Musings on Health, Nutrition & Science

Foot Swelling

2008-02-29T13:25:00.002-07:00

My mom's wound care nurse advised my mom to see a doctor about swelling in her feet and also advised her to lay off the salt.

An appointment yesterday yielded little more than a clean EKG and referrals to three other specialists. My mom wanted to find another doctor that would work with her more directly and not just refer her out to multiple specialists.

I talked to Dr. Rodier today and he asked, first and foremost, is the swelling in one foot or both? It's more noticeable in one foot. Dr. Rodier advised that my mom have an ultrasound to rule out clots in that leg. To rule out organ failure causes, Dr. Rodier would run blood tests for the kidney and liver (Chem 20) as well as the heart (B-Type Natriuretic Peptide or BNP).

Dr. Rodier went on to say that edema is all about having leaky arteries, which are due to TOIL (toxicity, oxidation, inflammation, and lack of mitochondrial energy).

I talked to my mom about getting on the Paleolithic (detox) diet that Dr. Rodier prescribes to all his patients:

Weeks 1 & 2 -- Nothing but lean chicken, fish, eggs, raw nuts, and fresh veggies
Weeks 3 & 4 -- Addition of fresh fruit
Weeks 5 & 6 -- Addition of legumes
Weeks 7 & 8 -- Slow re-introduction of grains, noting any sensitivities

Fo my mom, it's going to be about a lot less salt, a lot more veggies, more water -- and a few blood tests to make sure there's not something mechanical wrong. Edema is really not something to ignore.

Mindfulness for Health - Coming in May

2008-02-27T10:48:00.009-07:00

My friend and colleague, Pam Weiss, has accepted an invitation to teach our first Mindfulness for Health series in May (first three Thursdays)!

I am thrilled because I consider Pam an incredibly wise and compassionate person. Pam is also someone who struggled very directly with issues of health -- juvenile diabetes and a lifetime of managing insulin levels requires constant and very conscious diet and lifestyle choices.

Pam brings a rich background in mindfulness work, trained first in the Zen tradition for two decades and more recently invited to become a teacher in the Vipasanna tradition by Jack Kornfield (founder of the Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock Meditation Center).

We will record the series and make it into a CD and an audio download online so any of our members can benefit from Pam's teachings and support in developing a personal mindfulness practice. The three topics that Pam will teach and explore with participants include:

Basic Meditation - the healing benefits of following the breath

Mindfulness through Body Scans - countering stress and pain through structured process for sensing into different parts of the body

Metta Meditation - infusing one's life with the healing energy of loving intention

There will be time to practice together and to ask questions and share individual experiences with the group. If there is interest, the group that signs up may opt to continue to meet to support one another in practicing mindfulness for better health.

I am so grateful to have Pam's support on this important new offering to our members. Let me know if you're interested in participating in our first Mindfulness for Health series. We will keep the cost quite modest - $20 for the series including a CD or $15 for the CD if bought separately.

Although this series will take place in May, with space limited to 25 people, it will fill up quickly, so drop a line to me if you want to be on the early registration list.

Those of you who read my blog entries get first dibs on open spaces. Thank you for reading my blog, by the way! :-)

Winter Blahs: Fish Oil, D3, Vitamin C

2008-02-26T08:20:00.005-07:00

It's sunny again here in Park City, after some whiteout conditions on Sunday and later on Monday.

I had lunch with my dear friend, Dr. Hugo Rodier, yesterday and confessed to having the winter blahs. I attributed it to lack of sunshine.

Hugo asked about my vitamin D and omega 3 fish oil intake. Okay, so I slacked off while I was in Florida with my mom. Hugo recommended 5000 IU of vitamin D3 (I was only taking 1000-2000 IU previously and thought that was great, but with the blahs, more is recommended) . Hugo also advised that I be more conscientious about taking 4 grams of fish oil daily.

It's tough hiding anything from an integrative physician like Hugo. Get a little off course and he's there to gently remind you that your cells need a little more support. I appreciate that, of course.

Hugo will sometimes look at a person's nails and if there are any blotches whatsoever, he shakes his head and gives advice on immune system support. He will sometimes take someone's hand and notice redness in the fingers or coldness and recommend things for a healthy gut.

Another winter cycle involves periodic nosebleeds for me. Once upon a time, I would have chalked this annoying experience up to high altitude and extremely dry air, but Mike Ciell, an avid vitamin C buff and integrative pharmacist (actually, he prefers to go by "clinical biochemist" these days), advises bolstering vitamin C intake to support collagen production and thus eliminate nose bleeds.

I don't always take into account stress that hikes my body's vitamin C needs, but it just takes one nosebleed and I start boosting my intake before going to sleep. Works every time.

Why do I allow myself to get lazy on occasion, especially when supplements are my business? When my immune system is doing well and I'm not catching colds and I feel basically good -- and I get busy -- well, I confess, I slack off at times. My body reminds me most of the time, and when it doesn't, Hugo pitches in to help. :-)

With more omega 3's and vitamin D up again, I'm feeling better. It's also sunny and bright, and I can't help but be happy with so much stunning sunlight.

Cranberry Protein in the News

2008-02-24T21:04:00.003-07:00

Cranberry protein? Indeed. A complete protein with a full amino acid profile, a few essential fatty acids, fiber, antioxidants, and more, cranberry protein is making the news.

It's interesting to note how manufacturers compare cranberry protein to soy and dairy proteins, which are known to have allergenic issues for many people. No mention of non-allergenic rice protein, the party's wallflower, but that's marketing for you.

While cranberry protein is not as concentrated of a protein (only 23-30 percent by weight) as the more usual suspects, cranberry protein is chock full of both soluble (5-20%) and insoluble (40-47%) fiber as well as "46% more powerful antioxidants than cranberries" themselves.

Hmmm. What shall we dream up using cranberry protein? :-)

Sleepiness, Strokes, Parkinson's

2008-02-24T20:31:00.005-07:00

My mom spent a lot of time sleeping when she was in the nursing home. Thankfully, it was mostly boredom and that hasn't been a problem since she has been home.

New research from the Northern Manhatten study indicates that significant involuntary dozing is correlated with 4.5 times more strokes.

And a study published in Neurology in 2005 linked daytime sleepinesss and subsequent development of Parkinson's disease (men with daytime sleepiness were more than three times more likely to develop Parkinson's).

The difference between the healthy versions of sleep (choosing to curl up with a cat and nap) and the unhealthy versions (can't stay awake during a show that one wants to watch) is often vascular health.

If you or a family member involuntarily falls asleep during the day on a regular basis, it's an important piece of information to share with your doctor.

Wound Healing & My Mom's Progress

2008-02-24T17:41:00.007-07:00

My mom's wound continues to heal, albeit slowly. She was sent home from the nursing home on January 31st and has been doing well at home on her own, with daily wound care treatments from a visiting nurse.

