of the immune system has expanded significantly the variety of available treatments, including biologic therapies such as STELARA™. . . .”  

There is this explanation of how this drug works:  “An overactive immune system can lead to high levels of IL-12 and IL-23, two proteins that have been found in psoriatic skin plaques. STELARA™, a biologic medicine, binds to IL-12 and IL-23. By preventing these two proteins from attaching to cells in your body, STELARA™ may slow down the production of skin cells and may reduce inflammation.”

Then there’s this warning:  “STELARA™ can increase your chance of having serious side effects including:  serious infections. STELARA™ may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections. While taking STELARA™, some people have serious infections, which may require hospitalization, including tuberculosis (TB), and infections caused by bacteria, fungi, or viruses.”

Now, I love it when medicine announces “there is no known cure” for a disease and then proceeds to treat it with drugs that have harmful side effects.  At least they are offering reportedly effective treatment for the symptoms and with it blessed relief from pain and misery.  My reasoning however is this: if it is indeed the immune system that’s driving psoriasis, then it would stand to reason that the overactive immune system would be modulated (balanced) by the treatment, not weakened.   So, let’s talk about this so-called ” immune system” and what’s “driving” it to excess in producing inflammation and proliferation of skin cells.  Let’s also talk about inflammation.

Immune Alliance

Actually, there is no  “immune system” as such in the body.  There is rather an “immune alliance” made up of many organs and systems whose shared primary role is the elimination of toxic waste from the body.  Inflammation is literally a fiery response to infection in an effort to burn up what can’t or won’t be easily eliminated. Infection is an immune response brought on by pathogens, such as bacteria , fungi and viruses, that multiply faster than the elimination systems can deal with. Pathogens thrive in an acid environment, so the pH of the skin is a significant factor.  The thymus gland, which is thought of as the “immune system,” plays a central role in tagging and eliminating toxins from the body.

[Note: I have a very beautiful, inspiring and in-depth meditation on the Thymus Gland as the brain of the immune alliance of the body under the direction of the “Spirit of Purification”  in my book Sacred Anatomy.   You will come away from reading it utterly in a state of awe at the impeccable design and intricate function of this vital aspect of your body temple — as you will reading any one section of this beautiful book.  You can order it online at my website www.healingandattunement.com, or simply drop me an email at tpal70@gmail.com. The following is an excerpt from my book that will give you a better understanding of your “immune system.”]

“The Thymus is the control center for the electromagnetic energy of the body.  It is with this energy that the body maintains its integrity and protective hedge. Although we speak of an “immune system,” the reality is that the body does not have an immune system in as much as it is an immune system in its functional totality, considering the vast distribution of lymphocytes throughout the body temple.  Systems such as the skeletal, respiratory, reproductive, endocrine, central nervous system, and others are complete functioning systems with a clear set of organs and responses.  Our “immune system” may best be described as an immune alliance between various systems and organs which, when coordinated by the brain, give an immune response to the presence of any and all non-self elements and associated dis-ease factors that are not a natural part of the internal sacred landscape of the body.

 “This immune alliance is composed of the thymus gland, which develops the immature lymphocytes ; the spleen which produces antibodies and which includes the lymphatic and blood circulatory systems; the long bones of the skeletal system which contain bone-marrow that gives birth to leukocytes (white blood cells). Then there are the organs of the digestive system: the stomach and pancreas, which make Hydrochloric acid and enzymes that destroy ingested parasites and carcinogens, the intestinal flora which destroy pathogenic microbes and manufacture B12, and the liver which detoxifies the blood and produces enzymes that break down dead tissue cells and repair those that are damaged.  So when I speak of the “immune system,” it is to this alliance that I am referring and not to some specific system in the body.” 

With this perspective, you may better understand what I’m about to say about psoriasis and its cousin scleroderma, a hardening and shrinking of the skin, as well as the rationale behind my recommended treatment of the cause of this disorder.  Both of these disorders are driven by an over-zealous immune response that has been thrown into survival and defensive mode.   This thickening of the skin with psoriasis has several causal factors.  Functionally, it reflects a toxic and congested liver that can no longer function normally in ridding the blood of toxic waste.  Holistically, it reflects a long-standing guarded condition in the heart, or emotional realm, which serves the individual as a wall of protection.

