Of course, the first disease that we may think of is osteoporosis, a disorder helped by adequate vitamin D and calcium intake. But we can’t be sure a person has optimal vitamin D in their blood without following blood tests. Often vitamin D supplements have to be pushed much higher than commonly recommended to reach the level that will effectively counteract osteoporosis.

Many other diseases respond to or are prevented by optimal levels of vitamin D in the tissues. Professor Joan Lappe found that the lower your vitamin D levels, the higher the risk you have for developing cancer. Increasing vitamin D levels from 31 to 38 ng/ml decreased the development of cancer 60% over the next 4 years of this study.

Breast cancer, prostate cancer and colon cancer have been all been linked to vitamin D deficiency. Younger men (ages 40-51) had significantly less risk for prostate cancer when they had higher vitamin D levels. Also, men with prostate cancer reported to Dr. Cannell that taking higher doses of vitamin D lowered their PSA levels (used to measure prostate cancer activity). But it can take a year to do so.

Other scary and painful diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain and inflammatory bowel disease have responded to optimal levels of vitamin D.

Even heart disease, high blood pressure, high triglycerides and diabetes can improve with vitamin D.

Low levels of vitamin D affect neurologic/ psychiatric diseases including multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia and depression.

A Danish study of folks with transplanted kidneys found that most of them had low blood levels of vitamin D because they have to avoid the sun. This study recommended supplementing vitamin D. (http://www.ajcn.org/content/87/2/431.abstract)

So it becomes important for doctors to measure blood vitamin D levels in renal transplant patients and then monitor their levels after supplementation with vitamin D. (http://www.renalandurologynews.com/low-vitamin-d-after-renal-transplantation-may-be-underrecognized/article/168138/)

Now for the fun effects of vitamin D. It can induce weight loss. Everyone likes to hear about that one. But it also improves athletic speed, strength, timing and quickness. Are your ears pricking up athletes?

Then we should all be elated to know that vitamin D protects against infection. Lower respiratory tract infections decrease significantly when taking 2000 IU per day of vitamin D. It even helps folks with COPD (a chronic lung disease usually caused by smoking) through an unknown mechanism and by decreasing the number of lung infections.

And sunlight stimulates the skin to produce peptides that fight germs.

So no wonder we have more infections during the winter when good sunlight is generally not available. I’ve also noticed that children start looking very pale in the winter and often have wondered why. Could deficient vitamin D be the cause?

Should be easy to find out, let’s see what happens when they get adequate vitamin D replenishment. Will they have healthier pink complexions and less colds and flu? Why did we stop following the wisdom of our grandmothers who gave their kids cod liver oil high in vitamin D?

Before you run out and start taking a bunch of vitamin D, wait for the next Be Wise-Health Wise newsletter. We will review suggested doses of vitamin D supplements, the best form of vitamin D and adverse effects of high levels of vitamin D.

Wow, I’m so impressed with what vitamin D can do for me; I’m going out to take a sun bath right now.

Blessings,

Dr. Jo

P.S. To learn more about vitamin D review the Vitamin D Council’s web site http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/

• Lose fat faster
• Strengthen your heart, even after a heart attack
• Increase your lung volume
• Raise HDL cholesterol (the “good guy”)
• Add years of healthy living to your life
• Boost your immune system
• Increase your muscle mass
• In only 12 minutes per week

 It’s Got to be Hype!

I hear you. It sounds absolutely unbelievable. But listen to what these medical doctors have found from years of research into exercise physiology and from working with people to improve their fitness levels.

Actually it’s a not so new concept but generally is unknown and underutilized.

Why didn’t I pay attention to it sooner?

Because I was still stuck in the old paradigm.

Back in the early 1980’s when I first became interested in wellness and prevention I travelled to Dallas, Texas to Dr. Cooper’s Aerobics Clinic to participate in a seminar on exercise and how to measure fitness levels. It was a great course and even introduced me to healthy nutrition.

Dr. Cooper brought the benefits of exercise into the public awareness and published his book in 1968. My copy is still sitting on my book shelf. He helped a lot of people improve their health. His exercise physiology research center scientifically measured the improvements in health physiology for many years.

Dr. Cooper followed many athletes who participated in the long endurance exercises like running and biking, those who did marathons. By the late 1980-90s he realized that these types of exercise were causing more harm than good. People were dropping dead of heart attacks and getting cancer more frequently than the general public.

