Food Our Medicine — Medicine Our Food

As to diseases, make a habit of two things — to help, or at least, to do no harm.

As to diseases, make a habit of two things — to help, or at least, to do no harm.

Greek Physician, Scientist and the Father of Medicine wrote these profound words of wisdom that really were meant to steer medicine in a more natural direction. 

Everyone has a doctor in him or her; we just have to help it in its work. The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well. Our food should be our medicine. Our medicine should be our food. But to eat when you are sick, is to feed your sickness.  — Hippocrates (460 BC – 377 BC)

I lifted the following article with picture from a post by Veganism on Face Book.  Lots of good information here. Enjoy!

Food as MedicineFood is medicine and organic fruits and vegetables take center stage in achieving ultimate health and longevity. Morally and ethically, what is on the end of your fork clearly defines your approach to compassion, your environment, your health and well being. The following foods are valuable in sustaining your health, embracing life and avoiding surgeries, prescription drugs and the inevitable .

BLUEBERRIES POWERFUL ANTIOXIDANTS

The dye that is released from the blueberries’ skin may well be the most valuable nutrient the fruit has to offer. The pigments in blueberries and also in red crops such as cherries, plums, and red cabbage are powerful antioxidants. They have been determined to be a much-heralded chemical warrior against heart disease and also cancer. Blueberries actually have the highest antioxidant capacity because of their large anthocyanin concentration.

Antioxidants in our food can save us from virtually everything. Most of our health misfortunes are due to the perversity of oxygen. Our cells are perpetually besieged by toxic forms of oxygen which have been proved to have fierce destructive powers. So far scientists have linked destructive oxygen reactions to at least sixty different chronic diseases, as well as to aging itself. Oxygen free radicals can attack DNA, the genetic material of cells, causing them to mutate, which is a step on the path to cancer.

RED CABBAGE A POWERFUL DETOX FOOD

Red cabbage is a good source of phytonutrients that help to detoxify pollutants and other carcinogens that most people are exposed to on a daily basis. Like other cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, it’s high in glucosinolates, compounds which are metabolized by the body to form powerful cancer fighting chemicals known as isothiocyanates. Isothiocyanates activate the liver enzymes that break down carcinogens, allowing them to be safely eliminated from the body. People who consume high quantities of cruciferous vegetables have been shown to have a lower risk of certain types of cancer. Red cabbage is also a good source of indoles, compounds that may reduce the risk of breast cancer by altering estrogen metabolism.

RED BEETS HAVE ANTI-CARCINOGENS

Red Beet is unique for its high levels of anti-carcinogens and its very high carotenoid content. Red beets are high in carbohydrates and low in fat and it is an excellent source of folic acid. It is loaded with antioxidant that helps the body against heart disease, certain cancer especially colon cancer and even birth defects. Betacyanin is the pigment that gives beets their red color; this pigment is absorbed into the blood corpuscles and can increase the oxygen-carrying ability of the blood by up to 400 per cent. Don’t throw away the green leafy tops as they can be cooked like spinach and are also rich in beta-carotene, folic acid, chlorophyll, potassium, vitamin C, and iron.

BEET ROOT FOR LEUKEMIA

Beet root is a traditional treatment used for leukemia. Beet root contain an amino acid betaine which has an anti cancer properties. Red beet therapy, consisting of consumption of approximately two pounds of raw, mashed beets daily, has been favorably reported for cases of leukemia and tumors (includes cancer). Research also shows that beet juice can help inhibit the development of colon and stomach cancer. It is believed that red beets when eaten regularly may help against certain oxidative stress-related disorders. The fiber in red beets helps reduce serum cholesterol by 30 to 40%.Beets can help in normalizing blood pressure.

BEETS FOR HEALTHY ARTERIES AND VEINS

Beets helps to keep the elasticity of arteries, when consumed regularly it can help prevent varicose veins. The iron content of red beets, though not high but is of the finest quality that makes it a powerful cleanser and builder of blood. This is the reason why beets is very effective in treating many ailments caused by toxic environment and surrounding.

BEETS HAVE FOLIC ACID NEEDED IN PREGNANCY

Beet root is recommended for pregnant women because it contains folic acid that can help lower the risk of spinabifida and other neural tube defects in newborn infants.Beet juice helps stimulate the function of liver cells and protect the liver and bile ducts. Beet juice is highly alkaline which makes it effective in the treatment of acidosis. Drinking beets regularly can help relieve constipation. Beet juice and carrot juice when combined is excellent in the healing gout, kidney and gall bladder problem. You can tell that I love beets, I eat and juice at least six beets and the tops everyday religiously. One of my nicknames at the health food store that I frequent is “beet-man.”

CRUCIFEROUS VEGETABLES DETOXIFY THE LIVER

Vegetables that are members of the cruciferous, or cabbage, family not only contain fiber and many vitamins and minerals (including antioxidants) that promote optimal health, they also contain sulforaphane and indole-3-carbinol. These phytonutrients have been shown to stimulate enzymes in the body that help the liver remove carcinogens (and other toxic chemicals) and deactivate a powerful estrogen metabolite that promotes tumor growth.

STOP TUMOR GROWTH IN THE BREAST — ANTI-CANCER FOOD

According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, various components in cruciferous vegetables have been shown to stop tumor growth in the breast, uterine lining, cervix, colon, lung, and liver and according to studies monitoring diets, eating calciferous vegetables can lower ones risk of getting prostate cancer. Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, mustard greens, radishes and mustard greens.

KALE FOR THE EYES

Kale is absolutely rich and abundant in calcium, lutein, iron, and Vitamins A, C, and K. Kale has seven times the beta-carotene of broccoli and ten times more lutein. Kale is rich in Vitamin C not to mention the much needed fiber so lacking in the daily diet of processed food eating Americans. The “Icing on the Kale” are the naturally occurring all important phytochemicals sulforaphane and indoles which research suggests may protect against cancer. Let’s not forget the all important antioxidant Vitamin E. Rest assured kale spares nothing in providing one with much needed nutrients and associated health benefits. The naturally rich sulfur content of kale deserves a bit more discussion.

Science has discovered that sulforaphane, helps boost the body’s detoxification enzymes, possibly by altering gene expression. This is turn is purported to help clear carcinogenic substances in a timely manner. Sulforaphane is formed when cruciferous vegetables like kale are chopped or chewed. This somehow triggers the liver to produce enzymes that detoxify cancer causing chemicals, of which we all are exposed on daily basis. A recently new study in the Journal of Nutrition (2004) demonstrates that sulforaphane helps stop breast cancer cell proliferation.

BEANS ARE COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATES

Beans are an often-overlooked source of incredible health benefits. – They have a lot of carbs, leading people to believe they should be avoided and seen as a weight gain risk only. Nothing could be farther from the truth though, as research has shown that the carbohydrates found in most beans are of the complex variety.

Complex carbohydrates are not contributors to any sort of weight gain, instead providing the brain and muscles with a lot of good, stable energy supplies. Beans actually contain a wider variety of healthy nutrients than most foods. These include calcium, potassium, vitamin B6, magnesium, folate, and alpha-linolenic acid. These nutrients work together on several key areas of the body promoting total health.

SOURCE OF COMPLETE PROTEINS

Beans also happen to be good sources of complete proteins, which is rare in plants. Plants, while having many different nutrients, often lack complete proteins of any kind. This is unfortunate, as protein is a vital ingredient to the healthy and normal functioning of the human body, and the most readily available sources of protein have negative effects on the heart. Beans, however, are plentiful in protein. Most of the commotion that beans are generating in the scientific community has to do with the fact that they are showing to provide protection from many of the most feared and lethal diseases plaguing Americans today.

Studies done in universities have shown that eating beans on a regular basis reduces a person’s risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and obesity. Sometimes the reduction in risk is substantial. The risk for heart disease, for example, may be reduced by as much as 22%. Beans help to curb hunger, and offer the body valuable sources of ready energy that it can burn quickly and effectively. Because of this, beans boost energy levels, and as a result, promote weight loss.

POWERFUL LITTLE FOOD

Beans are powerful little foods that have been ignored for far too long. Associated with Carbohydrates and gas, current studies have done a wonderful job of increasing our understanding of this plentiful food and revealed it to be packed with important nutrition. The benefits that can be attained from eating beans are as varied as all of the nutrients they contain, but what is important is that many of these benefits help to protect people from some of the most feared illnesses of our times. i eat beans regularly, both sprouted and cooked. I only buy organic beans in bulk and the ones that I fine the most nutritional is adzuki, mung and garbanzo.

WHOLE GRAINS PROVIDE UNIQUE ANTIOXIDANTS

Whole grains offer vitamins and minerals, plus high levels of antioxidants and other healthy plant-based nutrients. Whole grains contain protective antioxidants in amounts near or exceeding those in fruits and vegetables. They also provide some unique antioxidants not found in other foods. Studies have shown that eating more whole grains may help reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer and diabetes. New studies show that whole grains may lower triglycerides, improve insulin control, help in weight management, and slow the build-up of arterial plaque. Optimal whole grains are hulled barley, wheat berries, buckwheat, rye, spelt, quinoa, black rice and brown rice. Quinoa and buckwheat are actually fruit seeds but look like grains so I call them grains. They are powerfully nutritional loaded with protein and calcium among lots of fiber and many other nutrients.

Tony picVisit my HealingTones.org blog for more interesting and extraordinary articles. This issue features: “The Shaman’s Gift of Healing.”

Here’s to your health and healing,

Anthony Palombo, DC, ACN

Picture of Hyppocrates by Shakko.

Violence and Brain Starvation

VIOLENT BEHAVIOR MAY WELL BE THE RESULT OF BRAIN STARVATION

Tony's picture 2 from PeggyThis is not “news.” I’ve been saying it for decades, as have countless nutritional researchers and clinicians the world over. Dr. Royal Lee, called the “Einstein of Nutrition” and the “Father of Holistic Nutrition,” proved it out a century ago. Oh, medical science is so slow in arriving at the truth; so full between its ears of its own mind-made intelligence and arrogance that it hasn’t been able to hear the truth. Read the article and learn the facts about the truth of the matter — that is if you don’t already know them. (My apologies to my already awake, aware and informed readers.)

Dr. Weston Price

Dr. Weston Price

Dr. Weston Price, like Dr. Royal Lee, was a dental physician who considered teeth but a reflection of total body health, being a part of the body itself. Dr. Lee’s approach was to feed the body nutrient rich foods and in that you heal the teeth. In his own words: 

Dr. Royal Lee

Dr. Royal Lee

One of the greatest 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. (click to hear his voice).

A contemporary colleague of Dr. Lee, Dr. Price spent his years researching, documenting an publishing scientific information on the impact of nutrition on health and disease. So, your brain is in good hands here. Enjoy this article from the Weston A. Price Foundation.

WASHINGTON, DC,, Aug. 30, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Deficiencies of vitamins A, D, K, B1, B3, B6, B12 and folate, and of minerals iodine, potassium, iron, magnesium, zinc, chromium and manganese can all contribute to mental instability and violent behavior, according to a report published in the Spring 2013 issue of Wise Traditions, the journal of the Weston A. Price Foundation.

The article, Violent Behavior: A Solution in Plain Sight by Sylvia Onusic, PhD, CNS, LDN, seeks reasons for the increase in violent behavior in America, especially among teenagers.

“We can blame violence on the media and on the breakdown of the home,” says Onusic, “but the fact is that a large number of Americans, living mostly on devitalized processed food, are suffering from malnutrition.  In many cases, this means their brains are starving.”

In fact, doctors are seeing a return of nutritional deficiency diseases such as scurvy and pellagra, which were declared eradicated long ago by public health officials.  Many of these conditions cause brain injuries as well.

Symptoms of pellagra, for example, include anxiety, hyperactivity, depression, fatigue, headache, insomnia and hallucinations. Pellagra is a disease caused by deficiency of vitamin B3.  Zinc deficiency is linked with angry, aggressive, and hostile behaviors that result in violence.  The best dietary sources of zinc are red meat and shellfish.

Leaky gut and gluten sensitivities may exacerbate nutrient deficiencies.  Gluten intolerance is strongly linked with schizophrenia.