Louise Hay describes the nature of this wall as a “Fear of being hurt. Deadening the senses and the self.  Refusing to accept responsibility for our own feelings.” (from You Can Heal Your Life).  This emotional “dis-ease”  underlies this physical disease of the skin, and must be addressed along with the physical condition itself.

The proliferation of the skin cells relates to the building of this “wall” of protection.  The over-zealous (hyperactive) immune response is to the overwhelming onslaught of dying cells and other debris left by infection.  DNA gets damaged by free-radicals. Viral scavengers are needed, along with new cells to replace the dead ones. The signal that the “protomorphagen” scouts (the skin cells send out to give feed back about conditions around the cell) send back to the cell says: “Hey, cells are dying faster than usual! There’s lots of debris out here that needs to be cleaned up. Get busy and create viruses to scavenge the debris, and make more skin cells.”  So, this is what happens.  The body doesn’t make mistakes.  Everything it does is in response to what is occurring in and around the cells.   Viruses are opportunistic scavengers that appear on the scene when needed.  They are normal cells that morph into viruses right on the spot where debris needs cleaning up.   What wisdom the body continually demonstrates!

Rationale for treating the cause

The rationale behind treating the cause of psoriasis with nutritional and herbal protocols is fundamentally this:  By removing toxic waste from the body, it will no longer feel threatened.  The “immune system” is thus relieved of its hyperactivity and allowed to turn to other functions, such as healing and repairing damaged tissues.  This is also the rationale for addressing the emotional aspects of psoriasis.  By removing the toxic feelings and thoughts, the sympathetic-dominance of the fight or flight response of the body is dis-engaged, returning the person to a more relaxed, parasympathetic state wherein real health and growth can take place.  In other words, the “wall” is no longer needed, therefore the symptoms are no longer necessary and will subside and gradually disappear altogether.

The physical manifestation can be addressed nutritionally by supporting the liver and other organs of elimination, along with the immune alliance.  The emotional factors underlying the physical symptoms can be addressed very easily and effectively with B.E.S.T. (Bio-Energetic Synchronization Technique) developed and taught by Dr. Milton T. Morter, a biochemist and chiropractor from Rogers, Arkansas.  I am certified in this work and have found it to be a marvelous technique for addressing the emotional and mental factors behind disease.  [To find a B.E.S.T. practitioner near you, go online to www.morterhealthsystem.com.]

Support of the liver starts with first removing those things in one’s lifestyle that abuse and hurt the liver.  In probably the greater number of cases, alcohol and other drugs are involved.   Alcohol literally cooks the liver, hardening it to the point where it can no longer function chemically to process and disarm toxins.  Drugs do as well, burdening the liver to the point of exhaustion.

Here, again,one can see the emotional factors at work driving the individual to drinking and using drugs in order to avoid facing his or her state of emotional turmoil inside.   The thickening of the skin reflects the protective shell erected in the heart realm with a large and well defended sign posted that says “Private! Keep Out!”

Nutritional and herbal protocols

Nutritional support would include detoxification of the liver pathways with herbal and therapeutic nutrients.  Standard Process Labs puts out some very effective formulae for this purpose.  Products like Livaplex,  AF Betafood, Hepatrophin, St. John’s Wort, Organic Garlic,  Spanish Black Radish, Cruciferrous Complete, along with LivTon and LivCo, botanicals by Medi Herb, the herbal division of Standard Process Labs, comprise a 21-day protocol for liver detoxification.*

