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Your Immune System
The rest of the story . . . .
Updated and revised 11/08/01

As foreshadowed in our previous article (Your Immune System), you are about to enter an arena of health and wellness that is highly controversial, and to the western mind, nearly unbelievable.

But, Dear Reader, the paradigms are shifting. During a paradigm shift, chaos reigns. Contrary opinions are touted angrily, as those who have clung to the old paradigm cling still stronger.

Let’s face it, when penicillin was introduced to modern medicine, it sat shelved for nine years before being tested by those in power.

So let us first start by tearing up the very ground upon which we stand.

I last left you by stating that our Western science is mechanistic and materialistic. By mechanistic, I mean, that when something works, that in itself is just not good enough for the Western scientist: s/he must determine what it is (in that something) that actually works. And by materialistic, if the scientist cannot see it, it doesn’t exist (like the meridian system of Chinese medicine we mentioned previously).

However, mechanistic thinking doesn’t always work for us. Take the bumble bee: according to our understanding of flight, the lowly bumble bee isn’t supposed to fly. And logic, the mechanistic basis of western rational thought, has been shown by the greatest mathematicians of our time to be fallible: any logical system will eventually break down.

We already learned that a lack of antioxidants can hinder the effectiveness of certain parts of our immune system as they attempt to do battle against invaders. But this doesn’t happen all the time. Recent studies have shown that taking vitamins and supplements can stifle the immune response, but again, this doesn’t happen all the time.

What is the missing link here, the missing variable?

The Linus Pauling Institute has proclaimed emphatically that the most important factor to a healthy immune system is nutrition.

We are going to take this one step further: the most important factors affecting the immune system are nutrition and thought, toxic thoughts.

In the book, The Immune System Cure, they list six major factors affecting our immune systems:

  1. antibiotic overuse and misuse
  2. pollution and environmental toxins
  3. stress and emotional state
  4. genetic makeup
  5. lifestyle
  6. nutritional status
The order here is significant, in that if they are listed in the order of least to greatest significance; meaning: your nutritional status and lifestyle override your genetic makeup. The medical community has yet to accept this, but then again, the medical community knows nothing about nutrition and lifestyle. They are taught about intervention and drugs.

According to centuries old Chinese Medicine, the factors leading to either health or sickness are: nutrition, emotions, changes in weather, your environment, and, recently, adverse reactions to medication (since their adoption of Western medicine).

The Chinese system of medicine in over six thousand years old. Our system of medicine, the paradigm under which we operate today, is just over 200 years old. It began with the invention of carbolic acid. Carbolic acid kills germs. It is the main ingredient in Listerine®.

Then along came Louis Pasteur. I suppose many of you have seen the piece floating about the internet on some of the quotations of the great minds of our time. Here are some examples of that piece:

"Who in their right mind would ever need more than 640k of ram!?"  Bill Gates, 1981

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."  Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction."  Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872

Remember these? Well let me tell you a little bit about this last one. If the "germ theory of medicine" were true, there would be no one alive to believe it. Our bodies all contain a little strep, staff, and whatever germ that comes along. Even Pasteur, on his death bed, recanted his own theory stating, "It’s not the seed, but the terrain." Top

Ten people walk into a room and come into contact with a cold virus. Days later, six come down with a cold. Western medicine places its focus on the six. Traditional Chinese medicine places its focus on the four without colds. It is the Chinese physician’s job to keep his/her patients well. When a Traditional Chinese doctor’s patient becomes ill, it is the doctor’s fault, and the doctor treats the patient free of charge.

Chinese medicine consists of food (and herbs), detoxication, energy (through acupuncture and qigong), exercise, meditation and counseling. Their longevity is greater than ours in the west, and their health care system, though supporting many many more people than ours, is much cheaper than ours. So, let us take a look at this thing we call the immune system. Top

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The Immune System: A New Paradigm

The immune system is a circulating consciousness. I know this is hard for you to believe, but the new paradigm states that the mind is not limited to residing in the skull.

You may eat a perfect diet of raw organic whole foods, drink purified water, and jog five miles a day. But if you are going through a divorce, have recently lost a loved one, or are about to be fired from your job, you can, and probably will, get very sick. Your immune system listens to your inner thoughts, and of the many millions of thoughts we have each day, more than 85% of them are the thoughts we had yesterday.

For you people who find this hard to believe or accept, there is a new science in the West called psychoneuroimmunology: the study of how our emotions affect our immune system. Recent studies from Harvard Medical School have shown that our immune cells have receptors for chemicals produced by our brains, by our thoughts. Even more recently, it has been discovered that the immune cells actually create some of the chemicals that were once thought to be created only by the brain.

positive mental attitude has been recommended for years when we are faced with a chronic or fatal disease. However, recent studies show that this can actually have little, or no, or even a disastrous effect on the disease, and why is that? Some people maintain a positive mental attitude because they are terrified to have one negative thought enter their minds. This terror is translated by the immune system into dysfunction.

The Noetic Institute put together a list of over 3,000 people who have had a spontaneous remission of cancer. The one thing common to all these people was their ability to transcend their cancer, to transcend their fear of their cancer.

Hatred is a deadly toxin to the immune system. Fear is just as deadly. This is where meditation, counseling, and love come into the arena of perfect healing. The stories of these 3,000 prove this out. (If and when a book or publication from this study is available, I will inform all of you where to get a copy.)

Learning to meditate, to still the mind, and slip into the cracks between the emptiness (as Deepak Chopra puts it) where you can discover the universe of infinite possibilities, can be the best medicine ever prescribed. It is free and powerful. And it has been said, "If you don’t go within, you go without."

Interleukins were talked about in the the previous article on the immune system. Interleukin therapy for cancer can cost upwards of $40,000. Did you know that whatever exhilarates you to the point of intoxication produces thousands of dollars of Interleukins? Ride Magic Mountain at Disneyland. Go sailing. Ride a horse. Climb a mountain. Find that place where time stands still. Your immune system will become charged. Top

Don't just hang around doing nothing . . . .