My mom's wound was still quite deep almost 4 months later, and unfortunately it had started to heal the wrong way -- from the outside-in instead of the inside-out. So she had to have it debrided on Wednesday, no fun for her, but necessary for healing.

I spent eight days in Florida with my mom, helping her get some new furniture, a washer and dryer (she had never seen the need for one before and had used laundromats), a couple of new canes (one with four prongs for greater stability), a donut-shaped pillow to sit on to relieve stress on her wound when she sits, a new mailbox (so she wouldn't have to collect mail at her PO box), better shoes (more stable and more comfortable), etc.

I worried about my mom's diet, pushing fresh veggies and fruits and raw nuts in place of a diet heavy in meats and breads and salty frozen entrees. My mom's nurse had warned her about reducing her salt, as my my mom's ankles and feet were visibly swollen.

When Stephen suggested meeting him at the Cracker Barrel for lunch, I was chagrined to see my mom order what I dubbed a "salt bomb." Chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, chicken dumplings, and something else starchy (egad!). I suggested the trout lunch, but my mom didn't bite on that one. Stephen chuckled more than once (he had something equally unhealthy) at my hapless attempts to steer the lunch choices.

When we were done, I didn't get why we had to go to the store to pay. My mom pointed to crusted sugary praline pecans and I started to get it. I opted for the chocolate-covered pecans (they seemed healthier), and I couldn't help but browse the frothy retro merchandise. I spied a tee-shirt I thought my mom would like and ended up buying her three.

Mystery solved. Pay for your lunch in the store and you end up buying more stuff.

Groceries were an easier proposition. Buying fresh and organic provoked no fuss as there was no country fried food smells wafting our way. My mom drinks rice milk now, dropping her dairy habit, snacks on raw nuts, and is watching her salt a bit better (of course, I'm not there to nag, so who knows, but the cupboards are stocked with things that make healthy choices easier).

We have two pillboxes packed with supplements for a.m. and p.m., and my mom is committed to her Constant Health drinks (she has seven blender bottles in her kitchen, with her powder measured out a week in advance, so she can track her drinks). She says she feels better, has more energy when she takes her daily drinks.

Those chocolate-covered pecans, nevertheless, disappeared within days, even though my mom asked me to put them "up high" where she couldn't reach them. My mom is only 5'2" but she has a cane, which apparently is good for knocking down treats stashed on otherwise out-of-reach shelves. I had to laugh.

While I was in town, I did some painting, cleaned her garage out, and bought her three dogs their very own dog beds, which they took to immediately (alas, they also take to digging in the dirt and enjoying nuzzling into cool, sandy soil).

I like dogs but they tend to stink and track dirt everywhere, so I'm forever a cat person at heart (sorry dog lovers). My mom's gigantic orange tabby, Tyler, on the other hand, endeared himself to me, talking up a storm and following me around the house.

However, around midnight one night, after a nice evening out with Stephen and Kelly and her parents, Tyler was making a play for the same spot on my mom's bed as she was. Not so swift Tyler desperately clawed, trying to regain his balance on my mom's bed, and he accidentally struck a large vein on my mom's left hand. We weren't sure whether my mom would need stitches, but clearly she had to go in for a tetanus shot, as she hadn't had one in over 10 years. We spent the rest of the night in a freezing cold emergency room, finally seeing the dusky sky again around 4:30 a.m.

During the week, I took my mom to various doctors' appointments (the waiting just about kills you, doesn't it?!) and encouraged her to drive her car again for the first time.

Fear made my mom's mouth go dry, but she made it the short drive from a shopping center we were in to her local Sam's Club (her old membership had expired). I could understand her concern, as traffic in South Florida during the winter tends to back up in every direction, and my mom hadn't had to pay so much attention to anything in many months (nursing homes are rather dull, after all).

My mom did great though, and she felt elated to have her freedom again, saying "I'm just not ready to stop living yet!" Go mom!

Lest you think that I'm a hero, since October, my brother quietly worked on my mom's house and did daily runs to her nursing home room and her house to take care of her three dogs and two cats, so it's been a joint effort.

I couldn't ask for a better brother, really, even if he does make fun of my every choice in life (food, movies, music, etc.). Perhaps just part of the job description as a brother.

Telemedicine Ponderings

2008-02-08T09:38:00.000-07:00

Back in November, the FCC granted a total of $417 million to fund high-speed network connections to rural communities around the country that don't have access to medical specialists.

Out here, the University of Utah's School of Medicine, with its over 1000 specialists, serves an area that spans four states and over 500 miles. Last night, I heard some touching stories about the progress in telemedicine, which includes saving millions and millions of commuter miles and associated greenhouse gases.

I heard about stroke victims getting world-class consults at rural emergency rooms and getting meds prescribed within the critical window of time that prevents brain damage from clots. I heard about children with burns who are being treated in their hometowns -- without enduring long and traumatic transports to Salt Lake City to see burn specialists.

And, a particularly sweet story was about a father serving in Iraq who was able to see his baby girl being born via secure videoconference from his hometown hospital in Utah.

The stories made me think of my dad. I remember my dad's decision to move back to the states from Mexico. He had this lovely home overlooking the Pacific ocean but it was a bit remote and he felt like he was too far from a good medical center and emergency services. Little did he know that the county hospital in Camden, SC would be scarcely any better, even if closer to his home.

Experts in telemedicine believe that the driver for expansion to telehealth networks will increasingly be consumers, who want more choice not only in where they live but also in who treats them.

As I learned more about the FCC's recent grants (69 applicants around the country received funding for their Rural Health Pilot Programs), I began to ponder the need for access to one of those most rare specialties -- good integrative medicine practitioners.

I'm interested in learning more about how integrative practitioners can be leveraged in mainstream care through the telemedicine network, which continues to expand around the country with help from the FCC.

Coincidentally, Dr. Rodier sent me a note last night about his willingness to do group as well as individual telephone consults for our members.

My question to you is whether you would value being on a group consultation call with Dr. Rodier? Drop me a line if you have comments.

Metabolic Syndrome & Insulin Resistance

2008-02-06T16:31:00.000-07:00

Researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center identified insulin resistance in the liver as a key factor in metabolic syndrome and associated artheroschlerosis disorders.

Good to see this little insight hitting the mainstream press at last:

“This is one of the first true insights into the role of the liver in the metabolic syndrome and provides guidance for future therapies,’’ said senior investigator Dr. Kahn, an internationally recognized researcher in diabetes and metabolism. “Showing this connection between atherosclerosis and insulin resistance is one of the most dramatic findings I’ve seen in 35 years.’’

My friend, Dr. Hugo Rodier, has been successfully treating metabolic syndrome patients for years by addressing insulin resistance and liver health, but he's consistently ahead of his time clinically.