Things have gotten even worse since Lee’s and Price’s day with all the chemicals we now have and are adding to our foods, such as MSG and Aspartame, to enhance flavor and attack obesity. Little wonder our guts are eroding and leaking undigested proteins into our blood streams, the underlying cause of food sensitivities and allergies. Read on.

“Making things worse are excitotoxins so prevalent in the food supply, such as MSG and Aspartame,” says Onusic.  “People who live on processed food and who drink diet sodas are exposed to these mind-altering chemicals at very high levels.” In an effort to curb child obesity, the dairy industry recently petitioned FDA to include aspartame and other artificial sweeteners in dairy beverages featured in school lunches, without appropriate labeling. Recent research has established the fact that aspartame actually leads to weight gain because of its effect on insulin.

Other ingredients in the food supply linked to violent behavior include sugar, artificial colors and flavorings, caffeine, alcohol and soy foods. The toxic environmental burden includes mercury, arsenic, lead, fire retardants, pesticides, heavy metals and Teflon.  Adding psychiatric drugs to this mix puts everyone at risk.

Whole foods is the only answer, and you won’t get what your body and brain need from synthetic, isolated vitamins in a “one-a-day” Centrum tablet, or gummy bears. Only from food-based nutritional therapy using whole-food supplements.

“The only solution to the mounting levels of violence is a return to real, nutrient-dense food,” says Sally Fallon Morell, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation. “We must create a culture in which eating processed food is seen as uncool, and in which home cooking is embraced as a life-enhancing skill.”

The Weston A. Price Foundation has pointed out the poor nutritional quality of school lunches and the flaws in the USDA dietary guidelines, which schools receiving federal funding are required to follow.  At a press conference in January, 2010, the Foundation proposed guidelines that include eggs, organ meats and healthy animal fats.  “Our brains need cholesterol to function properly,” said Fallon Morell, “and our children need cholesterol-rich food for optimal mental and emotional development.” Studies have shown that depressed individuals, offenders who show the most violent behavior, and the most violent suicides have low cholesterol levels.

That’s not surprising, as the brain is one big mass of cholesterol, the stuff cardiologists of today are trying to reduce in Americans with their Statin drugs. I say “Americans” because it’s only in America, where drug companies make Statin drugs, that cholesterol has become a “marker” in diagnosing coronary heart distease — and it became a marker just about the same time Statin drugs appeared on the market. Not only does medicine create drugs for diseases; it also invents diseases for its drugs! Wake up Americans!

If you want the premier hallmark wholefood supplement Dr. Royal Lee formulated and made available to the world called “CATALYN,” drop me an email and I’ll mail you a large bottle (360T for $45), postage included. That’s a 60-day supply if you’re deficient and a 120 days supply if you only need maintenance and insurance against malnutrition.

I welcome and love comments on my blog posts. My email address is tpal70@gmail.comUntil next post,

Here’s to your health and sanity,

Anthony Palombo, DC, ACN

The Weston A. Price Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nutrition education foundation with the mission of disseminating accurate, science-based information on diet and health. Named after nutrition pioneer Weston A. Price, DDS, author of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, the Washington, DC-based Foundation publishes a quarterly journal for its 16,500 members, supports 574 local chapters worldwide and hosts a yearly international conference. The Foundation phone number is (202) 363-4394, westonaprice.org, info@westonaprice.org.

For further information: www.westonaprice.org/environmental-toxins/violent-behavior-a-solution-in-plain-sight

www.westonaprice.org/press/press-conference-critique-of-the-2010-dietary-guidelines

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Alzheimer’s: Type 3 Diabetes?

Tony's picture 2 from PeggyYou may be watching your waistline, or perhaps thinking about your blood sugar level, while eating that piece of cake or pie. But it’s your brain you might best be thinking about.  

Here’s a very informative article by Chris D. Meletis, N.D. I’ve excerpted from the May 2013 issue of Whole Health Insider:

Alzheimer’s: Type 3 Diabetes?

. . . Researchers are establishing a strong link between blood sugar and brain health to the point where they’re calling Alzheimer’s disease “type 3 diabetes.” There’s also a link between diabetes and other forms of memory problems, including vascular dementia and mild cognitive impairment.

Studies consistently show a two to 3.4-fold increased risk of vascular dementia and a 1.8 to two-fold increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease in older people with diabetes.  Many studies also show that you’re 1.5 times more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment — a condition known as predementia – if you have diabetes.

Diabetes is thought to account for six to eight percent of all cases of dementia in older people. Additionally, people who have diabetes are 50 to 75 percent more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease, and people with Alzheimer’s disease have a higher than normal tendency to develop type 2 diabetes or impaired fasting glucose.

Scientists looked at 15 studies that investigated the link between type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s. Fourteen of those studies found that the two conditions were related, and in nine of those studies, the link between the two conditions was statistically significant. Smoking and hypertension — when they existed along with diabetes — increased the risk of Alzheimer’s even more.

As fascinating as these statistics are, what’s really eye-opening is the many reasons why impaired blood sugar is so damaging to your brain.

This Is Your Brain on Sugar

When researchers first began to suspect there was a link between diabetes and Alzheimer’s, they wanted to know why this connection existed. Their search led them to two peptides — chains of amino acids that form proteins.

One type of peptide, known as amyloid beta, is found in Alzheimer plaques in neurons of the brain — and in the pancreas of diabetic patients. The other peptide, amylin, is found in both the pancreas and the brains.

In one study, researchers found that same hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease — amyloid beta — in both the brains and the retinas (which is considered an extension of the brain) of diabetic patients. Specifically, the researchers looked at brain-cell-damaging toxins — known as oligomer– produced by amyloid beta. Oligomers are responsible for causing Alzheimer’s-related memory loss.

Insulin plays an important role in the formation of memories. And when oligomers attach to neurons, they knock out the insulin receptors from the neuron’s surfaces, which causes insulin resistance in the brain.

Normally, after eating, an increase in sugar in the bloodstream signals the pancreas to boost levels of insulin, which in turn signals cells to remove sugar from the bloodstream so that the cells can use the sugar for energy. Insulin resistance occurs when cells fail to respond to insulin’s signal to allow glucose into the cells. This causes the pancreas to secrete even more insulin. Over time, the elevated insulin levels aren’t enough to compensate for the higher blood sugars, and the result is high blood sugar or diabetes since glucose can’t get into the cells.

Diabetes causes even more oligomers to build up in the brain and retina, which makes neurons even more insulin resistant. If glucose can’t get into the cells, the brain is starved of the fuel it needs to function. Without glucose, your brain would work about as effectively as your car when it runs out of gas. The brain composes only about two percent of the entire human body mass. Yet, 50 percent of glucose use in the body occurs in the brain. The majority of the brain glucose is converted to ATP energy so that your brain cells can work properly and your memory remains in top shape.

The brain needs a balanced amount of glucose to function effectively. The problem occurs when the body is subjected to too much glucose and other forms of sugar such as sucrose and fructose. Too much of these sugars and it overwhelms your body to the extent that your body keeps producing more and more insulin, which ultimately loses its effectiveness, and results in the insulin resistance mentioned above. This is why, when mice with Alzheimer’s disease are fed excessive quantities of glucose, amyloid beta levels increase.

Tangled Taus

Tau proteins are another culprit to blame for the connection between diabetes and Alzheimer’s. When tau proteins clump together, they form neurofibrillary tangles, one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers don’t know for sure whether these tangles actually cause Alzheimer’s, but they definitely play an important role in the development of the disease.

Hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) modifies these tau proteins in the brain in such a way that they begin clumping together, causing them to form neurofibrillary tanqles.”

The Inflammation Link

Inflammation is another link between Alzheimer’s and diabetes. Inflammation triggers the production of amyloid beta and increases the risk of the vascular disease associated with dementia.

Inflammation in the blood vascular system is caused by insulin which erodes the inner wall of the vessels. Cholesterol is sent in from the liver to coat the scratches in the vessels so they don’t leak. This results in atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) that leads to poor circulation and coronary heart disease.

Low-grade, systemic inflammation also is linked to diabetes as well as the cognitive decline that occurs in diabetics. One study reported that higher levels of inflammation markers such as C-reactive protein were associated with lower cognitive performance.

Not the Brain You Were Born With 

Diabetes results in changes to the brain’s structure — including more frequent brain lesions, and wasting away of an important area of the brain — compared to people who don’t have diabetes.

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And it’s not only the structure of the brain that changes during diabetes. The blood-brain barrier becomes more permeable as well.  The blood-brain barrier separates circulating blood from the extracellular fluid of the central nervous system. This is because the brain is very choosy about what it allows inside of it. The blood-brain barrier keeps bacteria and other large molecules that don’t belong from entering the brain while allowing in glucose, hormones and other substances the brain needs to function.

When the blood-brain barrier isn’t working properly, it allows amyloid beta to slip through into the brain. The ability to allow amyloid beta proteins into your brain is controlled, in part, by a receptor for advanced glycation end products — better known as AGEs — which are produced in excess in diabetes and prediabetes.  AGEs form as a result of a protein or fat molecule combining with a sugar molecule.

AGEs are easiest to understand when you think of them in relation to the browning of food. When you toast a slice of bread, the browning of the bread is the result of AGE formation in the food. This same process occurs in your body during blood sugar spikes. The more diabetes or insulin resistance disrupts your blood sugar, the more AGEs that form in your body. And, therefore, the more amyloid beta that can get into your brain and damage your neurons.

Starving the Brain

Some research shows that during diabetes and insulin resistance, the brain is being starved of the insulin it needs to function. Yet, even while high levels of insulin are saturating the body during prediabetes, the brain becomes deficient in insulin because overproduction of this hormone weakens insulin receptors at the blood-brain barrier. This results in reduced amounts of insulin transported to the brain.

This spells disaster for brain function, since insulin enhances memory and learning. Insulin deficiency in the brain also is involved in cerebral vascular dysfunction, inflammation, oxidative stress and the inability of neurons in the brain to repair themselves.

Are Genetics to Blame?

Researchers have discovered a gene that may explain the link between Alzheimer’s and diabetes. They found that the gene, present in many Alzheimer’s disease cases, affects the insulin pathway.

Yet, of the two types of Alzheimer’s disease — type 1 and type 2 — only type 1, which accounts for five to 10 percent of Alzheimer’s cases, is genetic. This type of Alzheimer’s often develops at an earlier age. The rest of the cases, 90 to 95 percent, are type 2 and aren’t connected to genetics.

Interestingly, this sounds a lot like diabetes as well, doesn’t it? Of the two types of diabetes — type 1 and type 2 — type 1 accounts tor five percent of all diabetes cases, with 95 percent of diabetes falling under the type 2 classification.

30-DAY CURE OF TYPE 2 DIABETES

Type 2  “insulin resistance” diabetes can be cured in 30 days simply by abstaining completely from foods that spike insulin — starches and sugars.  These include Irish potatoes (french fries), white and brown rice, pasta, all flour products, such as white bread, biscuits and pastries, and what are now labeled “Gluten Free” products (made from rice flour).  These foods are high on the glycemic index, which mean they spike insulin.

The rationale for this cure is simple.  Since the receptor sites for insulin on the cells are all taken — or else damaged and even destroyed by insulin, leaving no sites for more insulin hormones to “park” and deliver their sugar-fuel to the cells — one needs to use up all the sugar in the loading zones of the cell receptors first before any more sugar can be delivered.  By putting a hold on more insulin production, triggered by starches and sugars, the amount of insulin hormones with their loads of sugar in the blood stream is gradually diminished, giving the cells a chance to repair and replace damaged receptor sites. This takes about 30 days.  After 30 days one can then return to a sensible and moderate consumption of complex (whole-food) starches and sugars.  But one must take care so as not to crowd the receptor sites again with more sugar-bearing insulin than the cells have receptor sites for.

It goes without saying —  but I’ll go ahead and say it — along with the 30-day fast from sugar and starch, daily exercise is essential to the burning of sugar by the cells. Just a 20 to 30 minute brisk walk will do the job.  You have to use up what sugar you already have in the cells and what’s waiting in the blood stream to be delivered before you take in more.  It just makes good sense.