What went wrong?

Dr. Cooper continued to look at those problems and revised his recommendations. Then along came Dr. Al Sears with new research.

Dr. Sears expected long distance runners to have a large lung capacity. Was he ever surprised when he discovered that they had smaller lung capacity.

They also had less muscle mass. Just look at their physique. Most long distance runners have lean, slim bodies.

Dr. Sears also found that their tissues were assaulted with more free radical damage and that they had greater risk of joint or other injury from overuse.

Why was this so?

According to Dr. Doug McGuff, MD (more about him later) endurance exercise is not natural. Watch children and animals. They run seconds to a minute or two. Then stop and plop down or investigate whatever attracts their attention at the moment.

Just try to go on a walk with a kid or a dog – or both. They are definitely not goal oriented and you feel like you will never get to your destination.

Turns out that we should take a lesson from the kids and animals because steady state (endurance) exercise trains plasticity out of your system. It makes you less adaptable. This connotation of plasticity means ability to adapt. Long endurance exercise causes “shrinkage:” smaller muscles, smaller heart and smaller lungs. What’s worse, it wipes out your heart’s and lung’s reserve capacity.

So what’s the solution?

High Intensity Interval Training:

The Exercise

• Short periods of exertion
• Followed by short periods of rest

Examples:

• Walk 45 seconds, rest 45 seconds
• Bike as fast and hard as you can for 30 seconds, rest 30-60 seconds. Repeat 7-9 times
• Calisthenics with a similar pattern

Before you go out and jump right into this exercise pattern learn more about it. It’s a big subject that we will be expanding upon in the next several newsletters.

And as always – check with your doctor before starting a new exercise program.

But, isn’t it great news that you can actually attain your best level of fitness in regard to heart, lung and muscle reserve capacity in only 12 to 20 minutes one to three times per week?

Blessings,

Dr. Jo

Can you guess the name of this deficient vitamin? Did you know it’s readily available most days but you actually go to great strides to avoid it?

With all of the buzz about it in the news you probably guessed right. Yep, it’s vitamin D.

I first wrote about vitamin D in the fall of 2008 after attending a medical conference sponsored by the International College of Integrative Medicine (ICIM), an organization of kind and wonderful health care providers. They meet twice yearly to learn more about integrating natural, alternative treatments with main stream medicine to provide the best treatments from both worlds for their patients.

I became a believer in taking vitamin D supplements since I don’t expose my skin to the sun very much and have taken 2,000 IU per day ever since then.

But I did not heed the advice about checking vitamin D blood levels until a few weeks ago. To my surprise my vitamin D levels were very low, so I’ve upped my daily dose to 6,000 to 8,000 units. When the spring sun returns I may try to take more sun baths as I originally purposed to do when I wrote the vitamin D articles in 2008. But that resolution didn’t last very long.

You may be in the same boat as me in regard to low levels of vitamin D. Current research indicates most of us have unhealthy, low levels of it.

Why are our levels low? Could it be that the sun phobia and wearing sunscreen all the time has an adverse effect on health in at least one respect? Perhaps.

When the sun shines down on our skin, it converts cholesterol in the skin to vitamin D.

The skin must receive the UV sun rays to be able to make vitamin D in our skin. And those are just the rays we block with sunscreen slathered on our bodies. Sunscreens with SPF ratings of 8 or higher block 95% of synthesis of vitamin D in the skin. SPF 15 blocks 99% of vitamin D production.

So now we have a dilemma.

• Excess sun causes skin cancer.
• But blocking sun causes low vitamin D levels.
• Good vitamin D levels powerfully protect against skin and other cancers.

How can we solve this problem?

Consider a strategy of moderation. Expose our skin to sunlight long enough to produce good amounts of vitamin D, but not so long that our skin gets damaged.

Your skin factory can whip out 10,000 to 50,000 units of vitamin D with 15-30 minutes of sun exposure in a bathing suit. Professor Michael Holick of Boston University School of Medicine studied this extensively and has concluded that most people make an average of 20,000 units of vitamin D when they have almost full body exposure to sun for 15-30 minutes. Now that’s a lot of vitamin D, but you can never overdose on vitamin D from sunshine.

Since UV rays strike the earth’s surface in the greatest abundance between about 10 AM and 2 PM, you will want to sun bathe between those hours for the most effective production of vitamin D.