Calcium metabolism and mobilization play a facilitating role in the infection process.  One can appreciate the impact which emotions have on endocrine function, such as that of the thyroid gland which oversees the utilization of calcium.  Suppressed emotions depress hormonal function.   Sugar consumption may increase as a lift for blood sugar where hypoglycemia and/or diabetes has set in with the increase of blood alcohol that turns to sugar.   Hormonal balance is thrown into disarray as glands fail to function harmoniously and the liver cannot release stored hormones and glycogen.  Zypan (Betaine Hydrochloride) helps support the utilization of calcium, as well as destroy ingested parasites and carcinogens,  and Cataplex G  helps with circulation by relaxing nerves in the blood vessels . Vitamin G (a B Vitamin) acts as a vaso-dialator to increase the flow of blood throughout the body, which helps bring down high blood pressure but is contraindicated in cases of low blood pressure.  Vitamin G also contains the lipotrophic factors, Choline and Inositol, that metabolize fat needed to repair nerves and skin, so it helps with liver function and skin health.

LivCo, which has a plentiful amount of Milk Thistle,  is especially effective as an herbal support for the liver and serves to  aid in the elimination of toxins and cleanse the liver, support healthy liver function and tissue integrity, protect liver tissue by supporting normal cellular defenses, provide antioxidant protection, support and maintain cellular health, stimulate the biosynthesis of protein and liver glycogen, support digestive health, and ease the effects of everyday tension and stress *

Direct and indirect nutritional support to the skin itself is provided by a long-term protocol, which includes products such as Dermatrophin to support tissue repair and renewal; Lactic Acid Yeast for support to the intestinal flora which destroys pathogenic microbes, such as fungi, and manufacture Vitamin B12; DermCo and LivTon to support skin renewal and integrity, digestion, blood uric acid levels, and elimination of toxins in the liver and intestinal tract, and Black Current Seed Oil,  “an excellent source of omega-6 fatty acids. Gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) converts to a hormone-like substance called prostaglandin E1 (PGE1). PGE1 helps maintain blood flow, fat metabolism, and fluid balance.”* Fat is what the brain and nervous system, including the skin, are largely composed of.  Aloe (also by Medi Herb) can be used topically to balance the pH of the skin, soften and nurture the skin and to keep it hydrated and alkalized, addressing the inflammation.  The herb Rehmannia can help with toxin elimination, adrenal and liver health, as well as immune system support.*

Finally, modulation of the immune response is the most important help one could render to the body in overcoming immune-driven diseases.  Modulation means balancing (as opposed to “stimulating”), and it is best achieved with the help of the herb Echinacea.  I recommend Echinacea Premium by Medi Herb, who brings us the purest and most potent herbals and botanicals from Australia, now made available here in the USA by Standard Process Labs  www.standardprocess.com .

As you can see, much can be done naturally to address both the physical and emotional aspects of psoriasis. For professional coaching  and personal consultation, along with product ordering and drop-shipping, please feel free to contact me by email: tpal70@gmail.com.  Thank you for staying in there for the entire article.  I think you will agree that it was well worth the read.

Light upon your path to health and wellness,

Dr. Tony Palombo

Chiropractor and Applied Clinical Nutritionist

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration. None of the products listed in this article are intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

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Whole Food Vs Half Food Supplements

 

 

Only whole foods are “natural.”

Tony Pics for SA BookWe are born to see things whole.  We have to be taught fragmentation.  When a child sees an apple, it sees something whole.  This is well before it knows even how to spell the word.  In fact, a child has to be taught how to spell a-p-p-l-e.   But first it has to learn the letters of the alphabet in order to know what the letters are.   As we parents and teachers know, learning to break things down into their individual component parts is hard work for a young child just learning this method of educating its mind about its world, moving from a sense of wholeness to one of fragmentation.  And it hasn’t even begun to learn all the parts that make up the apple itself, the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients we’ve called by various names in order to make our minds feel intelligent. 

 (The word “vitamin” is derived from the Latin “vita” (life) and “amines”, or vital amino acids.  These building blocks of the body are made of molecules that contain the key elements of Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen and Nitrogen).