Improve Your Diet, Boost Your Memory

The research linking Alzheimer’s and diabetes means that the key to having a good memory resides in your stomach. Commit to eating a healthy diet free of sugary foods and sodas. Choose whole wheat bread and pasta over white, refined products. Stick with healthy sweeteners such as xylitol and stevia that don’t raise your blood sugar levels.

Honey need not be discounted as it is a great food, especially locally gathered honey that has not been heated to a level that kills the enzymes. Maple syrup is also a good choice and is lower than honey on the glycemic index.

Chromium, cinnamon and Gymnema sylvestre are good choices for supplemental blood-sugar support. An analysis of the medical literature found that chromium reduced glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), which is a measure of blood sugar control, as well as fasting blood glucose levels.” Gymnema sylvestre also reduced HbA1c levels in two small trials, while other studies showed cinnamon improved fasting blood glucose.

In my practice, I often call chromium “will power in a bottle.”  That’s because by balancing blood sugar, it also helps reduce the cravings for sweets that occur when your blood sugar is low.

You’ll want to consider supplementing with 1-6 grams of cinnamon, 600 mcg of  chromium and 200-800 mg of Gymnema sylvestre per day.

Put the above strategies into practice and you’ll not only reap all the rewards of having balanced blood sugar-you’ll keep your memory sharp, too.

I use Medi-Herb’s Gymnema in my practice.  It’s from Australia and it’s pure and very powerful.  One a day is usually sufficient to balance blood sugar, whether it’s high or low, and reduce your sugar-craving. You can order it from me by email — ($19/40 tablets, $53/120 tablets.)  I would also recommend CATAPLEX GTF by Standard Process Labs for your Chromium supplementation ($13/90 tabs), along with DIAPLEX ($37/150 caps) to nourish the health of your pancreas and enhance your sugar metabolism.  My email address is tpal70@gmail.com.

Until my next post, here’s to your health and healing,

Anthony Palombo, D.C.

Visit my HealingTones.org blog for more of Walter Russell’s writings. Current theme is accessing knowledge directly from the Universe and God.

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of print.]

4. Vagelatos NT, et al. Epidemiol Rev. 2013 Jan 21. [Epub
ahead of print.!

5. http://www.newswise.com/articles/
type-ii-diabetes-and-the-alzheimer-s-connection.

6. Bitel CL, et aI. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. October
2012;32(2):291-305.

7. Fehm HL, et at Prog. Brain Res. 2006;153:129-40.

8. Liu F, et al. Brain. 2009;132:1820-32.

9.  Shah K, et al. Int J Mol Sci. 2012 Oct 3;13(10):12629-55.

10. Takeda S. Nihon Shinkei Seishin Yakurigaku Zasshi. 2012
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13. Ewald CY. et al. Genetics. June ” 2012;191(2):493-507.

14. Nahas R. Canadian Family Physician. June
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Iodine Supplementation

I interrupt this series of posts on the spiritual and vibrational essences of the seven endocrine glands to bring to my readers this important information about iodine, especially in light of the fallout alarm on the West Coast of the American continent due to the nuclear catastrophe in Japan.

PROTEIN-BOUND IODINE

Iodine is an important trace mineral, of which there are some 74 in the human body, ranging from Aluminum to Zinc.  If you live on the West Coast, or Hawaii and Canada, you’re probably concerned with protecting your thyroid gland against atomic radiation fallout from Japan’s nuclear catastrophe.  Iodine provides that protection, but take care in your selection of iodine supplements.  Iodine is best taken as a protein–bound trace mineral, otherwise it can be toxic. 

Standard Process Labs, founded by Dr. Royal Lee over a hundred years ago, holds the patent on the process that combines iodine with protein from the sea conch, an excellent source of protein and sea minerals.  John Courtney of Standard Process, who is now deceased but left a legacy of nutritional research papers behind, explains it this way:

 Iodine can be toxic due to its tendency to combine with protein. If you get a cut and you put iodine on it, the iodine destroys the bacteria because bacteria are a protein. A lot of doctors give iodine orally, an iodine and water solution. When you put this solution into your mouth, the iodine combines with the protein in your mouth and could cause irritation, not just in your mouth, but in the stomach, or wherever it goes. So that isn’t the best way to take iodine. It should be mixed with protein first, then it’s not toxic to your system. But the iodine is still available to your thyroid for making thyroxine. We have a patent on this process of mixing iodine with protein. We just refer to our products as “protein-bound iodine.” Blood chemistry tests give an iodine figure and a protein-bound iodine figure, “PBI.” The PBI figure is a measure of thyroid activity. If your thyroid isn’t working, iodine and protein are not combined efficiently in your system. So your protein-bound iodine will be low and your regular iodine high, indicting a sluggish thyroid. IODOMERE is a protein-bound iodine, which also contains sea minerals.

Another iodine product by SP is PROLAMINE IODINE, which contains a much heavier concentration of iodine than is found in IODOMERE. One tablet contains three milligrams of iodine, or 2000% of the adult minimum daily requirement.  Basically, PROLAMINE IODINE is used to restore iodine levels to normal, while IODOMERE is used to maintain iodine at proper levels. Hot flashes for menopausal women are one of the most popular uses of this product. 

IODINE LOADING

Under the guidance of a healthcare practitioner, a person who is quite deficient in iodine can go through a process called “iodine loading,” which entails taking an incrementally increased dose of PROLAMINE IODINE daily (one tablet added each day) until one develops an occipital headache and exceptionally clear sinuses.  At that point, you reduce the dosage by one tablet and take that dose for a week. Then come down off the loading process one tablet less each day until you’re down to one.  Continue with one tablet per day for ninety days.  Then one can start taking one IODOMERE tablet with each meal for maintenance.

Another popular product by Standard Process Labs is TRACE MINERALS B12.  Here you have all the trace minerals in a single supplement.  One tablet daily is the maintenance dose.  In the case of hair falling out, a daily dose of 6 (2 with each meal) daily for 90 days will solve the problem nicely.*

Enzyme systems throughout the body depend on trace minerals for activation. Modern agricultural practices have seriously depleted these trace minerals from the soil. Foods are increasingly deficient in trace minerals. 

TRACE MINERALS B12 contains a lot of manganese, a ligament strengthener, very useful in the repair of herniated discs. It also contains zinc, copper, iodine, and vitamin B12 (organically combined cobalt) — all trace minerals. Manganese is an enzyme activator, which makes this product beneficial for the person with chronic low resistance to infection, colds, flu, etc.  One other use for TRACE MINERALS B12 is for overall endocrine support. The trace minerals it contains are all required by the endocrine glands for proper function: iodine for the thyroid, manganese for the pituitary, copper for the adrenals, zinc for the gonads and pancreas, and vitamin B12 for the spleen and red blood cells. The B12 and other trace minerals are also important in supporting the integrity of the blood, so the product is beneficial in cases of anemia.  Overall, this is a very beneficial supplement to take on a daily basis. 

THERAPEUTIC FOODS

Standard Process makes therapeutic food supplements that are high in concentrated whole food essences, as opposed to conventional high-potency vitamin-mineral supplements.  They are designed to support the body’s healing process and help reverse the disease process by balancing body chemistry. Being therapeutic foods, they are rightly only available through licensed healthcare practitioners.  I am available for telephone consultations and monitored therapeutic food supplementation for a modest fee.  Email me to schedule your personal consultation.   

DR. MORTER’S TRACE MINERALS

I mentioned at the top that iodine is one of 74 trace minerals present in the human body.  While it is necessary to fill an iodine deficiency by taking a therapeutic dose of protein-bound iodine for a period of time, we must remember that Mother Nature doesn’t isolate her nutrients.  This is because they all work synergistically together for the benefit of the whole body. Therefore, it is only sensible to take all 74 trace minerals together, just as it is important to take vitamins in whole-food form.

Dr. Milton Morter of Morter Health Systems puts out a trace mineral liquid that is probably one of the most potent energy-boosters I’ve come across in all my fifty years of practice as a chiropractor and clinical nutritional therapist.  Here’s the scoop from his website:

Enhance Your Health with Dr Morter’s Powerful Trace Minerals


Loaded with 74 important minerals.

Unique 60,000,000 year old plant-sourced mineral deposit.

High bio-availability in liquid colloidal suspension


The human body requires dozens of minerals to function at optimum speed. Unfortunately, many Americans aren’t able to get these basic building blocks for the body.

Your lack of minerals isn’t your fault.

Years and years of over-farming the soil have leached the minerals from the ground, thus robbing the foods grown in these soils of life-sustaining minerals.

Apples today contain up to 2/3 less iron than they did in 1940. Spinach contains 53% less potassium. Across the board, numerous fruits and veggies have lost minerals.

The Bottom Line: 

It’s time to supplement your diet with a daily mineral supplement.


Dr. Morter is a biologist and tireless researcher of health and energy medicine. As a chiropractor, he discovered and developed the amazing energy-healing method of  BioEnergetic Synchronization Technique (B.E.S.T.).  His sons and daughter carry on his work of teaching holistic health and wellness and maintain their father’s health center in Rogers, Arkansas.  I’ve taken his trainings and am certified in BEST. Email me if you want to try his liquid TRACE MINERALS.

We will resume the series on “Seven Glands for Seven Spirits” next post.  In the meantime, I wish you the best in health and wellness during the coming year.  Until my next post,

Here’s to your health and healing,

Tony's picture 2 from PeggyDr. Anthony Palombo

Visit my HealingTones.org blog for inspiring articles on “Apocalypse of Light 2013.”

*The products mentioned in this blog are not intended to diagnose or treat any disease and should not be construed as doing such by my readers.  The advice given is not intended to replace the necessity of seeing a licensed physician for proper diagnosis and recommendations as well as options for treatment.

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Understanding “Fibromyalgia” Part 4: The Chronic Stress Factor

THE HORMONE FAMILY

Before we talk about chronic stress, there’s something we need to understand about the endocrine system and hormones. So, let’s talk about hormones first.

Hormones, I’ve learned, are a family and cannot be isolated and treated separately.  This is likely why “hormone therapy” is the best we can come up with in treating the symptoms of hormone dysfunction.  In medical science, we do not yet know how to restore function to hormonal glands when they malfunction—or, if we do, we’re not taking that route. The sole approach we’re taking with medicine today is the prescribing and ingesting of synthetic hormones, and in some cases the surgical removal of the malfunctioning gland altogether.  Rather barbaric, I’d say, and a testament to our horse-and-buggy approach to sickness and health yet in this the twenty-first century.

Of course, “natural hormone replacement therapy” is now available. But we’re still putting the hormones into the body instead of correcting the malfunction. The old axiom can be applied here: “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach him  how to fish and feed him for a lifetime.”  You can give the body hormones or restore normal function to its own endocrine system. If you give the body hormones, the demand is taken away and the glands will not be called into action to produce their hormones.

FUNCTIONAL ENDOCRINOLOGY

Here’s were “Functional Medicine” comes into the health care arena to save the day—and our sacred endocrine system.  I’ve taken a few seminars in what is called “Functional Endocrinology” and, believe me, it’s a comprehensive and truly wholistic approach to balancing body chemistry. It also requires specializing, so I would encourage you to seek out an alternative practitioner who specializes in Functional Endocrinology and Clinical Nutrition, or a least uses muscle testing for system strength analysis, such as Contact Reflex Analysis or Quantum Reflex Analysis, in determining functional deficiencies and appropriate nutritional and herbal support.

THE STRESS RESPONSE AND THE “HPA AXIS”

In functional endocrinology we have what is called the “HPA Axis” (Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal).  These are the head coordinators of your endocrine family and are at the core of all hormonal activity, the most common of which is the “fight or flight” stress response.  Here’s how that works. The hypothalamus apprises the pituitary gland about conditions in the body and around it.  It’s the clearing house for information coming in through the five senses via the central nervous system.  It says if it’s hot or cold, dangerous or safe, turbulent or peaceful in your world—including your physical body, your closest and most personal world. The pituitary gland received the information via chemical messengers from the hypothalamus and proceeds to send out a hormone precursor to the adrenal glands (as it does to all the glands) for further hormone production.  The adrenal glands receive the precursors and squirts adrenalin into the blood stream to empower muscle cell activity.  The blood vessels contract and the muscles get ready to act on your command. This is so with all cellular activity in the body. Every cell in your body needs adrenalin to function properly—or to function at all. 

