Green Health Spot

Maternal Pesticide Exposure Linked to ADHD Diagnosis

 Recent research published in the Journal of Environmental Health Perspectives has linked elevated maternal organo phosphate exposure during pregnancy to a high likelihood of children developing ADHD during early childhood.  This research conducted is one of the most clear cut cases for the need to reduce consumption of fruits and vegetables treated with pesticides, especially if you are pregnant. Previously we have outlined the 12 safest and most toxic fruits and vegetables from a pesticide and herbicide point of view. If you are pregnant or thinking of getting pregnant, you should seriously consider eating only organic fruits and vegetables during pregnancy. This research dovetails with evidence that phthlates (a plastics softener) has been shown to lead to ADD in children. Suffice it to say, it is likely that many chemicals are toxic to the nervous system, and children are especially vulnerable because of their developing brains.  Development and exposure starts before birth so pregnant moms should be intensely aware of what they eat and put on their bodies.  Fragrances and artificial sweeteners, artificial colors and flavoring all contribute to what you can pass on to your children. Just like it is important to not smoke or drink during pregnancy, so too it is important to treat your body like the delicate cocoon it is for your developing baby.

Just in case some of you men and adults not in child bearing age think you are off the hook from pesticide and organophosphate contamination. Remember that your bodies too are affected by the load of toxins that it is exposed to and allergies, asthma, fatigue, anxiety, memory, and possibly neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimers and Parkinson's have been linked to chemical toxicity.  Use the Cosmetic Safety Database to choose less toxic household cleaning options, make-up, personal care products etc. Every little bit counts

Deep Breathing Exercises

 In preparation for our 2 week summer detox program, I thought I would describe to you how to do circular deep breathing exercises. You should do 20 full circles of breathing, twice daily. This will assist with both stress reduction as well as helping with lung detoxification.

1. Inhale deeply and slowly until your lungs are full
2. Hold your breath for a count of 5
3. Exhale steadily and at the same rate as the slow inhale until as much air as possible is out of your lungs.
4. Hold your breath for a count of 5
5. Inhale deeply and slowly again, repeat for a count of 20 full circles.

A word of advice. Many people breathe very shallowly without knowing it.  Holding your breath without fully expanding your lungs will not benefit you as much as consciously taking in full, deep breaths and then fully exhaling. This is to be a conscious process so take the few minutes it takes to do the breath circles. Full oxygenation of your body helps with focus, memory, brain function and energy as well as helping you detoxify and decrease stress. Enjoy

Join us in a 2 Week Summer Detox Program

 So if you're like most people Summer has been full of traveling, BBQ's, alcohol and fun. As we are approaching Fall and school is starting up again, this is a great time to think about doing a late-Summer detox. Our 2 week detox program that I've written has been very successful in assisting the body's ability to detoxify, regulate digestive function and help people lose water weight and improve your metabolism.  Although, you can start anytime, we here at Green Health Spot will be having an official kick off date of August 23rd. This allows our participants to get their kitchens ready and stock up on the right foods and maybe have a good-bye party to the no-no foods that we love. 

So what does this detox program entail?  Full write-up can be found on our website, here.

• An Anti-inflammatory, low allergenic diet for 2 weeks (foods to eat and foods to avoid)
• Supplements to assist your liver and colon's detoxification ability (BTW, supplements are 25% off until September 1st)
• Deep breathing exercise to relieve stress and to detoxify the lungs
• Supplements to assist in alkalanizing your system to help your body better detox.
• Lots of filtered water for flushing out the kidneys and bladder
• Regular exercise (I recommend use of a rebounder so that lymphatic detox emphasized) and dry heat saunas for detoxifying the skin.

Who should do this? Generally everyone can do this program, especially if you are overweight, are constipated, have migraines or arthritis, allergies or fatigue. Of course, you should consult your doctor if you have any heart concerns and have not exercised before starting on any detox program.

I hope you join us for our program!

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Cancer Cells Seem to Love Your Sodas

 We've spoken about how high fructose corn syrup has been found to be loaded with mercury, a toxic heavy metal, in a previous post. In that article, we talked about how mercury can damage the brain. Now, new research is even more damning of products with high fructose corn syrup, a highly refined by-product of corn.  It seems that a recent study published by the Journal of Cancer Research have found that pancreatic cancer, the most deadly form of cancer, cells not only like to use fructose as food but also use it to divide and grow.  This study is particularly impactful because before this it was thought that all sugars were preceived as equal by the body. This, however, does not seem to be true since pancreatic cancer cells seem to prefer fructose to glucose in helping it to divide and proliferate.  

