Performance without Pain

Review: What About Immunizations? Exposing the Vaccine Philosophy
by Cynthia Cournoyer (Pub. 2010, Better Books Publishing)

Many people spend more time researching what color paint to put on their walls, what brand of car to buy, or what vacation package they should choose compared to studying what issues surround vaccination policy and the possible dangers vaccinations pose to the health of their child. Many are not aware that the number of children suffering vaccine damage is escalating exponentially alongside the increase in the vaccination schedule. Most also do not consider that a vaccine will inject foreign DNA and toxins into their child’s body, which can play havoc on their sensitive immune system. Yet, while other medicines and products on the market are held accountable to safety standards, because of the “vaccine philosophy,” a term coined by the author, vaccines do not receive this same scrutiny and are believed safe and effective with the benefits outweighing the risks. It is this philosophy that promotes vaccines blindly and prevents honest inquiry into the possible harmful effects of vaccine policies.

Consequently when people are told by their doctors that they must follow the vaccination schedule, open disclosure of the risks is not forthcoming. Additionally, schools have become the check point of vaccination compliance, and unless the parent knows that they can sign a religious or philosophical exemption, that child will not be allowed to attend school. Therefore it has been entirely up to parents and independent researchers to do their own inquiry into vaccines. What About Immunizations? Exposing the Vaccine Philosophy is a thorough guide to the history, efficacy, research practices, policy protocol and political issues surrounding vaccines.

Fortunately, our society is questioning the entire medical paradigm. Cournoyer points to two opposing health approaches that will lead to completely different practices of health care. When Dr. Weston A. Price studied healthy populations worldwide, he found that their immunity to all disease was due to the nutrient-density of their diets. This is completely in line with the research of French physiologist, Claude Bernard who found that germs and disease would only proliferate if the immune system was weakened—that the general condition of the body was the underlying reason for disease. In conjunction, French biologist, Antoine Bechamp discovered that microorganisms are constantly developing into bacteria. If the tissue is healthy, they will provide life support for the cells. However, if the cells are weakened, they will produce diseased microorganisms, which may evolve into a pathogenic state. Likewise, Hannah Allen, author of Don’t Get Stuck: The Case Against Vaccinations and Injections, argued that diseased microbes are a product of the level of health of the host.

To the contrary, Louis Pasteur believed that germs caused the disease. Yet, on his deathbed, he admitted that “Bernard was right. The seed is nothing, the soil is everything.” Hannah Allen comments, “But like the third automobile, which was the proximate cause of the collision but proceeded on its way with impunity, Pasteur envisioned the truth in the 1880s and abandoned the germ theory, leaving the early immature and erroneous theory to be developed, fostered, and perpetuated by others, the ultimate irony. The mischief, medical misunderstanding and error continue to this day, and the price is incalculable.”

Cournoyer shows us how vaccines were developed in support of Pasteur’s principles. She points however to the poor track record they have had in preventing disease. First, the aspect that vaccines create true immunity to a disease has never been accurately proven. Historically, epidemics have come and gone naturally, often due to societal changes in sanitation and true herd immunity—immunity created over time, by large groups of people recovering from cases of the actual disease. This was true with diseases like small pox, polio and diphtheria. These diseases declined in unvaccinated populations as fast as in highly vaccinated countries. Yet, vaccines were given the credit. In fact, many diseases made a resurgence when the vaccine was implemented.

Vaccines were embraced because of the knowledge that having a moderate form of the disease would procure life-long immunity. However, this permanent kind of immunity and that from receiving a vaccination do not yield the same result. A vaccination injects a weakened form of the disease in the body to provoke an immune response. Thus, the reason why vaccines are reported to work is that they have the ability to raise antibody levels, and this is acknowledged as an indication of protection from the disease. Cournoyer counters this and explains that research proves that this type of immune response may give a false immunity and be permanently weakening the body’s immune system, especially considering the increase in the number of recommended vaccines. This is blatantly evident when you study vaccine efficacy records, which reveal that there is a proportion of people that become ill with diseases for which they have been vaccinated. Additionally there are more children who have chronic illness of all kinds than ever before in history. Given that vaccines challenge immune function, are we creating a population of children susceptible to lifelong illness?

The book further analyzes that we are vaccinating people for diseases for which there is little danger. In countries where there are fewer vaccines, there is no higher incidence of the diseases for which they do not vaccinate against.

Not only is vaccine efficacy dubious, today, the risk for vaccine damage has significantly increased. While more vaccines are added to the mandated schedule every year, reports of vaccine side effects and injury such as fever, rash, drowsiness, fretfulness, vomiting, persistent crying, pallor, coldness, hyporesponsiveness, malaise, convulsions, heart or kidney disorders, erythema, arthralgias, encephalitis or even death are becoming more frequent.

Encephalitis is the primary cause of autism and autism is affecting one in 105 children in our country today! Yet the FDA, medical authorities and the media attempts to convince us that vaccines have not played a role in this epidemic. Cournoyer states that “The primary cause of encephalitis in the United States and other industrialized countries is the childhood vaccination program. Sometimes studies will claim that a vaccine is safe because recipients are not subject to any more encephalitis than the general population. That statement is troubling because our general population is up to 100% vaccinated upon school entry. You cannot compare a vaccinated population with a vaccinated control group and hope to find scientific data.” One must ask, can any widespread medical intervention be considered for “the greater good” when the risk for injury is ever increasing and the track record of effectiveness so poor?

The vaccination policy in other countries has become quite disturbing and makes one question the real motives behind the push for the development of more vaccines. In July, 2011, the  Malawi Voice reported that a “group of families who took their children out of the country, to Mozambique, to avoid the free measles vaccine that was being distributed, were rounded up by police and vaccinated at gunpoint upon returning to the country.

“The vaccine safety/choice community has been hearing reports of this happening in Africa for more than a year now, but this is the first official story that I have heard thus far and thus been able to report. In this case the District Health Officer himself, Dr. Matchaya, freely admitted to the newspaper that this was done.

“According to Dr. Medison Matchaya District Health Officer for Nsanje, medics went to vaccinate the children in Nsanje under police escort.

“We were alerted that some children who were hiding in Mozambique were back in the country and we asked police to escort the health officials in order to vaccinate them and we have managed to vaccinate about 131 children,” said Matchaya.

Ginger Taylor, contributing author of the book Vaccine Epidemic commented on this story in her blog, Adventures in Autism, saying:

Wanna know the difference between my vaccine injured son and let’s say, a child in a small African village who suffers a vaccine encephalopathy? In our house we have doors with locks on them to keep him safe inside, and school systems that are legally obligated to serve him. Take a moment and imagine what it would be like to try to keep your neurologically impaired child alive in rural Africa for a month or two. Just watched a short documentary about a new neurological illness befalling children in one African village. Parents have to tie their children to the side of their homes with a rope to prevent them from walking away and dying. That is how they live their entire lives.

Cournoyer reports that vaccine policy is riddled with corruption and conflicts of interest. The vaccine program must therefore be brought to test by independent investigation.  By all indications, protecting health is not its true guiding principle.

The author persuades each person to carefully engage in the issues regarding vaccines. Parents are the most knowledgeable advocate for the health of their own children and must trust their instincts in knowing what is best. If vaccines are not proving to be the answer to preventing disease and may in fact be causing more harm than good, can we afford the repercussions of a society of severely ill people?

Harry Truman’s statement, “A nation is only as healthy as its children,” is a chilling prediction. We as a nation must heed this wisdom and prepare to make changes in our perception of what truly will build the health of our children.

It is time to look at strategies that have a track record of building health. It is therefore appropriate for the Germ Theory that has fostered vaccination development, to take a back seat. If we heed the wisdom of Dr. Weston A. Price, Claude Bernard, Antoine Bechamp and Hannah Allen, building the immune system with excellent nutrition can provide us with the underlying principles necessary for reestablishing the health of our society.

By Kathryne Pirtle

About Cynthia Cournoyer:

Newly revised and updated seventh edition, Cynthia has been writing about the vaccine controversy for nearly 30 years. This guide to the vaccination decision was released in December of 2010. It is available on Amazon and through her website, whataboutimmunizations.com

Subscribe

6 Comments »

I manned the Weston A. Price Foundation booth at the Autism One Conference 2011 from May 26-29th. Over 2500 people from all over the world attended this year as the conference offered free admission. This was a blessing to families who are trying to find real answers for reversing autism. As I spoke to moms and dads, our message, as was the message of the entire conference–was one of great hope–that autism is a medical condition and can be reversed!! Yes–these children are “canaries in the mine” and are teaching us what must change. This IS, as is the mission of Autism One–GENERATION RESCUE! The uncontrolled greed that has shaped policy from the top down–is changing from the bottom up–from the inside-out–one person at a time. The truth will prevail.

Autism is most often now understood as being caused by an inflammation of the brain from a toxic overload from factors such as heavy metal toxicity (especially mercury), from the toxicity due to the huge increase in the numbers of vaccines that children receive, from other environmental toxins and from poor digestion, candida overgrowth and a weakened immune system. When the gut is damaged and inflamed, inflammatory chemicals can break down the blood-brain barrier and cause inflammation in the brain. Inflammation of the brain–also called encephalitis–can cause many of the symptoms of autism. Additionally, when the blood-brain barrier is damaged,  toxins that affect brain function can circulate more easily.

Nutrient-dense, easy-to-digest foods are proving to be one of the most powerful dietary partners in reversing autism. They have superior ability to heal the gut and inflammation, enable the body to detoxify, provide exceptional nutrition and therefore have the greatest ability to heal the brain. A colleague who helps to publish the Autism File Global magazine told me that she and her husband had spent $150,000 on treatments for their son, and it wasn’t until they focused on a diet of nutrient-dense foods that he recovered from autism!

However, many children with autism are very picky eaters. I heard that message over and over at the conference. In the book “Gut and Psychology Syndrome,” Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride discusses the necessity of introducing new foods very slowly and that changing a child’s eating habits IS challenging–but not impossible. Moms and dads ARE creative–”Where there is a will–there is a way!”

One of the most powerful gut and inflammation-healing foods to first incorporate is old-fashioned bone-broth. Bone broth can be made into soups, be used as a liquid for cooking vegetables, reduced as a delicious sauce over meats and can be a fantastic beverage. It was one of the primary foods I consumed in my own healing of a life-threatening digestive disorder, and have continued to eat daily for over 10 years. It is a food from which everyone can benefit.

For example, to incorporate bone broth, Ginger Taylor, a contributing author of the new book “Vaccine Epidemic,” told me that  her son loved tea parties! Now–who doesn’t love tea parties? So Ginger said she introduced bone broth by having a tea party with chicken tea–what fun! Now her son loves chicken tea! Most importantly, her son will begin to have the benefit of one of the most powerful foods for healing the gut and over time, every nutrient-dense food that replaces a nutrient-poor food will aid in recovery.

Another mom told me her son loves meatballs. Well–you can hide a lot of nutrient-dense foods in meatballs. She makes them with beef from pastured cows,  pastured egg yolks and spices and now plans to add little bits of pastured liver to her recipe. She also will serve them with a sauce made with reduced bone broth.

Adding raw egg yolks from pastured chickens to smoothies made with coconut milk and fruit is another delicious way to add nutrient-density to your child’s diet. Served in fancy tea cups would make it even more fun.

Here is a great recipe for chicken bone broth.

BONE BROTH—CHICKEN

Large crock pot or stock pot

2 large organic-free-range chickens, preferably from pastured chickens, cut up in small pieces

4 chicken feet (optional)

filtered water

3T. vinegar

2 large onions—chopped (optional)

6 stalks of celery, chopped (optional)

6 carrots—sliced thin (optional)

4 cloves of garlic—diced (optional)

2 T. ginger—diced (optional)

Celtic sea salt to taste

Place chickens, vinegar, optional chicken feet, onions, celery and garlic in the stock or crock pot. Let chicken and vegetables come to a boil then turn to simmer. If using crock pot, no need to change temperature. When meat is done, take meat off bones and place bones and skin back in pot. Put meat in refrigerator and use later for making soup or in other recipes (ie. chicken salad). Continue to simmer bones, vegetables and broth for 8-12 hours. Strain the broth. Add Celtic sea salt to taste. Use broth for soups, sauces or as a beverage. Broth can be refrigerated or frozen for later use.  Reheat broth on stove —DO NOT MICROWAVE!!

As you find new ways to help your child heal, you will join a community that is working together to find real answers. Let nutrient-dense foods become your close ally in your path to recovery!

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Subscribe

3 Comments »

Edited by Louise Kuo Habakus, M.A. (Director, Center for Personal Rights) and
Mary Holland, J.D. (Research Scholar, NYU School of Law)
Skyhorse Publishing, 2011

As it is with most things—more is not always better. It has taken over 15 years of independent world-wide research by extremely concerned parents, doctors, scientists and lawyers to build an undeniable momentum commanding that the protective rubber stamp of approval on vaccine development, safety, mandates and policies be addressed. A book of acute gravity, Vaccine Epidemic, presents an urgent dialogue about the vaccine controversy. The opening dedication—To all who are asking the questions and all who are demanding the answers—summarizes widening public consciousness and mainstream concern regarding vaccine safety.

Through the voices of experts in ethics, law, science, medicine, business, and history, the book requires thoughtful attention and action. An exponential rise in children who are suffering serious vaccine damage will not be ignored, nor will the lack of appropriate medical and governmental action to thwart this trend. Vaccine Epidemic advocates an honest and thorough assessment of vaccination policy and vaccine safety.

Habakus and Holland examine these issues:

• The human right to vaccination choice
• The ethics and constitutionality of vaccination mandates
• Personal narratives of parents, children and soldiers who have suffered vaccine injury
• Vaccine safety science and evidence-based medicine
• Corrupting conflicts of interest in the national vaccine program
• What should parents do? A review of eight advice books on vaccines that span the gamut

The Case for Vaccination Choice

The recognition of intrinsic human rights has been a hallmark of democratic societies. Vaccine Epidemic eloquently clarifies vaccination choice as a fundamental human right. It reveals this in relationship to a wealth of international and national standards such as the Nuremberg Code, free and informed consent, medical autonomy, due process, the human rights revolution, and public health revolutions in sanitation, hygiene and antibiotics. It scrutinizes the far-reaching, inappropriate governmental vaccination policies whereby a child’s right to a free education is at risk as a consequence of partial or full non-compliance.