 


Nutrition

Science is still in its infancy when it comes to nutrition. Physicians don’t study it in medical school. Yet both Socrates and Thomas Edison have told us to let our "food be our medicine."

The biochemistry of the human body is so complex that we still know so very little about it. And if we were to know everything about it, no one person could hold or comprehend all that information.

We do know that eating a carrot and taking a supplement of beta carotene are not equal, for the carrot delivers more nutrition and fiber. This is because of what we call synergy. Synergy means that the sum of parts is greater than the whole, or 1 + 1 is greater than two. Getting the whole carrot into our systems is better than taking twice as much vitamin A or beta carotene.

However, in the West here, we believe in reductionism: that a part is equal to the whole. When an herb works, our scientists immediately want to reduce the equation to the actual working part. We pull this chemical from that plant and think that it’s better than the plant, when, time and time again, this proves false, and here is one example:

The May apple, a highly toxic plant (except for the actual fruit), has been used to keep potato bugs away from potato plants. It’s leaves and roots are ground up and placed around the potato plant. Science discovered that active chemical in the May apple, removed it, and used it on potato plants. The first year this kept away potato bugs. The second year, the bugs were back. Using the entire plant year after year keeps bugs away year after year.

Let your food be your medicine, and supplement only as needed. If you don’t eat enough dark green vegetables, you are not getting your calcium and magnesium. If you drink milk, you are getting a lot more than you really want (cow DNA and hormones), but still are not getting your magnesium. If you take a supplement of Calcium, you are not getting your magnesium, and the other chemicals strong bones need. If you must supplement your calcium, the best calcium on the market is Bone Calcium, containing Magnesium, Phosphorus, Zinc, Copper, Vitamin D, Manganese, and Boron. This is the best calcium available (short of those dark green vegetables). And the cheapest and purest form we have found so far of Bone Calcium is made by NOW Foods. Look for it in your health food stores.

All of us should be eating organic food only. Why? Our farming practices have raped the land. The nutritional value of today’s factory farmed foods cannot compare to the nutritional value of foods grown in the late thirties. And no matter what the media tells you (I’ve seen too many news casts stating that the only difference between organically grown foods and conventionally grown foods is the price), keep in mind the source of these messages. Follow the money trail. The food industry depends heavily on advertisements, which pay for air time, which pay the salaries of those who tell us what’s what. And if there is no difference in these two farming practices, why is the food industry trying to bend the rules so that they too can produce organic foods? And produce them without being totally organic, we might add.

The toxins in our foods have few short term effects on our health. What are the long term effects? Is not cancer becoming epidemic? We are what we eat (and think). Common sense should tell us that something that can kill insects shouldn’t be ingested by humans.

Additionally, pesticides are most harmful to people with weakened immune system, children, and the elderly. Trace amounts of seventeen pesticides have been found in the top baby foods sold in the US. Commercially grown produce contains high levels of toxic heavy metals and are lower in the minerals selenium and potassium. Xenoestrogens, harmful estrogens linked to breast cancer, are found in pesticides. Top
 


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Foods That Boost the Immune System

Garlic & Onions: The phytochemicals (plant chemicals) in both onions and garlic have shown to increase T-cell activity. Daily, eat them daily. And garlic, well, take a look at what garlic can do:

Recent studies on garlic have shown it to be:

  1. Insecticidal—kills insects.
  2. Parasiticidal—eliminates parasites.
  3. Antibacterial—a wide spectrum antibiotic that doesn’t kill the good bacteria.
  4. Antifungal—eliminates fungal growth.
  5. Antitumor—eliminates various tumors
  6. Hypoglycemic—lowers sugar levels in the blood
  7. Hypolipidemic—lowers harmful fat levels in the blood
  8. Antiatherosclerotic—eliminates clogging of the arteries and plaque buildup, lowering cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
Additionally, garlic helps to flush toxic heavy metals from your body and is a powerful antioxidant that keeps your cholesterol from oxidizing (cholesterol is not the culprit of heart disease, but oxidized cholesterol is).

Hippocrates, the father of medicine, was the first to write that garlic was an excellent medicine for eliminating tumors.

When sick, if your stomach can take it, seven good sized cloves of garlic per day are recommended by naturopathic physicians. If you can't "stomach" that amount, find an aged garlic. Additionally, it has been found that cooking decreases some of garlic's anti-cancer properties, thus it is recommended to chop up your garlic and let it sit for ten minutes (to let the enzymes go to work) before cooking. A lot of people add garlic to their recipes as the last step. Top

Mushrooms: These are not your ordinary white capped mushroom sold in supermarkets, but the Reishi, Shitake, Maitake mushrooms specifically. The Reishi mushroom has been shown to have anti-aging and immunorestorative powers, and studies from Japan and Russia showed tumor reduction in as high as 98% of patients; 80% having complete remission. The National Cancer Institute began testing the Maitake mushroom in 1991 on both anit-HIV and anti-tumor activities. It proved even more effective against tumors than the Reishi mushroom and they were able to keep 97% of 300,000 HIV infected T-cells with only 1/100,000 gram of the Maitake compound.

These are found in health food stores, as well as concentrates (which are highly recommended). Top

Beans: You name it, they are all good for you. They are fiber filled which helps maintain the colon health.

Soybeans: These contain chemicals that fight cancer, enhance immune function, replace estrogen, and provide a great source of protein. Note: People with estrogen receptive breast cancer should avoid soybean products, as the soybean contains a plant form of estrogen. Top

The soybean has wonderful anti-cancer properties. Death by prostate cancer is nearly nonexistent in countries where soy products are eaten daily.

Carotenoids: The yellow vegetables: yams, yellow beets, carrots, pumpkins and gourds. High in antioxidants and fiber. Alpha carotene (something you really cannot get from a supplement) is high in these plants and have a powerful inhibitory effect on tumors. And don't forget Tomatoes! Tomatoes contain lycopene, a powerful anti-cancer carotenoid. Lycopene is best absorbed when eaten with oil. This is a good time to add some flax oil to your system too.  Top

Dark Greens: Your liver loves the dark green vegetables (it hates sweets and fats). There are more phytochemicals in these dark green veggies than we can list here, only to say that they fight cancer promote bone growth, clean your liver, and of course, are filled with antioxidants.