If the stress response is not shut off for a length of time—weeks and months—the stress becomes chronic. Chronic stress is a known contributor to fibromyalgia, as well as Chronic Fatigue (CFS), which is often caused by hypothyroid function. The adrenal and thyroid glands share a close relationship in the hormone family.  The stress response triggers the production of adrenalin to get the muscles moving for flight or fight in the face of a threat—real or imagined.  If a person doesn’t fight or flee from a threat and the threat is not removed, the adrenalin is not used up. 

Adrenalin, like all hormones, becomes a toxin if not used up or removed from the blood stream and muscle tissue.  It is used up in physical exercise.  It is broken down by enzymes and removed by the lymphatic system—which also depends on exercise to move lymph fluid through the tissues and on to its final destination at the left subclavian vein just above the heart where it enters the blood stream.  From there it is sent with the blood to the liver and kidneys to be filtered out and eliminated.  If this doesn’t happen and the adrenalin remains in the tissues, two things happen. One, the adrenal glands are shut down by the pituitary gland, which gets the message from the hypothalamus that there’s no need for more adrenalin as the muscle tissues are saturated with it.  Two, adrenalin, a steroid hormone called “cortisol,” is the bully of the hormone family if it doesn’t get its way.  It wrecks havoc in estrogen chemistry balance and interferes with thyroid function.  

There’s only one answer: deal with the stress factor.  Fight back or flee the situation.  Preferably, resolve it.  Now, you can’t always do that, especially if the stress factor is your job or your marital relationship.  You may need both—for a while anyway— so, denied a successful resolution, you stand or sit there in a state of quiet desperation while chronic stress sets in.  This sends a message to your hypothalamus that you’re not going to do anything about the stress.  A cascade of failures ensue:

  1. The hypothalamus gets confused and frustrated, or at best incoherent, and may simply shut down.
  2. This leaves the pituitary gland without clear and coherent instructions on what hormone precursors are needed by the family members of the endocrine system to make their hormones.  An incoherent pituitary gland spells confusion and depression for the brain.
  3. The thyroid gland falls off in its production of thyroid and parathyroid hormones, directly impacting your metabolism.  You gain weight and lose bone density.
  4. The thymus gland doesn’t get the feedback it needs about outside invaders and the possible need for an immune response.
  5. The Beta cells of the pancreas  (Islets of Langerhans) don’t know how much insulin to make to keep blood sugar balanced, resulting in hypo and/or hyperglycemia.
  6. The adrenal glands just shut down leaving you with restless nights and no stamina during the day.
  7. Finally, the sex hormone glands (the gonads) go haywire without the pituitary gland’s stimulating hormone precursors—the menstrual cycle loses its regularity and your libido shuts down in the absence of any desire to reproduce your stressed-out self.  Survival, not reproduction, growth and healing, is your body’s primary interest at this point.

You get the picture, I believe.  A family feud breaks out among your hormone glands—all because your hypothalamus is confused and your adrenal glands are exhausted. The result is pain and more pain and a complete lack of energy.  (I won’t repeat the diagnostic terms medicine has for these conditions so as not to re-enforce mental fixations that get in the way of healing.)

OXYTOCIN TO THE RESCUE!

There is one out.  Relax, throw your shoulders back, smile and be thankful for your circumstance . . . that you have a circumstance!   A thankful attitude releases oxytocin into the blood stream which disengages the stress response. So does a hug and a hand shake. So, find someone to hug—or just hug yourself— and shake hands with someone, anyone! Get that oxytocin flowing 🙂

CLINICAL NUTRITIONAL TO THE RECOVERY

While medicating for pain and and pep, consider this protocol as a general program until you can find a clinical nutritionist who can evaluate your need more specifically. This protocol will begin giving you back your life and your bubbling personality. The products are all by Standard Process and Medi-Herb. Divide dosages between morning and evening meals,  or between three meals if you’d rather.  

  1. 4 Hypothalmex tablets – ($24/60 tabs)
  2. 4 Symplex F tablets (women),  Symplex M (men) – ($17/90 t)
  3. 4 Black Current Seed Oil pearls – ($15/60 pearls)
  4. 8 Drenamin tablets – ($11/90 t)
  5. 3 Adrenal Complex for adrenal exhaustion – ($21/40 t) 
  6. 3 Thyroid Complex for hypothyroid – ($26/40 t)

To that add these for general wholefood nutritional support: 

  1. 6 Catalyn – ($11/90 tabs) 
  2. 6 Min-Tran – ($6/90  t)
  3. 3 Trace Minerals B12 – ($15/90 t)
  4. 3 Tuna Omega 3 Oil pearls – ($20/120 pearls)

Drop me an email and I’ll have the products drop-shipped directly from Standard Process within a few days.*  The cost for a 30-day supply of the above products with a 10% blog-readers discount is $280.  You will feel so good after taking these therapeutic foods for a month that you will re-order every month for two more months.  After this 90-day intensive therapy period, dosages on most supplements can be reduced to maintenance levels for the next 9 months.  Stay with this program for a year if you want to reap its full benefits.  We’re talking balancing your body chemistry and not just treating the symptoms of hormone imbalances for the rest of your life.  

*Drop-shipping applies to orders within the USA.  Postage and handling for out-of-county shipping will apply.

TOTAL PROTOCOL SUMMARY

1. First, detoxify. Do a 21-day total body purification using the Purification Kit by Standard Process. The cost: $240.  Repeat this purification program every 4 months for a year, then twice a year thereafter.

2. For gouty arthritis and fluid retention, abstain from highly seasoned and high purine foods (turkey, pork, heavy beef, lentils, dried beans, avocados, and beer) and take the following: 

  1. AC Carbamide  – 3 capsules with a tall glass of purified or spring water three times a day to support the kidneys in removing uric acid from the blood and excess fluid from the tissues. ($18/90 caps)  
  2. Iodomere  – 2 tablets with meals (6 a day) for thyroid support and to help the kidneys take up fluid. ($19/90 tabs) 
  3. DermaCo herbal – one or two tablet per day to help maintain a normal level of uric acid in the bloodstream. ($28/40 tabs) 

3.  During and after the 21-day purification, support your lymphatic system with daily brisk walks or rebounding exercise and take the following:

  1.  Take 10 drops of Lymphapar sublingual 3 times daily for 7 days then once daily for 90 days. ($14/1 oz bottle. You’ll need 3 or 4 bottles.  Email me and I’ll send you some as this is not an SP product.) 
  2. Add to that 1 Cal Amo tablet with each meal for 30 days. ($12/90 tabs)
  3. Take 4 Allerplex capsules twice a day to help get rid of metabolic waste and histamines, particularly from the lungs and bronchial tubes. ($24/150 caps)

 4.  Next, support your immune system with the following supplements over the first 90 days:

  1. Echinacea Premium (2/day)
  2. Immuplex (6/day),
  3. Thymex (6/day),
  4. St. John’s Wort (2/day) – Contraindicated with life-dependent medicines as it detoxifies drugs in the liver.
  5. Astragalus (2/day)  

5. Support the stress-response and hormone system as detailed above.   

Take this in steps and stages, and don’t rush the process.  You didn’t get fibromyalgia or CFS overnight.  Allow one month of correction for every year of chronic illness after going through a 90-day intensive.  It takes that long to turn a deteriorating health pattern around and build an integrating health pattern. And, above all, be patient—and aim to maintain an attitude of gratitude! 🙂

This completes my consideration of  fibromyalgia.  I will resume my series “Seven Glands for Seven Spirits” with the next post.  Until then,

Here’s to your health and healing . . . and a happy and healthy holiday season.

Dr. Anthony Palombo

tpal70@gmail.com

Visit my second blog, HealingTones.org, for intriguing thought around the current cosmic event, “4th Density Apocalypse 2012, Part 3: The Ascension Process.” 

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Understanding “Fibromyalgia”—Part 3: The Immune Connection

Tony Pics for SA BookThere’s an old proverb that says: 

“If you make people think they think, they will love you. If you make them think, they will hate you.”  

I trust that you will not hate me for helping you think for yourself on matters as personal and intimate to you as your health.  

THE IMMUNE CONNECTION

Let’s talk about the immune connection to “fibromyalgia.”  We’re talking about infection, a crucial step in the healing process. Without infection, we would quickly succumb to the ravages of toxic metabolic waste and invasive pathogens upon the body cells.  Sounds like what “fibromyalgia” is all about—the ravages of toxic metabolic waste and invasive pathogens upon the body cells, which calls up an immune response to create an infection.  

I’ve just made another “thought-process interrupt.”  We automatically think of infections as something “bad” and a thing to “fight.”  What I said above calls for different thinking—and that’s my intent in writing this blog: to help us think again and anew about dis-ease and health, but mainly about what we’ve called “disease.”

Notice I hyphenate that word when I use it, because there is no such thing as “a disease.”  We’ve been programmed to think there is and that “disease” is our enemy that needs to be fought and destroyed with man-made chemical bullets, bombs and “surgical warfare.”  But we’re only shadow boxing.  Where diseases need to be gotten rid of is in human consciousness, where they are being  invented, labeled and “cured” (as in preserved). That’s what you do when you cure something.  You preserve it.  Well, we need to stop curing disease and start supporting the healing processes of the body, which alone knows what to do about what we call “disease.” 

There is a dis-ease created by such things as inflammation and infection.  They don’t feel good. We’re not at ease with pain, and that’s as it should be, all things considered.  Pain keeps us from hurting ourselves even further with inappropriate lifestyle activities. It should cause us to ask “Why does that hurt?” rather than “How can I get rid of this pain?”  Pain is an alarm. You wouldn’t turn off the smoke or fire alarm.  You would first look for the fire and seek to put it out. The smoke alarm will automatically shut off when the fire is put out and the smoke cleared out of the house.  It’s the same with pain. 

Our immune system creates fires all the time in order to burn up toxic waste.  The only sensible thing to do is support it so it can do its job more quickly and efficiently.  Fevers are life-savers and are not to be suppressed. They need to be allowed to burn at moderate temperatures (100 – 104).  More than that is dangerous and should be brought down with cold applications to the head especially to prevent brain damage.  Covering the body with blankets to help break a sweat will often break a fever. 

So, let’s talk about supporting the immune system.  Here’s its mechanism of action in medical terms.  Read it first then I’ll break it down to help you understand it.

Cytokines mediate and control immune and inflammatory responses. Complex interactions exist between cytokines, inflammation and the adaptive responses in maintaining homeostasis, health, and well-being. Like the stress response, the inflammatory reaction is crucial for survival and is meant to be tailored to the stimulus and time. A full-fledged systemic inflammatory reaction results in stimulation of four major programs: the acute-phase reaction, the sickness syndrome, the pain program, and the stress response, mediated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the sympathetic nervous system.

Phew! That’s a mouth-full.  First, let’s understand what “cytokines” are.  Here’s the Wikipedia definition:

Cytokines (Greek cyto-, cell; and -kinos, movement) are small cell-signaling proteinmolecules that are secreted by numerous cells and are a category of signaling molecules used extensively in intercellular communication. Cytokines can be classified as proteinspeptides, or glycoproteins; the term “cytokine” encompasses a large and diverse family of regulators produced throughout the body by cells of diverse embryological origin

Simply stated, these are the messengers that alert the body’s immune system that the body has been invaded by harmful pathogens or free radicals.  They mediate and control immune and inflammatory responses, just as it says.  There is the “Redox Signaling Molecules,” for example. They play an important role in the body by activating antioxidants and turning on the immune response naturally to restore and maintain homeostasis—balance.

Watch this 5-minute video clip put out by ASEA as it contains a graphic demonstration of how cytokines work.  Just bear with the promo for their product, although it represents a remarkable scientific breakthrough in the healthcare field, and I use the product myself and in my practice.  This is important information to help us understand such modern-day health issues as “fibromyalgia” and “chronic fatigue syndrome.”