Herd immunity is at the root of vaccination mandates. However, the book exposes the many flaws in this unproven theory. Habakus states, “What is most troubling about the theory of herd immunity is that the original basis for its validity has nothing to do with vaccines. People observed a protective effect in the community when a sufficiently high number of individuals contracted the wild form of a disease and secured lifelong immunity…In the 1930s and 1940s, health officials began using ‘techniques of mass persuasion’ and ‘aggressive salesmanship’ to increase the public’s compliance in receiving vaccinations.” For herd immunity to dictate vaccination policy, the government must prove that unvaccinated individuals will harm those that are vaccinated.  This has never been demonstrated. Interestingly, the book brings to light the fact that a large portion of children who suffer from many childhood diseases were previously vaccinated against them!

Additionally, since the increase in the vaccination schedule and its corresponding rapid rise in children suffering vaccine damage, there has been a lack of justice, including an absence of due process and appropriate compensation for victims. A moral society would not allow a dubious public policy based on the flawed principle of “the greater good” to continue. Parents have the ultimate authority over their children’s medical interventions. Vaccination choice must prevail.

Narratives

The tragedies described in this book represent the wide-ranging effect of careless vaccine development and mandates. I attended the American Rally for Personal Rights at Grant Park in downtown Chicago in the spring of 2010, during the week of the Autism One conference. I was awestruck and absolutely grief-stricken by the many stories of vaccination damage I heard. Vaccine Epidemic is the outgrowth of that powerful rally. I knew that each incomprehensible story represented hundreds of thousands of children and thousands more yet to be harmed.

Contributing author Michael Belkin, a leading investment strategist and former director of the Hepatitis B Vaccine Project of the National Vaccine Information Center explains, “If you doubt the existence of adverse reactions to vaccines, you must first examine with your own eyes the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS), which is available and searchable online at www.medalerts.org As of November 17, 2010, VAERS listed 352,650 reports of vaccine adverse events. Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner David Kessler wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association, that ‘only 1% of serious adverse events are reported to the FDA.’ ” Belkin’s daughter died at five weeks of age after hepatitis B vaccination.  As of March 11, 2011, the tally has risen to 361,519, acknowledged to represent only 1 to 10% of actual adverse events associated with vaccination.

The story is repeated over and over—a healthy child is born, and after receiving recommended vaccinations which start on the day of birth, that child is never the same—is stricken with autism—or maybe dead. Those who recover are very fortunate, as many cannot overcome the effects of vaccine-induced encephalitis—brain inflammation—despite a comprehensive array of holistic therapies. Most terrifying are the stories of hopeless parents who take their child’s life along with their own—those who can no longer carry the overwhelming and isolating burden of the care of their beloved.

Contributing author Amy Pingel’s haunting chronicle of her teenage daughter’s descent from perfect health to breathing through a trach and eating from a tube is a result of a severe reaction to the “Gardasil” vaccine. Her saga represents the pervasive acceleration to develop more vaccines for older children and adults—vaccines that are pressured and innocently advertised through medical practitioners and the media as a “must have.” Yet—there is little disclosure of the true risks.

Contributing author Air Force captain Richard Rovet, RN (USAF ret) implores that the enormous risks our servicemen take to defend our country should not include being used as guinea pigs for vaccine experimentation. Yet, this is what is happening to our military personnel. In the Gulf War, more servicemen and service woman were damaged from the experimental vaccines than from the war itself. Why was this allowed?  This needs to be brought out to the public.

The truth about vaccines must be widely understood.

The Topics in Debate

Vaccine Epidemic exposes problematic issues about vaccine policy. A rigorous public challenge of these troubling practices must continue.

• Why have pharmaceutical companies recently focused on expanding the vaccine market?
• Why are so many vaccines given a quick stamp of approval from the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and recommended to virtually all children?
• Why are the government and media allowed to exhibit bias and a lack of accountability for problems in the vaccine safety and policy?
• Why is forced vaccination for foster children allowed in the U.S.?  When parents decline vaccination, how can they be charged with “medical neglect” and risk the forced removal of their children?
• Why aren’t vaccine ingredients and dangers clearly and openly disclosed?
• While doctors are sworn to adhere to the Hippocrates oath, “Do no harm,” why is it admissible for problems with vaccine safety to be ignored by the majority of today’s medical practitioners?
• Why has independent, peer-reviewed research showing the problems with vaccine safety been ignored and systematically suppressed?

Finally, the book moves us to action as vaccination choice is at risk in our country. “The American Academy of Pediatrics and its spokespeople are suggesting the abolition of philosophical and religious exemption rights. They have a lot of influential support behind them—the pharmaceutical industry, public health, government and media. We are in crisis. You can expect more federally recommended vaccines to be added to the schedule…more vaccines of unproven safety to reach the market…more efforts to dismiss vaccine injury…Unless we change course, these projections will likely become reality.”

Things you can do now:

• Take a stand—sign the petition supporting vaccination choice at www.centerforpersonalrights.org
• Stay informed—join the Center’s mailing list
• Reach out—share and recommend the book, which is available on Amazon and in bookstores everywhere.   More information is available at www.vaccineepidemic.com
• Attend an event, and offer to sponsor one in your community.
• Donate to support the work of the Center for Personal Rights, a non-profit organization dedicated to defending the human right of vaccination choice.

Health freedom is an inalienable right. Whether it is food freedom or vaccination choice—it is one and the same issue. Just as we seek higher quality in our food choices, we are demanding honesty and choice in all public policies that can affect our health. We must stand together and demand what is ours already—nothing less will do, for ourselves and our children.

Review by Kathryne Pirtle

This article will be published in the July, 2011 edition of the Wise Traditions Journal of the Weston A. Price Foundation. To receive the journal, go to www.westonaprice.org

Subscribe

2 Comments »

The Age of Autism: Mercury, Medicine and a Man-Made Epidemic

Dan Olmstead and Mark Blaxell
(Pub.2010, Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin’s Press)

The Age of Autism is perhaps the most important new book written about the roots of a catastrophic health pandemic affecting our children. Autism is screaming to be understood. We cannot fathom the repercussions of increasing percentages of autism in our children…What will happen to these children? We have no time to waste in finding real solutions.

You can continue reading  my review of this critically important book by following the link below:
Age of Autism–Book Review

For more information on healing and building health with nutrient-dense foods and seminars on this subject, see Performance without Pain and The Healing Diet for Acid Reflux Disease

Best in Health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Subscribe

2 Comments »

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
– attributed to Edmund Burke

From Eknath Easwaran’s,  Thought for the Day

Some of our most trying difficulties are caused by plain old inertia. Inertia shows itself in not wanting to move, not wanting to act – in other words, in wanting to be a stone just lying on the road. It is all right for a stone to be inert; that is its role in life. But it is not all right for you and me to just lie down and try to avoid problems, saying, “What does it matter?”

When I hear the phrase “well adjusted,” I do not always take it as a favorable comment. Mahatma Gandhi has said that to be well adjusted in a wrong situation is very bad; in a wrong situation we should keep on acting to set it right. When Gandhi, at the peak of his political activity, was asked in a British court what his profession was, he said, “Resister.” If he was put in a wrong situation, he just could not keep quiet; he had to resist, nonviolently but very effectively, until the situation was set right.

I am often deeply moved by the daily messages from Eknath Eawaren’s, Thought for the Day. What can you do today to make a difference? Every effort to help change our food supply and heal our people so that the generations to come will have something better is important.  Every act that brings light to our mother earth is essential.

Many Blessings,

Kathryne Pirtle

For more information on healing and building health with nutrient-dense foods and seminars on this subject, see www.performancewithoutpain.com

Subscribe

No Comments »

After decades of being told by the experts that a diet high in fiber and low in fat is the key to robust good health, why is it that one in every 5 Americans is being treated for Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease, (GERD)?

Studies show more than 60 million Americans are currently being treated by their physicians for acid reflux. Last year there were 470,000 hospitalizations and 1.9 million visits to the emergency room as a result of GERD, commonly known as acid reflux. What’s more, GERD is now being diagnosed in children, birth to four years.

Since 1999 the majority of Americans say they are now following the dietary guidelines recommended by the FDA, eating at least 5 servings of fresh fruit, vegetables and whole grains each day.  We are also following the advice of the medical community and eliminating from our diets traditional fats,(like butter) and decreasing our intake of protein—especially our favorite food-to-hate—red meat.

What is it, then, that such a large percentage of our population is doing that would promote the massive increase in this ailment? Should our entire nation succumb to popular medications that merely treat the symptoms but do nothing to remedy the underlying cause?

In my e-book, Acid Reflux: A National Epidemic and Precursor to Chronic Illness I pull back the curtain of misinformation to reveal the truth about why we are all chronically ill not only with GERD, but a variety of ailments including cancer, heart disease, allergies, dementia, even autism: see The Healing Diet for Acid Reflux Disease

Much of what we are told about good nutrition today is based on trends and faulty research funded by the Goliath factory farming industry. For 25 years I suffered from debilitating pain and chronic illness. Over that time I also suffered from symptoms of impaired digestion including persistent flatulence and at the age of 42, I was diagnosed with acid reflux that almost ended my career as a professional clarinetist. Even though I diligently followed popular health dictates as outlined in the traditional Food Pyramid and the resulting digestive illness and malnutrition nearly cost me my life.

If the Food Pyramid isn’t the answer, what is?  In Acid Reflux: A National Epidemic and Precursor to Chronic Illness I explain how our bodies actually work to digest and assimilate the food we eat.

Before the 1950s most of our foods came from small family farms. These high quality foods were from animals eating their natural diets.  Cows ate grass, chickens ate bugs and worms, and all fish were caught in the wild.  These are nutrient-dense foods our bodies need for optimal health and digestion, but unfortunately, this is not what we find at our grocery stores today.

Consider how many ads you see for drugs to address chronic health problems like acid reflux, gas, indigestion, constipation, and diarrhea. Pharmaceutical companies expect to earn a whopping $400,000,000 in annual sales from going over-the-counter with the ‘little purple pill. This remedy for acid reflux is nothing more than a slow death.

Current information on so-called healthy eating will not heal digestive disorders and will ultimately lead to nutrient deficiencies, illness, and even death, it behooves us to learn the difference.

The principles of a truly healthy diet are but one aspect found in this exceptional e-book.  Acid Reflux: A National Epidemic and Precursor to Chronic Illness also provides information on where to find nutrient-dense foods, shares delicious recipes and menu ideas, and makes the road to true healing informative and enjoyable.

For more information on healing and building health with nutrient-dense foods and seminars on this subject, see Performance without Pain and The Healing Diet for Acid Reflux Disease

Best in Health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Subscribe

No Comments »

When you can get your vaccines at the grocery store–it should raise huge red flags for every person. These are statements made by MDs about serious problems with vaccines. Think twice.

“The decline in infectious diseases in developed countries had nothing to do with vaccinations, but with the decline in poverty and hunger.” –Dr. Gerhard Buchwald, MD

“Crib death” was so infrequent in the pre-vaccination era that it was not even mentioned in the statistics, but it started to climb in the 1950s with the spread of mass vaccination against diseases of childhood. –Harris L. Coulter, PhD

“It is pathetic and ludicrous to say we ever vanquished smallpox with vaccines, when only 10% of the population was ever vaccinated.” – Dr. Glen Dettman

“Up to 90% of the total decline in the death rate of children between 1860-1965 because of whooping cough, scarlet fever, diphtheria, and measles occurred before the introduction of immunizations and antibiotics.” —Dr. Archie Kalokerinos, MD

“I think that no person would permit anybody to get close to them with an inoculation if they would really know how they are made, what they carry, what has been lied to them about them and what the real percent of danger is of contracting such a disease which is minimal.”—Dr. Eva Snead

“The greatest threat of childhood diseases lies in the dangerous and ineffectual efforts made to prevent them through mass immunization…. There is no convincing scientific evidence that mass inoculations can be credited with eliminating any childhood disease.” –Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, MD

“Official data shows that large scale vaccination has failed to obtain any significant improvement of the diseases against which they were supposed to provide protection” – Dr. Sabin, developer of Polio vaccine.

“There is a great deal of evidence to prove that immunization of children does more harm than good.” – Dr. J. Anthony Morris (formerly Chief Vaccine Control Officer at the US Federal Drug Admin.) 

“My suspicion, which is shared by others in my profession, is that the nearly 10,000 SIDS deaths that occur in the United States each year are related to one or more of the vaccines that are routinely given children. The pertussis vaccine is the most likely villain, but it could also be one or more of the others.” –Dr. Mendelsohn, MD

“The medical authorities keep lying. Vaccination has been a disaster on the immune system. It actually causes a lot of illnesses. We are changing our genetic code through vaccination.” –Guylaine Lanctot M.D., author of the best-seller ‘Medical Mafia’

” You can’t vaccinate believing that your children are protected and then feel that your children are not protected because somehow, some non-vaccinated child is carrying some secret organism that no one else is carrying. It just doesn’t make any sense.” –Dr. Larry Palevsky, board-certified pediatrician

Subscribe

1 Comment »

The USDA is continuing an increased militant agenda to make sure that all institutions–hospitals, schools, universities, mainstream media etc. exclusively promote the“new” USDA Dietary Guidelines–the same draconian low-fat/high fiber diet that has fostered degenerative illness in epic proportions in the last 50 years.  However, the Committee for a Healthy Nation, a new initiative of The Nutrition & Metabolism Society, nonprofit health organization providing research, information and education in the application of fundamental science to nutrition, particularly dedicated to the problems of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease is joining forces with the Weston A. Price Foundation and other like-minded organizations concerned with these trends. Their mission is to send a clear message that the USDA Guidelines are harmful to long-term health.