Cruciferous Vegetables: Broccoli, cabbage, bok choy, cauliflower, salad radishes, mustard greens, turnips, rutabaga, kale, daidon, collard greens, and watercress are all cruciferous vegetables. After years of claiming that diet had no connection to nutrition, the American Cancer Society finally came out and promoted eating cruciferous vegetables as a cancer preventative. These veggies increase levels of glutathione (GLUE-ta-THIGH-own) which is an extremely important factor to a healthy immune system and is a detoxifyer that eliminates carcinogens. Low levels of glutathione lead to aging and death.

Broccoli contains sulphoraphane, a phytonutrient (plant nutrient) that helps T-cells to recognize cancer cells as invaders and signal killer cells (NK-cells) to destroy them. Broccoli sprouts contain ten times more sulphoraphane than the full grown vegetable.

Cayenne Pepper: Hot peppers are great for circulation, aid in the hormonal communication process, and increase the absorption speed as well as the strength and action of anything you take with them. Top

Essential Fatty Acids: We all need our omega-3 and omega-6 oils. Flax oil and Evening Primrose oil are two of the healing oils containing your omega-3s. Flax seeds ground up and put on cereal in the morning or placed in salads is a great way to take these. Tons of research shows that Flax Oil helps reduce cholesterol levels and inhibits tumor growth. Extra Virgin Olive Oil is another healing oil; containing your omega-6s. In countries where partially hydrogenated oils are avoided and greater than 40% of their diets are fats (from Extra Virgin Olive Oil), heart disease is virtually nonexistent and cancer rates are much lower than ours.

Purslaine is a common weed growing almost everywhere. It is high in Omega-3 oils and antioxidants. Toss some in your salad.

These highly energetic omega-3 oils have been known to reverse cancer, heart disease, Type II Diabetes, and behavioral disorders. If you've forgotten Johanna Budwig's wonderful recipe, click here, and chow down.

For a very healing combination of Flax and Evening Primrose oils, contact dluseth@aol.com.

Herb Salads: Your herb garden contains antioxidants: basil, oregano, dill, cilantro, you name it. In fact, the most powerful antioxidant in your garden is fresh oregano. When you make a salad, always include lots of fresh organic herbs.

Healing Fruits: Dark-colored fruits contain the highest levels of phytonutrients, bioflavanoids, and antioxidants. Berries (cranberries, blueberries, bilberries, raspberries and strawberries) are packed with antioxidants. Blueberries and cranberries contain anthocyanins which, in addition to being a potent antioxidant, is also a free radical scavenger. Dark grapes contain ellagic acid, selenium, and quercetin (a powerful flavonoid). Studies show that grapes enhance natural killer cells and can eliminate small tumors. Grape seed contains proanthocyanidin oligomers (PCO), or as you find them in the health food store: Pycnogenol. Get a blender and blend up your dark grapes (concord's are the best, followed by purple grapes) seeds and all.

Ellagic acid is anti-mutagenic (stops mutations of your cells which can lead to cancer). Grapes, raspberries, black currants walnuts, and strawberries are the best sources for ellagic acid. Prostate cancer rated are low in people who eat a diet rich in these fruits, especially strawberries.

Important! Eat organic fruits only. Were I to tell you how conventionally raised berries are shipped, you'd never eat a conventionally raised berry again.

Nuts & Seeds: Both of these contain essential fatty acids and many are rich in antioxidants, besides being a wonderful source of protein. Pumpkin seeds battle parasites, and pistachio nuts aid in digestion. Many nutritional cancer centers recommend not eating nuts because they can be hard to digest given a weakened condition. Almonds contain amygdalin, a natural source of Laetrile.

Avoid nuts that have been processed. Your better health food stores will refrigerate nuts and seeds because they contain volatile oils. You should too.

Water: pure, filtered water. By the age of, roughly, 35, our bodies lose the ability we had when younger to feel dehydration. Go figger. Most Americans are in a constant state of dehydration. Dehydration is a prime cause of aging. It is also linked to heart disease and can cause your blood, filled with free radicals, to form a precancerous condition. Some people never drink water, but subsist on coffee, tea, and soda pop, and then they wonder why they are always sick. For every caffeinated or alcoholic beverage, your body needs twice that amount of water, for both caffeine and alcohol are dehydrating. We need at least 8 to 10 cups of water per day. And that water should be filtered. Chlorinated water is filled with many toxins and heavy metals. Chlorinated water also attacks your good bacteria. Many reconstituted fruit drinks and most soda pops are made with chlorinated and fluoridated water. Read labels. Fluoridated water (which, by the way, is helpful only for children under the age of six) has been linked to Alzheimer's, for it crosses the the blood-brain barrier bonded with aluminum.

There are two products that help your body absorb water. You see, water molecules bond together and do not easily pass through the cell walls in this condition. Both Willard Water™ and Crystal Energy™ break down these bonded molecules, allowing water to quickly penetrate our cells. If taking medication with water in this form, be careful: the medications will enter your body's cells much quicker, and at a greater strength. Willard Water™ can be purchased at most health food stores, and Crystal Energy™ was made by the same genius who invented Mycrohydrin™ (you'll have to find a distributor on the web).   Top
 


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Foods to Avoid

All processed foods. It's that easy. I'm sure you've heard stories about someone's granddad who smoked and drank whiskey and lived to be 85. Well, granddad ate darn good whole foods, got lots of exercise, and probably never touched partially hydrogenated oils. Perhaps without the smoking and drinking, he could have lived to 130.

Read Labels: a good rule of thumb is, if you can't pronounce it, don't eat it.

Now correct me if I'm out of line here, but even in the Bible (and many other ancient texts) we are told that everything we need for our survival was given to us by our Creator. Now when exactly did this humble human creature suddenly begin to believe that his efforts could outdo our Creator's initial plan? When did this ultramodern, hypersupersillious animal we call Human suddenly decide that his food was better for us than His food?

