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The Flu, More on Super Aging Plus Newsbriefs (Con't)

I am concerned, however, for myself and for you. So, what My Tiny Voice is telling me to do is to support my immune system and my overall health terrain. (Factoid: Children succumb to the flu because they have naïve, immature immune systems, while the elderly succumb for the opposite reason: A worn down, tired out immune system and by less robust health overall.)

And bit of recent bad news from the University of Maryland via The Science Daily, 1/18/2018: You know how we always try to stay away from sneezers, coughers and actively sick-looking people and try not to touch stuff like grocery cart handles? Apparently that's not enough as the "flu can be spread just by breathing." Well, now that's upsetting. Actually, sick people, just when they are breathing exude tiny droplets of of aerolisized flu bugs that we, just by being in the same room, can inhale[ these aerosols] and thus, catch the flu.

Flu prevention, of course, is key here, I will be supporting my poor, worn down and tired out immune system in the following ways: NO SUGAR, Good food, lots of hydration, good sleep and avoiding if at all possible huge and presumably unhealthy venues. In addition to this, I will be taking Standard Process' Immuplex at 2 per day, SP's Congaplex at 4-6 per day, a brave swig of Medi-herb's infamously expensive and foul tasting yet famously effective Immune tonic (Echinacea, Licorice and Gingko), and 2,000 mgs. of Perque's vitamin C.

Pathogens cannot live in an acidic milieu (They LOVE alkaline!). Your urine should be acid as well. I will also be healthily acidifying with SP's Cal-Amo, which is a systemic acidifier. Apple cider vinegar can provide systemic acidification as well, but not as strongly as Cal-Amo.

I want to assure you that I wash my hands after every patient, and have my ozonator going at all times. I will also have a diffuser going soon with Young Living's Purification and Thieves. Of course, let's tend to our spiritual and emotional terrains, too, keeping both as stress free and healthy as possible. I am sure there are other things we could do to keep ourselves well, so let me know your thoughts, too. What more can we do?

Now to Super Aging, which is a lot more fun and gratifying than the flu.

"It's not about years. It's not about age. It's not about youth. It's about decline. And decline is about alignment or not. Decline is about, in this moment, which way am I forking? In this moment, which way am I forking. In this moment which way am I forking. That's all it's about." Abraham, August 13, 2005

Last time we talked about how to be a Super Ager through implementing some suggestions given in a highly recommended book by Dale Bredesen, M.D. called The End of Alzheimer's. I ended our discussion with mentioning the number one thing you could do to start this process: Get some specific lab work done! Please review my last newsletter here where I started this conversation.

I went to Kaiser and asked for certain tests that Bredesen recommends, and not surprisingly, my PCP said no to some of them. Here's why. Kaiser, an HMO, wants to spend their money only on conventional lab testing useful for disclosive purposes like confirming a medical diagnosis ie. Does this patient have rheumatoid arthritis? Is her thyroid within normal limits? Is his PSA high-ish? They are only looking for something clinically wrong so they can throw drugs at them, and this isn't because they are mean people, but because they are Pharma-centric, not preventatively oriented.

What I want us to get are tests that are "Predictive Biomarkers." These PB's provide information that delivers "feel the difference results" within a few months of implementing individual habit changes based on the PB results. Bredesen calls it getting your "cognoscopy" done. This will evaluate your levels of inflammation, toxicity, sugar handling and hormones. After we have that information, THEN, and only THEN can we proceed to prevent diseases that might be lurking in your body, stealthily robbing you of your God- given right to be a healthy Super Ager. Don't live in denial about aging and your health! There is so much we can do about turning those higher risk values into normal numbers (I did.), but we need to bring those numbers out of the closet first.

Here are some tests to start with: 1) HbA1C which measures how you are doing with insulin and sugar over a 3 month period. 2) hsCRP which is your repair and inflammation status. 3) hsHomocysteine which is about methylation and detoxification and also cardiovascular risk. 4) Vitamin D for, oh, so very many reasons including your immune system, cellular equilibrium and communication. 5) Omega 3 Index which can measure oxidative stress. If you can't do all, please do the first 4.

Newsbrief: Gout may not only attack fat people, and be caused by their voracious and unattractive eating of large shanks of barbecued meat, but may instead be caused by chronic hyperinsulinemia which is one of the four markers of metabolic syndrome. So, if you have high uric acid levels, for sure continue to watch the amount of protein you eat (no large shanks every day), but also monitor your fructose and sugar consumption. Fruit is good, but not in excess while high fructose corn syrup is never, ever good. And sugar is evil. Reach for a goal of 25 grams and under of fructose per day unless you already have a high uric acid level in which case, go for 15 grams. You can google "grams of fructose in fruit" for an idea of how much and what kind of fruit you can safely eat every day.