Meanwhile, did you know that metabolic syndrome affects approximately a quarter of all Americans and a growing number of children, all of whom suffer from diverse maladies because, at the cellular level, insulin signalling has gone awry?

What to do? Drop the weight. Increase exercise. Improve your diet. And, also, increase your intake of protective agents that reduce inflammation and support liver health and healthy cellular communication.

Protein, Casein & Gluten-Free

2008-02-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

Eric Alban -- a pilot, snowboarder, and neighbor in Park City -- wrote to me a couple of weeks ago about my blog entry on protein. and a recent newsletter where we talked about a University of Washington School of Medicine study showing diets with 30% protein and less than 20% fat resulted in significant weight loss.

Eric had read The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., and wondered why we were promoting protein for waist watchers in a recent newsletter, since Dr. Campbell's major point is that diets with higher protein are strongly correlated with higher cancer rates.

For perspective, I sent the following from the forward to The China Study:

"We found that not all proteins had this effect. What protein consistently and strongly promoted cancer? Casein, which makes up 87% of cow's milk protein, promoted all stages of the cancer process. What type of protein did not promote cancer, even at higher levels of intake? The safe proteins were from plants, including wheat and soy..What made this project especially remarkable is that, among the many associations that are relevant to diet and disease, so many pointed to the same finding: people who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic disease. Even relatively small intakes of animal-based food were associated with adverse effects."

Perhaps our newsletter on post-holiday weight management tips should have mentioned that plant proteins are preferable to animal proteins, with casein, from dairy protein, being the ultimate bad boy protein linked to higher cancer rates according to The China Study.

After answering Eric's note, I did a little more research and came across an interesting alternative perspective on The China Study by Chris Masterjohn (on The Weston A. Price Foundation's web site):

"Campbell exercises caution when generalizing from casein to plant proteins, but freely generalizes from casein to animal protein. He entirely ignores the role of wheat gluten, a plant product, in autoimmune diseases, so he can emphasize the role of milk protein, an animal product."

As someone who suffers when I don't watch my intake of gluten, I appreciate Masterjohn's analysis, although not his "thumbs down" rating for The China Study.

Meanwhile, Bill Henderson, author of Cancer-Free: Your Guide to Gentle, Non-Toxic Healing weighed in on this topic in our recent teleseminar (maybe you enjoyed Bill's talk last week?!).

In that call, Bill endorsed both The China Study's vegetarian conclusions and also a gluten-free diet for anyone with or worried about cancer.

So, protein itself is not the issue, it's the type of protein that matters.

The Secret of Life, Proteins & Mindfulness

2008-01-12T10:23:00.000-07:00

Bruce Lipton, a Ph.D. cellular biologist and author of The Biology of Belief, is speaking in the background (I'm all about my iTunes and audio of late and have Lipton's The Wisdom of Your Cells on CD playing).

Lipton is talking about the new physics, the invisible forces interacting with us all the time, and how our beliefs create vibrational energies that influence cause and effect in our own biologies.

He points out that mammograms are simple energy profiles of the underlying breast tissue. Different colors in the scan represent different frequencies and cancer has different vibrational energies than healthy tissue. Lipton talks about the concept of not manipulating the objectionable tissue (cancer) but changing the character of the tissue (its energy).

Lipton explains the concept of changing atoms and molecules using "interference patterns" to balance the system, with kidney stones, in another example on Disc 3.

Just as Ella Fitzgerald could explode crystal with the vibrational frequencies in her voice, modern medicine could benefit from reincorporating ancient healing practices to repattern unhealthy tissues rather than merely cut and excise these tissues.

In the CD playing, Lipton is sharing his perspective on the "secret of life." His answer comes in a two-syllable word: "movement."

"Without movement, there is no life. Animation is a character that distinguishes living things from non-living things. So the issue is 'what is movement?' Well, it's proteins changing shapes. How does that come about?"

"Okay, so now we're going to do a little discourse about what a protein is, how it acquires a shape, and then, the secret of life, how (a protein) changes shape and, in the process of changing shape, generates movement -- and that movement is harnessed to do the biological and physiological functions that we describe as life."

Lipton goes on to talk about how there are over 100,000 proteins, all of different lengths, with over 20 amino acids that get strung togethe in different sequences to create proteins, with energy signals informing protein how and when to change shape.

What happens in the case of disease? Lipton does an elegant job in explaining how life is essentially explained by the following equation:

Signals + proteins = behaviors

Since only a small percentage of the population carries birth defects that create mutated proteins that lead to disease, then 95% of disease is due to something else, namely faulty signalling between proteins.

Lipton talks about three things that affect normal, healthy cell signalling: trauma, toxins, and thoughts, with signals from the mind being the most important.

Cellular science. Biology. Newtonian physics. Quantum physics. Mind-body healing. It's all related, and as we start this New Year, I encourage all of us who tend to the physical things that support healthy cell signalling -- food, supplements, elimination of toxins, exercise -- to also attend to our mental practices and how they can contribute to healthy cells in our bodies.

If you are interested in participating in a Mindfulness for Health program through Our Health Co-op, please drop me a line, as I am in the process of designing a program that will support our members, who already have strong commitments to nutrition.

L-Carnitine for Energy, Cognition & Lean Muscle Mass

2007-12-17T13:41:00.000-07:00

L-carnitine is in the news again for helping boost energy, cognition, and also lean muscle mass in the elderly. I think I qualify in just under three years, when I turn 50, so I pay attention to these studies more and more, even though the recent study was done on centenarians (yes, folks over 100).

In the December 2007 edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the following results were reported, with a conclusion that l-carnitine may be "conditionally essential" for some people:

"Compared with the placebo group, the subjects who consumed the L-carnitine supplements showed the following significant improvements over the course of the study: decreased fat mass (–1.8 compared with 0.6 kg), increased muscle mass (3.8 compared with 0.8 kg), reduced physical and mental fatigue, and improved cognitive functions. Supplementation resulted in increased concentrations of carnitine in plasma but not in urine. There were no negative effects reported in any of the additional blood chemistries that were analyzed."

L-Carnitine. It was one of the ingredients I had to cut from Constant Health. I wish I could have kept everything in one formula, but cost and formula size were limiting factors.

I'm working on a second protein powder formula with all the stuff I couldn't fit in Constant Health (with a mix of eye, joint, brain, and skin protectors). It should mix nicely with Constant Health, as there won't be any of the pungeant and peppery herbs and spices in the Constant Health formula.

L-carnitine will be among the ingredients in the new powder formula.

Meanwhile, we do have L-Carnitine in capsules for those of you who like to mix and match (consider 2-4 capsules daily).

Bacterial Balance of Power

2007-12-17T08:33:00.000-07:00

Newsflash headline: Key Enzyme In Gut Prevents Inflammation In Zebrafish In Response to Gut Microbiota

University of Oregon (UO) scientists discovered that an enzyme long assumed to be involved in digestion instead is a detoxifying traffic cop, maintaining a friendly rapport between resident gut bacteria and cells.