Avoid all Genetically Engineered foods, all foods with an extended shelf life, all foods that contain artificial colors and artificial flavorings. Artificial foods are for artificial people.

The less time you spend in the kitchen, the less time you spend on earth. A very simple equation.

Do not microwave your food; microwaved food changes your blood; if you're looking for a precancerous condition, you'll find it if you eat microwaved foods. (See Hidden Hazards of Microwave Cooking.)

Cook only in stainless steal, cast iron, pottery, or glass cookware.

Avoid white sugar (it is not a food, it is a drug and it is immunosuppressive), white flour, white rice, processed salt, all processed oils, and especially all partially hydrogenated oils. Read labels.

Deep fried foods deliver oxidized oils, grilled foods fill you with free radicals, and processed foods (hotdogs, packaged meats, packaged bread and cake mixes) contain oxidized cholesterol. Packaged meats, pickles, and salted foods contain nitrates that turn into nitrosamines which are carcinogenic. Sure, your antioxidants and probiotics can protect you from these chemicals, but avoiding them in the first place is also a possibility.

I've heard many responses to the above nutritional guidelines that all boil down to one thing: I gotta die some time, so I'm gonna have fun and eat what I want. (One person telling me this exact statement suffered from diabetes (adult onset), chronic asthma, and fibromyalgia. I wanted to ask him/her if s/he was really having fun.)

Well, these rules aren't hard and fast. Once in a while you can go out and enjoy yourself, especially if you toss down some vitamin E, A, C, Beta Carotene, selenium and probiotics before and after your night out. It is not what you do Saturday night that counts, but what you do the rest of the week..

Yes, we all have to die sometimes, but wouldn't it be nice to have a productive life up to that final day, and to put off that final day till you're very very old? Wouldn't it be nice for your last days to be lived in the loving environment of your family and friends rather than hooked up to IVs and electronic monitors, surrounded by nurses and doctors, and not spend your accumulated fortune or the public coffers on those last few minutes?

How much is death with dignity worth? Or better still, how much is your quality of life worth? Why not ask someone during their last days in the hospital if they'd like to have a few moments more, and if they could go back and treat their bodies correctly, would they?

We all have to go sometimes, but while we're here, why not make it quality time?

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Supplements for Your Immune System

Sometimes our diets need a little help. Foods are better than supplements, but the following list can round out your diet.

Vitamins & Minerals: every function of your immune system needs vitamins and minerals to work properly. The best way to get your vitamins and minerals is through food, organic whole foods: dark greens, fresh fruits, you know, all those things lacking in the Standard American Diet (SAD). The best foods on the planet are superfoods (see below). Most vitamins and minerals sold are garbage. Foods fortified with vitamins and minerals are garbage also. In study after study, animals raised on processed foods die early; those raised on fortified foods do not fare much better; and those raised on organic whole foods are the healthiest.

The best vitamins I've found come from NOW Foods, Inc. and Standard Process Labs. NOW Foods products can be found in most health food stores and purchased on the web. NOW Foods products are not advertised and their sales staff is quite small, thus their prices are the best you will find. Standard Process Labs, probably the best company around because all of their products are made from organic whole foods, can be purchased only from health care practitioners. Top

Colloidal Minerals: There has been lots of hubbub concerning these minerals as of late, mainly because if we eat supermarket foods, we don’t get any. We’ve depleted the minerals in our factory farmed lands, and they will not be put back for thousands of years. NOW® makes a good brand, as does Simply Natural Products. The more natural the minerals (pulled from the original mountain streams) the better. Some minerals under a microscope are larger than your blood platelets and can do harm. The best natural minerals come from your sea veggies, such as dolse and kelp. Top

Antioxidants: Sometimes we don’t get enough. Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Selenium, Pycnogenols. All of these are great antioxidants. I just recently discovered a new manmade antioxidant: pure hydrogen with an extra electron. It is the smallest antioxidant known to us, and can get virtually anyplace in the body. Your body needs hydrogen, and as we age, we seem to hold less and less. The product is called Mycrohydrin ™, and is sold through MLM. You'll have to search the web to find someone who sells it.

Eat dark fruits, as they contain more antioxidants. Dark grapes are better than white grapes. And the skins contain bioflavanoids that assist vitamin C, support your immune system, and strengthen your veins and arteries.

Speaking of vitamin C, Someone sent me a warning about Vitamin C and how too much can cause kidney stones and diarrhea. This is the kind of thing the "establishment" wishes us to know. This way, we are sure to look to the established medical community to dictate what we should take.

However, if these people were truly interested in empowering the individual, the article would have told us how kidney stones are avoided, how much Vitamin C we need, and how to determine how much is too much. That’s asking a bit too much of the establishment, so I will tell you the whats and hows of Vitamin C.

If you are a smoker or live in a location with air pollution, you might need between 4,000 and 6,000 mg of Vitamin C per day. And if you have cancer, there are cancer clinics that recommend 20,000 to 40,000 mg per day of Vitamin C.

First let’s talk about the kidney stones. Vitamin C is an acid. Taking too much acid into your body causes the body to become out of balance, and wishing to maintain homeostasis (a state of balance), the body goes to the calcium bank. Calcium will buffer the Vitamin C and return the body’s pH back to normal. However, most often, too much calcium is released and it must be passed. Americans are in a constant state of dehydration: walk into any elementary school, and because boys have a tendency not to flush, go examine the urinals. You will surely find one filled with brown urine. This brown urine is caused by dehydration. Dark yellow urine is a sign of dehydration. Our drinks are caffeinated . For every cup of caffeinated beverage, our bodies need at least two cups of water. For every cup of alcoholic beverage, our bodies need at least two cups of water. This being the case, our dehydration syndrome, the calcium that goes to the kidneys for a flushing, doesn’t get a flushing. It sits there and aggregates into stones.

You should note that osteoporosis is connected to this "acidic" state also: red meat eaters develop an acidic state requiring the body to go to the calcium bank to maintain proper pH. The calcium bank is your system of bones.