Here’s a summary of the no cost way to increase your vitamin D levels:

Rev up your vitamin D levels by spending 15-30 minutes in the sun with as much of your skin exposed as possible between 10 AM and 2 PM daily.

But there are some caveats:

• How many of us are stuck indoors working during the best time of day?
• The sun doesn’t shine all year round.
• How many of us will actually take the time to enjoy the great outdoors for a few minutes every day?

So…

In the next few articles we will discuss:

• The many health advantages of keeping our vitamin D levels high.
• Proper vitamin D supplementation. How much is enough? How much is too much?
• What form of vitamin D is the best?

Now you know another step in making disease optional in your life.

Blessings,

Dr. Jo

But let’s admit it. We are starting to consider those New Year’s resolutions, trying to determine if we’re really going to make any this year. After all if you’re like a lot of us, the hope and thrill of starting anew in the New Year quickly fades as we fall back into those old habits that we’re trying to overcome.

But take hope!

What usually defeats your excitement and ability to implement your resolutions? Your mind – your brain. But you can take charge of that brain thanks to Dr. Daniel Amen, MD.

A few months ago a former patient sent me an email about an exciting new program that was breaking people free of the prison that their disease process had kept them in for years. That break through is totally amazing and a long story that I will share with you in the future. But in the process of investigating it I became aware of Dr. Daniel Amen.

From reading his book, Change Your Brain Change Your Life, I realized what a kind, caring and extraordinary doctor he really is. So I looked him up online. He’s extending his discoveries to help all of us with his online Amen Solutions as well as individual attention at his clinics.

Here’s an excerpt from the Amen Solution:

“Boost Your Brain: The first step to getting smarter, happier, thinner, and younger is to boost the physical functioning of your brain. This is one of the most important and unique features of The Amen Solution. By strengthening your brain you will improve everything in your life. 

We start with The Amen Solution Master Questionnaire so you can know your brain type. We also have questions geared toward your brain habits and show you how to improve them. We show you very clearly how to improve brain function by avoiding things that hurt it and engaging in regular brain healthy habits. Plus, there is a great 24/7 Brain Gym that assesses the health of your brain and gives you personalized exercises, in the form of fun games, to strengthen it. This is so much better than just doing crossword puzzles!”

” Know Your Numbers: Did you know that having low levels of vitamin D has been associated with obesity, depression, and cognitive impairment? Or that having low thyroid levels can lower your self-control?

We will show you which important health numbers you need to know, give you a place to store and track your numbers (it’s easier than you think!), and if they are out of whack give you ways to optimize them. This is often the missing link for people to get healthy. ”

That’s just a “slight taste” of what the Amen Solution is all about.

Check it out for yourself.

As for me, I’m always thrilled to find innovative ideas and programs to improve my health, so I would love to “Change my Brain and Change my Life’.

Want to give it a try with me?

If you do, click here.

This book of Dr. Amen’s looks like a good preview to the online Amen Solution:

The Amen Solution: The Brain Healthy Way to Get Thinner, Smarter, Happier

Blessings and I’ll chat with you next year,

Dr. Jo

“I Went to Peru in Search of Healing Herbs…
What I Found Will Make You Look Years Younger

The women of Peru keep an extraordinary beauty secret.

There we were, having coffee in a small mountain town, high above the Amazon basin. Maggie, my Peruvian friend, was telling us about her career as a polo player and show jumper.

Someone at the table remarked, “How do you stay looking so good when you’re always outdoors…”

That’s when she let it slip.

“There’s something we have in this country that keeps our skin looking young. Without it I’d look like an old hag.”

The women at the table all sat up a little straighter, waiting for her to say more.

But Maggie just sat there with a grin on her face and took another sip of café au lait.

Sue, my American friend, was about to burst.

“Are you going to tell us what it is… or do I have to guess?”

“Caracol Bella.”

Sue looked at Maggie, waiting for a translation.

“It’s a natural remedy. It soothes your skin and locks in moisture. In fact, it can fade the appearance of the ugly things old age does to your face. Like I said, I would look like a hag without it.”

Sue was hooked.

And I was intrigued. Could these lovely South American women really hold the secret to soft and beautiful skin?

Later that afternoon I asked Maggie for more details. Turns out, women have been using this healing serum for about 15 years. Yet here in the United States, no one has access to it, or even knows about it…

Back in 1980, a family in Chile made a startling find.