As you can see from the clip, the message has to get through to the immune system or else the invasion of pathogens and free radicals and the vulnerability of the cell walls will go unnoticed by the body.  

IMMUNE ALLIANCE, NOT SYSTEM

Let me explain the so-called “immune system,” which is a misnomer. We do not “have” an “immune system” as such, although the thymus gland, spleen and bone marrow play pivotal roles in producing immune-response cells to deal with “non-self” toxins in the body.  What we do have in an immune alliance which involves all the organs of the body, especially the organs of elimination, which includes the skin, by the way.  So, just keep that in mind in your approach to supporting your “immune system.”  For example, if you simply take antibiotics, pharma grade of natural, without doing something to clean out the metabolic waste with herbs, for instance, then you’ll end up crowding your lymphatic system with too much to handle on its own.  

I’ll often give a client Congaplex or Thymex, “natural antibiotics” put out by Standard Process Labs, to support the body’s immune-response to strep and staph infections respectively.  In a day or two the client often comes down with sinus congestion or swollen lymph nodes.  This tells me that the lymphatic glands are congested, so I’ll back off from supporting the body’s immune response and start supporting its elimination system.  

Standard Process and Medi-Herb provide superior products for this purpose, even natural antihistamines, like Antronex,  Allerplex, and Fen-Gre  to break up congestion in the sinuses and lymphatic glands, and ResCo, Broncafect, and PulmaCo to help clear out congestion in the bronchial tubes and lungs.  A company by the name of Energique also provides a product called Lymphapar, which almost magically opens up the lymphatic glands—very helpful with lactating mothers, for which this sublingual homeopathic was formulated.  These are all non-invasive, non-toxic, “natural medicines.”  They are also quite affordable when compared to the escalating cost of drugs.  Unfortunately, they are not covered by most insurance policies. 

Invariably, a “virus” appears on the scene from seemingly out of nowhere to scavenge the debris left by dead cells that gave their lives putting out the fire of infection.  That’s what they are and what they do—and they do appear to come from out of nowhere because they are simply normal cells of the body that have been transformed, morphed, and re-programmed as scavengers to clean up the mess left by the immune response, which I think is simply amazingly ingenious.  So, we can then turn our attention to helping the body clean house so as to eliminate the necessity for the viral activity.  This includes viruses that originate outside the body.  They are still scavengers and they will not invade your body tissues if there is nothing there for them to scavenge. This emphasizes the importance of Fall and Spring full-body purification rituals.  

Immuplex and St. John’s Wort help the body respond to viral infections.  Herbal teas are helpful in eliminating waste.  Bowel, liver and kidney detox products are plentiful.  All one has to do is use them.  Standard Process has a complete full-body Purification Kit with all the nutrients needed to clean out the body’s systems and tissues. Email me for product acquisition.  My readers enjoy a 10% discount on all supplement orders. *

ECHINACEA & IMMUNE-RESPONSE MODULATION

When we are sick we usually think in terms of “stimulating the immune system.” Well, that may or may not be the right call.  It’s far better to think in terms of modulating your immune response. Modulation simply entails balancing the immune response, which will be under-active where infections persist and over-active where autoimmune conditions persist, such as AIDS and rheumatoid arthritis.  

Echinacea herb is probably the most effective modulating botanical in Mother Nature’s cornucopia of natural medicines.  Medi-Herb, a sister company to Standard Process, has the very best Echanicea product in their Echinacea Premium—and it can be taken daily as a preventative, by children and adults alike, to keep the immune response balanced and poised to act appropriately in response to infections and autoimmune issues.

Not all Echinaceas are equal.  For example, the root of the augustifolia plant has more goodies for the immune system than the flowers of the purpurea plant.  Traditional Echinacea is made from the flowers, which is why people who are allergic to plants of the daisy family have a sensitivity to traditional Echinacea (made from Echinacea Purpurea flowers).  Echinacea Premium by Medi-Herb is made from the root of the Echinacea angustifolia.  The natives in Australia, where Medi-Herb manufactures its products, would pass over the flowering  purpurea plants and dig up the root type augustifolia plant, which resembles a carrot, because they knew it worked better than the flower type plants.  

Master Herbalist Dr. Kerry Bone of Medi-Herb has discovered that it’s the high concentrations of alkylamides that impact the immune system and not the polysacharides, as traditional European herbalists believe.  Echinacea Premium combines the roots of Echinacea angustifolia and Echinacea purpurea to enlist properties unique to each one in supporting the immune system. The following are some of it benefits: 

  • enhance immune system function (particularly non-specific immune function)
  • support and promote normal interferon production
  • support and promote healthy white blood cells
  • support healthy immune response following stress, sudden changes in weather or temperature
  • encourage healthy upper respiratory tissue
  • support and maintain healthy throat tissue
  • support healthy lymphatic system function
  • stimulate the body’s normal tissue support and renewal function.

For maximum benefit, combine Immuplex and Echinacea Premium in your supplement protocol for immune response modulation and support. Email me for product acquisition and dosages.  

And friends, you just need to stock up your “Natural Medicine Cabinet” with these products if you’re going to make the break from pharmaceutical drugs and start supporting your body’s immune system naturally.  In this day and age, supplementation with wholefood nutritionals and herbs is unavoidable.  And  I walk my talk. Personally, I take up to 30 different supplements daily. That’s about 60 pills and capsules, a handfull at each meal.  But that’s not much when I compare it to the three plates full of food I eat daily—and these are essences of wholefood concentrates designed and prescribed to reverse the “disease” process by balancing body chemistry—not “vitamin supplements,” which I strongly advise against.

For a personal consultation, email me for my telephone number and to schedule a time.  My fees are very reasonable.  We’ll talk more about the inflammatory and stress response systems in connection with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue, which includes the thyroid’s involvement, in my next post.  Until then, 

Here’s to your health and healing,

Anthony Palombo, DC, ACN

Email address: tpal70@gmail.com

*Network marketing products, such as ASEA and Nopalea, are not included in this discount.

Visit my HealingTones.org blog for inspirational articles about sacred energy.  The current series theme is Fourth Density Apocalypse 2012: The Science of Ascension. 

 

 

 

Understanding Fibromyalgia,Part 2: Its Etiology and Cure


THINK “OUTSIDE THE BOX” TO FIND ANSWERS

There’s a saying that we will not solve problems by thinking at the same level as the problem. We have to think at a level above that of the problem.  This saying is most applicable here.  We have to think outside the box of orthodox medicine, wherein the diagnoses of ill conditions originate, in order to find answers.  Not the conditions themselves, but the labels we’ve placed on them in medical science. So, let’s step outside this box to take a look at this condition called “fibromyalgia” and see if we can understand it and find solutions for healing.

So far we’ve established that the label of “fibromyalgia” is a “wastebasket” diagnosis, a catch-all for numerous symptoms, primary of which are pain and inflammation.  We’ve come to understand that pain and inflammation trigger a healing response in the body, the inflammation itself telling you that you are okay, even with the pain. Nothing is “wrong” with your body.  It’s working fine.  A healing process is underway.  All you can do is support it and try to discover what is inflicting the injury to your cells that’s creating the pain that’s triggering the inflammation and eliminate it.  

Inflammation is normal—as long as it doesn’t last a long time where it becomes chronic inflammation, which means the body has accepted it as part of the status-quo and adapted itself to its necessity. . . mainly because the triggers of pain have not been eliminated.  When the triggers of pain have been removed, those things that are bringing on the assault to your body’s cells, the necessity for your immune system’s inflammatory response and the subsequent need for a healing process has also been removed.  This essentially is what the “cure” of “fibromyalgia” entails.

DEALING WITH THE PAIN

Before you shut off the pain with pain pills, consider this. If you shut off the pain you stand the risk of shutting down the healing process as well.  Deal with the triggers of the pain, what is assaulting your body cells and injuring them and making them holler “STOP!”  Your body’s healing process may not kick in if the brain isn’t getting the pain signal.

You can deal with the pain using natural solutions that also address the condition and support the healing process.  Here are a few you can start applying as you back off your pain medication:

  1. Boswellia Complex by Medi-Herb, a great anti-inflammatory, especially effective with inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract.  It comes out of Australia where world-renown master herbalist Kerry Bone developed the very finest line of herbal preparations and brought them here via Standard Process Labs, its affiliate company.  It’s a bit pricey at $55.50 for a 90-tablet bottle, but well worth it.  Medi-Herb products are only available through licensed health practitioners.  I offer my readers a 15% on all Standard Process and Medi-Herb product orders.
  2. Tuna Omega 3 Oil—Oil, especially fish oil, is nature’s coolant and insulator.  Omega 3 oil insulates the cell against oxidation and will cool down inflammation. The quality of the oil is critical as oil easily goes rancid during processing where heat is used.  Standard Process takes great care in processing their oils.   Their Tuna Omega 3 Oil is the very finest of all fish oils on the market. 
  3. Calamari Omega3 Liquid—A natural anti-inflammatory oil especially effective with joint pains and arthritis.
  4. Nopalea (“No-pah lay’ uh”)—a tasty wellness drink sourced from the fruit of the Nopal cactus that thrives in the Sonoras Desert of the southwestern U.S. and Mexico.  It contains nutrients that can help the body reduce inflammation, detoxify, relieve many types of pain, promote optimal cellular health and energy.  You can obtain it from me or order it online at www.sonoranbloom.com/14348092 . ($40 for a 32 oz bottle plus S&H)
  5. AC Carbamide —another remarkable Standard Process product for dealing with pain caused by acidic body fluids, such as in gouty arthritis, because it acts as a buffer for uric acid.  What carbamide actually does is enhance the flow of fluid through the tissue cell walls. Therefore it acts as a natural diuretic which does not leach out Potassium, which pharmaceutical diuretics do.  It’s reasonably priced at $18 for 90 capsules and $48 for 270 capsules.

POSSIBLE CAUSES AND TRIGGERS

1. Toxicity:  from chemicals and food additives, the most common and offensive one being aspartame, present in all diet drinks. (Click on the word to read my blog post on it.)  Get it out of your diet altogether. Use Stevia instead.  I use Green Leaf because it doesn’t leave an aftertaste.  There’s nothing wrong with raw sugar and honey in moderation, unless you have a weight problem and/or a sugar issue, as sugar and honey do spike insulin. Insulin carries glycogen to cells for energy, which is stored as fat when not burned up by physical exercise.  Other food additive, such as preservatives, color and flavor enhancers, are toxins that become “free radicals” in the body.  Free radicals are molecules with atoms that need an electron or two to stabilize them.  They’ll get what they need from your cell walls, making the cells vulnerable to oxidation and invasion by bacteria and viruses. You can hardly get away from these free radical toxins, but you can protect your cells from damage by consuming food rich in antioxidants and supplementing with fish and wheat germ oils and other antioxidant supplements. * (See footnote below for details and a list of foods.)

2.  Food sensitivities: sometimes erroneously called “food allergies.”  The most common ones are wheat and corn gluten and dairy.  “Gluten Intolerance” is widespread, as evidenced by the increasing number of gluten-free products in the marketplace. It’s the protein in these foods that get into the blood stream through an intestinal wall that has become eroded and “leaky,” as it is often characterized.  A “leaky gut” can be the way that undigested proteins get into your blood stream and trigger an inflammatory response.  The gut can be repaired. 

You can rule out food sensitivities quite simply by eliminating suspect foods from your diet for a couple of weeks and then adding them back in to see how you feel eating them as opposed to how you felt abstaining from them.  If you notice a difference, then you can be sure that your intestines are permeable.  Eliminate those foods that make you feel bad until your gut is repaired.  