Last summer I testified against these guidelines alongside a record number of professional representatives from the whole health community at the USDA in Washington, DC . 95% of the representatives who testified in favor of these guidelines were industry paid professionals. Below is a report from this important hearing.

CRITICS ASSAIL USDA DIETARY GUIDELINES

High-Carb, Low-Fat Diets Cause Obesity, Heart Disease, Diabetes, Scientists Claim

The USDA Dietary Guidelines are a leading cause of the American health and obesity crisis, according to scientists, nutritionists and consumers who testified last Thursday at a USDA public hearing on the report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC). Dissenters argued that the proposed 2010 revisions to the Dietary Guidelines are worse, and will not prevent obesity and will only increase degenerative disease in the U.S.

Those testifying against the Guidelines focused on the Committee’s misuse of scientific data to justify a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet. Dr. Jeff Volek, scientist and academic researcher at the University of Connecticut, noted that the DGAC report ignored scientific studies showing the effectiveness of low carbohydrate diets for weight loss.  “Americans deserve to have official support for the low-carb dietary option,” he said.

“I have followed the work of the DGAC all the way through this process as an academic project. I have dug into their nutrition evidence library,” said Adele Hite, a graduate student in nutrition and public health at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. “Time after time, the scientific evidence the DGAC cited to oppose low-carb diets actually says the exact opposite of the Committee’s conclusions.” Hite testified to losing sixty pounds on a low-carbohydrate diet.

Morton Satin of the Salt Institute sharply criticized the Committee’s recommendation to reduce sodium consumption to 1500 mg per day. “The Committee is suggesting that Americans consume less than 4 grams of salt per day.  No modern society consumes so little salt, making this proposal nothing less than a call for an uncontrolled experiment on more than 300 million Americans.” Satin provided references showing the critical role of salt in digestion, blood pressure regulation and brain development.

Four of the dissenters presented the views of the Nutrition and Metabolism Society, a group of nutrition researchers and medical professionals who have studied the benefits of a low-carbohydrate diet for weight loss, insulin regulation and protection against chronic disease. “We expected the new guidelines to recognize current research that vindicates saturated fats as a cause of heart disease and weight gain, and to acknowledge the demonstrated benefits of lower carbohydrate diets,” said Dr. Richard Feinman of Downstate University, New York.

In response to the DGAC report, the Nutrition and Metabolism Society recently launched the Committee for a Healthy Nation (CHN). “The CHN is a working coalition of professionals who oppose the low-fat, plant-based thrust of the DGAC report. We feel strongly that the scientific evidence omitted from or misrepresented by their report must be considered in the final outcome,” said Feinman.

“Five years ago, I was the lone voice testifying against the guidelines,” said Sally Fallon Morell, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation and member of the CHN. “This year I was happy to be joined by members of the medical and research community in opposition to USDA’s unscientific prescription.” Fallon Morell’s testimony focused on nutrient deficiencies common in those following low-fat diets.

Dr. Feinman challenged the DGAC panel to an open public debate on the scientific evidence underpinning the Guidelines. “Our nation’s citizens need a range of dietary options to choose from, not a one-size-fits-all approach. We must allow for lifestyle, activity levels and metabolism as factors in choosing an optimal diet for each individual.”

The Committee for a Healthy Nation membership is open to professionals and organizations interested in developing guidelines that will offer a range of choices to the American public.

The Committee for a Healthy Nation is a project of The Nutrition & Metabolism Society, a 501(c)3 nonprofit health organization providing research, information and education in the application of fundamental science to nutrition, particularly dedicated to the problems of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.  Their office is located at 424 E. 73rd Street, #1RW, New York, NY, 10021. For further information or to join the CHN, contact by E-mail: info@nmsociety.org or call 908-326-6464.

Press release from Monday, July 12, 2010–WASHINGTON, D.C.

MEDIA CONTACTS:  Kimberly Hartke, 703-675-5557  press@westonaprice.org

Pam Schoenfeld,  609-439-8237  Pam@MetabolismSociety.org

Subscribe

No Comments »

The “new” USDA dietary guidelines are really not new at all. They continue the 60 year experiment of moving people away from nutrient-dense foods. All indications–from the record numbers of adults and children who are chronically ill, the ever increasing percentages of children with autism, ADD, ADHD and mental health disorders–the enormous statistics of infertility–point to this dictate as a complete failure. Yet, why not keep telling people to continue to eat this way? Let’s continue to line the pockets of the the corporate giants behind these insane guidelines.

Luckily, I was able to crawl out alive from my low fat/high fiber experiment, which lead to 25 years of chronic pain and a life-threatening digestive disorder. I found the truth of what really fuels the human body–real food from animals eating their natural diets–traditional fats–bone broth soups–unprocessed dairy–cultured foods–fermented cod liver oil–the infallible work of Dr. Weston A. Price–foods from small family farms that were eaten for thousands of years–foods that are not a part of a food supply produced by an industrial farming industry.

You can’t fool Mother Nature. Yet–our government thinks it may be possible. They think maybe people won’t notice. However, people are getting a lot smarter today. They are sick and tired of being sick and tired. It’s time to remove from government those who think “business as usual” is acceptable. When “business as usual” continues to severely damage an entire population–we must remove those who practice this kind of usual business.

Take a look at the new guidelines and take action http://www.westonaprice.org/press/1951-proposed-2010-usda-dietary-guidelines-a-recipe-for-chronic-disease.html

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Subscribe

2 Comments »

Connecting to mother earth, the sun and all its creatures is a powerful vehicle for transformation. Recently, I spent the entire day working on Scott Trautman’s farm where I get some of my food–a truly life-giving, sacred space. I brought my 14 year-old daughter, my friend and her 7 year-old granddaughter. We left at 5:30 AM to make the 2 hour journey. Little did the girls realize what wonders they would experience that day.

When we arrived at the farm, the girls could see, this would be no ordinary day. Stepping out of the car we were greeted by at least 50 free-roaming chickens who delighted in the possibility that we may have some food for them! Scott stood by holding and stroking one of these beautiful birds, waiting to share with us the glory of his and his wife, Julie’s creation. As we entered his home, we were greeted by 3 happy cats. Lots to do today–we were going to help plant 100 of the 600 already planted hazelnut trees around the perimeter of the farm. This was part of Scott’s plan for permiculture–planting a wide variety of trees and plants on the farm to intermingle in the rich tapestry of healthy pastureland and livestock. He and his wife are participating in the creation of paradise and we were there to share.

The girls loved walking amongst the cows and their calves. They quickly learned that some cows were very friendly and come up to be petted or just to meet you. Others were shy, and one cow was a little bossy and tried to tell us to leave her alone!  Every one of these beautiful animals enjoyed superior health as Scott and Julie had painstakingly built soil fertility for three years before pasturing animals.

As we walked to the area where we were going to plant trees, a large group of chickens followed us as if they were going to help! Instead of walking, my farmer enlisted my daughter to drive the “Gator”–a golf-type cart that carried our gear to the planting site. By the look on her face, you would have thought someone had just given her a million dollars! So off we went planting. It will be such a gift to watch the trees we planted grow in years to come.

When it started to thunder, we went to the barn to clean and bag rye seed for planting. The belt-driven, seed-cleaning machine was straight out of the past–nothing fancy or computerized–just simple and to the point. Both girls ran back and forth from the giant seed bin with to bring containers of seeds to the machine. After the thunder passed, we planted more trees.

Just before lunch–the girls discovered the pigs and the chicken nests. They watched the baby pigs who were very busy eating and playing. The girls then gathered dozens of eggs from the chicken’s nests and brought them in the house where we sorted them and put them in cartons. After Julie blessed is with a glorious lunch, we planted more trees finishing at about 4PM.

The next stop–the refrigerated milk holding tank to get fresh milk and the farm store to get meat to take home. We got a variety of fantastic meats. Scott then filled our glass jars with fresh, cold, clean, unprocessed milk from vibrantly healthy, happy cows–liquid sunshine–a life-sustaining, divine, healing food–a food cherished by people worldwide for thousands of years–a food that saved my life–

As we drove back home, the girls reveled in their amazing experience as they counted how many new things they did. “When are we coming back mom?” ” Can I bring my friends?’  my daughter said with an enormous smile.

Connect back to the earth and sun, connect with small family farms, connect with the animals, plants and trees–connect with creation and fill your life with new life and sunshine. Who’s your farmer?

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Subscribe

5 Comments »

Chicago was the central think tank and activism center of the world for autism and vaccination choice last week during the Autism One Conference and the American Rally for Personal Rights. The Autism One conference and the American Rally for Personal Rights were strategically connected into one week as they partnered to create a massive exchange of solutions to our most serious health issues—damage to the human body through toxic overload. Continue the article at: http://hartkeisonline.com/2010/06/02/autism-one-conference-and-the-american-rally-for-personal-rights/#more-6548

Best in Health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Subscribe

No Comments »

This is an interesting article on how important traditional fats are to mental health in our children.

‘We’re Not Eating What We Should Eat’

By Agnes Blum

Eat fat, be healthy.

It’s not nutritional advice that one hears every day, but it was the message at the Northern Virginia Whole Food Nutrition Meetup on Saturday Jan. 30. About 40 people braved the impending snowstorm and met at the restaurant Food Matters in Cameron Station to discuss how food can affect mood and health.

Paula Bass, Ph.D., a licensed clinical psychologist, spoke to the crowd as they ate a breakfast of local foods. Bass, who has been practicing in Northern Virginia for 30 years, fuses a traditional psychotherapeutic approach with nutritional wisdom.

Drawing on experiences with her patients and her own battles with health problems, she told the audience how a change in diet could dramatically alter health. One theme emerged over and over: we need saturated fat, the kind you get from animals.

“When you take the fat out, you’re taking out all the good nutrients,” Bass said, explaining how saturated fat helps keep the brain chemically balanced. “Without it, symptoms can mimic a psychiatric illness and then you do have a psychiatric illness, because that’s the way you’re feeling every day.”

One little girl, for example, had always excelled in school but had begun having breakdowns and lashing out at friends and family. It turned out this second-grader had, up until recently, been eating a whole-foods breakfast with plenty of fat — pancakes, eggs, bacon — and was now eating sugar-cereal and skim milk because of the morning rush at home. Bass recommended to her parents that they ensure she eat a breakfast full of protein and animal fats. They did, and her problems disappeared.

“Food can directly influence a child’s brain,” Bass said. Many people who suffer from mood disorders today — everything from depression to ADD — can trace their problems to a diet lacking in nutrients and fats, she said.

“The only vegetable I saw growing up was canned string beans,” Bass joked. She traced her own turnaround in health to when she began to follow the principles of the Weston A. Price Foundation, which uses education, research and activism to promote healthy living. Their guidelines are: eat pastured meat, probiotics such as yogurt, organic fruits and vegetables and strictly avoid sugar, vegetable oils, white flour, soy and additives such as MSG. “We’re not eating what we should eat,” Bass said. “And what we are eating damages the manufacture of healthy cells.”

A nutrient-dense, traditional foods diet will go a long way in protecting our children’s physical and mental health. For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Subscribe

1 Comment »

The book, It’s All in Your Head, The Link Between Mercury Amalgams and Illness by Hal Huggins, DDS, MS is a work of utmost importance. Since dental health has been completely compromised from our poor food supply, nearly every person has suffered the consequences and required cavitation surgery–the placement of fillings in the teeth. However, the most common material used for this important–literally “life-saving” treatment–not only contains at least 54% mercury, but is mixed with other metals (copper, silver, tin and zinc) that increase the mercury toxicity through galvanization–an electrical current produced from two or more dissimilar metals. So while the teeth are protected from further decay, the resulting heavy metal toxicity may be devastating to health.

Huggins discusses that mercury attacks the body in many ways so the symptoms of mercury poisoning vary from person to person.  He states that “Mercury kills cells by interfering with their ability to exchange oxygen, nutrients and waste products through the cell membrane. Inside the cell, mercury destroys our genetic code, DNA, leaving us without the ability to reproduce that cell ever again. Immunologically, mercury embeds itself in a cell membrane, giving the cell the appearance of being”non-self, ” which is the trigger for the immune system to destroy that specific cell. With mercury in your cell membranes, the immune system will start destroying your own tissues, thus the term autoimmune disease. Examples of these are diabetes, multiple sclerosis, scleroderma and lupus.” Courageously, Huggins, and the growing community of biological dentists have shown us that many of these serious illnesses may be reversed through the proper removal of these amalgams.

Huggins categorizes the medical diseases he saw as related to amalgams into five categories:

1. Neurological (motor and sensory)–tremors, seizures, MS, ALS, Alzheimer’s, emotional disturbances, unexplained depression, anxiety, unprovoked suicidal thoughts
2. Immunological–lupus, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis
3. Cardiovascular–unexplained heart pains, irregular heart beat, high and low blood pressure
4. Collagen–ie osteoarthritis and diseases that affect the collagen
5. Miscellaneous–chronic fatigue, brain fog, digestive diseases and Crohn’s disease

Below is a list of common symptoms from his extensive study that are suspected to be of dental origin:

• Unexplained irritability
• Constant or frequent periods of depression
• Numbness or tingling in extremities
• Frequent urination at night
• Unexplained chronic fatigue
• Cold hand and feet, even in moderate weather
• Bloated feeling most of the time
• Difficulty with short-term memory
• Constipation on a regular basis
• Difficulty in making decisions
• Tremors or shakes of hands, feet, head, etc.
• Twitching of face and other muscles
• Frequent leg cramps
• Constant  or frequent ringing or noise in ears
• Shortness of breath
• Frequent or recurring heartburn
• Excessive itching
• Unexplained rashes, skin irritation
• Constant or frequent metallic taste in mouth
• Jumpiness and nervousness
• Constant death wish or suicidal intent
• Frequent insomnia
• Unexplained chest pains
• Constant or frequent pain in joints
• Tachycardia
• Unexplained fluid retention
• Burning sensation on tongue
• Headaches just after eating
• Frequent diarrhea

Through the careful removal of amalgams, biological dentists are helping people to overcome serious health issues caused by heavy metal toxicity. As we move forward in understanding all of the necessary components to reversing and preventing  dental carries and chronic illness through nutrient-dense foods, we will hopefully provide future generations with the correct knowledge to alleviate the necessity of dental fillings. In the mean time, we must be cognizant of the wide ranging symptoms of mercury toxicity so that we may understand their root cause, which diet alone will not correct.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Subscribe

6 Comments »

When considering the disturbing rise in the percentage of degenerative diseases, brain disorders and mental health issues in children today, intuition would suggest that these statistics will not improve without drastic changes in the trends that have lead us to this looming catastrophe. In the book, The Truth about Children’s Health: The Comprehensive Guide to Understanding, Preventing, and Reversing Disease, by Robert Bernardini, MS (PRI Publishing, 2003), Bernardini points to the fact that children are far less healthy today than in the 1950s—that we have forgotten what a healthy child is—that diseases have become so common, that we think this trend is not unusual.