Taking large doses of Vitamin C requires that you also take Calcium to buffer the acidic imbalance. Taking Calcium means you must keep hydrated to flush the excess.

Now for the diarrhea side of the problem. Here is where you can discover for yourself, how much Vitamin C your body needs. When you take too much Vitamin C, you reach what is called your "bowel tolerance level, " meaning you get diarrhea. When you are sick, you need more and more Vitamin C.

So, first look around you and determine the level of your toxicity: do you smoke, is your air polluted, is your food polluted with insecticides and herbicides? The more toxic your environment, the more Vitamin C you need. If you are a smoker, start with 4 or 5 thousand mg per day. If your environment is not very polluted and you don’t smoke, start with 1 to 3 thousand mg per day. Each day increase your Vitamin C intake by 500 or 1000 mg, until you reach your stool softens, then drop it back 500 or 1000 mg. It’s that simple. And when you are sick, up it 5 or 10 thousand, depending on your original needs. But do this slowly.

What is the best form of Vitamin C? Well, I used to believe along with Linus Pauling that the best was the cheapest, and I bought it in bulk. I placed 5,000 mg in a glass of organic apple juice, put Sucanat® in it to cut the sour taste, and took 1000 mg of Calcium to buffer it. However, again and again, Esterfied Vitamin C has consistently shown to be a better form (though more expensive). The body retains it longer, and less is required. Thus I discovered NOW Food's® version of Ester-C ™ , which comes buffered. Today I make my drinks daily using this product. Top

Search the web for NOW Foods®, and you'll find sites that sell their products even cheaper than your local health food stores.

One more thing: we are currently writing our third edition of the Wellness Directory of Minnesota with a focus on cardiovascular care and would like to pass this tidbit on to you: your cholesterol count means nothing by itself; the biggest fraud in the history of medicine is this supposed link between high cholesterol levels and heart disease, and the most dangerous drugs to come along since chemotherapy are the cholesterol lowering drugs. (See The Cholesterol Myth.) It is not the amount of cholesterol in your blood that affects your arteries, but rather the rate at which cholesterol oxidizes. Antioxidants stop cholesterol from oxidizing.

Enzymes & Stomach Acid: this is one subject that drives me up a wall. The Standard American Diet (SAD), besides being devoid of fiber, contains no enzymes. Enzymes are necessary for nearly every chemical process in your body. When creating enzymes for digestion, your body is not producing enzymes for your immune system. Since our diets lack necessary enzymes (and they cannot be synthesized in a laboratory), our vital organs are constantly over burdened by our diets.

Secondly, heartburn, in most cases, is caused by too little stomach acid, and not, as television commercials would have you believe, by too much. Antacids are killing us slowly. Your food needs to be digested in order to assimilate the nutrition from it.

Any physician prescribing or recommending antacids without testing your to see if you have too little or too much is guilty of gross malpractice. I mentioned this once in an online chat room, and got the response, "Sure, now we're going to have lawsuits over Tums®."

Ok, let's discuss this. If most indigestion is caused by too little stomach acid and your doctor recommends you take an antacid, yes, your heartburn will stop. Having too little stomach acid (or lacking proper enzymes, another factor), your food sits in your stomach and starts to ferment and bubble. The bubbles touch the tender parts of your esophagus causing pain and discomfort. Taking an antacid will destroy what little stomach acid you do have and relieve the pain. However, what passes into your small intestines and eventually into your colon is a glob of undigested food, from which you cannot get the nutrition you need and can lead to food allergies. Since we all to eat the things we like, many people have a low grade food allergies to their favorite foods. What does this all mean? First, you are malnourished. Your immune system needs nourishment. You should know that by now! And secondly, food allergies overburden your undernourished immune system. What does this all add up to? Chronic life threatening illness.

In a past editorial I brought up the subject of iatrogenic (physician induced) deaths. The best figures indicate that between 200,000 and 300,000 people are killed yearly in America by medical procedures and intervention. However, according to Dr Schulze, an herbalist who was arrested and jailed for practicing medicine without a license, when he was actually practicing naturopathy, given situations like the one described above and countless related situations in which we put our personal healthcare in the hands of a physician, he's concluded that millions are killed each year by physicians.

Physicians know only what they have been taught. Physicians are not taught orthomolecular biology because it is based on nutrition, and physicians know little, if anything, about nutrition. Since most of the diseases of that latter half of the 20th century have been diseases of the fork, I must concur with the good Dr Schulze. Modern medicine is deadly. It will change, but you must change first.

It is highly recommended to take enzymes with meals. Pancreatic enzymes, a great preventative for cancer (because they eat cancer cells), should be taken also (early in the morning and in the early afternoon, in addition to meal times, seem to work best). Enzymes assist you in getting the nutrition you need, take the burden off your digestive organs, and even allow your body to digest parasites and their eggs. Papaya enzymes are chewable, taste great, are a great after dinner treat, and will stop bad breath caused by stomach problems and eating things with strong odors.

Adding betaine hydrochloride to a meal is recommended if you lack stomach acid. People with the most common blood type, A, usually lack stomach acid. You can go to your doctor for a test to see if you are producing enough stomach acid, or for a less invasive test, pick up some litmus paper from your local pharmacy. When you awaken, before you brush your teeth, test the acid in your mouth. Then, fifteen minutes after you've eaten, test again. If the acidity does not rise, you're not producing enough stomach acid.

Now, certain foods produce an abundance of stomach acid in certain people. So be careful. Personally, tomatoes do this to me. Before taking an antacid, take some calcium pills. Calcium needs acid to be absorbed into your body. It buffers the stomach acid (give it some time), and you probably know that Tums® contains calcium. However now you know something all those doctors who prescribe Tums® as a calcium supplement don't: the calcium in Tums® is less available to your body because of the other chemicals it contains that help to buffer your stomach acid; because calcium needs an acidic environment to be absorbed.