The gut can be easily repaired with enzyme therapy and a wonderful herbal product by Medi-Herb, Gut Flora Complex.  There’s no fast fix. This takes time, sometimes up to a year, depending on the extent of the erosion. Raw okra provides mucous digesting and tissue repair enzymes.  Mucous is made of undigested protein that has become acidic and eats away at the lining of the intestines.  Standard Process Labs makes an effective product called Okra Pepsin E3. The Vitamin “E3” part is the healing aspect of this product, so I emphasize the uniqueness of this wholefood formula. Enzyme therapy consists of taking enzymes on an empty stomach so that the enzymes are used up repairing the intestinal wall rather than in digesting foods.  Proteolitic enzymes in Multizyme  and Zymex II from Standard Process will complete the digestion of the protein in the mucous and digest any parasites, another cause of “leaky gut.” Standard Process and Medi-Herb products are available through my office.

3. Insulin can trigger inflammation if there’s more in the blood stream than the cells of the body can use in a day’s time, a condition called “hyperinsulism.” Cells have receptor sites (parking spots) for insulin molecules to deliver their packages of glycogen (blood sugar) to the cells for energy.  When those receptor sites get filled up, the insulin molecules can’t park, so they stay in the blood stream where they can irritate and erode the walls of the blood vessels. This causes inflammation that triggers a healing and repair process to keep the blood vessels from leaking.

The Cholesterol Patch vs Statin Drugs

The body uses fat to plug the leaks until the vessel wall can be properly repaired.   Cholesterol is the name given to this fat, and plaque is what the patch is called. With a little critical thinking one can see how by removing the trigger for the excess insulin you remove the necessity for the cholesterol patch and the extra cholesterol production by your liver, which we are not wise in preventing with Statin drugs. The body does not make mistakes and produce cholesterol for no good reason.  Adding Statin drugs is an insult to the body’s innate intelligence . . . and it damages the liver and causes leg pains with extended use.

A 30-day Cure for “Type II Diabetes” 

Insulin is spiked by sugar and starches, so one can back away from these spikes.  By the way, what I’ve just described is what is labeled “type II diabetes” or “insulin-resistance.”   This can easily be remedied by abstaining completely from insulin-triggering foods for 30 days: all refined carbohydrates, white rice, pasta, white flour products, Irish potatoes (red new potatoes are okay), sugar, and sweet fruits (red grapes, prunes and plums are okay).  This will free up insulin receptor sites on the cells.  After 30 days you can resume eating all of these foods—except refined carbohydrates, which should be avoided by everyone. This is simple and doable by anyone with the will and determination to take an active role in one’s healthcare and wellness.

Chromium and Gymnema Sylvestri 

Another factor can be a lack of receptor sites due to a deficiency of chromium, a trace mineral used to create insulin receptor sites, found in few foods we consume on a regular basis.  It’s in Brewer’s Yeast.  It wouldn’t hurt to simply take a chromium supplement, such as Cataplex GTF by Standard Process (the GTF stands for glucose tolerance factor derived from nutritional yeast, a very important distinction to look for in choosing a chromium supplement).  

The herb “gymnema sylvestri” is used plentifully in Australia to manage blood sugar, and Medi Herb again comes to the rescue with its product simply called Gymnema.  Support to the pancreas is easily administered with the supplement Diaplex by Standard Process. Include some whole food Cataplex B to insure the production of insulin if you are insulin deficient.  “Insulin dependence” is another limitation altogether, but then, again, you can control the level of blood sugar with Gymnema and thereby reduce your daily dose of insulin.  Do this only with your doctor’s supervision.  He may not approve, so you may need to assert your preference and autonomy by saying “I want to do this.  Will you help me?”  If your doctor will not participate with you, then simply find a doctor who will. 

Here, again, it is necessary to be bone honest about how important of a role the label “diabetes” is playing in your life, defining your very sense of self.  If your body is having a problem handling sugar, that does not make you a “diabetic.”  You are still a human being with a free will and spirit.  Why settle for anything less—a medical diagnosis, of all things—for your identity? It does make a difference in your consciousness how you perceive yourself. Here’s where the primary changes can take place in order to change your reality. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” 

Heal Dis-ease in Consciousness First 

Miracles happen when changes occur in consciousness, and one of the limitations in consciousness preventing the “cure” of diabetes and other so-called “incurable diseases” is the very belief that they are entities in themselves and that they are incurable.  No disease is incurable! Diabetes, like Fibromyalgia, is not an entity, except in someone’s consciousness, which means that it is an illusion.  It doesn’t exist, except as a diagnostic term, a word that describes a condition of deficiency and malfunction in the body. Deficiencies and malfunctions can be corrected.  “Diseases” cannot be “cured” because they are not entities in themselves, no more than darkness is something. Darkness is nothing.  It’s the absence of something—light!  In exactly the same way, disease is nothing.   It’s the absence of something—health!    

Did you see what I just did? I did a “thought-interrupt”—a flip in perspective— a consciousness update.  Did you do it with me? That’s what really counts and what gives this blog its value as an educational medium.  Now, I wonder what would happen if we were to remove the illusion of disease from our consciousness? Stopped giving health conditions diagnostic labels?  Do you see where we might actually be able to start reading symptoms in terms of deficiencies and malfunctions and understand what we might do to correct them if we were not preoccupied shadow-boxing “disease”?

DETOXIFY, DETOXIFY, DETOXIFY. . . AND MOVE!

I highly recommend a total body detox and purification at least three times during the year, preferably every three months.  Standard Process offers a 21-day Purification Product Kit which includes all the products you will need plus a comprehensive guide booklet.  Your cells are swimming in their own acidic metabolic waste.  Little wonder they hurt.  They are in so much pain that they are committing suicide.  It’s called “apoptosis” but it’s nonetheless suicide. Dying and decaying cells add to the toxic waste.  Lymph glands become congested with too much to handle.  Lymph depends on muscle movement for its circulation and pain is making exercise difficult.  But just a 20 to 30 minute walk four times a week and preferably every day would suffice.

Write me for the full-body detoxification program and the Purification Kit. It’s very easy to do and absolutely required at the onset of your adventure in restoring your health.  You’ll lose ten to twenty pounds as a bonus.  Just do it. 

We have a little more to cover on possible causes and triggers and this post is already long and dense enough. So, we’ll continue next week and complete this special then return to our Seven Glands for Seven Spirits series.  Until then, here’s to your health and healing, 

Dr. Anthony Palombo

Visit my HealingTones.org blog for an engaging consideration of “Fourth Density Apocalypse 2012” 

Write me at tpal70@gmail.com for personal attention to your situation.  My consultation fee is very reasonable, and product acquisition easy and fast.

*An antioxidant is a molecule that inhibits the oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons or hydrogen from a substance to an oxidizing agent. Oxidation reactions can produce free radicals. In turn, these radicals can start chain reactions. When the chain reaction occurs in a cell, it can cause damage or death to the cell. Antioxidants terminate these chain reactions by removing free radical intermediates, and inhibit other oxidation reactions. They do this by being oxidized themselves, so antioxidants are often reducing agents such as thiols, ascorbic acid [Vitamin C ], or polyphenols…. For example, honey; most legumes; fruits such as apples, blackberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, pomegranate, cherries, cranberries, grapes, pears, plums, raspberries, aronia berries, and strawberries; and vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, celery, onion and parsley are rich in polyphenols. Red wine [resveratrol], dark chocolate, white tea, green tea, olive oil, argan oil, bee pollen and many grains are sources. Ingestion of polyphenols occurs by consuming a wide array of plant foods.  (Wikipedia). 

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Welcome Lebanon! And Bahrain!! And Guatemala!!!

 

Understanding Fibromyalgia, Part 1: The Consciousness of the Sufferer

If we’re going to address this condition holistically, we must start with the consciousness of the sufferer and his or her understanding of what “fibromyalgia” actually is and how it has tended to define one’s identity, as many chronic diseases tend to do. We also have to do some critical thinking around our current healthcare system, the context in which this condition has been diagnosed, and begin to allow a change in consciousness to occur there as well. 

The word itself—which simply means aching muscle fibers— is a new name for what old folks today used to call “rheumatism,” or “la rheumatise” as the Cajun folk called it back when I got out of Chiropractic college in 1963 and opened my first practice in Crowley, Louisiana.  It’s a body ache that just won’t go away. You just hurt all over, and that’s not anything new.  In other words, it’s an old ailment with a modern diagnostic label.  

The only difference is we have a whole lot more pain-producing assaults to our bodies in the form of chemicals in our foods, water and air, than were around fifty years ago, not to mention mental and emotional stresses we didn’t used to have.  Then there’s the latest threat to our health and sanity in the form of Genetically Modified Organisms in corn and other food staples, such as fruits and vegetable.  All this to say we have many more toxins for our immune and elimination systems to process in body-minds that are a lot more stressed—and a lot less active physically but more active mentally.  All this bears on our predisposition to dis-ease.  

THE PROBLEM WITH A DI-AGNOSIS

I emphasize the word “diagnostic” to bring attention to the unpublished meaning of that word.  The dictionary gives this Greek derivation: [dia-, through, between + gignoskein, know], and defines it as an act of “distinguishing.”  But I prefer the one I heard some years ago at a motivational seminar: “di-, meaning two, and -agnostic, meaning not knowable”  When you ache and don’t know what it is, only you don’t know. That’s one.  When you take your condition to a medical doctor, he tells you he doesn’t know what it is either.  Now you have TWO who don’t know, only the doctor puts a name on it, mainly because that’s what you went to him for . . . and  he needs a legitimate condition to prescribe a drug for and get paid by the insurance industry to treat.  Now you have a diagnosis you can set your mind at ease with—at least it’s not “cancer”—and something new to tell all your friends and neighbors about. 😮  

One medical author actually writes that if people didn’t “demand” a name for their conditions, they would get well much faster—and that’s no joke.

Of course, I’m being facetious.  After 50 years in this work, which can be frustrating at times but, nevertheless, rewarding, I feel I’ve earned the right to interject a bit of humor into the otherwise heavy and futile undertaking health-care has become. People are perishing because of a lack of real vision. My purpose for blogging here is to hopefully bring some vision to the end that people will stop perishing. 

Sad as it is, that’s about where we are in our so-called “health care” and modern-day medicine, with 75% of medical diagnoses being wrong—and people sacrificing their lives every day at the research altar of the pharmaceutical industry—60,000 deaths worldwide from a simple pain pill before it was pulled off the market in 2004, not to mention those dying daily from contaminated steroid shots administered to relieve pain!  Tens of thousands die annually from medical mistakes, hospital-acquired infections, and “iotrogenic” (doctor-caused) diseases. 

The best medical specialists are only 25% right in their guesses about health conditions and their causes and treatments . Medicine does not deliver health and it never will.  It’s not “health care.” It’s disease management—and we do, unfortunately, still need to manage human disease and suffering—such as “fibromyalgia” and “chronic fatigue syndrome”—so I don’t want to come off as being ungrateful for drugs and surgery, certainly not for our well-meaning and compassionate doctors.  But what an indictment upon our way of life—or rather of dying—in the twenty-first century, and upon modern-day medicine!  Drugs are simply not the way to go.

Am I passionate about this blatant failure on the part of our healthcare delivery system . . . and the government’s continued support of it with our hard-earned tax dollars?  You bet I am!  I understand that research dollars are becoming harder to come by in the wake of decades of medical science’s failures to deliver on its promises to find cures for human diseases if we just give them more money and time.  It’s about time we wake up!

So, I will back off from calling chronic aches and pains “fibromyalgia” because, like all other diagnostic terms, it has become yet another mental fixation that people believe in with religious fervor.  Some time ago I learned that you cannot talk a diabetic, for instance, out of his or her pet topic of conversation.  Besides, it’s one of the four diseases that it is illegal in this country to “cure.” 

But, enough about human-nature antics.  People are suffering from pain that has no knowable cause  . . . to medical science, that is.  Not so. Everything in the world of effects has a cause that is knowable. We just have to put our critical-thinking caps on to figure it out.  That’s what chiropractors and other natural health care practitioners are good at.  So, let’s look at this modern-day plague, for which medical science loudly proclaims in its literature:  “The cause is unknown.” ___________________________________________________

EVIDENCE THAT HEALING IS UNDERWAY

1. PAIN AND INFLAMMATION 

It’s inflammation, pure and simple.  Inflammation is the first stage of the healing process.  It’s natural, in others words. Pain is the trigger for the healing process and inflammation is your first indication that you’re okay in spite of the pain.  The healing process is underway.  Support it . . . and find and eliminate the external and internal causes of the pain that triggers it. That’s all we can do.  The body heals itself.  It has an innate intelligence that automatically heals and repairs damaged and sick parts.

