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Pop Quiz – do the bones of the skull in an adult move on a regular basis, or are they fused? What do you think?

Grab a nearby adult and put your fingers in their ears, pushing up and back against the boney bit, and notice if the bones are level, and if not, which side is low (make sure the head is straight first!) Or put your fingers just under the cheekbones on either side of the nose and notice if they are level.

Then lie your adult down on their back, and measure again. Do you get the same results? Did anything switch around, so the side that was high while standing is low while lying down? It won't take many people before you notice that the bones are shifting. Doing that experiment proved to me that the bones of our cranium are not the least bit fused.

I found it astonishing how much the bones in the skull can move, just from standing to lying down, let alone what may happen when one hits one's head in a car crash or when one's face becomes a punching bag.

If you have seen MRI brain scans, you may have noticed that even if the report notes that nothing is wrong – no brain tumour etc. – that the brain may not look symmetrical. This scan is actually pretty good. I had previously linked to one that was very assymmetrical, but that link no longer works.

I think these asymmetries should be considered and noted, because the dura mater, the tough outer coating of the spinal cord ascends into the skull and becomes the tentorium cerebelli membrane, and then merges with falx cerebri membrane which separates both halves of the brain.

Both membranes attach the brain to the various cranial bones. So if the cranial bones are not in their optimal alignment, the result will be a distortion in the brain due to a pulling of the membranes.

Does it not make sense that a distortion in the shape of the brain may at the least bring on headaches, and may possibly affect its function?

It is not just the outer bones of the cranium that can have an impact. There are many bones that make up our sinuses, which can be easily compromised by bones of the nose and face being out of position. The position of the bone that our upper teeth sit in (maxilla), the lower jaw bone (mandible), and the temporal bone can all have a huge impact on the ability of the jaw to function correctly (TMJ problems).

Because of this, orthodontists need to be very careful when tightening braces not to tighten them to the point that the temporal bones move, as the bite will be altered. (As parents you can check the temporal bones by using the fingers in the ears technique described above. Check before the appointment, and before you leave the orthodontist's office so the braces can be loosened if necessary.)

Seven different bones form the socket of the eye. Many bones have grooves or holes through which nerves and blood vessels feed, and tilts or rotations in the bones may put mechanical stress on those structures.

Of all the bones in the skull, a good position of the sphenoid bone is probably the most important as almost all other cranial bones join with it, impacting the position of the other bones as well. It is a butterfly-shaped bone that goes through the skull at the level of the temples.

The pituitary gland sits in the center of the sphenoid bone, and produces growth hormone, thyroid stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, and oxytocin to name just a few, and the pituitary gland sends messages to other endocrine glands to produce hormones too.
So it is possible that poor bone position can affect hormone production as well.

The good news is that if the bones of the head are stuck in a crooked position creating compression through the brain, possible migraine headaches and even brain function problems, it is possible to release the bones without surgery, decompress the areas that compressed, and straighten out the cranium.

Once again, our structure needs to be optimized in order to optimize our function and reduce pain. So if you are in the Vancouver area, come see me and I'll re-arrange your face! 😉

If you want to search for other posts by title or by topic, go to www.wellnesstips.ca.

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Has your doctor ever told you “It’s all in your head”? Well, just maybe it would be more accurate to say “It’s all in your neck.”

I just got back from another fabulous Integrated Neurosomatic Therapy course through Neurosomatic Educators in Clearwater, Florida, and once again, the importance of our structure to our function was made abundantly clear. Although the importance of our body structure is frequently considered in "alternative" therapies such as chiropractic and massage therapy, perhaps it is time mainstream medicine looked more seriously at the impact of poor structural alignment on the ability of our bodies to function properly. As I touched upon in a previous post on this topic, medications won’t do much to cure acid reflux if the person is slouched over most of the time, squishing the esophagus (food pipe) as it goes through the diaphragm (breathing muscle that separates our chest cavity from our abdominal cavity). Do you have high blood pressure? Here is a common structural problem that may actually be playing a significant role – could it be that your top two vertebrae (atlas C1 and axis C2) are not in their optimal alignment?

Now before you toss me into the loony bin or call me a quack, hear me out. As you know, the vertebrae of our spine provide boney protection for our spinal cord, just as the skull provides boney protection for our brain, and the sternum and ribcage for our heart and lungs. All our really important bits for our survival are encased in bone. Darn good design if you ask me! Well, coming down through the hole in the base of our skull (foramen magnum) to connect to the spinal cord and encased within the rings of the top two vertebrae (the atlas and the axis) is our brainstem, which is responsible for much of our bodily function that is outside our conscious control.