Probiotics: These are the good bacteria of your immune system. There are over 400 strains of good bacteria, some live within your system, and some are transient (they travel through your system doing their jobs and are passed out). Acidophilus and bifidus are the two most prevalent probiotics in your system. Probiotics turn harmful chemicals into harmless chemicals, and they excrete vitamins! Soda pops, alcohol, and antibiotics can reduce their number. Organic yogurt is a good way to get many of your probiotics, and helps to eliminate excess estrogen. Keep all probiotics refrigerated.

Fresh vegetables provide us with the transient good bacteria, but they must be organically grown and not irradiated. Top

Bovine Colostrum with transfer factor is a wonderful new supplement that supplies your immune system with some bifidus and other factors. Colostrum is the milk produced the first 24 hours after giving birth. It is expensive, but powerful, and is being tested with very good results so far on people with AIDS. Top

Echinacea: Nothing boosts T-cell levels like echinacea. There are some really lousy forms of it on the market, but HerbPharm makes a good one. If you can squeeze a dropper full under your tongue and hold it there with no pain, it’s not a very good brand. Good echinacea tincture burns your tongue. Echinacea shouldn't be taken for more than too weeks at a time, and then rest for at least two weeks. It kickstarts your immune system, and like a car, you don't turn the key when the engine is already running. Top

Additionally: most herbalists are wimps. Too keep the FDA off their backs, their recommended dosages are too small to do anything. Can you overdose from Echinacea? Not unless you drink a quart of tincture, and it's the alcohol that will kill you.

If you just want to boost your immune system, take three dropperfuls (one dropperful is just one squeeze, not the whole dropper full!) one to three times a day.

If you feel something coming on, take three dropperfuls three to six times a day.

If you are downright sick, drink one ounce in the morning, finish off another ounce over the next two days, and then finish off two ounces over the next week, then let it rest. Top

Cat's Claw: from a plant in South America, Cats Claw has been used historically by the natives as a cancer remedy. Recent studies do show that immune response is promoted by using Cats Claw, enhancing T-Cell production.

pencil_new.gif (5746 bytes)Celtic Sea Salt: Throw out your processed salt! Normal table salt is 98% sodium; the rest are toxic chemicals from the processing. Salt companies make their profits by selling they minerals they've extracted from salt; selling salt is only a sideline. Celtic Sea Salt contains 85% sodium, the rest being minerals. Our bodies come from the sea; all of our biochemical functions are supported and enhanced when we we stop poisoning ourselves with processed table salt and switch to Celtic Sea Salt. Keep in mind that just because your health oriented market carries something called sea salt that once processed, salt is salt; it doesn't matter where it comes from. There are two places on the web to order Celtic Sea Salt, at least two we recommend:

The Grain & Salt Society: http://www.celtic-seasalt.com/

Health Freedom Resources: http://www.healthfree.com/

Beta-1,3-D-Glucan: If you'll recall from the previous article on the immune system, macrophages (big eaters) are the clean-up crew of the immune system, scavenging the blood for pathogens and debris that float through the blood. A macrophage knows only self and other. Beta Glucan keeps your macrophages in a state of preparedness, increasing all subsequent immune responses. Beta Glucan gives your immune system a wakeup call.

It is a polysaccharide that has had extensive research since the fifties for its anti-tumor and immunosupportive properties. It comes from a mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus).

MGN-3: This is a patented substance derived from a mixture of rice bran and mushroom extracts, substances already proven to be immunosupportive. Six years of research show that MGN-3 boosts the activity of both T and B lymphocytes which play a major role in overall immune response, in addition to protecting the body from antigens such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi. They also destroy cancer cells. Additionally, MGN-3 increases the production of interferon and TNF (tumor necrosis factor) and stimulates NK cell (Natural Killer cell) activity. NK cells target viruses and tumors. One study showed that, using the highest dose of three grams (for a 150 pound individual) per day, NK cell activity increased 800% after just one week, and at the end of the test, just two months, NK cell activity was 27 times greater. Now hear this: NK cell activity continued to increase for six months after its use was discontinued.

We must point out that numbers such as these (reported in 1998 in the International Journal of Immunotherapy and at the 87th annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research) are unprecedented. MGN-3 might just be the the most powerful immune system booster ever discovered, at least, thus far.

Cancer tries to hide from the immune system using a veritable repertoire of tricks and disguises. However, cancer cannot hide from an immune system charged with MGN-3. Dr Mamdooh Ghoneum, the physician who has been studying MGN-3 for over six years, reports to have the first documented cure for multiple myeloma using MGN-3 only, in addition to complete remission in four other individuals having breast, prostate, and ovarian cancers.

Other things that have responded quite dramatically to the use of MGN-3 are advanced cervical dysplasia, Hepatitis B and C, and though not a cure for AIDS, HIV replication is inhibited and immune function has increased using MGN-3.

MGN-3 is also touted as an adjunct to chemotherapy, as side-effects are minimized and immunosuppression due to chemotherapy is reduced.

MGN-3 produces no side effects, aids in battling tumors and viruses, is a near perfect preventative and restorative, and costs about $60 for a bottle of fifty, 250 mg capsules.

Cell Forte with IP-6: Inositol and IP-6 are the main ingredients here, a natural substance found in grains such as corn and rice bran (see above). This product is derived from rice.  Dr Shamduddin, MD, PhD, from the University of Maryland is the world's leading researcher on inositol and IP-6, and received a patent for discovering the relationship between these two substances and enhanced NK cell activity. For further information, see Alternative Cancer Therapies.

This next group of supplements are categorized as Immunomodulators. Sometimes boosting the immune system is not what is needed, such as in cases of Lupus and Leukemia, because with these disorders, the immune systems have gone overboard and are so hyped up already, that they need to come down before they kill the patient. An immunomodulator modulates the immune system, bringing it up when needed, and bringing it down when needed.