Another book, Is Your Child’s Brain Starving?, by Dr. Michael R. Lyon, MD and Dr. Christine Laurell, PhD (Mind Publishing, 2002) makes these profound statements:

• ADHD, Autism, OCD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder and depression have become rampant in today’s kids. What happens when these children grow up? Without real solutions to these conditions, the future of our world is in jeopardy.
• Think of this: a very subtle downturn in the overall intelligence of our population would have a profound effect on society. If the average IQ decreased by only 5 points, the number of individuals officially considered to be mentally retarded/disabled would increase by 50%, while the number of individuals officially labeled as “intellectually gifted” would decrease by 50% (www.igc.org/psr) The whole course of history could change if such a shift were to take place on a global scale.
• Although the brain is built to survive and perform under adverse conditions, optimal brain performance requires optimal nutrition. Brain cells are the most sophisticated cells in the body. They need a wide array of nutrients.
• Junk food, contaminants like pesticides and heavy metals, and a decrease in dietary nutrition cause a deadly combination against the brain.

In a review of Bernardini’s book by Janice M. Curtin, she explains:

Beginning with a report on the status of children in America today, Bernardini asks the question I have raised many times. “If you’re an adult reading this who is older than about 40 years of age, I’d like you to think back to your childhood. How many kids did you know who had leukemia, asthma, diabetes, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), arthritis, multiple sclerosis, cancer, autism or were obese? Chances are, you may have known a few. Perhaps the kid down the street had asthma. Maybe there was a distant relative who had juvenile diabetes. Or you heard on the news about some rare child with leukemia. Now, it seems like everywhere you turn, you read or hear about a child with a serious health problem. How many kids do you know of who are on Ritalin or were diagnosed with a learning disability? There are whole hospitals devoted to children’s cancer. Asthma and diabetes are now considered epidemics.”

Bernadini points out that “we live in a universe of laws. These laws that don’t care if you’re black or white, Japanese or Mexican, 90 years old or still a fetus. These laws are fundamental in the nature of matter and energy and determine how life progresses. If we live in harmony with these laws, we will as consequence live in harmony. If we break the laws, we will become discordant. Enough of this discord will create sickness, disease, and aberrant behavior.” Dr. Price expressed this fact in a similar manner as “Life in all its fullness is Mother Nature obeyed.”

Bernadini explains that whenever a health problem occurs, we must determine what the problem really is and determine the cause of the symptoms. Then we must apply our knowledge and technology in a way that works with nature, not against it, in order to get our children well. A good example of this might be the treatment of ADHD. Bernardini recommends removing the heavy metal toxicity from a child’s tissues and giving him a good diet instead of giving him Ritalin. If you do not remove the cause you never truly get rid of the problem. It may, however, seem to disappear but then surface in a new way.

Bernardini also addresses mental and emotional health and the growth of violence in our schools. “According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the years between 1985 and 1995 saw a 249 percent increase in gun-related murders committed by juveniles.” Bernardini says our kids are going crazy because “they’re not happy. And they’re not happy because they’re not healthy.”

Furthermore, “People are getting sicker younger and younger–physically, mentally and emotionally. And it’s not by chance –it’s because our bodies are not being treated and cared for the way nature intended.” Our children are exposed to environmental toxins which their small bodies cannot handle and they are stressed out and poorly fed.

Bernardini stresses that the diet of pregnant mothers and infants during the first few years of life is critical to their health and happiness later on. He quotes Susan B. Robbers, Ph.D, professor of nutrition at Tufts University School of Nutrition Science and Policy in Boston, who says, “As a nutrition researcher, I have spent 20 years studying the importance of healthy food at all stages of life. . . Studies from my own laboratory and others around the world have taught me that the foods my daughter eats during the first months and years of life have long-lasting–and in some cases–permanent effects. Foods make an important difference in virtually everything–from mental and physical developments to vitality, personality and health from childhood through old age.” Bernardini provides extensive information on the foods and nutrients your baby needs, what these nutrients do, and how to get them.

Bernardini’s dietary advice is in line with that of Dr. Price. Characteristic of the entire book, Bernardini is not afraid to tell us that it is important for your growing child to get enough fat in the diet. “Newborns must derive 50 percent of the calories they consume from dietary fat. Fat is essential for normal growth from infancy on, since fats provide fatty acids, the building block children need for critical metabolic programming of brain growth and development.” Bernardini gives specific advice on how to feed your child. He includes our recipes for homemade baby formula and recommends cod liver oil, egg yolks, raw whole milk and liver.

Dr. Bernardini fearlessly addresses an array of controversial topics including birth defects, infertility, baby food and formula, soy, vaccines, and SIDS. He gives extensive advice on what to avoid but also has plenty of support and resources on ways to deal with any problems your child may be experiencing already.

Bernardini does a good job of empowering us to be proactive. He is particularly concerned that we take back responsibility for our own and our children’s health. He gives good advice when he says: “You must scrutinize closely the information you receive from the government and the mass media. Policy decisions, guidelines and laws are oftentimes made not so much for the preservation of our health, but for the preservation of profits. Big money can do big things, including influencing our government. A 1980 study showed that almost half of the leading officials at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had at one time worked for organizations the agency is mandated to regulate. Similarly, many FDA officials quit to go work for a company in the field they were once regulating. . . . Do some research and ask some questions. Don’t necessarily believe somebody just because he or she is on the nightly news, in the papers or is a so-called ‘expert.’ Make yourself the expert. Learn to seek answers, not just accept what is foisted upon you–for the truth is often quiet and the truth is often hidden. Truth is not in it for the money, it just is. Truth doesn’t advertise.” He reminds us to be wary of the advertisers and be watchful that we do not become brainwashed. We must constantly be aware of the fact that we could lose our health freedoms if we are not educated, aware and vigilant about protecting them.

Although the problems we are seeing today may seem overwhelming in their scope, it is the responsibility of an alerted society to protect future generations of children from the suffering caused by the obvious mistakes and profit-driven decisions that have given birth to a wildly untamed massive power structure and authority that we cannot afford to blindly support. As statistics are showing seriously unfavorable trends in wide areas of health, we have no time to waste in correcting this path, for our children’s ability to thrive depends on our courage to help change this misguided direction of history.

The enlightened work of the Weston A. Price Foundation and the expansive healing information it is providing, which is helping to reverse these trends, must be communicated in exponential proportion to every person by those who understand and have experienced its power. Through understanding the root cause of our mistakes and the proven answers to these problems, we can steer a sinking ship from disaster to great hope for a brighter future for upcoming generations.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Subscribe

1 Comment »

Most people who are interested in holistic medicine, the real food movement and organic foods understand how terribly toxic mercury amalgams and root canals are. I wrote an important post on mercury toxicity and candida overgrowth on my blog just after hearing the remarkable 6 hour seminar of Dr. Louisa Williams at the Wise Traditions Conference. Her book Radical Medicine should be required reading for every person on this planet!! Radical Medicine is not for people who want to keep their head in the sand–it’s for those of you who want to know “why” we are struggling with so many health issues. It’s for people who truly want to get better and know that diet–even the best Weston A. Price diet in the world is not enough!!!

I had all of my mercury amalgams removed about 20 years ago by a leading biological dentist. If you have read my book, you know that I got a cavity in each of my molars at age 16. Had I not had those amalgams replaced with composite fillings, I am certain, from what I know now, that I wouldn’t have recovered from my life-threatening illness. Let me tell you why!

Although I had all my amalgams removed, up until Monday, Feb. 1, 2010, I had one crown on the bottom right side of my mouth over my first molar. I needed that crown after I cracked my tooth on popcorn at age 20! This crown was porcelain with metal at the bottom and it enclosed a mercury amalgam-filled tooth. If you know anything about bad dentistry–this scenario describes one of them, because when you mix metals, you get what is coined “Dental Galvanism.” In Dorland’s medical dictionary, this is defined as:

“A physiochemical phenomenon in which two or more dissimilar metals that have been used to restore or replace missing teeth produce the flow of an electric current.”

Because amalgam fillings are made of a mixture of metals and people often have other metals in their mouth like gold or crowns made with metal, they can be suffering from severe heavy metal toxicity. Dental galvanism causes an amplification of heavy metal toxicity in the body. In fact, to protect the vital organs, the body will try to displace the toxic metals through neural pathways to less important parts of the body, like the breasts and the reproductive organs, thereby protecting the brain, liver , kidneys and heart.

This is what was happening to me with only ONE toxic piece of dental work in my mouth. Last summer I noticed a lump in my RIGHT breast, which I was able to massage away through the self-breast massage technique I talked about in an earlier blog article. I also was experiencing sinus drainage behind my RIGHT eye and eyebrow area this last summer and thought it was an allergy–only on the RIGHT side?–Not making sense is it! My RIGHT eyelid has had a recurring twitch for years. My RIGHT tonsil often was sore. My RIGHT ear was sometimes sore. I had shingles on the RIGHT side of my face years ago–excruciatingly painful. Was this my body’s way of trying to detoxify this ONE piece of bad dentistry left in my mouth. Of course! What else could it be.

So if you think that your mercury amalgams are not causing you harm, or your mixed metal crown with a mercury amalgam underneath is just fine, or your root canals are not causing any symptoms in your body that you know of—THINK AGAIN! Read RADICAL MEDICINE and think again–it could be the best thing you ever have done to protect your health besides eating a nutrient-dense diet!  If you have any dental work done, it is imperative that you work with a highly qualified biological dentist.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Subscribe

7 Comments »

It’s interesting that some of the chemicals we use to create  public drinking water were actually used as poisons beginning in World War l. Chlorine was used in World War l as a toxic chemical weapon and fluoride was the principal active ingredient in rat poison for years before it was added to our drinking water supply after World War ll. While chlorine sterilizes our water, it can also destroy much of our beneficial intestinal flora. Fluoride has been shown to weaken bones and increase the risk for heart disease and bone cancer in young men. Still today 75% of our population drinks chlorinated tap water, much of which also contains fluoride.

To build optimal health it is critical to clean up your drinking water supply. Reverse osmosis does the best job of removing toxins from water, but also leaves the water de-mineralized. Without going to a huge expense of buying your own reverse osmosis system, many grocery stores offer reverse osmosis water very cheaply. If you purchase your own glass jars to store the water, you will have a better supply of drinking water without having to have it delivered. If you want to re-mineralize your reverse osmosis water, you may want to purchase one of the reasonably priced filtration systems–like the system from Nikken–that will do this to your reverse osmosis water.

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Subscribe

2 Comments »

In 1928, Sir Alexander Fleming discovered the first antibiotic by accident when he found no staphylococcus bacterial growth around a mold spore (penicillin) that had contaminated his culture dishes. Although the miracle cure was an exciting breakthrough for the infectious diseases that were killing soldiers and civilians during the two World Wars, in 1945, Flemming prophesized in the New York Times that the “misuse of penicillin could lead to a selection and propagation of mutant forms of bacteria resistant to the drug”–an occurrence he had already experienced in the laboratory. Flemming saw that the bacteria could communicate and change their form to survive the antibiotic remedy so quickly that this approach to fighting disease would be like a dog chasing its tail–just as he thinks he’s got it–it gets away!

Since we know this to be true, it seems ridiculous that the medical community keeps chasing bugs, as this kind of health initiative is rather new in the history of health care. Yet the germ theory is preached almost like a terrorist plot–as if we can succeed in outwitting germs! The underlying reason for this insanity is, of course, money!

“Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food” was state of the art health care for thousands of years. As we return to this approach and build our immune systems with nutrient-dense, pasture-raised foods, we can live in harmony with “bugs.”

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Subscribe

No Comments »

Asthma is one of the serious epidemics we are seeing in our population. Since just 1995, the number of diagnosed cases of this illness has jumped from 14.9 million to 34.1 million! Although one would assume this jump is a direct result of toxins in the air, this is not the underlying cause in many cases. You may be surprised to learn that 41.1% of non-smokers who have a chronic cough and 60% of those who have asthma also have acid reflux!

How does acid reflux cause asthma? First, the refluxed liquid may cause people to inhale tiny drops of acid into their lungs thus aggravating the delicate pulmonary lining and initiating spasms in the airways triggering an asthma attack. Second, the digestive acid may damage the esophageal lining and expose some of the nerves that are connected to the lungs. The irritation of the nerve endings can create a constriction of airways, thereby causing an asthma attack. Additionally, the acid can cause inflammation of the throat and larynx. To make things even more complicated, some asthma medications that dilate the bronchial tubes can produce acid reflux symptoms as they may cause the cardiac sphincter to relax—allowing acid to escape up through the esophagus. Therefore, treating the symptoms of asthma without looking at the possibility of acid reflux is like holding your finger over the hole of a sinking boat!

If the acid reflux issues are symptomatically treated with yet more medications, there may be a risk for serious long-term health issues. Acid reflux is most often treated with acid-lowering drugs.  However, the true source of most acid reflux problems is a Candida, or yeast overgrowth, in the stomach that is actually caused by low acid in the stomach itself! A yeast overgrowth slows down digestion and foods will ferment under these conditions. As Candida will also paralyze the esophageal sphincter, the gases from the fermentation push the food up through the weakened esophageal muscles.