What does the brainstem do? The stuff that is vital for our survival, like breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, sleep, wakefulness, and motivation. In addition to that, the brainstem contains most of the cranial nerves, which are responsible for everything from sight, hearing, balance and smell, to control of most organs via the vagus nerve. Not only that, but the brainstem is responsible for transferring messages from the body to the upper centres of the brain and vice versa, and for overall tonus in the body. Very important stuff that most of us wouldn’t want compromised! So, should the top two vertebrae be shifted to one side or forward, rotated or tilted, they may encroach upon the brainstem potentially creating any number of problems in the body.

Furthermore, the dura mater (the thick coating that protects the spinal cord itself) attaches to C2 (axis), and if C2 is rotated, it will create a torsion in the entire spinal cord via the dentate ligaments which attach the cord to the dura down to just below the ribs, potentially entrapping some or even many of the spinal nerves lower down, creating pain and dysfunction. So, a poor position of the top two vertebrae can impact pretty much all areas in the body.

It has been suggested that potentially the cause of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is a poorly positioned atlas, possibly due to a difficult birth. The vertebral artery and vein are also encased in bone in the transverse processes of each cervical vertebrae (the 2 smaller holes outside the big one shown at this link) on the way up to the brain. If the atlas is rotated or sheared enough, and the baby is put on his stomach with the head rotated to the side to sleep, the vertebral or basilar artery may be occluded enough to cause blood and oxygen debt to the brain resulting in death. This can explain why fewer babies have died since the dictate to sleep babies on their backs. Perhaps if the atlas and axis position of babies were routinely checked after birth and corrected as necessary, that problem along with many other potential health problems, could be avoided all together.

Despite the propaganda against upper cervical adjustments, it is very possible to gently mobilize these joints into position safely. NUCCA Chiropractic is only concerned with the repositioning of the atlas, and after an X-ray where the position of the atlas is ascertained, the mobilization is very gentle, with no violent movement of the neck at all. Other practitioners may use muscle energy techniques to gently mobilize the atlas.

It should be noted that if one leg is actually shorter than the other, (much more common than one would think) or if muscles and fascia are pulling unevenly about the pelvis or neck, it will be very difficult to permanently stabilize the upper cervical area until these other issues are also addressed.

If you want to search for other posts by title or by topic, go to www.wellnesstips.ca.

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Finding the fine line between over-sterilization of the food supply, building our immune systems by eating raw foods, and avoiding food-borne illness.

For the last two weeks Canadians have been unable to avoid the daily barrage of news about the Listeria bacterium outbreak from packaged deli meats manufactured at the Maple Leaf Food Plant in Ontario, and then distributed throughout the country under various brand names like Schneiders, Shopsys, and Hickory Farms. Deli meats, hot dogs, and sandwiches have been pulled from store shelves across the country, and eight people thus far have died. For the most part, listeriosis is not a problem for children and adults that are healthy and have a good immune system. Pregnant women however, are particularly susceptible and should be careful to avoid foods that may be contaminated. Because Listeriosis can be troublesome for infants, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems , questions have been rightly raised as to why hospitals and nursing homes which tend to house that population, would regularly feed packaged meats to their patients. (Feel free to read my previous hospital food rants here and here.)

Packaged meats may be a convenience, but they do not provide the nourishment unprocessed meat from animals eating their natural diet does, and not only are they risky with respect to food-borne illness, but they are also linked to cancer due to the preservatives, colourings and flavourings added to them. I don’t think processed meat should be part of a healthy diet at all. But, that is not what I wanted to write about today.

After a food-borne illness outbreak, there is always talk about what can be done to prevent the problem from occurring again – a worthwhile conversation in my opinion. But the talk always turns to what can be done to kill more bacteria, and I never hear talk about what can be done to improve the immune systems of the people. Even Louis Pasteur, who discovered that heating foods kills bacteria, stated that the problem is not the germ, but the terrain. So the result is more food irradiation, more food pasteurization, and chemical methods of food sterilization, which not only kills the bad bacteria in the food, but also the good bacteria which is vital to our health, the live enzymes, and many of the vitamins in the food making it less nutritious, further compromising the health of the population, making us more susceptible to food-borne illness in the future. Over-sterilization of our food supply is becoming a more and more serious health threat in my opinion. Those that want to eat raw food are having their choices limited by government regulation more and more frequently. For example, as I stated in a previous post, “raw” almonds are not actually raw anymore. They have been sterilized, so the nutritional value of almonds has been lost.