Aloe Vera: This is actually a food (once processed), one to be used as your medicine. It was mentioned in the Bible, and has been used medicinally for centuries. However, because of loose FDA regulations, the 100% Aloe Vera juice you purchase might contain only one tablespoon of real Aloe Vera. It has taken me 7 years of research to find the most potent form of Aloe Vera, and my back room is filled with bottles I’ve ordered from this company. Each bottle guarantees a minimum of 13,000 mg of the active polysaccharides, though independent analysis has shown that number to be from 18,000 to 22,000 mg. Studies from Texas A&M shows tumor reduction in liver tumors using just 1,000 mg of the polysaccharides per day.

Dr Reginald McDaniel, a pathologist and researcher at the Dallas-Fort Worth Medical Center has stated:

"The use of Aloe Vera will be the most important single step forward in the treatment of diseases in the history of mankind.
"In clinical studies of whole-leaf Aloe Vera’s internal and external users during the past six months, I have personally witnessed mitigations or complete resolutions of the following: abrasions, acne, actinic keratoses, AIDS, allergic reactions, arthritis, boils, bruises, burns, bursitis, candidiasis, carbuncles, chapped/cracked skin, colds, colic, constipation, dandruff, denture sores, diabetes, edema, Epstein-Barr virus (chronic fatigue), fungal infections, genital herpes, gingivitis, hemorrhoids, herpes simplex and zoster, hypertension, indigestion, infections, inflammation, insect bites, insomnia, menstrual cramps and irregularity, nausea, parasites, peptic and duodenal ulcers, rashes, reflex esophagitis, seborrhea, sprains, staph infections, stings, sunburns, tendonitis, ulcerations, ulcerative colitis, vaginitis, varicose veins, viral infections, warts, and yeast infections." Additionally, aloe vera can detox your colon, aid in indigestion, clean up mucus from your colon, and because of its penetration effect, it can deliver more potently everything you take with it.

Where can you get the best Aloe Vera? Trust me it. It was a long, tough search. The company is called Simply Natural Products. You might be able to find their products at your local health food store (or if not, ask them to order it). Or order online at http://www.simplynaturalproducts.com. Check out their web site; lots of great research articles on Aloe Vera.  Top

PCM-4: This is a combination of a patented polypeptide, glycosides, and glycopeptides that is manufactured in Germany. All components are FDA approved for over-the-counter sales in the US. First tested in Africa on AIDS patients, studies her in the US have proven it to be a powerful immunomodulator and fine adjunct to chemotherapy cutting the side effects and enhancing immune response.

In AIDS studies, TNF (Tumor Necrosis Factor) production is turned off (TNF is the killer in AIDS) though in cancer studies, TNF production is boosted. It is antiviral and unlike some antivirals, it actually supports bone marrow function, eliminating anemia in most cases. It raises CD4 counts and stops the wasting syndrome, again, in most cases.

For more information on where to find PCM-4, contact your local pharmacy or call 800-886-6342. A month's supply is right around $100.

Moducare™ Sterinol™: developed by a self-taught biologist, chemist, herbalist in Africa who went back to his roots to uncover the properties of herbal folk remedies, this is probably one of the biggest break-throughs in modern immunology. Twenty-five years of research, testing, and studies have produced this over-the-counter preparation that is reversing allergies, arthritis, lupus, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and viral infections. Additionally, there is strong evidence that this product aids significantly in the battles against cancer, AIDS, leukemia, diabetes, and hepatitis C.

It is manufactured from food. That carrot you had for lunch had some of this in it, but you would have had to stuff yourself and your pockets to get the amount found in one capsule.

Moducare™ Sterinol™ is a true immune system modulator. In lupus, allergies, and leukemia, it brings down the immune response. In viral infections and cancers, it brings the immune response up. For more information on this product, its complete history and applications, you might wish to read The Immune System Cure, or visit www.moducare.com.

Tripterygium Wilfordii hook: a vine from southern China, used for hundreds of years in Chinese medicine to relieve rheumatoid arthritis symptoms. In May of 1999, Stanford University researchers pulled the active ingredient triptolide from the plant and discovered it to be more potent than the conventional drugs cyclosporin and FK506 in tempering the immune system and produced far fewer side effects. In organ transplants, traditionally the drugs cyclosporin and FK506 are given to the patient to stop the patient's immune system from rejecting the new organ, however, because of the weakened condition of the patient, these two drugs can do more harm than good. Triptolide, however, produced no adverse reaction, and the researchers concluded that the drug could be significant in treating patients suffering from graft vs. host disease, inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and lupus.

Additionally they found that triptolide is an anti-cancer weapon. Click here to read more.
 


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Superfoods

Superfoods are green and rich in vitamins, minerals, and enzymes. They boost energy and repair immune systems taxed by the overabundance of chemicals we take in from our air, water, and food. One more thing, superfoods prevent cancer. They prevent cancer by supplying our bodies with easily digested simple proteins, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes that boost the immune system. Thousands of people now enjoy superfoods daily and report wonderful results.

Spirulina: Spirulina is algae that comes from salt water and Blue-green Algae comes from fresh water. Algae is the most concentrated, nutritious food on this planet. It is the highest source of complete protein. It is higher in beta carotene than any of the yellow vegetables and a rich source of B-vitamins, especially B-12, which is good news for vegetarians since it is the B-vitamins that are hard to find in their diets without taking supplements. By the way, most B-complex vitamins come from cow and pig kidneys—not good news for vegetarians.

Algae is also a rich source of minerals. It is easily digested and assimilated by the body. If you are juice fasting, be sure to add some of this to your drinks. Algae is so complete that people have reported living solely on the algae for years.

Algae also contains nucleotides, precursors of the nucleic acids found in every living cell, in our DNA and RNA. Not only do nucleotides supply energy directly to the body’s cells, they support all immune system functions.

Algae contains all eight essential amino acids and is high in calcium, magnesium (shown to cut the incidence of sudden heart attack), and potassium. In large quantities, zinc can suppress the immune system, but at small quantities (less than 100 mg per day) boosts immune function: there is just enough zinc in algae to give your system the boost it needs. Containing nearly every mineral available, algae also contains your daily complement of the essential Omega-3 oils. Dr Johanna Budwig believes that for Omega-3 oils to be effective they must be bound with protein. In algae, your Omega-3s are bound with protein.