Because candida only grows in low acid conditions in the first place–acid lowering drugs are going to further compromise digestion. As Candida proliferates,  it can promote severe dysbiosis, or poor intestinal flora. With poor intestinal flora, foods are not digested properly, nutrients are not absorbed, intestinal damage is forthcoming and eventually malnourishment will occur. Besides compromised nutrient absorption, intestinal damage causes leaky gut, which can initiate allergic tendencies such as asthma!  Therefore, one problem incorrectly treated cascades into more problems.

If we can find the source of the asthma and acid reflux epidemic, we will have the answer to help millions of people. Both asthma and acid reflux have grown exponentially since the industrialization of our food supply that spurred the creation of processed, denatured and low-nutrient foods. Before this time, most people’s diets included foods that were high in nutrients and supported good digestion like meats, poultry, eggs and dairy from grass-fed animals and cultured dairy and vegetables like kefir, yogurt, sauerkraut and pickled beets. They also ate ample traditional fats like butter, lard and coconut oil and foods with natural sources of vitamins A and D like cod liver oil, liver and egg yolks, which are necessary for good digestion and nutrient absorption. With good digestion and a nutrient-rich diet, a person will diminish the probability of suffering from an illness like acid reflux, allergies and it’s related condition–asthma.

By returning to traditional farming and the foods that our ancestors ate, we will diminish the exponential growth of illnesses rooted in poor digestion. If we can move from the symptomatic treatment of asthma to solving the problem, we will help to support better health for generations to come.

For more information building health and treating acid reflux and its related illnesses such as asthma with nutrient-dense foods, see our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Subscribe

2 Comments »

Ear infections have become a common ailment in children. A child who suffers from frequent ear infections is at risk for permanent hearing loss. Although the most widely used treatment for ear infections is antibiotics, is this approach really addressing the underlying cause and are there long-term risks of not looking at the real health issue? When a society sees a common health problem and the answer is a medication, one must ask, “Is there is a great danger in following this path?”

What could possibly be an underlying reason for a mass epidemic in ear infections in children? What many people do not realize is that acid reflux is often present in a child with ear infections. As refluxed liquid enters the upper throat and inflames the adenoids, it causes them to swell. The swollen adenoids can block the passages of the sinuses and Eustation tube and fluid can build in the sinuses and middle ear. Acid reflux affects 1 in 5 people in our country. Therefore, looking at the acid reflux problem closely will not only help these children heal permanently, but also help to understand what our society as a whole faces to prevent this and other health epidemics that are related to poor digestion from continuing to escalate.

Acid reflux is caused from poor digestion. Hippocrates said that, “All diseases begin in the gut.” So treating ear infections with antibiotics is not only an incorrect long-term healing approach, it does not address the underlying problem of poor digestion and can be just one more element that puts a person at risk for other serious diseases.

The acid reflux epidemic in children is most often a direct outgrowth of a familial inheritance of poor gut flora when the child is born. When a child passes through the birth canal, it should acquire a healthy dose of gut flora from the mother. However, if the mother’s digestive health is poor or the child is born by a cesarean section, it’s gut flora, a first line of defense for illness, may be greatly compromised. If the child is breast-fed, this can help establish good intestinal flora for digestion, but only if the mother also has this asset.

Acid reflux and its related symptom, ear infections, have become epidemic since the drastic change to our food supply in the 1950s, where people began eating hard-to-digest foods that were very low in nutrient-density and stopped eating traditional probiotic cultured foods. This has caused a society laden with digestive problems. Hard-to-digest, low-nutrient foods slow down digestion and can promote the proliferation of a candida overgrowth in the stomach and intestinal tract. The gases from the fermentation of food create the acid  reflux conditions that can cause ear infections.

The solution for permanent healing is to return to the types of foods that supported healthy digestion and optimal health in our ancestors. These foods are the nutrient-dense meats, poultry, dairy and eggs from pastured animals and the wide array of cultured and fermented foods that used to grace our tables and provide the body with the building blocks of optimal health. Cultured foods like raw milk kefir, yogurt, homemade sauerkraut, pickled beets and beet kvass were a part of the everyday meals of people worldwide for thousands of years. They insure the proper gut flora that is absolutely necessary for good digestion.  By approaching ear infections from the much broader perspective of poor digestion and changes to our food supply, we have the tools to improve our own health and help future generations to free themselves of the far-reaching effects of a profit-based industrial food supply.

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Subscribe

No Comments »

Any thinking, breathing, right-minded person who looks at the state of the health of the  people in our country, would have to be extremely alarmed at the mounting signs of disaster. What happens when nearly every child born, faces a terrible condition that will not allow them to live a productive, healthy life? What happens when nearly every child is born with Autism? Do the math! Look at today’s statistics! We are not far from this except for the fact that a huge movement of people are healing themselves and supporting their health with the foods produced with sustainable agriculture–or pasture-raised foods–raw milk, raw butter and pasture-raised meat, eggs and poultry along with fermented cod-liver oil, and fermented dairy and vegetables. These are the foods of our ancestors. These are the foods that supported human life for thousands of years. These are the foods of small family farms who cared about the earth, animals and provided well for their families and friends. This is a movement of people that has embraced the historical relationship with the farmer who is the steward of the earth. These are the foods of our founding fathers. This is real food! Our children cannot be healthy without real food and we cannot expect anything less than a disaster when generations of people do not eat real food!

The raw milk rally in Viroqua, Wisconsin on Monday of this week was  just the beginning of the many opportunities we must seize to make it very clear that the government can no longer attempt to control what kinds of foods people choose to insure their health and that of their children. A world without healthy children being born, is no world at all. Good food raised from small family farms is the only food that will support our future on this beautiful planet.

Get involved!! The time is now!! Every person must look at these seeds of disaster and look at the answers that are being provided and not be complacent.

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Subscribe

No Comments »

It seems that allergies are as common as ants on the sidewalk–everyone has at least one. They range from mild to ones that can cause anaphylactic shock. But why is this so? Surely our environment has fueled a wide list of allergies, but are there methods that can help you to overcome them so you are able to minimize the use of drugs, allergy shots or even holistic treatments?

The first approach we have to oversensitivity to foods, airborne allergens and other substances of course is avoidance. But what if a person is allergic to most foods and a huge list of airborne substances–then we have a real problem! An allergic reaction to anything is the immune system in motion. When the immune system is always reacting, it puts a great strain on the body’s resources for maintaining good health.

There is great hope in improving the body’s sensitivities by going to the source of the problem, which is often the digestive tract. Because of our poor food supply and incorrect high-fiber/low-fat health dictates, many people are suffering from a condition called “leaky gut.” Leaky gut is a result of intestinal damage from poor gut flora–usually a candida overgrowth. When the intestinal tract becomes weakened, it can become inflamed and proteins can escape into the blood system. This causes an immune response–so that the next time your body comes in contact with that substance–even if it is a healthy food–it will cause the same immune response. When the digestive tract is inflamed, the entire body can become ultra-sensitive to many other things such as airborne substances.

Foods that help to heal the digestive tract are nutrient-dense foods from pastured animals, wild caught fish and organic sources:

1. bone-broth soups
2. cultured drinks and foods like whole-fat kefir and yogurt, homemade sauerkraut, pickled beets, beet kvass and kombucha
3. traditional fats like  raw butter, coconut oil, and lard
4. Meats, poultry, eggs and wild caught fish
5. Fermented cod liver oil and butter oil (see greenpasture.org.)

Another help to improving allergies is heavy metal detoxification. Carefully removing mercury amalgam fillings with a biological dentist and working with an experienced holistic health practitioner who understands how to gently detox heavy metals can also enhance the blocks to overcoming allergies. (see www.wholenutritionist.com and www.radicalmedicine.com.)

Healing the digestive tract and removing heavy metals is an exciting step to recovering from allergies. For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Subscribe

No Comments »

There are mountains of books on natural healing from digestive disorders. Considering that 1 in five people have GERD/acid reflux–the mountain of information does seem necessary. In most circles, an illness that affects 1 in 5 people would surely be considered an epidemic! I have gleaned all the health books that have natural remedies and have compiled a good list below. While all of these are helpful for healing the symptoms, they do not address the fact that with a digestive disorder there is serious long-term malnourishment. These books also do not ask the question, “Why do we have an exponential increase in acid reflux in our population?” Or–”Is acid reflux a precursor to other degenerative illnesses?” If we look at the two profound statements of leaders in the study of optimal human health; that “All diseases begin in the gut,” of Hippocrates and “All disease is caused from malnourishment,” of Dr. Weston A. Price, we can begin to ascertain the magnitude of the acid reflux epidemic and see that we are probably at the brink of a health disaster unless we begin changing our food supply. A nutrient-dense, traditional foods diet is an effective approach to healing symptoms and the underlying cause of acid reflux/GERD. When you purchase traditionally raised foods from small farms dedicated to bringing you the highest quality foods, you vote with your wallet! (For sources of nutrient-dense foods see www.realmilk.com)

Good Suggestions:
• Eat small, frequent meals
• Eat slowly
• Follow an anti-Candida diet
• Take enzymes and probiotics
• Eat fermented foods
• Eat an easy-to-digest diet
• Cut down on simple carbohydrates
• Cabbage juice, celery juice potato juice may be helpful
• Aloe Vera juice may be helpful for healing
• Helpful herbs: slippery elm, ginger, marshmallow root, licorice, bladderwrack, chamomile, fennel seed, lemon balm and turmeric, cumin, meadowsweet
• Orange peel extract may be helpful
• Papaya and papaya juice may be helpful
• Bitters may help digestion
• Colostrum may help to boost the immune system
• Raw honey and cinnamon before bed may be helpful
• MSM and Zinc Carnosine helps heal damaged tissue in stomach and intestinal lining (never found bone broth as a remedy, which will do the same thing much more effectively)
• Acupressure may be helpful
• Wear loose clothing
• Minimize stress
• Meditation is helpful
• Regular exercise is helpful
• Sleep 8 hours
• Elevate you bed
• Avoid eating 2-3 hours before bedtime
• Avoid allergenic foods
• Avoid grains
• Avoid vegetables that produce gas
• Avoid high-fiber foods
• Avoid fried foods
• Avoid juices and citrus fruits (except lemon)
• Avoid alcohol, coffee, chocolate, tomatoes, mint and mint flavorings
• Avoid spicy foods
• Avoid microwaving, food additives, vegetable oils and nutrient-poor foods
• Avoid NSAIDS and antibiotics
• Avoid smoking

For more information on a healing and building health with nutrient-dense foods, see our e-book on acid reflux and Performance without Pain.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Subscribe

No Comments »

Traditionally cultured and fermented foods like plain whole milk kefir and yogurt from grass-fed cows, homemade sauerkraut, kimchee and pickled beets, and beverages like beet kvass and  kombucha were common foods throughout history before refrigeration. They were a way to preserve foods worldwide. Would it surprise you to know that you absolutely cannot afford to live without them though?

In order to function properly–that is to break down our foods into usable components and detoxify our body– the human digestive system needs ample probiotic bacteria and enzymes. Fermented and cultured foods naturally provide these components. Without these kinds of foods, we may develop many serious digestive problems like candida overgrowth, which chemically change the way our foods are processed and we will not be able to get rid of toxins. Ultimately, poor digestion equals poor health. In fact, acid reflux, inflammatory conditions of all kinds and cancer can be linked to poor digestion and a toxic overload.

Do your health a big favor–devote time to learning to prepare these delicious cultured and fermented foods. As your digestion improves so will your health!

For more information on preparing cultured and fermented foods see our website at www.performancewithoutpain.com. Both of our books, Performance without Pain and our e-book on healing acid reflux are wonderful guides to optimizing digestion.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Subscribe

2 Comments »

Artists know very well that the ability to concentrate is critical to both practicing and performing. However all of us need these concentration skills to do well in our everyday lives. In addition mood instability that curtails a sense of well-being may impact our success. Today the cutting edge treatments for working with children who have autism, ADD, ADHD and mental health issues is a dietary protocol based on nutrient-dense foods that also maximizes digestion and absorption. This is because this scientific community has proven that this approach has offered remarkable advances in the reversal of all of these problems. These very same advances for serious ailments in children have a direct relationship on how we can look at what is helpful for optimal concentration and mood in less critical health situations.

When the diet is high in difficult-to-digest foods like high-fiber, complex carbohydrate and processed foods or sugar, digestion can slow down and cause an overgrowth of candida in both the stomach and the intestinal tract. The byproduct of sugars broken down by yeast (candida) is alcohol and acetaldehyde. The byproduct of poorly digested gluteomorphine protein from gluten grains is a morphine-like chemical. Need I say more! That alcohol and morphine would affect both the mood and the ability to concentrate even in small amounts is obvious. Acetaldehyde will bind itself to proteins we consume and make their nutrients unavailable to the body. Additionally, these foods become very addictive because of the chemicals they produce under these circumstances.

Therefore–changing your diet to foods that are easy-to-digest and nutrient rich is the best way to insure that your body and mind are able to function at peak performance.

Optimal digestion requires certain components.

• The first is good intestinal flora, which helps us to break down our foods and keep the intestinal walls and villi functioning well for optimal nutrient absorption. Foods that enhance good gut flora are old fashioned probiotic, high-enzyme  foods like cultured dairy–whole fat kefir and yogurt; lacto-fermented vegetables–homemade sauerkraut and pickled beets and cultured drinks like kombucha and beet kvass.
• Second, a diet rich in nutrient-dense foods such as meats, poultry, eggs and dairy from animals eating their natural diets and traditionally made bone broth soups
• Third, a diet that includes traditional fats like butter, cream and coconut oil which help with nutrient absorption, cell integrity and hormone function.
• Fourth, adequate vitamin A and D from natural sources like cod liver oil, egg yolks and liver also for nutrient absorption

For more information on healing and building optimal health with nutrient-dense, traditional foods, see www.performancewithoutpain.com.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Subscribe

No Comments »

Food addictions can be much more than just talk–they can be real biochemical dependencies that may be signs of health issues. Today, many people are addicted to carbohydrates, like breads, chips, cookies, candy, soda pop, etc. From the aisles of “organic” junk food products in our health food stores to literally hundreds of  junk foods that sit on the shelves of grocery, discount and countless other stores, and the billions of dollars that are spent on advertising these products especially to growing children, it is almost unfathomable that these types of “foods” were by-and-large created in the last 60 years. But why do people crave them?