But what really are all these various fragments that make up the whole apple?  There are over a hundred nutrients in an apple, no doubt why one a day may keep the doctor away.   The “uneducated” child, or layman, might well take a “Who cares?” attitude as it reaches for an apple in the fruit bowl.  All it knows is that it loves its taste and it looks delicious to the eyes.  On the other hand, try and give the child (and some adults) a vitamin pill that has some, if not all, of the “vitamins” an apple has, and you will not get the same response as you get offering it a whole fruit that it likes, such as grapes, strawberries, apples, blueberries and bananas.  “What’s that?” the child may ask.

Children love whole foods, and I don’t think it’s all about how delicious they look or taste.  There’s an innate sense at work in us that resonates with wholeness.  Granted, the little boy wants to take things apart to see what they’re made of and how they tick.  I don’t notice little girls doing much of that.  They rather cry when little brother takes their doll apart.  Hum……

Parts crave wholenesss

Scientists, largely male in gender, have fragmented the world into pieces the human mind can identify and tag.  It’s the nature of the beast.  However, in the process of taking foods apart to identify and tag their parts, even synthesize them by artificial means, they’ve discovered something very interesting, if indeed enlightening, about “parts” in the natural world:  parts crave wholeness and will seek out their “friends” and partners in life when turned loose in a natural environment.  They can be held isolated in a “controlled” lab test, but not outside this artificial environment.  

Case in point

B Vitamins:  There are 9 of them known to be vital to human health.  There are some 20 other B Vitamins that have been identified in foods and animals, most of which we consume in our diets.  Notice how many of these are added to foods and “vitamin drinks” and put into high potency “B Complex” vitamin pills. You will usually find only 4 or 5,  but never 9 .  That’s because most, like Vitamin B4, cannot be extracted from food, nor can they be synthesized outside the body.  What is Vitamin B4?  Well, it’s only a co-enzyme that helps produce energy.  But it is essential to the rhythm of the heart beat. 

You’ll not find B7 added to foods and drinks either.   How important is VitaminB7?   Well, it only governs the anatomical and functional integrity of the intestinal tract and prevents digestive disturbances.  You won’t find B17 either. Well, how important is Vitamin B17 (amygdalin, also known as laetrile, found in a number of seeds, sprouts, beans, tubers, and grains)?  It only helps rid the body of cancer cells.  And I could go on, but I won’t do all of your homework for you.  You can Google Vitamin B and read all about it yourself.  It’s quite complex . . . and very informative.

Then there are the co-factors.

What in the world are the co-factors?  Well, they’re all the stuff that’s left over and thrown out as dross after the vitamins have been extracted from the food – or in the case of synthetic vitamins, what the scientists consider un-necessary and insignificant (mainly because they can’t isolate, tag and duplicate them, nor comprehend their significance) and therefore counted for naught.  Yet, the co-factors are the critical ingredients that facilitate the function of the nutrients once they are incorporated into the body’s anatomy, physiology and chemistry. Vitamins cannot be utilized without minerals, for example.  It is the inclusion of this “insignificant dross” into his food supplements that makes Dr. Royal Lee’s whole-food philosophy, and therefore his supplements (Standard Process Labs, Palmyra, Wis.), a cut above the rest, setting the benchmark for the entire food-supplement industry.

“Vitamins in their natural state always exist as living complexes with specific synergistic co-factors, enzymes, phytonutrients and organic mineral-activators, and never as isolated single factors.   A vitamin needs all of its synergists to function.  Further, there are literally hundreds of such synergists, most of which have not yet been studied but are nevertheless very important.”  (Health Light Newsletter, Sept. 2004) 

Minerals are balanced and proportioned by and in the vegetable kingdom.  They are naturally “chelated” – clawed apart by organic acids in the roots of the plants – so that they can be utilized by the animal kingdom.  It is important that their ratio one to another is appropriate for proper absorption and utilization in the body.  Unchelated, raw, elemental minerals (rocks), such as calcium carbonate derived from crushed oyster shells or dolomite, cannot be ionized fast enough in the body to render them useful. Most calcium supplements are elemental calcium carbonate.  Read the label. You want calcium lactate or citrate.