American's greatest intake of fructose is from high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Concerns with HFCS were poo poo'd by the corn refining industry who held the stance that a sugar is a sugar.  But as intake of HFCS has increased over 1000 percent between 1970 and 1990 we are seeing the effects on our health in the increasing of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and now cancer.  As it turns out, fructose is absorbed by cancer cells totally differently than glucose is and now we see that fructose is used by cancer cells in ways that glucose is not being used, particularly that it is assisting the cancerous cell to continue to divide and grow. Cancer has supplanted heart disease as the number one killer of Americans. Pancreatic cancer cells, on which the research has been done, is a particularly nasty cancer that kills 95% of people who have contracted it within 5 years. 

Do yourselves and your kids a favor and read ingredients. Particularly, look for high fructose corn syrup and choose products that contain none. Even if you loved your Coca-Cola, just by switching from HFCS to the cane sugar version, you are taking a step in the right direction. Not that I'm recommending you drink Coca-Cola but if you did and couldn't give it up easily, cutting out the HFCS of your diet is a good start. Best to drink water or unsweetened tea. Weaning yourself off sugar of any kind is that first step toward health. And for goodness sake, if you know anyone with cancer, recommend them get off as many sugar or refined foods as possible but especially cut the HFCS out of the diet. 

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Preventing Whooping Cough's Resurgence

 Lately in the Bay Area we've witnessed a growing concern in the resurgence of Whooping Cough or Pertussis.  Last month, in July, Santa Clara county saw twice the number of cases of whooping cough as the whole year of 2009.  Last month there were 51 documented cases when in 2009 Santa clara county only had 24 cases for the whole year. The statistics are concerning for we doctors who treat on a primary care level. Whooping cough is highly contagious and symptoms can last for over a month. Public health departments are crying for a re-vaccination campaign. But my problem with that is that the majority of the people who were infected with whooping cough had been vaccinated as children. Will re-vaccination and boosters really solve the problem of a whooping cough resurgence?  

My patient population often opts out of typical vaccination regimens and look to me to provide viable alternatives. So here goes. Ultimately, I'll be generally repeating myself on the recommendations of good general hygiene and protecting yourself from various contagions as I mentioned a year and a half ago when there was such hype and concern about the H1N1 Swine flu and its vaccine.  Also, before you line up for your pertussis whooping cough booster shot, it is good to remember that a vaccination will not necessarily prevent you from getting the infection but may help you reduce the risk of getting very bad complications from the infection.  Back to the good hygiene recommendations:

• Wash your hands with warm water and soap frequently
• Cover your mouth when you cough
• Keep your fingers away from your mouth and nose.

Basically, common sense recommendations that your mom most likely taught you when you were about 3. As with the H1N1 Swine Flu, I too recommend getting an NAET allergy elimination treatment for whooping cough. This might be the best chance you have in preventing getting whooping cough in the future and if you did get whooping cough, weathering a mild case for a shorter duration is much more likely.  NAET is an acupressure technique that was originally designed for resetting your body's typical reactions to foods or allergens. For instance, if you are allergic to strawberries, getting a NAET treatment for strawberries will stop the allergic reaction in just one or a couple of treatments. So too, NAET will as well strengthen your immunity to a particular virus or bacterial infection. During the H1N1 Swine flu frenzy, many of my patients got the H1N1 NAET treatments from our office which prevented most cases of swine flu or made the cases quite minimal despite the great concern with H1N1.

If you have recently had the whooping cough vaccine and are concerned about the side effects of the vaccines, it is also possible to have a NAET treatment for the vaccine itself to minimize potential side effects. Given these above recommendations, I will end this post with a link to my immune system recommendations that I have given to my all my patients in the event of a flu or cold. This cold/flu protocol will also work will in the face of a bacterial infection such as pertussis.

Keeping your immune system strong, minimize fatigue, overwork and stress are keys to weathering a bad contagion such as the whooping cough.  Oh, by the way, if you do find yourself with a bad cough, check out my onion/honey cough syrup. Highly effective, natural and easy to make and keep on hand for your whole family.

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