Because there was no refrigeration, our ancestors consumed many foods that were preserved through lacto-fermentation like yogurt and kefir and fermented vegetables, such as traditionally prepared sauerkraut and pickled beets, which contained probiotic bacteria that helped to maintain a healthy digestive system. With refrigeration and the industrialization of our food supply we stopped making these probiotic foods and started consuming more and more new-fangled food creations. These new fascinating “foods” have wreaked havoc on our digestion and the health of our population as they are very nutrient deficient and hard to digest.

When we consume foods that are hard to digest–even organic foods, digestion slows down in our stomach and stomach acid diminishes. Low acid in the stomach can cause an overgrowth of candida . In addition, without adequate stomach acid, the gluteomorphine proteins in gluten containing grains may not to be properly broken down before they reach the small intestine. In the small intestine the resulting byproduct of poorly digested carbohydrates is alcohol and acetaldehyde as well as morphine-like chemicals. We all know that alcohol and morphine are extremely addictive substances. Acetaldehyde is a very toxic chemical that can bind itself to proteins and make them unusable as nutrients. Therefore, carbohydrate addiction is a real chemical problem and without healthy digestion, candida overgrowth and poor gut flora will ultimately cause intestinal damage and malnourishment.

The best way to end the candida cycle and food addictions is to focus on eating a diet of easy-to-digest, nutrient-dense foods. Foods with real nutrients will eventually help you end the cravings as digestion and nutrient absorption improves. For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Subscribe

No Comments »

If you are getting hungry two hours after eating breakfast, you may be choosing the wrong kind of foods for your morning meal and this may be a sign that you have absorption problems as well. Let’s look at both of these important issues.

First, a breakfast of cereal, toast or a bagel with non-fat spreads and a piece of fruit may not be the breakfast of champions! For years before I got deathly ill with a digestive disorder, my favorite breakfast was bagels, no-cholesterol “buttery flavor” spread and a piece of fruit. Another choice was a bowl of cold cereal. However by 10AM, I was very hungry again. This is not good. A healthy breakfast is not one that would leave you hungry in just a few hours.

Instead, a breakfast with higher amounts of protein and fat from traditional foods will literally nourish you until the afternoon and will offer far greater levels of nutrients. In our book we recommend a few great breakfasts that besides being nutrient-dense, will also help improve digestion. Smoothies made with 16 oz. whole fat kefir or yogurt (preferably raw milk from grass-fed animals), 2-4 raw egg yolks (from pastured chickens–not commercial eggs), fruit and 1 T. coconut oil are a fabulous breakfast. Another is old fashioned bacon (organic, no-nitrate) and eggs (from pastured chickens). Nutrient density is the key to building optimal health and maintaining blood sugar meal to meal. Nutrient-dense foods have ample high-quality traditional fats, protein and carbohydrates.

However, another reason that you are hungry just two hours after eating may be that you are suffering from inflammation in your intestinal tract. Inflammation is usually caused from bacterial imbalances in the gut flora like a candida overgrowth. When inflammation is present, nutrient absorption will be hampered and a person will feel hungry very quickly after eating a meal. After years of malabsorption, malnourishment is sure to follow.

For optimal health we need eat foods that are high in nutrients and also those that will support good digestion. For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,
Kathryne Pirtle

Subscribe

No Comments »

Concurrent pivotal  research in the 1930s by Dr. Weston A. Price and Dr. Francis Pottenger determined that there was a profound relationship between nutrition and fertility in both humans and cats. Dr. Price found that in the 14 healthy populations he studied, women had no fertility issues or problems in pregnancy or childbirth, and their children were very sturdy. In fact he noted that the Eskimo women had one healthy baby after another. However, people from these same cultures who had moved away and obtained access to “modern foods” –pasteurized milk, white flour, refined sugar and vegetable oils, had fertility and pregnancy problems, and the children born from these mothers had structural imperfections like narrowed faces and crooked and crowded teeth as well as health problems–the very same issues that he had seen in his own patients in the United States.

During this same time period, Dr. Francis Pottenger was working with nutritional healing for the treatment of tuberculosis and other diseases at the Pottenger Sanatorium in Monrovia, California. He always focused healing on a proper diet based on the principles discovered by Weston A. Price, and served liberal amounts of liver, butter, cream and eggs to his patients.

He also kept colonies of cats who had had their adrenal glands removed to help him determine how much adrenal cortex to give to his own patients. He found that when the cats consumed a species appropriate diet of raw milk and raw meat that they thrived from one generation to the next. However, if they received either a diet of pasteurized milk and raw meat, raw milk and cooked meat or pasteurized milk and cooked meat that the cats developed degenerative conditions. In fact, with these problem diets, in the second generation, the cats had narrowed faces and crooked and crowded teeth, and in the third generation, the cats could produce no more young!

These astonishing independent yet parallel outcomes between both Dr. Price and Dr. Pottenger can teach us the keys to the exponential percentage of fertility problems that we are seeing today. Both humans and cats who have superior nutrition will have no fertility problems and their offspring will be healthy. But when nutrition is inadequate, the first sign is in fertility problems, structural problems and the presence of health issues.

What we must wake up to understand is that widespread fertility problems are truly a sign of something very wrong with our foods and nutritional beliefs. And if we are really honest, by not choosing and supporting a supply of nutrient-dense foods, this lack of fertility really will ultimately translate into extinction. What both Pottenger and Price revealed can help us to be determined to help to turn the clock back.

For more information on a nutrient-dense diet, see www.performancewithoutpain.com

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Subscribe

No Comments »

We have discussed the critical importance  of the vitamins A and D from natural sources. Dr. Weston A. Price found that without adequate amounts of these nutrients you could not absorb the nutrients from your foods no matter how good the diet. The best sources of these vitamins are from fermented cod liver oil (see www.greenpasture.org.), pastured animal foods like egg yolks, liver, butter, lard and from fish eggs. Healthy cultures consumed these foods liberally and yet today we are told to avoid most of these because of their cholesterol levels.

But what about getting vitamin A from the beta-carotene in vegetables? The following article by Sally Fallon discusses this issue.

Vitamin A Vagary

by Sally Fallon

This article has since been expanded and updated on the Weston A Price Foundation site as Vitamin A Saga

“Eat carrots for vitamin A.” Such statements, found in many popular diet and nutrition books, create the impression that the body’s requirements for this essential nutrient can be exclusively met with plant foods like carrots, squash, green leafy vegetables and orange colored fruits. The low fat school of nutrition benefits greatly from the fact that the public has only vague notions about vitamin A; for the family of water-soluble nutrients called carotenes are not true vitamin A, but are more accurately termed provitamin A. True vitamin A, or retinol, is found only in animal products like cod liver oil, liver and other organ meats, fish, shell fish and butterfat from cows eating green grass.

Under optimal conditions, humans convert carotenes to vitamin A in the upper intestinal tract by the action of bile salts and fat-splitting enzymes. Of the entire family of carotenes, beta-carotene is most easily converted to vitamin A. Early studies indicated an equivalency of 4:1 of beta-carotene to retinol. In other words, four units of beta-carotene were needed to produce one unit of vitamin A. This ratio was later revised to 6:1 and recent research suggests an even higher ratio.1 This means that you have to eat an awful lot of vegetables and fruits to obtain even the daily minimal requirements of vitamin A, assuming optimal conversion.

But the transformation of carotene to retinol is rarely optimal. Diabetics and those with poor thyroid function, a group that includes at least half the adult US population, cannot make the conversion. Children make the conversion very poorly and infants not at all —they must obtain their precious stores of vitamin A from animal fats —yet the low-fat diet is often recommended for children.2 Strenuous physical exercise, excessive consumption of alcohol, excessive consumption of iron (especially from “fortified” white flour and breakfast cereal), use of a number of popular drugs, excessive consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids, zinc deficiency and even cold weather can hinder the conversion of carotenes to vitamin A3, as does the low-fat diet.

Carotenes are converted by the action of bile salts, and very little bile reaches the intestine when a meal is low in fat. The epicure who puts butter on his vegetables and adds cream to his vegetable soup is wiser than he knows. Butterfat stimulates the secretion of bile needed to convert carotenes from vegetables into vitamin A and at the same time, supplies very easily absorbed true vitamin A. Polyunsaturated oils also stimulate the secretion of bile salts but can cause rapid destruction of carotene unless antioxidants are present.

It is very unwise, therefore, to depend on plant sources for vitamin A. This vital nutrient is needed for the growth and repair of body tissues; it helps protect mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, throat and lungs; it prompts the secretion of gastric juices necessary for proper digestion of protein; it helps to build strong bones and teeth and rich blood; it is essential for good eyesight; it aids in the production of RNA; and contributes to the health of the immune system. Vitamin A deficiency in pregnant mothers results in offspring with eye defects, displaced kidneys, harelip, cleft palate and abnormalities of the heart and larger blood vessels.

Nutrition pioneer Weston Price considered the fat soluble vitamins, especially vitamin A, to be the catalysts on which all other biological processes depend. Efficient mineral uptake and utilization of water-soluble vitamins require sufficient vitamin A in the diet. His research demonstrated that generous amounts of vitamin A insure healthy reproduction and offspring with attractive wide faces, straight teeth and strong sturdy bodies. He discovered that healthy primitives especially value vitamin-A-rich foods for growing children and pregnant mothers. Working in the 1930′s, he found that their diets contained ten times more vitamin A than the typical American diet of the time. This disparity is almost certainly greater today as Americans have forsworn butter and cod liver oil for foods based on polyunsaturated oils.

In third world communities that have come into contact with the West, vitamin A deficiencies are widespread and contribute to high infant mortality, blindness, stunting, bone deformities and susceptibility to infection.4 These occur even in communities that have access to plentiful carotenes in vegetables and fruits. Scarcity of good quality dairy products, a rejection of organ meats as old fashioned or unhealthful, and a substitution of vegetable oil for animal fat in cooking all contribute to the physical degeneration and suffering of third world peoples.

Supplies of vitamin A are so vital to human health that we are able to store large quantities of it in the liver and other organs. Thus it is possible to subsist on a diet low in animal fatfor a considerable period of time before overt symptoms of deficiency appear. But during times of stress, vitamin A stores are rapidly depleted. Strenuous physical exercise, periods of physical growth, pregnancy, lactation and infection are stresses that quickly deplete vitamin A stores. Children with measles rapidly use up vitamin A, often resulting in irreversible blindness. An interval of three years between pregnancies allows mothers to rebuild vitamin A stores so that subsequent children will not suffer diminished vitality.

One aspect of vitamin A that deserves more emphasis is its role in protein utilization. Kwashiorkor is as much a disease of vitamin A deficiency, leading to impaired protein absorption, as it is a result of absence of protein in the diet. High protein, lowfat diets in children induce rapid growth along with depletion of vitamin A supplies. The results —tall, myopic, lanky individuals with crowded teeth, and poor bone structure —are a fixture in America. Growing children actually benefit from a diet that contains more calories as fat than as protein.5 Such a diet, rich in vitamin A, will result in steady, even growth, a sturdy physique and high immunity to disease.

So it’s a bit embarrassing to the low-fat people, especially as the truth is beginning to come out, even in orthodox publications. A recent New York Times article noted that vitamin-A-rich foods like liver, egg yolk, cream and shellfish confer resistance to infectious diseases in children and prevent cancer in adults.6 A Washington Post article hailed vitamin A as “cheap and effective, with wonders still being (re)discovered,” noting that recent studies have found that vitamin A supplements help prevent infant mortality in third world counties, protect measles victims from severe complications and prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV virus.7 The article lists butter, egg yolk and liver as important sources of vitamin A but claims, unfortunately, that carotenes from vegetables are “equally important.” So vagueness about vitamin A continues, even among science writers.

Those familiar with the work of nutrition pioneer Weston Price are not so easily fooled. They know that vitamin-A-rich foods like liver, eggs, and cod liver oil are vital to good health. If you–or your children–don’t like liver, eggs and cod liver oil, don’t despair. Studies show that the best and most easily absorbed source of vitamin A is butterfat,8 a food relished by young and old alike. So use plenty of butter and cream from pasture-fed cows for good taste and wise nutritional practice.

Vitamin A Vagary was first published in the Price-Pottenger Health Journal. (619) 574-7763

Endnotes

1. Solomons, N.W., and Bulus, J., “Plant sources of provitamin A and human nutriture”, Nutrition Review, Springer Verlag New York, Inc., July 1993, v. 5 1, pp 199204.
2. Jennings, I.W., Vitamins in Endocrine Metabolism, Charles C. Thomas Publisher, Springfield, Illinois.
3. Dunne, Lavon J., Nutrition Almanac, Third Edition, McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, 1990.
4. Solomons, Op. Cit.
5. Personal communications, Mary G. Enig, Ph.D.
6. Angler, Natalie, “Vitamins Win Support as Potent Agents of Health”, New York Times, March 10, 1992.
7. Brown, David, “It’s cheap and Effective, With Wonders Still Being (Re)discovered”, The Washington Post, November 7,1994.
8. Fraps, G.S., and Kermerer, A.R., “The relation of the Spectro Vitamin A and Carotene Content of Butter to its Vitamin A potency Measured by Biological Methods”, Texas Agricultural Bulletin, N.- 560, February 1938.

Sally Fallon M.A., food historian and nutrition journalist, combines extensive background in nutrition with training in French and Mediterranean cooking. She is the author of Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, a full spectrum nutritional cookbook with a startling message —animal fats and cholesterol are not villains but vital factors in the human diet, necessary for reproduction and normal growth, proper function of the brain and nervous system, protection from disease and optimum energy levels. Mrs. Fallon’s book also provides information the values of Real Milk products, both to the consumer and the conscientious farmer. She is President of the Weston A. Price Foundation and editor of Wise Traditions, the Foundation’s quarterly magazine.