My Point: Fractioned high potency vitamins, synthetic or “natural,” are chemicals (drugs), not food . The body will only accept whole food for its nourishment.  Anything less is a toxin and will be dealt with and eliminated as such by your body.  The fact is, they hurt your body.   Elemental minerals, such as calcium carbonate, that cannot be readily eliminated are deposited on long bones until they can be ionized, absorbed and utilized. It takes nine steps to ionize calcium carbonate so that it is useful.  Calcium lactate and citrate take only one or two steps, so they are almost immediately absorbed into the tissues when consumed.

Now – and here’s our lesson for today – when you take a “B Complex” pill, which is made up of only a few chemical parts of the whole B Vitamin food essence, you turn loose in your body fragmented, unstable and craving molecules, functionally free radicals.  They will immediately set out to find and attach themselves to their “friends” in order to re-establish their stability and wholeness. Where will they find their friends and partners in life?  Well, in your gut, your bloodstream, your organs, and your body tissues.  It’s called “leaching” in bio-chemistry and clinical nutrition.  In other words, these fragmented, unstable partial “vitamins” rob  your body of what they need to complete themselves, simply because Nature abhors a vacuum.  That’s the bottom line. They give you nothing and take away plenty of vital nutrients.  As drugs, they only offer stimulation to make you feel good taking them, and in that sense they act like addictive substances.  They add nothing, not a molecule, to the health of your body. I could not be more clear and simple in my wording. 

For examples: “Vitamin C” (as ascorbic acid) is a good antioxidant but it’s not the whole Vitamin C.  It is the protective antioxidant of the C Complex, which consists of Biflavonoids, Tyrosinase (copper), Vitamins P, K and J factors.  Taken into the body, high-potency ascorbic acid leaches copper (tyrosinase) from it, an essential mineral to blood vessel integrity. Copper deficiency is at the root cause of bulging arteries (aneurisms).  Commercial “Vitamin E” as “d-alpha tocopherol,” may be another great antioxidant but it is not Vitamin  E.  Whole Vitamin E consists of four protective layers of tocopherols – that’s how fragile Vitamin E is – at the core of which are Selenium, Xanthine, Lipositols, Vitamins F1, F2, E2 and E3.  Taken into the body, high potency, synthetic d-alpha tocopherol – so called “Vitamin E” –  leaches selenium from the body, an essential mineral to cardiovascular health and the prevention of arterial plaque.  Yet the Food and Drug Administration allows these partial non-foods to be called “Vitamins C” and “Vitamin E” when they are not what they are called, a blatant display of the scientific fragment-oriented mentality. 

We still can’t fool Mother Nature

Enough said perhaps to get my point across for this important lesson.  Stay away from vitamin pills that are not made of whole food substances created by Mother Nature, who alone knows how to put the chemical world together in proportions and quantities we can utilize to our health and wellness.  No matter how “smart” we are in breaking down the world into its fragmented parts and tagging them, we will never be able to outsmart or fool Mother Nature.  We only hurt ourselves by cutting corners.  Whole foods are our only true source of vitamins and minerals. 

For me and my house, Catalyn by Standard Process Labs is by far the best whole-food vitamin and mineral supplement. Read it’s ingredients at www.standardprocess.com. It costs less than a nickel a day.  Send me an email and I’ll send you a four-month supply for $45, or a full year’s supply for only $125.  It also comes in a cherry-flavored chewable for children ($55 for 4 months supply when ordered along with 1 adult’s 4-months supply, or $65 if ordered separately (a year’s supply is $170).  Prices include drop-shipping and handling within the USA.

In conclusion:

There’s no such thing as a “One-A-Day” whole-food supplement.  The only “one-a-day” vitamin this doctor  recommends is the ripe and juicy apple.

To your health,

Dr. Tony Palombo

Chiropractor and clinical nutritional therapist

Email Dr. Palombo at tpal70@gmail.com. Visit his website www.healingandattunement.com .

Disclaimer:  Nothing written in this blog is intended to diagnose or treat any diseases. 

ADS ATTACHED TO THIS BLOG ARE NOT NECESSARILY ENDORSED BY THE BLOG AUTHOR.