The dry, withered hands of their farm workers suddenly became incredibly soft. And it worked wonders on their hands.

On their farm, they raised escargot for export to the famous restaurants and bistros of Paris.

How does it work?

The escargot, a variety known as Cryptomphalus aspersa, produces an enzyme that seals in moisture and supports young, beautiful skin.

Escargot uses this enzyme as a kind of shield when they hibernate.

When the farm workers handled it, they found their skin softened, regenerated … and the appearance of spots and blemishes faded away.

Women like Maggie have been using this formula for years to protect their skin and keep them looking young.

I was so impressed by the results, I arranged to bring Caracol Bella here to the United States.”

There’s a lot more to the story – very fascinating.

But then I thought, it’s got to be very expensive.

Wrong! It’s offered at an amazingly reasonable price, especially if you compare it to the so-called “discount” cosmetic web sites.

Then I thought, it’s probably full of unhealthy chemicals.

Wrong again!

Only healthy chemicals in Caracol Bella. I should have known that Dr. Sears would use only health-promoting ingredients. After all he teaches health and taking personal responsibility for your own health  just like me.

So, I’m thinking it’s time for me to give it a try. Healthy skin is important too!

If you’re game to try with me, here’s the link:

Caracol Bella

Once you reach the web site enter Caracol Bella in the search box to read the rest of the story!

Let’s stay young and vibrantly alive together,

Dr. Jo

Here’s to Dr. Dean:

Antibiotic resistance is nothing new but it’s finally so bad that allopathic medicine is saying “Be Very Afraid!” Why? Because drug companies are no longer producing “the next great antibiotic.”

They’ve tapped the well dry; there are no new drugs in the pipeline that can beat antibiotic resistance.

The bugs have won!

A Lancet Infectious Disease study (2010;10:597-602) describes a bug that has developed a gene that passes on antibiotic resistance to its friends that now threatens all antibiotics.

The next four paragraphs are from an article on Medscape.com.

“Resistance is the ‘elephant in the room’ in the field of infectious diseases. … now the future appears to be particularly ominous… Pharmaceutical companies are no longer interested in antibiotic development and production for a variety of reasons, mostly economic. As one pharmaceutical executive told me: ‘You take an antibiotic for 1-2 weeks but you take a statin for a lifetime.

What would you make?’

From 1983-1987, 16 new antibiotics were approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but from 2008-2011, just 2 new systematic antibiotics were approved and neither addressed the issue of resistance.

President Obama has asked the Trans-Atlantic Antibiotic Resistance Task Force to address the problem, indicating recognition of its international reach. Two bills introduced in Congress (the GAIN bill in the House and the STARR Act in the Senate) include proposals for financial incentives for the pharmaceutical industry to produce new antibiotics.

Nevertheless, no antibiotics currently in phase 3 development are likely to resolve the problem of gram-negative bacilli resistance.”

I’m reading this and all I can say is Lord Suffering Cats!

How’s this for an analogy? A car manufacturer continually makes cars that blow up but keeps making the cars and even gets government funding to keep making the cars – THAT KEEP BLOWING UP.

 Has any one of these doctors ever thought that we have to find other ways to treat infections? Like:

1. Taking nutrients that keep us healthy.

2. Eating a good diet that keeps us healthy.

3. Living a healthy lifestyle. (Join my Completement Now! 2-year online wellness program that will tell you exactly how to stay

healthy.)

4. Using the dozens of natural remedies for colds and flus and infections (see my eBook, Future Health Now Encyclopedia).

5. Using safe but powerful probiotics like Prescript Assist to keep the bad bugs in check. After all it’s the bad bugs in the gut that got the drop on us and are passing around the gene that disarms antibiotics. Why not start there?

6. Detoxing regularly with clay and magnesium baths to keep the bad bugs from finding toxic places to grow in your body.

7. Reading my free newsletter with countless tips to keep you well.

Pursue these solutions and when you really need an antibiotic, maybe your bugs won’t be resistant to it.

Carolyn Dean MD ND

The Doctor of the Future

However, once those minerals and vitamins reach the gut, they have to get into the cells. Sometimes some nasty culprit blocks their entrance into the cells. If that happens you can eat all the healthy foods and take the greatest supplements but continue to have muscle cramps.

What are those nasty culprits?

Toxins, toxic metals, toxic chemicals and toxic fats can block the passage of vital nutrients in and out of the cells, even your muscle cells.