Furthermore, we actually need bacteria in our gut not only to digest our food, but also to strengthen our immune system. We want lots of “good” bacteria in our gut, to help fight the bad bacteria like Listeria should we come in contact with it. If all our food is sterilized, we can’t get adequate good bacteria from our food to help keep us healthy. It is also worth realizing that our immune system becomes strong by coming into contact with various bacteria and viruses, so it can develop an ability to fight them. Furthermore, the rising numbers of children that have life-threatening food allergies is strongly related to the lack of contact the immune system has with bacteria in food and the over-clean environment. If we avoid exposure to microbes by using anti-bacterial soaps all the time, cooking all our food to death, avoiding touching dirt or having pets, I think we are not improving our health, but actually harming it. I actually think having a dog or cat in the house along with an infant is a very good idea for health reasons. If the environment is too clean, we develop allergies and are more susceptible to becoming sick. Immunity only comes with exposure to microbes.

Those of you that have read my blog / e-zine for some time know that I promote GRASS-FED raw dairy – something that makes most in the medical profession shudder, especially after a food-borne illness scare. I think that for most, if the cattle are healthy, not given any drugs or hormones, and are NOT FED ANY GRAIN, the taste, and nutritional benefits of raw outweigh the risks. Included in the nutritional benefits of raw GRASS-FED milk is “good” bacteria which populates the digestive tract and improves the immune system. Do your own research, and see what you think!

For those that are immuno-compromised, perhaps a way to begin building up good gut bacteria is to take a probiotic supplement, and include raw vegetables that have been washed well in the diet. Fermented foods like yogurt, kefir, unpasteurized sauerkraut or kimchi, can be added into the diet in small amounts initially. Eating the highest quality real food one can afford, and avoiding sugar, flour and other processed food is key to maintaining good gut bacteria.

In order to be able to successfully treat those that suffer from food-borne bacterial infections like listeria or salmonella, it is important that we prevent the bugs from mutating and becoming resistant to anti-bacterial drugs. So, avoiding anti-bacterial soaps and running to the doctor to get an antibiotic for every minor sniffle is important. And if for some reason an antibiotic is really necessary, it is critically important to take probiotics after the prescription has run out, to repopulate the gut with good bacteria again.

If you want to search for other posts by title or by topic, go to www.wellnesstips.ca.

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Some ideas that may help reduce the pain of rheumatoid arthritis, and possibly bring the disease into remission.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an auto-immune disease where the body attacks itself – specifically the synovial linings of joints causing swelling, pain and inflammation, and also on occasion, various organs of the body.

What causes rheumatoid arthritis is unknown, but it has been noticed that many if not most people with RA had some kind of emotional trauma in their past, which may have decreased immune function enough to allow an infection that may precipitate the disease. RA seems to be more prevalent in women, and tends to first affect people between the ages of 20 and 50.

As with all diseases, I feel it is important NOT to treat the disease per se, but rather the person with the disease, by looking at what is going on with the individual. Every person would need a different treatment depending on what is found through functional-medicine testing.

The obvious place to begin the search would be food allergy and food sensitivity testing, as studies have shown that 30-40% of RA sufferers can bring their RA into remission by vigorously eliminating any source of allergies and food sensitivities and staying away from the offending foods.

Some people have even managed to discontinue drug treatment and remain well for over 12 years. We know that fasting will reduce symptoms in almost all RA patients within 3 to 5 days, and that may be because all the sources of food irritations have been completely removed. Elimination diets take up to 20 days to begin working, perhaps because some foods that are pro-inflammatory are still being eaten.

Sorting out what foods one is allergic or sensitive to can take some time, as the various tests (blood tests (IgE, IgG),saliva tests (IgA), scratch tests (IgE) etc.) test for different kinds of antibodies and none catch everything in one fell swoop, except for possibly vega testing, which works on an energetic level.

The most common allergens/sensitivities for RA sufferers are the nightshade vegetables (tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, red, yellow and green peppers), gluten grains and their flour (all grain except for rice, buckwheat, millet and corn), dairy (lactose and casein), soy, and frequently beef, pork, shellfish and eggs. Testing is necessary, because it may be other foods than these listed above that are the source of the problem.

The second part of the diet strategy can be generalized to everyone with or without RA, as these guidelines would improve everyone's health. Eat the highest quality, unprocessed food one can afford, organic and raw if possible.