Smart Bugs: (This from the Journal of Science, 12/21/17.) Repeated mild food poisoning triggers chronic disease: So you go on a cruise and get a mild case of the norovirus, but that clears up and you feel well again. You go to Whole Foods, eat a nice salad from the salad bar and find yourself having an unwanted date with the toilet, but that clears up after a day or so and you feel well again. Or you have some heart burn which you treat with TUMS or Prilosec and that clears up and you feel well again.

This latest study finds that these mild intestinal issues are not so benign after all and can cause long term inflammation and dysbiosis in the gut which could lead to chronic gut issues like Crohn's, colitis and/or IBS. My advice to you is when you get something like this  mild, limited and seemingly a no biggie  please come to see me to make sure this is so. The bugs are smart  for example, salmonella  and can hide within their self-created biofilms then erupt again whenever they darn well please. ( I would be testing, among other things, for biofilms.)

Newsbrief: Really, just pour it all over everything. Yes, extra virgin olive oil. The research team used mice that were genetically modified to develop memory impairment, amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. And beginning at 6 months of age, half were given EVOO in their chow. At 9 and 12 months of age, mice that received the EVOO performed better on memory tests than the regular chow mice. And brain tissue looked different, too, with less inflammation in the EVOO mice, less tangles, less plaques. EVOO also induced autophagy which means it easily cleared away cellular debris and toxins. (Am.Clinical Neurol, June 21, 2017.

Here are the top 22 foods to put in your grocery cart every week: For your brain; lots of ghee, avocado, coconut oil, eggs, wild caught salmon and nuts. For your gut; kefir, fermented foods, bone broth and psyllium. For your immune system; garlic, onions and mushrooms. For preventing cancer; broccoli, all cruciferous veggies, leeks and black cumin seed. For your heart; beets, arugula, sprouts and microgreens. For inflammation; turmeric and ginger. And lastly the muscle building super foods; whey protein and grass fed beef.

Newsbrief: "The secret to growing older is just not to die." Quoth the 80 year old male bicycler and member of the Sticky bun Bicycling Club in Denver. That works for me.

Eat more Leafy Greens: And, of course, pour olive oil all over them. Researchers studied 960 men and women ages 58 to 99 who recorded what they ate for 5 years. Those who ate the most leafy greens  like collards, lettuce, spinach and kale (one or two servings per day)  scored the equivalent of 11 years younger on tests of mental ability than those who ate little or none. Neurology, June 2018)

Sick, Sugar-holic Mitochondria: All cancers arise from mitochondrial dysfunction (D'Agostino in Mercola.com). When the mitochondria become dysfunctional, they can't suppress tumor growth, and then, at the same time, they suffer from glucose overconsumption. It's well researched that sugar feeds cancer cells and even if you don't eat a lot of sugar, the mitochondria will pull whatever sugar and even fructose from your cells to feed their "habit." You know how when you are tired you just want to eat everything in the fridge and nosh on sugary foods? That's what the mitochondria do.

So, how can we fix this? Start with your diet, and adopt a low-carb, high healthy-fat diet and fast for at least 12-13 hours a day. In rats, the best results were obtained from a combination of the ketogenic diet and ketone supplementation, like MCT oil. It certainly stops sugar cravings and will unlock mitochondrial health.

Eating Fast: (Uh Oh.) That would be me. Researchers observed more than 1,000 middle-aged participants, and based on the results, those who ate faster were "five-and-a-half times more likely than slow eaters to go on to develop metabolic syndrome. This is a cluster of conditions including obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high blood sugar. These are all cardiovascular risk factors. Plus fast eating could also cause overeating. Whoa, Nellie. Slow down. (Dr. Yakayuki, cardiologist at Hiroshima University in Japan).

Newsbrief: The Paleo diet is healthier for overweight women, according to researchers at Umea University in Sweden. A post-doc there spent two years following a group of 70 post-menopausal women with a body mass index exceeding 27. (This is considered to be overweight.) Half the group ate a "healthy" diet ( including grains) while the other half ate Paleo. Both groups lost weight and both groups had reduced inflammation, but the women who followed the Paleo Diet had a significant reduction in unhealthy abdominal fat, which is not only the bane of the post-menopausal woman's existence, but is a harbinger for the development of Type 2 diabetes and CVD. To remind, you, the Paleo Diet consists of vegetables, lean meats, fish, poultry, eggs, seeds, nuts, oils and fruit. This is very similar to the KetoPaleo Diet that I espouse. Ask me for my KetoPaleo Pyramid if you don't already have it.

Just for fun, here are old fashioned names for the flu and what may accompany it: 1) The Grippe 2) Ague: The flu with fever, chills sweating and possibly consumption (TB) 3) The Horrors: Same as ague with added mental delirium 4) Quinsey: Painful abscess of the tonsils 5) St. Vitus Dance: Involuntary spasms of the limbs and facial muscles 6) Apoplexy: A stroke, usually hemorrhagic 7) Croup: Viral obstruction of the throat with a cough like a seal 8) Dropsy: Edema 9) Lockjaw: Tetanus

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