A deficiency of an enzyme, unpoetically called "intestinal alkaline phosphatase" or "Iap," appears to change the bacterial balance of power in the gut. Without enough healthy Iap enzymes, an unfriendly endotoxin, called "lipopolysaccharide" or "LPS," takes over in the gut. One of the most abundant sources of LPS in vertebrates is the bacteria in their gut.

The UO Study implies that more Iap creates gastrointestinal health, while more LPS creates more chronic diseases like Crohn's and ulcerative colitis.

According to Karen Guillemin, a professor of molecular biology at UO:

"We've shown that the bacteria that reside in our gut play an active role in modulating our immune response to them and help to prevent excessive inflammation," said Guillemin, who is a member of the UO's Institute of Molecular Biology. "There exists a give-and-take mutual co-existence of our resident bacteria and the cells of our gut."

It's a little known fact that there are more than 10 times the number of bacterial cells as human cells in a human body and they weigh over a kilo (over 2 pounds!) in the average person.

According to Jeffrey Gordon, director of the Center for Genome Sciences at Washington University: "Genetically, we are more microbe than human." Talk about balance of power!

Gordon and his colleagues are studying how the suite of bacteria in a given adult's gut may be contributing to obesity, as some bacteria help convert energy in food more efficiently to fat than others! Egad!

Whether you're worried about inflammatory diseases in your gastrointestinal tract (my older brother had Crohn's and my dad had problems with his GI tract at the end) or gaining weight over the holidays (wouldn't that be all of us?), those little bacteria in the gut will weigh in with their trillions of members.

I confessed in an earlier post that I often forget to take my Probiotics 16, as they are best taken a half-hour before eating and I'm not the best planner. I'm making an early New Year's resolution to increase the balance of power in my own gut toward the "friendlies."

Weird. I just noticed that the song I'm listening to as I finish this post is "Get the Balance Right" by Depeche Mode. Okay, I'm listening, I'm getting it.

Exercise, Wound Healing & Scientific Vibrations

2007-12-07T20:14:00.000-07:00

According to a University of Illinois study in the American Journal of Physiology, moderate exercise helps wound healing in the elderly:

“The key point of the study is that moderate exercise sped up how fast wounds heal in old mice,” said researcher K. Todd Keylock, who noted that the improved healing response “may be the result of an exercise-induced anti-inflammatory response in the wound.”

The U. of I. study caught my interest because my mom is still healing from a stage IV wound from her terrible fall in October. I'm forever after her to take more walks and go for longer walks, mostly to improve her muscle tone and balance, but now I can share that exercise will also help her wound heal faster.

The researchers at U. of I. and Bowling Green are still unclear about why exercise helps heal wounds more quickly (e.g., some theorize that exercise adds more oxygen to a hypoxic wound site).

I worked with a personal trainer for a few months last year, experimenting with doing squats, weight lifting and balancing exercises on a vibrating disk called the Power Plate. I enjoyed the experience, which left me feeling like I had really worked out and also just gotten a massage. But it was too expensive to do regularly, so I went back to regular treadmill stuff at the gym.

As an aside, my gym just got a vibrating exercise machine (I haven't inspected up close to know what kind). You have to "pay by the session," so I haven't been inclined. Funny, gym management is worried about limiting demand, but I never see anyone on that thing.

Anyway, here's a condensed promotional blurb from the Power Plate site (with my highlights):

"Power Plate has become an important training and injury/rehab device for the Chicago Bulls...and has demonstrated impressive results (in)...strength, flexibility, metabolism and circulation...(and) has proved to be a good remedy to soreness and pain reduction, while accelerating the injury / rehab cycle."

It makes sense that cells in a wound get stimulated by the increased blood flow and oxygen from moderate exercise, much as a river's health is stimulated with steady waterflow and oxygenation. Anyone who has ever maintained a fish tank knows this dynamic.

However, something more could also be going on.

There are many stories about the healing power of vibrational energies, ranging from how cats' purring heals bones and muscle injuries to therapies like Johrei, a non-invasive energy healing practice from Japan that has received NIH funding. And, yes, there are enough bad web sites on the power of vibrational energy to make skeptics wince.

It will be interesting to follow the research on specific vibrational frequencies for healing and also how popular vibrating exercise machines will actually become.

Inflammation: An Internal Global Warming

2007-12-04T15:53:00.000-07:00

Global warming. It's a bad thing, whether you think it's a man-made or a natural cyclical phenomenon. I think we're exacerbating whatever is happening naturally, but I don't want to talk politics just now.

Instead, there's another kind of global warming, an internal global warming called systemic inflammation, that I'm interested in. It's when we're exposed to ongoing inflammatory response that gets out of control and wreaks havoc inside our bodies.

Internal global warming turns the heat up -- initially to fight off infection or to bring healing blood flow to a specific location in the body -- and then leaves the thermostat on high, essentially cooking delicate tissues that become ever more damaged with ongoing exposure to "the heat."

Inflammation is at the root of most chronic diseases: arthritis, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimers. These days, just about everyone needs to worry about inflammation.

So, what to do? The list is pretty simple, but not so easy, because some lifestyle changes are required (as with reducing those greenhouse gases):

Eat an anti-inflammatory diet with lots of veggies and fresh fruits, garlic, plenty of omega-3 fatty acids (fish from cold waters); good oils like those from olives, nuts, and avocados; and include anti-inflammatory spices like ginger and turmeric.
Avoid bad fats, refined sugars, and starchy processed foods in your diet, as they all contribute to "the fire within."
Fight free radicals that cause inflammation with a good antioxidant formula (vitamins A, C, E but also bioflavonoids, like quercetin (found in onions), polyphenols like anthocyanins (from blueberries and grapes), and alpha lipoic acid.
Avoid toxic environments and pollutants, which can set off the inflammatory response.
Do moderate aerobic exercise for 30 minutes or more at least 5 times a week.
Reduce stress and get enough sleep, as too much stress and not enough sleep can amp up your body's cortisol levels, which contribute to overall inflammation levels.

The building next door is being gutted for new loft-like condos, and Tess has been having more trouble with her sinuses, and we've both been scratching our eyes and sneezing at work of late.

We think there's something bad from this very old building being stirred up (hopefully it's not asbestos), and we're both interested in detoxifying our systems during this time.

Tess plans to go on Dr. Rodier's detox diet in the New Year, and she also plans to invite a gaggle of Co-op members to do the same in a support group, complete with a teleseminar with Dr. Rodier and a blog that she keeps to record her (and others) progress, along with fielding questions and sharing anecdotes.

If you're interested in fighting inflammation, detoxifying your system, or just doing something extra to boost your overall health, consider joining Tess. Write to her at tess@ourhealthcoop.com!