To order Nourishing Traditions, call 877 707-1776 or visit New Trends Publishing.

A Campaign for Real Milk is a project of The Weston A. Price Foundation
PMB 106-380, 4200 Wisconsin Ave, NW, Washington DC 20016
Phone: (202) 363-4394 | Fax: (202) 363-4396 | Web: www.westonaprice.org

For more information on healing and building health with nutrient-dense foods and seminars on this subject, see www.performancewithoutpain.com

Best in Health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Subscribe

1 Comment »

These profound words of Dr. Weston A. Price came as a result of  a 10 year meticulous study of healthy populations worldwide. Dr. Price, a prominent dentist in the 1930′s, was a pioneer on the quest to understand why the majority of  his patients in the United States had crooked and crowded teeth, cavities, facial deformities and degenerative illnesses of all kinds. He did not feel that this was normal and traveled during the summers of a ten year period to see if he could find populations of people with perfect health. He found 14 cultures who had completely different diets that had this perfect health–no cavities, perfect facial structure with plenty of room for the teeth and no degenerative diseases–including TB.

Although their diets were different, Price found certain common key components. First, the diets had 10 times the amount of vitamin A and D from natural sources–like cod liver oil, egg yolks, organ meats, fish eggs and traditional fats–like butter and cream from grass-fed animals–foods that we are largely told to avoid. Next, he found that their diets had ample traditional fats such as butter, cream, lard, coconut oil and meat with its fat. He found that without both adequate vitamin A and D and traditional fats, that a person could not absorb the nutrients from the foods they ate no matter how good the diet. Lastly, he found that their diets consisted of high quality proteins from animals eating their natural diets, and they ate no refined foods whatsoever.

Importantly, Price found that when people from these same cultures moved to areas where they were able to have access to modern foods–white flour, pasteurized milk, refined sugar and vegetable oils–that they developed cavities and degenerative illnesses and in the next generation, the children had crooked and crowded teeth, cavities and poor health as well.

Today, cavities are commonplace, our entire population is exhibiting  crooked and crowded teeth and the percentage of people–adults and children alike–affected by degenerative disease of all kinds, is growing at an exponential rate. Our modern food supply is a large part of the reason this is happening as our foods are highly nutrient-deficient.

If we follow Dr. Price’s work, we will see that the future of the health of our people lies in improving our broken food supply in favor of traditionally raised, nutrient-dense foods. When we correct malnourishment, healing and building optimal health are possible.

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Subscribe

No Comments »

Deciding what is a healthy diet can be full of conflicting advice. However, if we ask ourselves what foods can offer our bodies the most nutrients, we will begin to understand what foods will best support our health. Unfortunately, the common dietary dictate that we hear over and over—ie. “Eat a lowfat/high-fiber diet and you will be healthy,” does not have nutrient density as an underlying principal.

However, even finding a good source of nutrient-dense foods can be confusing. When it comes to foods with the highest level of nutrients, eating organic meats, poultry, dairy and eggs does not guarantee a nutrient-rich product as organic can mean many things–like feeding the animals an unnatural diet of organic corn and other grains–or even donuts (hard to believe)…etc. It also does not guarantee that the animal has not been raised in a confinement system either. Organic–which often is accompanied by the highest price tag, therefore does not necessarily mean nutrient-dense.

However, we can be assured of the highest level of nutrients in the foods we eat when the animal has been eating its natural diet and is pastured on organic pastureland. It’s almost comical to remind people that cows eat grass and chickens eat bugs and worms. The nutrient levels of the foods from animals eating their natural diets is quite remarkable. In fact the book Pasture Perfect, by Jo Robinson, (pub. Vashon Island Press) compares the level of nutrients from the foods of factory raised animals and pastured animals–and hands down–there is an enormous difference. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that eating corn all day inside a barn would not be a very good idea for a cow….

Pastured foods are becoming more and more available from small family farm coops and in some health food stores. For a good source of pastured foods in your area check out www.realmilk.com. Who’s your farmer?

For more information on a healthy diet see our website at www.performancewithoupain.com

To your health!

Kathryne Pirtle

Subscribe

No Comments »

The “healthy”  high-fiber/low fat diet diet that has been given the greatest press by doctors, ads and news reports may actually be quite harmful for your digestive system and leave you over time with chronic inflammation, allergies of all kinds and malnourishment.

High fiber foods are quite difficult to digest as they are high in cellulose. First, when we eat a high amount of fiber, it can expand in our stomach and cause digestion to last longer. This can lower the stomach acid in the stomach making it difficult for the food to be broken down. As soon as stomach acid lowers, bacteria, viruses and fungi can thrive in the stomach where they normally will be kept at bay. This can cause over time a candida overgrowth.

A  candida-or yeast-overgrowth-in the stomach will pass into the intestinal tract causing bacterial imbalances and dysbiosis. Some of the symptoms of dysbiosis are acid reflux, flatulence and bowel disorders of all kinds like constipation or diarrhea. With a candida overgrowth, our foods are not broken down properly, we cannot absorb nutrients well, our intestinal tract can become damaged and inflamed and we eventually can become malnourished. This cycle can cause systemic inflammation throughout the body as well as allergies.

Traditional fats are essential for nutrient absorption. Dr. Weston A. Price (www.westonaprice.org) found that the diets of healthy populations worldwide included ample fats, like butter, cream, lard and meat with its fat from pastured animals, coconut oil and eggs from pastured chickens. He determined that without adequate fat in the diet, a person could not absorb the nutrients from the food no matter how good the diet. When the Indians and explorers could only find lean meat, they starved to death. Adaquate fat from traditonal foods is absolutely necessary to good health and without it, good digestion will not be possible and eventually one will become malnourished and have chronic inflammation.

Following the media’s “healthy” diet may not provide you with a life-time of good health. Building health with traditional nutrient-dense foods can offer healing and protection from digestive disorders and chronic inflammation.

For more information see www.performancewithoutpain.com.

Subscribe

No Comments »

With all the dire warnings, where is the message about building natural immunity?

You are all aware of the dire warnings about swine flu, the outbreak that started in the Mexican village of La Gloria and which local residents blame on infection and/or toxins coming from local confinement hog operations.

The internet is abuzz with warnings bordering on hysteria (conventional media) to a variety of conspiracy theories, and even to allegations that the pandemic is a government fabrication designed to sell stockpiles of anti-viral medications.

Conventional medical advice ranges from wearing face masks to taking the anti-viral drug called tamiflu (which can have many serious side effects, see http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=21087&name=TAMIFLU.)

It is interesting to note that not once in all the media broadcasts have we heard any mention of building natural immunity.

NATURAL IMMUNITY
Fortunately, we do not have to sit back and listen to the news about swine flu feeling helpless and anxious.  We can be proactive by simply nourishing ourselves and our families.

Vitamins A and D in cod liver oil offer strong protection against infection of all types, as well as against environmental toxins.

Vitamin C is important-either from vitamin C-rich foods like sauerkraut, or from one of the natural vitamin C supplements recommended in our Shopping Guide.

Healthy gut flora provide 85 percent of our protection against disease.  Be sure to consume healthy lacto-fermented foods and beverages every day and avoid the foods that disrupt gut flora, especially refined carbohydrates.

Bone broth plays a double role of supporting the immune system and helping the body detoxify.

My book, Performance without Pain, offers a clear plan on how to build health and immunity with nutrient-dense foods. See www.performancewithoutpain.com

COCONUT OIL
We are grateful to Beth Beisel, registered dietitian and WAPF member for reminding us about the protective factors in coconut oil. Swine flu is a lipid coated virus (http://www.pnas.org/content/98/5/2115.full.pdf+html), and thus is inactivated by sufficient amounts of monolaurin.   (Our bodies convert lauric acid, found in coconut oil, to monolaurin).

According to our own Dr. Mary Enig, two to three tablespoons of coconut oil per day appears to be an adequate dosage to fight infection, even from virulent antibiotic-resistant organisms such as MSRA.

There are lots of ways to get coconut oil into the diet: stir coconut oil in some tea; make macaroons; replace some of the butter in baking with coconut oil; and use it in cooking/sautéing. Mary’s oil blend (see below) is a good way to incorporate coconut oil in cooking and salad dressings.

MARY’S OIL BLEND
1/3 melted coconut oil
1/3 sesame oil – expeller pressed
1/3 100% olive oil

Combine oils, store in a tight container, in an area free from sunlight, and use in cooking or on salads.

COCONUT SMOOTHIE
Beth has shared this great smoothie recipe with us.

1 banana
1 cup frozen mango
1 cup frozen pineapple
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup pomegranate/blueberry juice
1/2 cup natural yogurt or kefir, preferably homemade from raw milk
1/2 can coconut milk

Whirl in blender and drink to your health!

Subscribe

No Comments »

Review

Gut and Psychology Syndrome:
Natural Treatment for Autism, Dyspraxia, A.D.D., A.D.H.D., Dyslexia, Depression and Schizophrenia
By Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD, MMed(nuerology), MmedSci(nutrition)
(Published by Medinform, 2004)

Just as Dr. Weston A. Price was baffled by the amount of chronic illness in his patients and sought to identify the parameters that could foster such a trend, so too does Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride advance our understanding of the underlying factors present in a growing percentage of people who are suffering from brain disorders and mental illness. The latest estimates are that 1 in 150 children is diagnosed for autism alone and 1 in 94 boys is on the autistic spectrum. She states that although genetics is often given as an explanation for brain disorders such as autism and ADD/ADHD and psychiatric illnesses such as depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, genetics could never cause an exponential increase in health or developmental problems—because genetics work much more slowly. As a parent of a child diagnosed with learning disabilities, Dr. Campbell-McBride has boldly sought to identify elements common to people with brain disorders and mental illness and craft an effective approach to improving their condition. When genetics is no longer used as a “scapegoat” for health problems, then and only then will accurate knowledge and solutions be found.

Through studying the health of hundreds of patients with autism, learning disabilities, psychiatric illness and other problems, Dr. Campbell-McBride discovered that in all cases these children and adults had digestive problems, often of a severe nature. Through her research, she has determined that there is a distinct correlation between unhealthy intestinal flora, poor digestion and toxicity from chemicals created by undigested foods that can severely affect brain chemistry. She coins this as “Gut and Psychology Syndrome,” or GAPS.

But if a child develops problems such as autism or ADD/ADHD at an early age, how can that child have already developed poor digestion? This is where Dr. Campbell-McBride so brilliantly defines that the probable source is familial and generational, which moves past genetic theory. Just as Dr. Price ascertained that without adequate nutrition, each generation would produce less healthy children—so Dr. Campbell-McBride postulates that poor intestinal flora and digestion is being passed down from one generation to the next. When a child is born it acquires the flora of the mother during the passage through the birth canal. If the mother has a history of antibiotic or contraceptive use and poor digestive health, her flora will likely be far less than healthy. If she does not breast-feed her baby, the gut flora of the child will be further compromised. The infant will often develop digestive problems such as colic, bloating, flatulence, diarrhea, constipation, feeding difficulties, intestinal damage and malnourishment very early in life and is typically afflicted by a host of allergies. The child usually has frequent ear infections that are treated with many rounds of antibiotics, which only make the situation worse.

Poor bacterial flora and digestion are at the heart of serious health problems. When children are born with intestinal bacterial imbalances or “gut dysbiosis” they tend to have a compromised immune system and are prone to illness. Dr. Campbell-McBride states that often the intestinal tract of children who have autism is caked with hard fecal material. This terrible condition of course would lead to enormous and serious health consequences. She brings to light the profound statements of Hippocrates (460-370 BC) that, ”All diseases begin in the gut,” and of the father of modern psychiatry, French psychiatrist Phillipe Pinel (1745-1828), that “The primary seat of insanity is the region of the stomach and intestines.”

But what exactly happens in the gut that can upset brain chemistry? Dr. Campbell-McBride provides us with a magnificent explanation of the cascade of events that can occur when digestion is not supported by a healthy gut flora. A child or adult who eats a diet that is high in difficult-to-digest carbohydrates such as grains and processed foods, will continue to encourage the underlying condition of gut dysbiosis. Dr. Campbell-McBride states that people with damaged flora will even crave the very foods that support the survival of the unhealthy bacteria often to the exclusion and refusal of others.

Where most research on poor digestion focuses on unhealthy intestinal flora, Dr. Campbell-McBride’s work uniquely points to many problems with gut flora actually beginning with an unnatural growth of the fungus, Candida Albicans, in the stomach when it is not producing enough acid. She discusses that this overgrowth interferes with the first step of digestion by causing the stomach to produce inadequate amounts of the hydrochloric acid necessary to break proteins into “peptides” before entering the small intestine. For instance, under normal circumstances, the gluteomorphine and casomorphine proteins in wheat and milk are broken down in the stomach in the presence of proper amounts of stomach acid. However, with less stomach acid, these foods in fact begin to ferment in the stomach and are not broken down into peptides before passing into the small intestine. Besides causing an inadequate digestion of foods, the pressure of the gas created from this fermentation can lead to acid reflux, esophageal problems and even hiatal hernias, which are some of the most common digestive problems that people experience.

When insufficiently digested food enters the small intestines without adequate stomach acid, the pancreas in turn does not get the signal to release adequate pancreatic juices. Because people with GAPS lack healthy bacterial flora, they also lack production of enzymes called “peptidases.” These enzymes normally are produced by the enterocytes on the microvilli of the small intestine and will further break down proteins and carbohydrates into usable nutrients. With poor flora, the mucosal lining of the intestinal tract also becomes damaged and “leaky gut syndrome” develops. Therefore, the undigested casomorphine and gluteomorphine proteins, which resemble the chemical structure of opiates like heroin and morphine, are absorbed into the bloodstream unchanged and can cause severe interference with brain and immune system function. Dr. Campbell-McBride states that “There has been a considerable amount of research in this area in patients with autism, schizophrenia, ADHD, psychosis, depression and autoimmunity, who show high levels of casomorphines and gluteomorphines in their bodies, which means that their gut wall is in no fit state to complete appropriate digestion of these substances.”