The cell membranes contain gates that allow passage of minerals into the cells. Magnesium acts as a gatekeeper, opening to allow minerals in and waste products out and closing when unwanted substances approach the gate.

Unfortunately at least two problems crop up that messes up this gate keeping mechanism.

First, most folks eating the “modern diet” ingest insufficient amounts of magnesium which mainly functions inside the cell. Secondly those same folks unknowingly ingest, inhale or absorb environmental toxins like mercury, cadmium, lead, nickel, aluminum and toxic chemicals.

The cell, starving for the proper minerals would rather have a toxic mineral than no minerals at all. So if magnesium is nowhere to be found it accepts the toxic metal into the cell. If a toxic metal lands at the gatekeeper spot, then the gate doesn’t function properly and will not allow minerals like magnesium and potassium into the cell even if they’re in the blood in abundance.

So, you’ve read the previous articles on night time leg cramps and now you’re taking plenty of calcium and magnesium, but you still have leg cramps. So you try adding potassium and maybe have even increased your sodium intake, but you still have leg cramps.

What’s next?

Start a detoxification program, a subject that’s beyond the scope of this article, but you can start reading more about it at:

Detoxification

One simple approach to start moving toxins out: take Chlorella, an algae. The Chlorella cell membrane is fractured in processing so that it actually acts like a sponge to soak up toxic metals and chemicals. The process of fracturing the Chlorella cell membrane also releases the super food inside it since it contains an abundance of nutrients.

Try taking Chlorella at night just before you go to bed and in the middle of the night if you happen to wake up, especially if you wake up with a cramp.

Your body utilizes that resting phase at night to start the clean up process of removing toxins from your cells. Toxins tucked inside cells interfere with cellular mechanisms, but often don’t cause symptoms other than fatigue. When the body has a chance to move them out of the cells into the connective tissue, they come back into contact with nerves. That’s when you may get symptoms like nausea, pain or muscle cramps.

Taking Chlorella helps move those toxins out more quickly and prevents or alleviates the symptoms. So take Chlorella regularly a couple of times per 24 hours and try taking more when you have symptoms. I have even taken up to 24 to 30 Chlorella at a time if I’m really feeling toxic.

However, two precautions:

1. A few folks develop diarrhea from taking too much Chlorella, so back off on the amount you’re taking if that happens.

2. Take Chlorella separately from your minerals like calcium, magnesium, etc. since Chlorella absorbs minerals. If you take them together the minerals may not be absorbed and the Chlorella won’t be able to attach to the heavy metals to carry them out of the body as well. Taking them together won’t harm you, but you won’t get the full absorption of the minerals and removal of heavy metals. So take Chlorella at least 2 hours away from the time you take your minerals.

For awhile my legs would cramp part way into my swimming work out. I was in good enough shape that I should not have been getting leg cramps. Finally I figured out that the exercise was moving the toxins out of my cells. These toxins then interfered with the proper muscle contraction mechanism causing my muscles to cramp. Taking Chlorella before swimming solved that problem.

If refilling your cells with adequate amounts of minerals and vitamin doesn’t stop your night time leg cramps, then consider pursuing detoxification, a process beneficial to your whole body.

Blessings,

Dr. Jo

And sure enough you can do more.

I recommend the following products. However, the information is for reference only and is not intended to diagnose disease or prescribe treatment.

Always consult with your physician on your health matters.

1. Be sure you have optimal vitamin D levels. Sunshine on your skin activates your vitamin D making processes. But if you don’t get enough sunshine, then you probably need to take at least 2000 IU of vitamin D per day in the form of vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol).

Better yet have your doctor monitor your blood vitamin D levels. Be sure you get the 25(OH)D test. In plain English it’s 25-hydroxy D. It may need to be sent to a specialty lab.

Experts on vitamin D recommend blood levels of 25(OH)D in the range of 35-65 ng/ml.

Watch for news about monitoring your blood vitamin D levels yourself coming soon.

Vitamin D may be the most important of the overlooked and deficient vitamins in most every body. It does a lot more than boost your immune system. So, pay attentions to the coming messages about vitamin D.