Constant Health Vanilla Latte & Chocolate Coffee

2007-11-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

My friend, Evelyn, did try the French vanilla flavor of Constant Health in a cup of steamed milk for a Vanilla Latte protein booster. She liked it and everyone who tried it thought it was either good or just fine (hey, there was no coffee, so it's an unusual latte).

I brought the chocolate flavor of Constant Health home last night. Steve put coffee on this morning, as usual (yes, I'm spoiled in the mornings). I decided to put a scoop of chocolate Constant Health in my coffee. It's not quite as sweet as the vanilla flavor, so a little extra sweetener might have been nice, but I refrained. It's like I have Dr. Rodier's voice in my head scolding about "sweet death."

Protein powder in your coffee is definitely an acquired taste, but I actually kind of liked it the more I sipped. Steve tried it too and he said, "It's not wretched, I like it." Think: Mikey in those old Life commercials. You have to understand, Steve drinks his coffee black most of the time, so adding anything to his coffee and not hating it is big.

I shared with Steve that we considered him the target market for Constant Health at the two scoop level. He made a funny smile and shook his head. I think he was amused to hear he was the subject of another newsletter piece.

Teri shared that she stirred some vanilla Constant Health into her steel cut oatmeal porridge this morning and thought it was perfect that way. So our little Co-op tribe is happily experimenting with ways to use Constant Health in the mornings.

Hmmm. I wonder if we are the anomoly (if I'm influencing the experiment with my enthusiasm for this formula) or if others will also enjoy boosting their hot coffee and hot chocolate drinks and who knows what else.

My favorite flavor, by the way, is the French Vanilla. I like it in cold water (low cal) while I like the Rich Chocolate in a sweeter Vanilla Rice Milk or blended with a banana with nuts and such.

By the way, our flavoring goals were twofold: first to keep the formulas low in glycemic index and allow people to add more sweeteners to taste and second to create an overall flavor that blended well with other ingredients.

Far better in my mind for everyday use than some of the competitive products that taste and smell like Fruit Loops or aromatherapy gone wild.

If you are one of the early adopters, let me know how you like your Constant Health.

Constant Health Arrives At Last

2007-11-27T18:01:00.000-07:00

Constant Health is finally in stock. Hard to believe. It feels like having a child, but it took a little longer, alas.

My mom is excited to taste the new chocolate flavor. One of our partners in Utah is eager to stock up. I have a taste-testing luncheon scheduled next week with a group of healthcare practitioners here in Salt Lake City. And, some of our persistent members have already discovered Constant Health in our catalog.

It's always good news when a product starts selling before you announce it. It's even better when people keep saying, "I think I need to try that!"

Eric Bell, our favorite Co-op chef (actually, he's an execuive chef, involved in the Slow Foods movement and savvy on all things organic and healthy) will be providing recipes for using Constant Health in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, my friend, Evelyn Rodriguez, in town to clean out her storage locker on her way to a new life in New Orleans, tried Constant Health today. Evelyn had dropped by my office and wanted to try the new formula, but we didn't have any rice milk, soy milk, or regular milk. I offered to mix up some of our French Vanilla stash in some cold water. Evelyn is a risk taker, so she was all for it. Her take?

"It tastes like chai, my favorite tea. Have you tried this as a latte?!"

Who knew someone would want to try the formula hot? I think this signfies a "hot" product in the making. Wanna try some?

Heart Plus in Powder Form Coming Next

2007-11-21T18:12:00.000-07:00

Vendors can be maddening. One vendor's sales rep was incommunicado while a production run was running late. Tess left voicemails. I left a voicemail. No word. Nothing.

Finally, I had Tess call and track down the sales manager. Voila. Suddenly, we got a return call and a status. Our rep said unconvincingly, "I didn't get any of your voicemails. Did you try my cell phone?" Ah, the old gremlins in the voicemail defense.

We had our regular Tuesday afternoon Co-op call with Teri and Stephen yesterday and relayed the story. Teri's response cracked us all up. "Oh, yeah, our voicemail does that too when we have bad news!"

Stephen talked about another vendor with whom he had to talk tough, saying: "It's okay to tell us things aren't going well. It's not okay to avoid our calls until you have good news. You're fired the next time you do that." Going to our rep's manager got the same results.

It's funny too, how now that we're talking again, it's like nothing happened. We did get encouraging news on the Heart Plus Powder we're working on (another Cell Nutritionals product).

We're working on bringing out a new powder formulation that delivers 12 tablets worth of Heart Plus (vitamin C, l-lysine, l-proline, rose hips) per scoop and offers 30 scoops per jar. For our Heart Plus fans, taking 6-18 tablets a day, while effective, is no picnic.

We have to change the form of vitamin C (calcium ascorbate) to create more stability in the powder form. Otherwise, the formula turns orange, then red, then brown, and becomes sticky after exposure to air. Not pretty.

The R&D batch will ship next week to us (plain, no flavoring). Stephen hopes it will work without flavoring as an addition to morning protein shakes (think: Constant Health). The flavoring consultant thinks an orange flavor will be better and will send us a flavored sample in a couple of weeks. We're hoping for a vanilla flavor to test as well.

T. David Thompson, yes, I have you on my list to taste test the samples. Cutting white powders and sending them through the mail is just one more of our value-added services for folks who keep in touch as well as you do!

As background, David currently grinds his Heart Plus tablets and has gotten excellent results, staying off statins with his nutritional regimen. He's been very vocal about us needing to do whatever it takes to get the powder formula on the market! Here's what David wrote in our product reviews section:

"By 1997, I was having angina when exerting myself. In 2000, my M.D. tried to scare me into having an Angioplasty procedure by which a tube is run up the groin artery and an injection is made to view and clear the heart blood supply. Of course, this is a very risky procedure in the hands of an inexperienced person, because if the artery is punctured, they have to immediately open the chest and do open heart surgery! So, I ordered and began taking the Heart Plus. Within several months, my cholesterol had been reduced to much safer levels, and I no longer had angina. It is my understanding that the Lysine part of Heart Plus acts as a sort of "solvent" by which the arterial plaque is slowly dissolved and in fact removed! I interrupted taking the Heart Plug tablets in 2003 because of their large size, and I am still waiting for the powder form. I'm 77 and owe my life to Heart Plus as well as sundry other supplements from the Coop, and I did it without going broke."

Meanwhile, I'm debating about changing the name for the powder formula.

Our current members know and love Heart Plus (it's at the top of the Top 10 list only always).

However, we keep getting so many referrals from Bill Henderson for his anti-cancer protocol that I wonder about other names that get at the value of this Linus Pauling-inspired, collagen-building, heart-healthy, connective tissue-friendly formula.

For a good read on the theories behind the Heart Plus formula, read Mike Ciell's article "One Pharmacist's View of Coronary Heart Disease."