Read this excellent article by Dr. Samuel N. Grief, MD on the subject of inflammation for a better understanding of this mechanism of the healing process.

2. REPAIR AND INFECTION

The second phase is repair, which may include infection if the debris from damaged and dying cells is not eliminated properly. That debris is called “metabolic waste” in physiology.  If not eliminated, it becomes acidic.  Acid burns cells, and that can be quite painful.  It’s a toxin and needs to be cleansed out of the body tissues.  Infection is how the body deals with toxic waste.

That’s where alternative and natural healthcare can help with herbs and exercise, along with some Eastern Medicine techniques, such as Acupuncture, which is very effective in intercepting pain signals and opening up stuck energy pathways in the body—which is also what chiropractic spinal adjustments offer.  Spinal adjustments open up neural pathways between central control in the brain and peripheral tissues and organs in the body.  Pathways that carry vital signals and messages of the intelligent innate healing power of the body. Chiropractors have historically proclaimed the truth that “The power the made the body can heal the body.” Homeopathy and Naturopathy are also natural healing methodologies that offer totally harmless ways of supporting the natural healing processes of the body.

Tissue repair is done simply through a process of protein syntheses and cellular apoptosis (suicide) and replication.  Simply put, a cell sees that a neighboring cell has died so it replicates itself to replace the missing cell.  Innate intelligence at work! See this fascinating process in some of my earlier blogs on the Life of the Cell and Protein Transcription listed in the Archives of this blog. Also my articles on Bone Remodeling and The Healing Process published back in May and June of 2011.

3. SCARRING

The third phase of the healing process is scarring to fortify damaged tissue fibers.   For that process to work, building blocks are needed in abundance, and enzymes are called upon in greater demand to do the repair work. They are the workhorses of the body.  Here is where healthful dieting and nutritional therapies can help.  Raw foods supply us with enzymes, vitamins and minerals—provided they are organically produced in humus and mineral rich soils.  Otherwise, supplementation with enzymes and healing nutrients is absolutely necessary.

4. STRENGTHENING & REHAB

The next step for the injured person is  strengthening and rehabilitation, to break up the scaring so that new cells can come in and replace the collagen tissue where possible, and to strengthen the repaired tissues. This is where stretching, physical exercise, therapeutic massage, and physical therapy can help.

5. NUTRITIONAL AND HERBAL THERAPIES

This is also where nutritional and herbal therapies come in handy—and there are some remarkable products available to alternative healthcare practitioners today.  These natural healing  sciences are called by such names as “Trophotherapy” and “Phytotherapy.”  Trophotherapy includes the use of whole food supplements as therapeutic foods (“nutraceuticals”) that supply all the ingredients the body needs to repair and strengthen tissues, help the immune system process infection efficiently, and restore normal function to muscles, bones, organs and glands.  Phytotherapy includes the use of phytochemicals and herbs to supply natural medicines that act as catalysts for chemical processes, aid in the infection-fighting process and in the production of energy, as well as helping the body adapt more easily to environmental stress.  This work is called “Clinical Nutrition” and its rationale is to reverse the disease process and support the healing process.  

Doesn’t this kind of critical thinking  sound so harmonious and resonant with logic and reason? Don’t you just love the healthy sound of these words? They take us up toward health and life rather than down toward disease and death.  I love this work. 

We’ve come a long ways in our research and utilization of Mother’s Nature’s cornucopia of healing nutritionals and botanicals (herbs,  etc.) . . . and this is true health care research.  Research that delivers the goods of health as opposed to masking the symptoms of disease with drugs.

6. POSSIBLE CAUSES AND TRIGGERS

When I asked my Standard Process representative for some input for this post—he’s a Naturapath—here’s what he emailed me in response:

Yikes …you could write a book.  As you know it is a wastebasket diagnosis, a cluster of symptoms, and not definable by any marker other than tender point index.  I think finding the root causes and triggers is the real key to relief.  Also, as many practitioners will attest, a lot of long-term sufferers really don’t want to get completely better as the label of  “fibromyalgia” becomes their badge of honor or ingrained in their identity.  

His last comment echoes what I said earlier in this post. The problem, as well as the solution, lies within the sufferer and his or her consciousness.  That is both barrier and key to healing all physicians face daily in their clinics.  The Holistic approach takes this into account and addresses the healing of the person rather than the disease. Change is hard for those who don’t want to let go of what has defined them for so long, many for years.

Here are some of the known root causes and triggers for “fibromyalgia”:

  • Low thyroid function resulting in slow metabolism, the rate of energy metabolism and the breaking down of molecular structure (catabolism) and the building up of tissues (anabolism). 
  • Toxicity – especially aluminum
  • Post viral mitochondria dysfunction, resulting in “chronic fatigue,” another catch-all label
  • Un-diagnosed infective viral agents, such as Lyme disease, chronic staph and strep infections.
  • Food allergies, such as corn and wheat gluten, and dairy.

I will address each one of these areas in my next post, including known remedies and powerful, natural anti-inflammatory agents, such as the fruit of the Nopal cactus that thrives in the Sonoran Desert of southwest USA and Mexico, now available in a juice called “nopalea” put out by the innovative company TriVita. Until then, here’s to your critical thinking on health and healing,

Anthony Palombo, D.C.
Note: I’ve interrupted my series “Seven Glands for Seven Spirits” in order to bring you this special on Fibromyalgia and to honor a request from one of my blog followers. Your requests and comments are encouraged and always welcome. Thank you!
Visit my HealingTones.org blog for interesting articles on “Pyramid Power” and other green “free energy” technologies.                                                                                                                                                                                        __________________________________________________
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Welcome Bolivia!  And Montenegro!! And Reunion, a resort island off the coast of Madagascar just west of South Africa!!!  Welcome one and all!

 

Seven Glands for Seven Spirits — Part 1: The Pineal for the Spirit of Love

Life flows from above, down, inside, out, like this cool, clear mountain stream.

There have been so many visits to my last post, Musical Hormone Chemistry, that I am moved to expand the consideration a bit and look deeper into the essences behind hormonal activity.  I want to dwell for the length of several posts on the spiritual vibrations that generate the essences of hormones along with their functions in the body temple.  These next seven posts will be in large part inspired writing.  Let’s see where the inspiration leads, starting with the known and opening to what is yet unknown waiting to be known and experienced.

We know there are seven ductless endocrine glands in the body that produce and secrete a plethora of hormonal crystals.  We also know that these crystals of hormones move tissue cells and organic physiology in an harmonious collaboration carrying out the various functional activities in our temples of flesh, sinew, blood and bone.  The result is a symphony of life performed in a body that is fit for a God Being to incarnate from out of the Realms of Light and into the dark, wet world of protoplasm.  How this happens is a miracle best allowed to remain a sacred mystery.  (The mind doesn’t need to know everything.)

THE TRUTH OF LIFE IS ONENESS

We also know that life is one infinite and eternal Essence shared by all living forms.  One breath of shared air ebbing and flowing through gills, lungs and whatever other faculties the myriad types of creatures on the planet have been endowed with by the Creator to breathe the breath of life.  We are drawn together under this one common denominator: we breathe the same breath of life.  What is it that draws us together so?  “Is it love?” John Denver sings.  Love, the irresistible, compelling, magnetic Force that draws all Creation together to breathe as one cohesive whole.  The truth of life is oneness.  Yes, it is love, John. 

A poem came through my heart and pen back when I was writing Sacred Anatomya meditative journey through the body temple.  Sharing it now may open portals of awareness to what’s unknown. It’s titled “The Seven Spirits of Love.”  I will take one verse at a time and see what more is revealed.

THE SEVEN SPIRITS OF LOVE

I am the spirit of love.

I draw my world together as a playing field for my creativity.

I and my  world are one.  

I seed and father the life of my world.

Seeding is a garden activity.  A gardener sows seeds to grow life forms—plants, flowers, fruit—in fertile soil.  So does Love seed the field of consciousness that brings forth living forms, each in its own season.  This Sower is a Musician and the seed sown by Love is a vibration, a Tone that sets in motion a myriad of overtones and harmonics that reverberate throughout the hallowed chambers of the temple. It all starts at the highest level in the inner sanctum where a seat has been set for the Gardener to sit upon and tend his garden.

THE PINEAL BODY 

The Pineal Body

In our body temples, that seat is the throne of the Pineal Body.  From this throne, the Master Gardener sows one seed that will bring forth life as a symphony of light and sound in the temple.  That seed is the Word of life sent forth as a Tone laying the spiritual and physical foundations of our earthen temple from the beginning, using but two half-cells, a female ovum and a male sperm–two in agreement with love–to initiate the creative process that will bring forth a child from the womb in nine months . . . and the Word is thus made flesh.

How did we get from the Pineal Body in the center of the cranium all the way down  into the generative juices of the Gonads in the pelvis?   Well, the Tone of love sounds loud and clear all the way from top to bottom, from beginning to new beginning—there’s no end with eternal life—and it’s all about rhythm and harmonic overtones and undertones.  It’s also about melody and phrasing, songs within songs and cycles within cycles.  Ezekiel saw it as “wheels within wheels” in his vision of the Creative Process.

CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS

Rhythm.  Circadian rhythms are a pineal function directed by way of the hormone known as Melatonin, made from converted Seratonin in this mysterious gland positioned within the inner sanctum of the temple between the two winglike lobes of the cerebellum.  These lobes are reminiscent of the two angels atop the Biblical Ark of the Covenant with wings outstretched and hovering over the “mercy seat” situated between them at the exact point where their eyes meet as they gaze eternally into one another’s eyes.  Ever do that with another incarnate angel?  Look into his/her eyes for a while? Not just a glance, but a peer. It’s pure light as of a fire burning on a double-edged sword that burns and soothes at the same time, hot at its outer edges but cool blue at its central flame with the distinct qualities of compassion and mercy.  Mercy and compassion are predominant qualities of the Spirit of Love seated within the Pineal Body.

We’re talking about rhythm and yet find ourselves talking about eyes and fire and wings hovering over the inner sanctum where a throne is set in the heaven of this body temple for the Spirit of Love to sit and direct the symphony of life.  The rhythm of cycles—the sleep and waking cycle, the appetite cycle, the digestive and elimination cycles, the breathing cycle, the heart-beat cycle, the menstrual cycle.  Cycles within cycles timed to blend with overlapping precision and impeccable accuracy.

Circadian rhyhms (from the Latin circa, around or about, and diem, day) set our daily cycles in motion from the time we go to sleep to the time we awake and coordinate and synchronize our biological clock with the rhythm of the Earth’s rotation around the Sun.  Night follows day and day night.  As in Genesis, evening and morning comprise the duration of a day.

But we’re not the only living beings with pineal glands.  Whales have large pineal glands to help them navigate the deep oceans of the Earth and adjust to the conditions of the environment. Those that live close to the equator have smaller pineals than those who live closer to the two poles where climate conditions are colder and more challenging.  All vertebrate animals have pineal glands to keep them in sync with the daily and seasonal cycles constantly on the move around and about the planet.  All life forms, for that matter, have ways of knowing the rhythm of cycles and the “ordinances of heaven” and how to “set the dominion thereof in the earth,” to borrow a line from the Book of Job.  Consider only the migrating ducks and geese and the tiny humming bird.

Speaking of seasons and cycles, consider this:

 God’s accuracy may be observed in the hatching of eggs:

For example: the eggs of the potato bug hatch in 7 days; those of the canary in 14 days; those of the barnyard hen in 21 days. The eggs of ducks and geese hatch in 28 days; those of the mallard in 35 days. The eggs of the parrot and the ostrich hatch in 42 days.(Notice, they are all divisible by seven, the number of days in a week and of colors in the rainbow!)

God’s wisdom is seen in the making of an elephant. The four legs of this great beast all bend forward in the same direction. No other quadruped is so made. God planned that this animal would have a huge body, too large to live on two legs. For this reason He gave it four fulcrums so that it can rise from the ground easily.