2. Propolis is an excellent supplement to boost your immune system. Propolis is made by bees to protect their hives. Many of my patients found that propolis really helped them get over any viral diseases more quickly. So, you can use propolis in two different ways. You can take it for a week or two just to give your immune system a boost periodically. Then, if you do still get a virus, start taking it again three times a day, 10 to 15 drops in a little water or sparkling water. Children can take propolis, too, in a little lesser amount. They usually need 7 to 10 drops three times a day for viral illnesses.

I have found the Twin-Lab products to be more friendly for folks with allergies and they have excellent quality control. Amazon has good prices:

Propolis 2- pack directly from Amazon:

Or a 1- pack from Swanson Health Products via Amazon:

3. Vitamin C – Vitamin C supplements tend to boost the immune system, too. Personally, I cannot take the synthetic or concentrated ascorbic acid types of vitamin C. However, many people can. If you tolerate that usual type of vitamin C, then when you get a virus, you can boost the amount you take to “bowel tolerance”. In other words, keep increasing the amount of vitamin C you are taking until you get diarrhea. Then, of course, you want to cut back. That is the maximum dose of vitamin C that you can take. For some people, that may be 3,000 mg of vitamin C a day. If you are taking high levels of vitamin C, do not to stop taking it abruptly. You might be more susceptible to infection until your body readjusts if you stop it abruptly. Use Buffered Vitamin C to keep your body from getting too acidic with regular vitamin C (ascorbic acid).

The diabetic drug Diabenese and sulfa drugs may not be as effective when taken with Vitamin C. Taking large amount of Vitamin C may interfere with testing for blood in the stool. Pregnant women should not take more than 5,000 milligrams per day. Infants may become dependent on Vitamin C and develop scurvy if it is withdrawn suddenly.

My favorite type of vitamin C is a food form of vitamin C with the accompanying bioflavonoids and with enzymes that help it to assimilate better. Therefore, I take the Ness Enzymes Natural Vitamin C with Bioflavonoids #11 type of vitamin C complex regularly.

Amazon seems to have the best price:

I highly recommend it over any other type of Vitamin C supplement. The body will assimilate and use it better since it has the co-factors from the food source of this Vitamin C complex instead of just the ascorbic acid and contains enzymes. Also, you do not have to take high doses with the accompanying side effects. It also helps strengthen capillaries, so if you bruise easily you will get an added benefit from Ness Enzymes Natural Vitamin C with Bioflavonoids #11

5. Vitamin A and E – Vitamin A and E can be very powerful against viral infections if you do happen to contract one. The medical literature has shown that you can take very high doses of vitamin A for only a FEW days. You don’t want to overstress your liver with vitamin A, but if you limit this program to only three days, it has been safe in the patients I have had use it.

DO NOT take these large doses of vitamin A at all if you have liver disease or are pregnant or could possibly be pregnant. Do not give these large doses to children.

Antibiotics, laxatives and some cholesterol lowering drugs interfere with the absorption of Vitamin A.

Here’s how you take it if your liver is healthy and you are not pregnant and are not a child:

100,000 to 300,000 units of vitamin A per day with 400 units of vitamin E. Take this for only three days. You may find this will knock out a viral infection rather quickly.

Undoubtedly many more supplements and herbs help support the immune system and guard against these viral infections. If you have a one that’s worked well for you, share your story with us in the comment section.

Stay healthy,

Dr. Jo

As soon as a leg cramp starts, pull your toes up toward your head.

I’m so glad she reminded me to share that with you. It’s a trick that I’ve used myself to get those cramping muscles relaxed. Actually it works for any tight muscle problem in the body. When you tense one set of muscles, the opposing muscles have to relax. That basic physiological principle makes it possible for us to walk, use our hands, arms, etc. for all of our daily activities.

Preventing muscle cramps is our most desired goal. In the first article on relief for night time leg cramps we discussed the importance of attaining adequate magnesium levels inside the cells since magnesium helps relax the muscles. Now we’ll consider the other major minerals.

Calcium plays an important role in normal muscle contraction as well, so make sure you’re eating or supplementing with optimal amounts of calcium. Some doctors recommend taking both calcium and magnesium at night to prevent leg cramps.

If tissue levels of calcium and magnesium have been low for a long time, be patient. It may take awhile to achieve adequate enough tissue levels of these two minerals to calm the night time leg cramps.

The best form of calcium and magnesium comes in healthy food sources of these minerals. Unfortunately calcium becomes denature in the process of pasteurizing milk, making it difficult to assimilate. If you can fine raw milk try eating unpasteurized yogurt as a good source of calcium.