We should take time out to explain the eight essential amino acids. The protein we take in cannot be used directly by the body. It must be broken down into amino acids and then reconstructed into our bodily proteins. Eight amino acids are considered essential, because they are needed to produce our bodily proteins. Getting amino acids directly avoids the digestive process needed to break down proteins and places less strain on the digestive organs. For degenerative diseases, you will want to take the burden of digestion off your body.

We don’t know why, but there seems to be disagreement about which amino acids are the essential ones: from Dr David Williams who publishes the newsletter Alternatives, we found isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. However, on a bottle of BRAGG LIQUID AMINOS, an alternative to soy sauce, they list histidine instead of tryptophan. People we’ve talked to substitute others still, though most seem to agree with the BRAGG bottle. No matter, when it comes to algae’s amino acids, it has all of them everyone considers essential.

From the August 16, 1989 edition of USA Today, we learned that the National Cancer Institute discovered in preliminary tests that algae is "remarkably active against the AIDS virus." That same day, the New York Times reported that the "active chemicals are combinations of sugars and fatty acids called glycolipids" which are said to stop the growth of the AIDS virus. The most remarkable angle to both of these stories is that everyone concerned spoke of the difficulty of synthesizing these glycolipids to create an AIDS drug. This is remarkable because this inability seems to be their "biggest obstacle." The biggest obstacle is their thinking processes: why make a drug? Why not just use the algae?

Just one more thing: Algae contains the building blocks of neuropeptides to enhance brain activity and make you think and feel better. In medicine you often find that the ones who get better faster are the ones with the better attitudes. Neuropeptides can give you a better attitude. Top

Chlorella: is second only to the blue-green algaes in nutritional content. It too is an algae whose cell wall has been cracked to make the nutrients more available and increase its digestibility. It is high in chlorophyll, which is essential to every anti-cancer diet. Chlorophyll cleans and builds the blood and detoxifies the liver. Chlorella gives you energy, boosts your immune system, and adds to the quality of your life.

A 1940 edition of the American Journal of Surgery reported its use in fighting infection, pyorrhea, and skin problems. A study by the US Army showed that a chlorophyll-rich diet doubled the life span of animals exposed to radiation. [Steenblock, David, MS, DO. "Manna From Japan." Immune Perspectives. Spring, 1994.]

Chlorella’s detoxification properties have been shown to fight cadmium poisoning and PCB poisoning. In addition to its immune system boost, it also has been shown, like green tea, to protect against carcinogens in our food supply. Finally, if constipation is a problem, chlorella will not only stimulate the intestines, but enemas of chlorella can cleanse and detoxify your colon.

In animal studies where mice were fed chlorella before tumor cells were implanted, 80% of the mice showed complete protection from cancer. However, when the chlorella was given after the implantation of the tumor cells, the cancer continued to grow. This, according to Dr David Williams, "This tells us that the ingredients in chlorella act by stimulating the immune system . . . and not by actually killing tumor cells. [Alternatives, October 1989, 3: 4] Top

Alfalfa, Barley, and Wheat Grasses: These are the vitamin and mineral herbs. They are mildly cleansing (detoxifying) and the greatest sources of enzymes. Grain grasses are more potent than the grains themselves, offering us a rich array of vitamins, minerals, and chlorophyll. However, the Gerson Cancer Institute (who fight cancer by nutrition alone) recommends against sprouts as they inhibit many of the enzymatic actions that fight cancer. Top

EnerPrime: Here is a product I found on the web that consists of superfoods and immunomodulators. Its list of ingredients is too great to print here, but I use the product and have spoken to a woman who modern medicine gave up on (she was dying of cervical cancer), and she used only EnerPrime…and is alive today, despite the death sentence her doctor gave her years ago. Top

EnerPrime is a wonderful product. If you want more information about the product, contact Lisa Ulseth, Dlulseth@aol.com.

And Finally:Ultraviolet Blood Irradiation is an old, yet FDA approved therapy for the immune system that is making a comeback.
 


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The Latest Cancer Fighting Drugs


 


Just recently (Feb '98) the media was ablaze with news of two new cancer drugs, Endostatin and Angeostatin. These drugs were successful in eliminating tumorous cancers in rats.

Here is how they work: tumors have a very high rate of metabolism and require lots of nutrition. Cancer patients actually die of starvation as the tumor gets the nutrition the patient needs. Requiring this much nutrition means that many blood vessels to the tumor are needed, and tumors are constantly growing new blood vessels, a process known as angeogenesis. These new drugs are anti-angeogenesis, meaning they stop the growth of new blood vessels, and stop the metastasis of cancer by not allowing the cancer cells to aggregate and grow (they, in effect, die of starvation).

The anti-angeogenesis approach to cancer is not a new one. The drugs are new, but there are natural alternatives already available. Shark cartilage has been used to fight cancer for the past fifteen years (but not in this country).

Additionally, our friend the soy bean contains genistein. Genistein is a wonderful phytochemical that stops the proliferation of cancer cells, and its antiangeogenesis properties are on a par with shark cartilage.

In all fairness to humanity, while the FDA required studies for the release of a new drug are being conducted on these new drugs, we should all write our representatives to force the people in charge to compare these drugs to their natural analogues. The drug companies don’t want us to request this, because when these drugs are released, they will be expensive and will sell faster than the latest drug for male impotence. Top
 


This Just In
3/4/00


 


Scientists have just discovered compounds (in the soil) created by a specific bacterium that might just fight cancer better than Taxol. However, until recently it has been difficult to get more than trace amounts of these compounds to study.

A small California biotechnology reports that is has solved the problem by cloning a cluster of the compound (called epothilones) producing genes and reassembling the genes inside another commonly used bacterium that grows approximately 10 times faster than the natural bugs. With this new supply, a study is underway.

So far the epothilones, in laboratory and animal studies seems much more powerful than Taxol when it comes to killing cancer cells, and even kills those resistant to Taxol.

It must be working because so far, two major drug companies have jumped in hoping to reap the profits from this new therapy.
 
 

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