The horse rises from the ground on its two front legs first. A cow rises from the ground with its two hind legs first. How wise the Lord is in all His works of creation!

God’s wisdom is revealed in His arrangement of sections and segments, as well as in the number of grains. Each watermelon has an even number of stripes on the rind. Each orange has an even number of segments. Each ear of corn has an even number of rows. Each stalk of wheat has an even number of grains.

Every bunch of bananas has on its lowest row an even number of bananas, and each row decreases by one, so that one row has an even number and the next row an odd number.

The waves of the sea roll in on shore twenty-six to the minute in all kinds of weather.

All grains are found in even numbers on the stalks, and the Lord specified thirty fold, sixty fold, and a hundred fold all even numbers.

God has caused the flowers to blossom at certain specified times during the day. Linnaeus, the great botanist, once said that if he had a conservatory containing the right kind of soil, moisture and temperature, he could tell the time of day or night by the flowers that were open and those that were closed!

The lives of each of you may be ordered by the Lord in a beautiful way for His glory, if you will only entrust Him with your life. If you try to regulate your own life, it will only be a mess and a failure. Only the One Who made the brain and the heart can successfully guide them to a profitable end.

Love has a way of keeping its creative playing field together in a breathing mass of oneness.  All things are connected.  It’s just the nature of the Spirit of Love. 

YET UNKNOWN ALCHEMY

Much has been written about the Pineal Body, or gland, and its relationship to the “Third Eye,” having vestigial retinal tissue as part of its physical makeup. We know little about the potential of its chemistry in expanding consciousness to peer into and perhaps even visit other dimensions and higher levels of being.  There is an alchemy that would release untold powers of transmutation at this seventh level of being in the body temple.  “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard . . . .”  Speculations abound in books and on websites.  But they are only imaginings of the mind.  As I said earlier, the mind doesn’t need to know everything. The heart, on the other hand, understands the essences of the world of spirit.  Purified by utter love of God, the heart sees and understands God.  It is in the purified heart where the mystery of God is finished on Earth and the Pineal Body is renewed to work its magic of transmutation.  That day is come as we enter the new era of a Golden Age. 

We speak of our bodies as temples.  But I see the entire planet Earth as a Cathedral where God is present, with Man, male and female together, providing the tabernacle for God’s presence on Earth. This will be the theme of my next post when we will consider the Pituitary gland, along with the second verse of my poem and the Spirit of the Womb. Until then. . . 

Here’s to your health and healing!

  Dr. Anthony Palombo

Visit my other blog, Healing Tones, for a wider consideration of the incredible world we inhabit. The theme is “In Search of the Holy Grail of Free Energy.” Speaking of alchemy, I also review Hugh Malafry’s recent novel, The Light at Lindisfarne which I know you will thoroughly enjoy.

Credits: Pineal Body graphic by artist David Stefaniak

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The Alternative to Drugs: Heal your Dis-ease

I turned 72 this weekend and don’t feel a day over 40.  Can’t do what I used to be able to do when I was 40.  But I can now do what I didn’t take time to do then, like read books and take long walks and afternoon naps . . . and write blogs.  I trust you will be moved to do something positive for your health reading this one.   

We’ve been focusing on changing consciousness as an alternative to drugs.  Drugs, of course, do not lead one on a path to health.  They simply mask the symptoms of disease until you remiss or else die.  The alternative to disease is health and vitality —  of body, mind, and spirit.  The word “health” means whole, and the word vitality means alive (vita is Latin for life).  To heal, then, means to make whole and vital —  or, as the English would say,  “hale and hardy.”  

The alternative to drugs is simply to heal the dis-ease that makes the medicine necessary. Make whole that part of yourself that is not at ease.  If it isn’t at ease, you can ask why?  That’s right, go ahead and ask your body why one of its parts is ill at ease. Then be quiet and listen for the answer.  It will come.  Your body knows everything about itself, and it cannot tell a lie.  But you need to be willing and prepared to hear the answer.  

My experience with most is they are not willing to accept an answer that requires them to make changes in their lifestyle, or take steps outside of their comfort zone.  People come to me for a fix — a more natural one than drugs, but nevertheless a fix.  They have been programmed by medicine to believe there is a magic pill for every ill, and they transfer that programming over to alternative health care only to discover that more than one nutrient or herbal pill is needed to reverse the dis-ease process. 

The problem with that kind of programming is that it’s a lie.  There’s not a pill for every ill, as one pill usually leads to another, and another.  There is a pill for every symptom, but not to cure every illness.  The only cure there is comes not from anything outside of ourselves but from within.  Heath begins within, as does dis-ease.  How healthy are YOU inside?  

Oh yes, I know there are external factors, such as air pollution and toxic chemicals in our water and food, that are constantly assaulting our immune system and polluting our blood stream.  And we don’t have organic produce in the grocery stores, and if we do it doesn’t look very fresh and is terribly overpriced.  Unless, of course, you live in a city with a Whole Foods market or have a backyard garden or farmer’s market in your town.  Then you have no excuse.

But health is not only about what you eat, drink and breathe.  Health is more about how your body handles what you eat, drink and breathe.  A healthy body handles it well, or at least okay, with a little support.  An unhealthy body doesn’t do so well and needs a lot of support — or more like propping up so it doesn’t fall over. 

You see, health is homeostasis.  Homeostasis is balance — balance between the chemicals in your body, and balance between you and your environment.  Have you ever walked a tight rope or a brick wall where you had to keep your balance by extending your arms?  It’s work, isn’t it?  It’s the same with health maintenance.  It’s work, especially if you’re starting from illness and working toward a cure and health.  You first have to establish balance right where you are, which is the only starting point. Health starts to kick in the moment you start balancing your lifestyle.  One has to get up out of sickbay, for example, take up one’s bed, and walk for a cure.  

That can be taken literally or metaphorically.  One’s “bed” can be one’s state of consciousness and/or one’s circumstance in life one is laying around in waiting for someone or somethings to come along and make things better, like in the Biblical story of the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda who had been waiting some thirty-eight years for someone to lower him down into the pool as soon as the angel troubled the water.  The Master Jesus simply told him to change his consciousness and just get up and walk.  

A comic strip from Mad Magazine my son sent me some years back comes to mind.  It depicts a crowd of cripples waiting to cross a busy street in Lourdes on their way from a dip in the healing waters.  The pedestrian traffic light suddenly flashes “WALK” and everyone throws down their crutches and walks across the street shouting for joy.  But that’s about consciousness, isn’t it?   

So let’s talk about your state of consciousness first.  That’s about perspective and belief, how you view yourself, your world and life in general, along with what you believe to be true and false, good and bad, possible and impossible.  Do you believe more in disease and death than in health and life?  Is death more certain to you than life? They say there are only two things certain in life: death and taxes.  Do you believe that you and everyone else will one day die?  In your view, is disease and death inevitable?  If so, then that will be your experience.  But I tell you that death is not natural and was never intended to be part of life in the beginning when the perfect design for man and woman was made manifest in the flesh.  

What about yourself?  Do you believe you are mortal, imperfect, weak and “only human” and therefore prone to mistakes and failure?  Do you believe in the “germ theory,” or the “gene theory” that say tiny bacteria outside of you and microscopic molecules inside of you pre-determine your life on earth and stand between you and health and vitality?  Do you believe in your doctor and his medicine?  How do you know that your medicine is nothing more than a sugar pill.  

 (Now, don’t be suspicious of or mistrusting in your doctor, because sugar pills are proving to be as effective, if not more effective, than the drugs being tested, an unexpected – and unwelcome – outcome that has thrown a monkey wrench into pharmaceutical labs everywhere.  The moral in this story is: BELIEVE in your doctor and his medicine because it’s your belief that will heal your dis-ease and not the drug or the sugar pill . . . and when you wake up to that reality, you will know the truth, and you will no longer need your belief, because you will be free! Free of your limiting belief, for one thing, that a pill has the power to heal your body. You learn to believe in yourself and your body’s healing capacity.  To believe means to be willing.)

Good stuff, isn’t it? The human race is waking up to how things really work.  We are more powerful in determining our health than the most powerful “wonder drugs” when we see how easily they can be out-performed by a harmless sugar pill . . . or by something as elusive as one’s belief.  Does that not give you pause . . . and cause to change your consciousness?

Now, let’s take your circumstance.  Does your circumstance loom large and insurmountable?  Are you afraid of your environment?  By your perception, is the world a dangerous place to live?  Are you afraid your body will fail you in some way and that your health is a gamble?  Are you comfortable in your own skin or do you wish you were in some else’s skin and circumstance?  Do your finances dominate your life?  Does the economy determine your sense of security?  Do you fear that you, or we, will run out of money, or food, or water?  Are you afraid of losing your job or your home?  That’s a tough one to handle.  Fear of losing your health is another.   Fear, period, is a tough feeling to overcome, because it’s so self-defeating.  It can keep one from standing up for fear of falling back down.  Are you afraid of letting go of drugs?  Are you living in a survival mode all the time?  Does your life and well-being depend on your environment?

These are all questions that reveal us to ourselves, speak to our sense of self, make us look at how dependent we are on others and on our circumstances for our very survival. Only the fittest survive this world, and then only for a season.  Who does survive is the one who creates his or her world and takes full responsibility for it.  Are you a creator or a  creature?   Creatures come and go.  Creators are never born and never die.  We spend eternity creating worlds in which to live and enjoy caring for them.  Which are you?

You can see how much our perceptions and beliefs can determine our health and the quality of our lives.  That is, if we allow them to control.  We can change our consciousness and gain new perspectives that will allow us to see beyond our beliefs to possibilities of a life without fear and lack, without beliefs altogether, a life that is free of beliefs because we know the truth.  And the truth is, you are immortal.  No, not your human body and ego.  They are currently mortal . . . but they are not who you ARE.   YOU are an immortal being who will never die and cannot ever be sick.  YOU are rich with abundance.  YOU determine your life experience because YOU create it, moment by moment and day by day.  No, not your human ego, although it has played a manipulative role in fabricating a lifestyle of its own to make it feel secure, comfortable and important, but YOU, nameless and formless YOU, the only One who is capable of rising, taking up your bed, and walking.

How much impact do you think this level and quality of conscious thinking will have on your health and on your life?  Unless we start thinking in our hearts about living immortal lives here on earth we will never find out.  We do know how our past and present thinking impacts our health and our lives now.  Why not think the unthinkable, the “impossible,” and make it believable and possible, if not for ourselves then for our children and our children’s children.  The shift starts in consciousness . . . my consciousness. 

YOU are the cure of your’s body’s and mind’s dis-ease.  And when you heal the gap in your consciousness of separation between immortal YOU and your mortal capacity that allows you to live and function on the material plane of this planet, this universe, you heal your one and only dis-ease, the dis-ease of not knowing who you are and living a life of disconnection from Source, from God, or by whatever name you want to call the Giver of Life.  

That which separates also connects.  The moment you remember who you really and truly are, YOU are healed.  You heal the connection between your inner Self and your outer self. You are now whole.  From then on it’s just a matter of keeping your balance between the two worlds: the invisible world of spirit and the visible world of form.   In that state of balance you gain a new perspective that lets you see they are actually one.  Health is living in the place of oneness of heaven and earth.  From heaven, you see a world of abundance in the earth.  Nothing is impossible.  Or, to put it in a more positive light, all things you set your heart on are possible.  For, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. 

Want to lose weight?  Think it in your heart.  Want to heal your dis-ease?  Think it in your heart.  Want to change your lifestyle? Think it in your heart.  Want these things with all of your heart, so much so as to become them.  Otherwise you can’t have them.  They won’t come to you.  You have to love them to draw them to yourself.  And don’t be afraid of loosing your crutch and falling down.  It was said that perfect love casts out fear. You have to love being healthy in order to cure your dis-ease.  And you have to love doing what it takes to get there.  Otherwise, forget about it.  There’s no magic pill for passivity and lethargy.  You have to rise up in yourself, and as your Self, take up your bed, and walk.  Be still and know that you can do it.  

To your health and healing, 

Dr. Tony Palombo