Other good food sources include plenty of green leafy vegetables (lots of magnesium in the green leafies too), beans, liver, nuts, canned salmon with bones, sardines and seaweeds.

Potassium deficiency can also set off leg cramps. Potassium levels tend to drop when taking diuretics or with athletes who sweat out their minerals. Of course, we all think, “Eat bananas for potassium”. And yes bananas contain potassium, but so do many other vegetables and fruits. So go easy on the bananas (because of the high sugar levels) and eat more veggies, especially broccoli, Brussels sprouts, lima beans, sea food, sea weed, spinach and yellow vegetables.

Occasionally a sodium deficiency can cause muscle cramps, usually again more commonly in athletes who sweat a lot. But if including good sources of magnesium, calcium and potassium in your diet doesn’t alleviate the muscle cramps, then try increasing your salt intake with a healthy salt like Celtic salt or “Real Salt”. Be sure to check with you doctor first if he/she had recommended limiting your salt intake.

Amazingly Vitamin E may help counteract muscle cramps if the cramping occurs from the red blood cells clumping together, creating oxygen deficiency to the muscles. Since Vitamin E breaks up the clumping more oxygen can be delivered to the muscle cells. Vitamin E supplements should be in the natural tocopherols form and should be taken all by themselves away from meals and other supplements.

Most muscle cramp problems can be solved by ingesting adequate amounts of magnesium, calcium, potassium, maybe sodium and vitamin E.

However, once those minerals and vitamins reach the gut, they have to get into the cells. Sometimes some nasty culprit blocks their entrance into the cells. If that happens you can eat all the healthy foods and take the greatest supplements but continue to have muscle cramps.

So, let’s knock out those anti-nutrients in the next article!

Blessings,

Dr. Jo

Each year Big Pharma attempts to predict which flu virus will be going around in the next season. Then they develop a vaccine to attempt to boost your immune system against that strain of flu virus Sometimes, the people who develop these vaccines are right on target in predicting which flu vaccine will be needed the most, and sometimes, they aren’t. According to the local public health department, the flu vaccine in 2003 did not cover the major strain of flu that actually was passed from person to person that season.

Therefore, the flu vaccine is very specific for just one or a few viruses. There are a lot of other viruses flying around in the winter that you can contract and the vaccine has no effect on them.

The heavy promotion of flu vaccination almost makes you feel like a dummy if you don’t plop down in your favorite pharmacy or supermarket and let them stick you with that needle.

But maybe you’re not so dumb if you don’t succumb to all that advertising that makes you feel like they’re being so altruistic in offering you the vaccine. Maybe you’re actually a maverick who thinks for himself or herself, who finds a better way.

If you want a maverick opinion based on good research, then take a look at Dr. Mercola’s position on flu vaccines:

So what can you do to protect yourself from the flu bug and all of those other strains of viruses? Plenty.

The most important step is to take personal responsibility for keeping your immune system strong. That involves all sorts of healthy things for you, especially along the nutritional lines.

Did you know that eating sweets paralyzes your immune system? Check out the Sugar story. Read the story about how the white blood cells can gobble up an average of about 16 bacteria to destroy them if a person has not eaten any sweets. However, once a person ate sweets, the bacteria could only gobble up about 9 bacteria. In other words, the power of the immune system was cut in half to defend you against unfriendly organisms was cut in half.

Did you know those sweets even included fresh orange juice? Yes, any concentrated sweet can impair the functioning of your immune system.

When I worked in the emergency room and in the walk-in care clinic, January was always the biggest month for people coming in with the flu. Previously I thought that was because we traveled around and just mixed our germs together during the holiday season. That is probably true. However, I later came to realize that we weaken our immune system by all the sweets we eat during the holiday season. Then the viruses stick around in our bodies instead of getting kicked out.

Oh, I know what you are thinking now. Dr. Jo’s a big party pooper. Well, that’s true – sometimes I am a party pooper.

But will you be able to go to a party if you are pooped because you have a virus that has laid you low? Maybe it is worthwhile thinking about what you can do to keep those pesky buggers from overwhelming your immune system so you can have a really happy time during the holiday season.

So, the bottom line is to watch those sweets. Also, be sure you eat all the healthy foods. Those include animal proteins, fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and nuts and seeds.

Now, take even more charge of your health. Some supplements give you extra protection too. More about them next week.

Stay healthy,

Dr. Jo