Undigested carbohydrates, poor digestion and candida overgrowth in turn result in the production of the chemicals ethanol and acetaldehyde, which have profound consequences on brain chemistry and development. With these chemicals, a person can technically be considered “drunk” after a meal of carbohydrates even though they consumed no alcohol. We all know that alcohol is extremely toxic, especially to a developing fetus or a child. Besides reduced stomach acid and pancreatic enzymes, the following are some of the effects of a prolonged presence of alcohol from an overgrowth of candida in the body: damage and inflammation to the gut lining and resulting malabsorption; nutrient deficiencies; stress to the immune system; liver damage; accumulation of toxins, old neurotransmitters and hormones that can cause abnormal behavior; brain damage that can lead to lack of self control, impaired coordination and speech development, aggression, mental retardation, loss of memory and stupor; peripheral nerve damage; muscle tissue damage and weakness; metabolic alteration of proteins, carbohydrates and lipids and pancreatic degeneration.

Dr. Campbell-McBride reveals that there are many other toxins and bacteria created by poor digestion that are routinely found in stool samples of patients with GAPS. Of particular importance are those of the Bacteriods and Clostridia Family. These bacterium are present in all of us but kept under control when a healthy bacterial flora is in place. The Bacteriods are almost always found in infected tissues of the digestive tract, mouth, and gums, lungs, urinary tact, blood, heart valves and in diseased teeth, etc. Members of the Clostridia Family are also usually present in the stools of people with schizophrenia, psychosis, severe depression and those with other muscle, neurological and psychiatric conditions. Although many Clostridium species are normally found in the healthy gut, when gut dysbiosis in present, these bacterium may cause problems. If, for instance, the bacterium that causes tetanus, Clostridium tetani, which generally lives in check in a healthy gut, begins to thrive with gut dysbiosis; the toxins from this bacterium can infiltrate the tissues of the body. Some of the symptoms of the presence of a low exposure to the tetanus infection are sensitivity to light and noises and abnormalities of muscle function, i.e. the extensor muscles and flexor muscles may not function properly. Thus, children and adults with autism may exhibit the behavior of walking on tiptoes and stretching their muscles unusually in self-stimulation.

She also discloses some of the troubles with many countries’ vaccination programs. Where vaccinations in the past may have protected our children from a host of serious diseases, today, a young child with unhealthy gut flora and resulting digestive and immune system problems, receiving vaccinations for multiple diseases such as the MMR and DPT vaccine, may not produce an expected reaction to the vaccine. The vaccinations tend to put an enormous strain on the immune system. She therefore suggests a very cautious use of single vaccinations for a limited number of diseases, given to the child only when their digestive health is improved.

What then are the solutions to helping turn poor digestion into that which can help a person thrive. Dr. Campbell-McBride outlines a nutrient-dense dietary plan that is totally void of grains and at first, dairy, and provides high quality, organically grown meats, poultry, fish, nuts, eggs—especially raw egg yolks, cooked, non-starchy vegetables and fresh fruit with bone-broth soups, traditionally fermented foods, and ample traditional fats. She suggests supplements of cod liver, fish oil, digestive enzymes, a stomach acid supplement called Betaine HCL with added Pepsin and a non-enteric coated probiotic (minimum of 8 billion cultures per gram) to rid the stomach of bacterial growth and help develop healthy intestinal flora. Through a grain, sugar and dairy-free diet, the focus will be on removing foods that either feed the candida overgrowth, cause morphine-like peptides or an allergic response. She advises replacing the grains that most children crave with breads and crackers made from nut flours. After the gut flora is improved, she recommends adding homemade yogurt gradually to the diet and eventually cheeses. Once the stomach acid is normalized, a healthy gut flora is developed, nutrient rich foods take the place of depleted foods, the intestinal tract heals and digestion is repaired, both mental and physical health improvements are sure to follow.

She advises that the earlier these dietary changes are made, the more likely the success. She realizes, however, the difficulties that parents have with making changes to the diet of a young child and thoughtfully provides a method of encouraging new foods with a reward structure in place. She does not cover the challenges of changing the diet of an adolescent or adult, but we feel her information can aid both health practitioners and parents, friends and caregivers in understanding the necessity of helping their patients and loved ones to incorporate as much of this nutritional plan as is possible—certainly, the effort is well-worthwhile. It would seem, however, that the best time to implement Dr. Campbell-McBride’s recommendations is when the child is very young. This would minimize the damage induced by the neurotoxins that are produced by the dysbiotic flora. This would also minimize the psychosocial consequences of the abnormal behavior that accompany the neurotoxic affects on the brain.

Dr. Campbell-McBride makes another important point about the modern, commonly held belief that a gluten-free, casein-free dietary approach will help people with autism. She has found that most people do not improve with this diet because the gluten-free foods on the market are really just another form of nutrient-deficient junk food that foster the growth of candida and contribute to poor digestion. She states that this is also often true for people with Celiac disease. She sites research that even attributes the development of Celiac disease not to genetics as much as to an overgrowth of Candida. In fact she discusses that the best treatment for Celiac, Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis and other digestive disorders is a grain-free diet that was developed more than 60 years ago called the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, by the renowned American pediatrician, Dr. Sidney Haas. She has used many of the principles of this diet to develop her own program.

While Dr. Campbell-McBride suggests problems with milk, she does not discuss the difference between pasteurized commercial or organic milk and raw milk from grass-fed cows. Within the Weston Price Foundation research, there are abundant examples of the benefits of raw milk in improving the function of people with autism, learning disabilities and mental illness. The pasteurization of milk alters its proteins, making them difficult to digest and of course destroys the enzymes. It seems prudent, therefore, to differentiate the use of raw milk and explore its possible benefits in her plan. Additionally, recommending the use of nuts that have been soaked in sea salt and dehydrated, thereby increasing their digestibility and nutrient availability could enhance her suggestion of replacing grains with nuts and recipes made with nut flours.

After the thorough discussion of her nutritional plan, the book contains a wonderful section of recipes followed by details of important supplements. At the end of the book, she outlines a significant natural approach to treating ear infections and constipation. She also again stresses the need to move away from finding answers to difficult problems with human health by merely turning to genetics.

Through the study of the principles that Dr. Campbell-McBride provides, alternative medicine practitioners, who frequently encounter patients that are plagued with allergies, may want to re-evaluate their approach to treatment. Food allergies are a source of constant stress to a patient’s immune system. Not only do they manifest as dyspepsia, abdominal pain and altered bowel function but they can also result in a variety of non-local symptoms such as headaches, joint pain and eczema, to name a few. In light of Dr. Campbell-McBride’s approach, a thorough review of a patients history and symptoms may lead a conscientious practitioner down a frequently traveled path that has it trailhead nestled between the cardiac and pyloric sphincters.

Although Dr. Campbell-McBride’s pivotal work focuses on the correlation between the often-severe digestive disorders and the development of brain disorders, learning disabilities and mental illness, we must not underestimate that these same digestive disorders are at the heart of the exponential increase of degenerative illness in our country. If we observe the amount and kind of medications that we as a nation consume, we will coincidently find that most of the top 10 prescriptions written in the US correlate to gut and psychological disorders—two were for ulcers and acid reflux, two were for depression, one was for schizophrenia, two for high cholesterol, one for sexual dysfunction, one for anemia and one for chronic pain. It appears that we need a paradigm shift when looking at the cause and treatment of what is ailing us as a nation and that Dr. Campbell-McBride has suggested a starting point.

The disturbing, far-reaching consequences of the mass-consumption of foods produced by the industrial farming industry and inaccurate dietary trends are affecting the health of our entire population. Besides the knowledge that we have gained on the nutritional requirements of optimal health and the nutritional causes of degenerative conditions from Dr. Price’s work, Dr. Campbell-McBride’s thorough discourse detailing the effects of faulty digestion on brain function and chemistry can serve as a template for the further exploration and explanation of the source of a multitude of diseases that plague our modern culture.

Reviewed by Kathryne Pirtle and Dr. John Turner, DC, CCSP, DIBCN
Co-authors, with Sally Fallon, of Performance without Pain

For more informationabout the book and seminars on this subject, see www.performancewithoutpain.com

Subscribe

2 Comments »

Beyond a “Gluten-Free Diet”

Harnessing the Power of Traditional, Nutrient-Dense Foods—
the Keys to Maximizing Treatment Success for Digestive Disorders

Healing from any long term digestive disorder is a very complicated issue. For Celiac disease, eliminating gluten is, of course, the first step to recovery. However, following this protocol alone may not be entirely effective in helping to overcome intestinal damage and the resulting long term malnourishment that ultimately may lead to many more serious health problems. While avoiding gluten is essential, to build optimal health where nutrient absorption has been severely impaired, a nutrient-dense diet is the only approach that will lead to true healing.

This was my experience. I am a professional clarinetist with a national career. Although I had been playing professionally and teaching for more than 25 years, I had spent much of that time in pain. Beginning in my late teens and 20s, I experienced musculoskeletal inflammation and early symptoms of digestive troubles such as flatulence—a sign of poor digestion. I relieved my pain through physical therapy-type approaches common to the field of music—you name it; I did it! In my late twenties and throughout my thirties, I was constantly “chasing” pain from practicing and performing. When I would solve the discomfort in one area, another area would become irritated. At 40, I developed acid reflux and in the fall of 2001, at 45, I became chronically ill with an inflammatory condition in my spine that left me with debilitating pain in my shoulders, fingers, arms, and hands.

Ultimately, I was diagnosed with a long-term digestive problem, intestinal damage, and malabsorption—all the result of Celiac disease. I then strictly followed a gluten-free diet. In fact, after my diagnoses, I ate only meat, eggs, vegetables and salad, fruit and olive oil—I ate no sugar or grains. My pain disappeared within a month, but six months later, my illness worsened and I suffered from chronic diarrhea. I thought would not survive.

What was I going to eat? I had cut out all the offending gluten foods plus sugar and didn’t even eat grains. My diet should have been completely therapeutic for Celiac disease but yet, I was still very ill as my intestinal damage had profoundly affected nutrient absorption.

I found the answers to healing through a dramatic change in my diet, adopting the principles of Dr. Weston Price, whose research on healthy cultures worldwide during the 1930s led to the book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration and the Weston A. Price Foundation (www.westonaprice.org.), a foundation that helps people understand accurate dietary principles of human health and is helping to improve the food supply in our country.

I learned that my diet was severely lacking in the foods and nutrients necessary to healing my digestive tract and malnourishment and that many of the foods I ate were difficult to digest—especially the raw vegetables and fruit—and were not healing to the intestinal tract. In fact, my low-fat, high fiber “healthy diet” was actually killing me!

I discovered that in order to maximize the nutrients I ate, that all the meat, eggs, dairy, poultry that I consumed needed to come animals eating their natural diets—ie. the cows had to eat grass, the chickens needed to eat bugs and worms, and the fish needed to be wild caught. I found these foods by locating a farm co-op that delivered these foods to our area through www.realmilk.com. The nutrients in naturally raised foods are immensely higher than even “organically” raised and especially factory farmed foods.

The first powerful food that I learned would help me recover was homemade bone-broth soup—traditional soup that people had made for thousands of years. I have eaten a bone-broth soup every day for the last seven years. There is a South American saying “Good broth raises the dead.” Good bone broth soup is loaded with easy-to-digest nutrients that will give the intestinal tract all the elements needed for repair and improvement of absorption. It is made by taking high quality chicken, beef or lamb bones, skin, tendons and ligaments–and simmering them in water with a little vinegar or wine for 12-36 hours, and then straining it. Soups can then be made by adding meat and vegetables to the broth and the broth can also be used in countless other recipes for added nutrition.

Next, through studying Dr. Price’s work, I found that all healthy cultures ate foods naturally high in vitamin A and D—such as cod liver oil, liver and egg yolks. They also consumed liberal amounts of traditional fats such as raw butter, cream, coconut oil and lard—fats that people had also eaten for thousands of years. Without both adequate vitamin A and D and traditional fat, you will not be able to absorb the nutrients in your food and your digestion can eventually be severely compromised. Thus, without adequate vitamin A and D and traditional fats in my diet, I was literally starving and chronic diarrhea was one of the symptoms. In fact, in historical records of expeditions to Antarctica and the lives of Indian tribes, when only lean meat was available, people starved to death.

I began to consume high-quality cod liver oil and butter oil (www.greenpasture.org). I also added raw butter, coconut oil, raw cream, egg yolks daily and liver twice a week to my diet for the first time in my life. Little did I know that adding fat and vitamin A and D were also the missing links to recovery.

I then learned the importance of traditionally cultured foods—like whole-fat, raw-milk kefir, homemade sauerkraut and beet kvass—that promote healthy intestinal flora and supply enzymes, without which our foods are not broken down properly and unhealthy bacteria can thrive in the intestinal tract causing bacterial fermentation and intestinal damage. When the intestinal tract becomes damaged, undigested proteins can “leak” through the intestinal wall, causing an immune system response, such as chronic inflammation and food allergies.

From his research, Dr. Price established a set of dietary requirements necessary for optimal human health that involve nutrient-dense, easy-to-digest foods with adequate traditional fats from pastured animals and wild-caught fish. These include:

• High-vitamin A and D foods—cod-liver oil, egg yolks, liver
• High quality traditional fats—butter, coconut oil, lard
• Bone-broth soups made from chicken, beef, or fish.
• Traditionally cultured foods such as whole-fat kefir, yogurt and homemade sauerkraut and pickled beets.
• High quality proteins—meats, raw dairy, poultry, eggs, and fish—from animals eating their natural diets.

Through this approach, I reversed my intestinal damage, and provided my body with the nutritional elements necessary for building health. I am now recovered and vibrantly healthy! For the first time in 25 years I have had no pain or inflammation in my body for over six years.

Although finding high-quality foods and changing your diet may at first be complicated, your health is your most important asset—your health is your wealth! The dietary principles that Dr. Price found that supported optimal human health were the permanent answer to healing my digestive tract, and therefore, my long-term malnourishment. The exciting news is there is a growing movement of people across the country that is turning to these same foods to improve chronic illness of all kinds.

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Subscribe

2 Comments »