A Critical Eye On "Synergistic" Formulas

2007-11-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

When you hear a manufacturer touting a "synergistic" formula, it is often shorthand for "small amounts" of "more things."

I met a physician-turned-manufacturer who lamented the fact that he "could formulate the very best supplements but no one would buy them due to the cost." Instead, he had opted to experiment with "synergistic ingredients" in smaller serving sizes so that he could sell at lower prices.

I was chatting back and forth this week about another physician's so-called synergistic formula for heart health with my friend, Gino Giglio, who regularly routes around interesting health information (and amusing stuff too). Anyway, I got to thinking more about the "synergistic ingredients" theory.

When I first took over Our Health Co-op, I met a "formulator" at one of the original manufacturers, and he was little more than a guy promoted from the mixing and blending floor. I ended the relationship with that manufacturer (and a few others) and built an advisory group of my own -- comprised of people with serious credentials, none of whom had anything to do with manufacturing.

When I was working on the formula for Constant Health, I worked with a team of people, including Dr. Rodier (integrative physician), two practicing naturopaths at a leading research institution, along with Dr. Dinesh Patel, a Ph.D. biochemist who specializes in dietary supplements.

Our bias was to include therapeutically-significant servings of individual ingredients and ensure that our 46-ingredient formula didn't have any unintended problems (the antithesis of synergies).

While it would have been great to include probiotics in the formula, I was skeptical, since I know how delicate these live organisms are and how important it is to protect them from air and moisture. I checked with our biochemist, Dr. Patel, and he agreed, leave out the probiotics. One so-called synergy nixed.

It also would have been great to include digestive enzymes in Constant Health, with its focus on supporting a healthy gut. Dr. Patel cautioned against this too, since the enzymes would start to break down the protein and carbohydrates in the formula and diminish efficacy. Another so-called synergy nixed.

However, while examining labels in Wild Oats the other day (Steve is tolerant of this particular form of lollygagging), I noticed that more than a few prominent formulas had enzymes in their protein powders and probiotics in their powder blends (greens and protein formulas).

I'm not sure if the "formulators" for these products don't know any better or just look the other way and cave in to marketing pressures.

I called Dr. Rodier to hear his take on "synergistic formulas." Here's what he said:

"In all of my years of clinical practice, I've never seen anyone feel better from small servings of many things, which is why I don't even recommend multivitamins. The theory of synergy is great, but there's no evidence today for most of these formulas with small amounts of active ingredients."

"In my patients, I see a lot of problems with absorption. I prefer to flood cells with nutrition at levels that have been proven in clinical trials. The worst thing that can happen is the body will excrete whatever it doesn't need."

"The body is very forgiving with extra nutrition. Think about drinking too much water. You pee out what you don't need, but that's far better than rationing your intake of water. I believe in flooding the system with nutrition and letting cells make intelligent choices for themselves about what need."

"I've seen great results with nutritional products based on proven therapeutic amounts. I've never seen that happen with microscopic amounts of lots of ingredients."

Amen. The nursing home where my mom is recuperating from her fall doles out a multivitamin every day, and they think that's a big step forward in her daily nutrition. We bring her Constant Health every day in our yellow-lidded shaker bottles, so my mom is doing better all the time with her daily serving of concentrated nutrition.

Alas, I just can't endorse the trend toward "synergistic formulations," where the supplement facts panel looks more like trendy window dressings than proven amounts of anything scientific.

My two cents. I may have some protests, but that's okay.

Tess's Constant Health Story

2007-11-13T14:48:00.000-07:00

I often ask Tess to read my blog entries. She promptly caught a typo in my last one, which I fixed. The funny thing was her response, that went along the lines of:

"I like this one, a lot. But don't you think I was the first one to mention a major benefit from taking Constant Health?"

Tess is 24, almost 25 (her birthday is December 6th). She has this remarkable, flawless complexion that even her peers admire. But I tend to forget that she did formerly have problems with her immune system.

You see, Tess still has her tonsils and she used to blame her annual downtime on her tonsils, ending up on antibiotics more than once when bad colds became practically life-threatening. Tess's health has gotten better since she came back to work for me, and I like to joke that I didn't give her enough stress to make her immune system collapse on a regular basis.

Maybe that's part of it. However, even though Tess works for a supplement company, she was not always good about taking her supplements (she's a kid, they think they will live forever, right?).

When the early shipment of Constant Health came in, Tess started drinking a morning "shake" (she loves the new shaker bottle with the little metal wire wisk ball). Tess said she felt more energy and looked forward to her shakes, but didn't think much more about it until she noticed that her knees didn't hurt going down stairs anymore.

Anti-inflammatories such as turmeric or curcumin and boswellia, in particular, in Constant Health are a few of the likely suspects in Tess's new ease going down stairs (Tess injured her knees playing basketball in school).

But here's "the rest of the story." Tess caught a cold that was going around and she spent only one day being a bit tired and resting, and the next day she was on the mend. No tonsils getting inflamed. No spiking fever. No rushing to the doctor for antibiotics.

It's not scientific fact, but Tess has been bragging about her new-found immune system strength. And, the correlation is definitely there. Tess has been religiously taking her Constant Health (well, "taking" is really not so apt, as Tess doesn't "take" her vitamins -- she does like to "drink" them though).

Maybe seniors and twenty-somethings have more in common than you'd believe otherwise. Both groups complain about "taking" pills!

If you want to read more about cellular health and the ingredients in Constant Health, see the white paper I wrote over the summer:
http://www.ourhealthcoop.com/constant_health_whitepaper.pdf

Cancer Cell Suicide & The Terrain

2007-11-13T12:13:00.000-07:00

Programmed cell death, also known as apoptosis, is a normal part of cellular life. But cancer cells are notoriously resilient characters that are rather hard to kill.

However, there's some hot news off the press. According to HHMI:

"Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have developed a small molecule that can turn the survival signal for a variety of cancer cells into a death signal. The molecule mimics the activity of Smac, a protein that triggers the suicide of some types of cancer cells."

Pretty interesting research. It means these new compounds may be used to target hard-to-treat cancers, like lung cancer, without the toxicity associated with most cancer treatments.

There's reason to applaud this kind of research -- it's good news, of course.

However, I'll still sound the bell for taking a lot better care of the trillions of normal cells in your body -- before disease sets in.

Dr. Rodier loves to quote Louis Pasteur's most memorable final words, "The microbe is nothing. The terrain is everything." With even genetic predisposition, something has to turn cancer cells on. It's just not the case that everyone with a genetic wild card gets the "big C."

While not remotely related to cancer, my mom is recovering from a bad fall (came in to the hospital with a stage 4 wound, the worst kind).

Her wound doctor is impressed with her rate of recovery, attributing it to the nursing home protocol of including protein with every meal and extra protein shakes (loaded with corn syrup and who knows what else).

What the doc doesn't know is that Stephen and I have my mom on a special protocol, including two scoops of Constant Health and two scoops of whey protein to boost my mom's immune system and protein levels (wound healing capacity). Yes, she got the advance shipment and our regular inventory should be stocked by next week.

The Constant Health formula, which I designed with Dr. Rodier and a couple of naturopaths, is chock full of gentle rice protein and amino acids, antioxidants, anti-inflammatories, and detoxification agents, and the difference in my mom's energy, complexion, and wound healing rate is dramatic.

My mom's face was incredibly ruddy red (inflamed) and it was clear she was nutritionally bereft when she came in (she refused to take her supplements before falling and had some bad habits with her diet). After four weeks on her shakes, her skin is returning to a more natural color, the scabs on her knees have healed up nicely, and her joints are feeling better.

My mom's "terrain" is healing and it shows on the outside.

My dad didn't make it long enough to use the product that his illness inspired, but my mom is the first major beneficiary of Constant Health.

And, while my mom is not fighting cancer, the significant amounts of anti-inflammatory curry spices (turmeric and boswellia) and many other immune system boosters (red raspberry seeds, quercetin, n-acetyl-cysteine, glutamine, selenium, etc.) in Constant Health are all well-known for their anti-cancer, I mean, terrain-improving, capacities.

One of the best things? My mom loves the taste of the French Vanilla version of Constant Health. She's said so, over and over. All I can say is yay!

Something's Gotta Give

2007-10-30T20:03:00.000-06:00

The portable DVD player from Walmart is a hit, a big hit. My mom has to lie on her side while her wound heals. Having her own personal DVD player to watch movies and not endless trash t.v. is exciting in a world of little excitement. She was like a little kid at Christmas.

I gave her a kiss and said, “I’m gonna grab some dinner. See you in a bit.” I adjusted the angle of her little DVD player and hit the “Play” button, and the Diane Keaton/Jack Nicholson movie, Something’s Gotta Give started up.

Now, I’m sitting in a TGI Friday’s near my mom’s nursing home, with nary a wireless network in range and with a Salmon Caesar Salad on the way. Never thought I would think I had it so good sitting at a red and white striped table, in a booth by the kitchen, waiting for dinner at a place I wouldn’t otherwise frequent. How things change from moment to moment.

You see yesterday and even this morning I was a bit depressed by it all. My mom’s house. Her dogs. Her cats. Her car. Her life! How had it all gotten so bad? How had we not known? All the “shoulds” that keep roaring through my head. Granted, my mom is a stubborn Texan at heart, fiercely independent in her sweet, quiet way; and she turned down our offers to help over and over.

And, now, we’re having talks we needed to have but she couldn’t hear before. Like about her depression that we all missed. Like about how she doesn’t know how to ask for help, not even a little bit. Like how she’s just like the rest of us and needs other people.

This morning, I felt the stress of wishing I could be in three places at once – with my mom, with her animals, and with the chores that needed to be done. Oh yeah, then there’s the whole thing of being in town and wanting to be there, in person, for Teri and for the business. Teri likes spending time together, but there wasn’t a hint of resentment. She gets the “family first” ethos and told me not to worry.

Anyway, a massive case of “something’s gotta give!”

So, I started the day at the nursing home, bringing my mom her Constant Health shake. My dad didn’t live to enjoy the formula inspired by his illness, but my mom really loves it (I mean loves it, but I guess no big wonder as nursing food isn’t that hard to trump!).

Anyway, it seems that all the delays for flavor enhancement paid off, as my mom is not much interested in things that are simply “good for her.”

After a quick morning visit, I was off (the key would not come out of the ignition to my mom’s Saturn, so I was loathe to leave her car too long unattended).

Off I went to visit her lonely pets. Being a cat person, I enjoyed my visit with her rather gigantic orange tabby cat, who trills and nudges you and pats you with his paws outstretched. Good grief what a belly on that one, but he’s adorable and I can’t help but love him. The black and white kitty, Tyler, is more reserved but affectionate too.

The dogs are all large and constantly panting and in need of a good grooming. It feels like a swarm to visit with them, as they compete for pats and scratches, but they are all quite loving too. I always laugh when I see Barney, the so-called “lab mix,” most recently adopted from the Humane Society, literally hours before the Grim Reaper was to claim him for good.

First of all, Barney is a mostly Pit Bull mix and just happens to be all black. I tell my mom that his temperament is all lab, and then we pretend that I believe her when she says she thought he really was a lab.

After giving everyone a last pat, I set out for the Saturn dealership. I told them about the problem with the key getting stuck in the ignition. Once in the shop, it turned out the car hadn’t been in since February 2006, so there were all sorts of things that needed doing in addition to the key cylinder being replaced (by the way, it’s a familiar little problem with Saturns).

Over $1000 and four hours later, I reclaimed the car, which had been perfunctorily vacuumed and sported a new serpentine belt (supposedly a fairly important part), refinished brake rotors, new windshield wipers, rotated tires, a 27-point safety inspection “pass,” and all fluids refreshed.

I stepped into a dripping car, with rain starting to fall. The key not only turned the car on and off but also came out of the ignition without a massive game of wishing and hoping. Sweet!

I drove off and made it through pelting rain back to my mom’s nursing home. After chatting for a while, I set her up with her DVD player and took my first real break of the day for dinner.

My mom was so grateful that I came out to be with her. She appreciated the straight talk about what’s ahead, what it will take to heal and recuperate, and she said:

“I need you. Stephen has been so patient, but you’re pushier, you always have been, and I need that right now.”

Sigh. I’ve worked so hard to be more receptive, more accepting, more patient over the years, but I still somehow end up being “the pushy one.” At least no one is complaining about that right now, so I guess I can’t complain either.

After so wanting to be in three (actually four) places at one time earlier today, I am happy, really happy, to be in one place, right here, with the red and white striped tabletop and all.

Back to the nursing home to chat some more and say goodbye, as I must catch an early plane out of West Palm Beach in the morning. I’ll be back soon though. My mom needs me.

Sad

2007-10-18T15:17:00.000-06:00

Life doesn't stop to ask you whether you're ready - for anything.

My mom took another fall and didn't call anyone for a day. She is in the hospital and sounds so incredibly weak and discouraged. She doesn't want to let the hospital do a CT scan (she is claustrophobic) nor does she want any sedatives. This may change, but it's hard to be so far away. I will travel to see her next week.

I'm struggling with lack of sleep today. Normally energetic, I can really feel the weight of my mom's loss of mobility and her flagging health in my own body.

My brother, Stephen, has been great, taking care of her house, her dogs and cats. Stephen's wife, Kelly, and her family, have also been amazing, pitching in with garage clean-up, painting, laundry, you name it, to make sure my mom has an inviting place to come home to.

The question is whether she will ever be able to live independently again. I just went through this with my dad. It breaks my heart and I can't help but feel sad.

As one of my teachers, Richard Strozzi-Heckler, once said, "You are hearing the waterfall." When I looked at him quizzically the first time, Richard said something to the effect of:

"You float along on the river of life, hit some rapids, some bends in the river, and accept the changing course of the river. Then you start to hear the waterfall. Over the years, you hear it more clearly. And then you get that you won't live forever."

I've shared that metaphor many times. Right now, I feel dunked back into the big questions. How am I spending my time? What is important to do (and not to do)? Am I on course? How do I really know?

Sadness whispers to us about the nature of life and how the loss of everything we love is inevitable. Strength and courage are not enough to navigate these experiences that hurt. Breathing helps. Talking helps a bit, and then silence and just being with it all helps in turn.

Tears burn when I think of my mom, rescuer of homeless pets, unable to lift her legs in bed. Tears burn also when I recognize the grace and beauty of this moment, pain included.

My Mom's Sneaking Depression

2007-10-10T14:20:00.000-06:00

I call my mom every few weeks. She always sounds so happy to hear from me and is so appreciative of my calls.

She rarely calls me though. And, she has forgotten my birthday for the last couple of years.
I'm not that into birthday celebrations, so it's not what she sends that ever has mattered. It's more that she used to feel more like a participant in my life.

These days, she seems to be a bit lost in time and a bit lost from my life too.

Days come and go with her animals (four cats and three dogs - the horses are gone now) on her two acres in Loxahatchee, Florida.

My mom taught special education for 30 years, retiring at 70, well beyond the time when most teachers have either burned out or gone on to tamer gigs. She had taught in inner city Los Angeles, where the street-smart kids, who loved her, gullible ways and all, insisted, "You're not white, you're just light."

My mom worked with kids with all sorts of learning disabilities, ADD, oppositional defiant disorder and so forth.

One student was blind because his mother's boyfriend had thrown acid at her while she was holding him as a baby, and she involntarily flinched, putting her child's eyes in the full spray of acid.

Traumatized kids, who longed to be seen and to have a chance, populated her classes, especially at the end of her career, when she worked with teenage boys who could not make it in the regular schools' special ed programs.

At 5'1", my mom has never been physically imposing. She used to have to take mandatory self-defense classes, where instructors pinned her and made her roll through different moves to protect herself. However, she never needed to use those skills.

The kids tested her, for sure, but they seemed to get how much she cared, and the worst that happened were the occasional pilferings from her room.

It always broke her heart when yet another one would go to jail or turn to violence, as many of the kids at her last school did.

It's hard to believe now, as my mom seems so isolated and even a bit afraid of venturing into the world much anymore.

Stephen and I have been trying to get her in to see an orthopedic surgeon about her bad knee for several years. She cancelled appointments and said she just didn't have the energy to go and would withdraw to sleep it all off.

It sounded like more than avoidance, more like depression sneaking up on our mother.

I read an article in The Economist this morning about how depressed people move in "mathematically different" ways from other people. According to the article:

"Depressed people experience longer resting periods more frequently and shorter ones less frequently than healthy people do."

While this is not surprising, the conclusion of the article was interesting, given my interest in all things cellular these days.

Apparently, the same movement pattern as depressed people was seen in the electrical activity of "nerve cells isolated in a Petri dish and unable to contact their neighbors." The intelligence compressed into our tiny cells is always astonishing to me, and the lives of cells aren't so very different from our own.

Alas, my mom is isolated. Her movement patterns are those of long rest (withdrawal) periods and lack of interest in most things. It looks like depression has snuck in

The good news is that our mother allows us to help her. She is trying to be better about her supplements and is open to giving SAM-e a try, which could help her aching joints as well as her moods.

Meanwhile, I will be checking in on my mom a whole lot more often, as will Stephen.

The Promise of Algaculture

2007-10-02T10:39:00.001-06:00

I was on a plane yesterday, on my way to Bangor, Pennsylvania for an Enneagram workshop at the Kirkridge Retreat Center.

I had two copies of The Economist with me, and a couple of articles caught my eye.

The first on alternative energy, Sea green, starts like this:

"One of the crazier ideas for dealing with global warming is to sprinkle the oceans with iron filings. One reason the sea (unlike the land) is not covered with plants is that it lacks crucial nutrients--iron, in particular."

The article goes on to quote a British researcher, John Munford, as hypothesizing that a project to "fertilise the oceans" might help stop climate change and might also yield a sustainable source for biodiesel to replace dependency on fossil fuels.

In my own backyard, researchers at the Utah State University (USU) are working on converting algae into biodiesel in a cost-competitive way. Their goal? The year 2009!

We've all heard about the problems with wood, corn-, soy-based bio fuels (high fossil energy requirements and increased demand flips wood pulp and food prices into the stratosphere).

Michael Briggs, of the University of New Hampshire's Biodiesel Group, published an article on
Widescale Biodiesel Production from Algae, which articulates the history, production, and cost issues of biodiesel.

Briggs includes a section in his article on the move from harvesting open air pond scum to the use of enclosed photobioreactors (proprietary technology gadgets writ large, that still need some R&D to become commercial "green gold" mines).

As Dr. Rodier continues to evangelize the benefits of algae for nutrition, scientists around the world are working on extracting breakthroughs from algaculture.

Thinking About Magnesium

2007-09-17T16:54:00.000-06:00

With Steve's family history of heart disease and migraines, and his own arrhythmia, magnesium is an important mineral around our house. Did you know that 42% of migraine sufferers are deficient in magnesium or that IV magnesium sulfate rapidly relieves headaches of all kinds?

I was talking to Tess last week and it was interesting to learn how many people land on our site when they are searching for magnesium. Perhaps it's mostly related to heart health research, as this is our biggest category.

My fascination with all things cellular these days has reminded me of the many benefits of magnesium, particularly for cell signalling and cell membrane integrity. Once I'm paying attention to anything, of course it shows up everywhere. And so it is with magnesium, the mineral that supports practically all things metabolic.

Today, I came across a recent article from the Archives of Internal Medicine that makes the case for higher intake of cereal fiber along with magnesium to lower risks of type 2 diabetes.

Then, there's the University of California, California Agriculture study (July-September 2007 issue) linking low magnesium intake and obesity with higher levels of asthma.

Older studies include correlations between low magnesium levels and the dreaded metabolic syndrome, depression, and more.

The Linus Pauling Institute states that marginal magnesium deficiencies may be more common than most people think:

"A large U.S. national survey indicated that the average magnesium intake for men (about 320 mg/day) and the average intake for women (about 230 mg/day) were significantly below the current recommended dietary allowance. Magnesium intakes were even lower in men and women over 70 years of age."

So, to all of you who found us through a magnesium search, may I say "thank you" for appreciating this little mineral with so much to offer.

To everyone else, I encourage you to check out the benefits of magnesium once again!