I've written extensively in the past on increasing the ratio of omega 3 fats to omega 6 fats, in order to reduce whole-body inflammation. Clearly that would be particularly important in inflammatory diseases like RA. Foods to include (assuming no allergies or sensitivities) would be fish, fish oil, flax oil, walnuts, and foods to reduce or eliminate would be omega 6 vegetable oils (canola, sunflower, safflower, corn, grape seed, margarines, and vegetable shortenings made from these oils etc.) and grains, which are also high in omega 6 fatty acids.

Tumeric and ginger have anti-inflammatory properties. All forms of sugar should be avoided, as they negatively alter intestinal flora, as well as all processed food as the chemical additives they contain may be
allergenic or toxic.

Caffeine, tobacco and citrus fruits seem to make RA worse, so these foods should be avoided as well.

It would also be highly beneficial to do the metabolic typing test, to learn what foods work best with the metabolism of the individual.

I think it is also important to get a mucosal-barrier test done.

This functional-medicine test looks at the lining of the digestive tract from mouth to anus by looking for a leaky gut among other things, which would explain why food particles are getting into the blood stream causing a full-blown immune response in the body. Lack of good gut flora is linked to RA (taking a good probiotic can remedy this, as can kefir if there is no dairy allergy), and so is a reduced amount of HCL in the stomach.

If your food sits in your stomach for a long time, it takes very little food to feel full, and you have a particularly hard time digesting meats, a lack of HCL may be the problem. Taking an HCL supplement (betaine) with meals can completely remedy this problem.

Since stress is highly associated with RA flare-ups, and is linked to getting the disease in the first place, it may also be worth doing a stress-hormone panel test, so that hormone levels can be brought back into balance appropriately, based on the test results. Dealing with the underlying emotional issues would also be very helpful.

Parasympathetic exercise (exercise that does not activate the body’s stress response) such as walking, yoga, tai chi, qi gong, and slow movement with the breath may help a lot by keeping the joints lubricated and mobile, in addition to increasing fitness levels.

Another piece to consider is getting adequate vitamin D, preferably from the sun if possible. Sun screens block out the ability of the body to make vitamin D from the sun’s rays, so it is worth while spending some time in the sun without sunscreen. It is important not to let oneself burn, of course.

If sun exposure is not an option, cod liver oil, liver, lard, eggs and butter provide some vitamin D in the diet. Vitamin D3 supplements are also a possibility.

Although most people with RA (and even in the general population) are very deficient in vitamin D, it is toxic at too high levels, so ask your doctor to monitor your vitamin D levels via the blood test. (It is interesting to note that one can’t get toxic levels of vitamin D from the sun – only from dietary sources.)

Dr. Mercola has used Dr. Brown's Minocin Protocol with great success, although he is moving away from an antibiotic protocol, as he finds it is unnecessary to get good results.

However if you have RA and are sceptical that it is possible to reduce RA symptoms without drugs, you can discuss this form of treatment with your physician.

If you want to search for other posts by title or by topic, go to www.wellnesstips.ca.

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Poor posture not only leads to musculoskeletal pain, but can also impair organ function.

I discussed in another post how our function determines our posture (habitually sit in a slouched position and our posture hardens into having rounded shoulders and a forward head), and today I want to discuss the other direction – how our posture determines our function (how well our body works.)

I’ve just returned from a fabulous Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy course presented through Paul St. John’s clinic in Clearwater Florida, where this point was driven home. Poor posture does not only cause musculoskeletal pain, but can also impair organ function. Think about it. If one stands with one’s ribcage tilted to one side, the organs that sit on that side (like a kidney) are going to be squashed, which could very well impair its function. If one stands or sits with a collapsed chest and rounded upper back (the posture common to those suffering from depression) the diaphragm can’t descend properly with each breath, which may impact the lungs, and prevent proper oxygenation of the blood. Not only that, but the entire digestive tract would be squeezed making it harder to digest and assimilate one’s food. Also, with the chest tipped forward like that, the major blood vessels (aorta and vena cava) as well as the esophagus, (the tube the food goes down to get to the gut) may wind up slightly kinked as they go through the hole in the diaphragm designed for those vessels, potentially irritating the vagus nerve, which is near by. So maybe your acid reflux is not an acid problem but a postural problem! A flat cervical spine (neck) may be the root cause of a thyroid issue, because the area in the front of the neck may not be getting adequate blood.

If there is a functional or anatomical leg-length discrepancy that results in the pelvis being tilted in standing (one hip higher than the other), there will be a corresponding tilt in the opposite direction somewhere higher up in the spine to ensure that the head is sitting straight, and that the eyes are level. This is why frequently those will low back problems also have neck problems, and why leg-length discrepancies are often a primary cause of scoliosis. The areas that are tilted are vulnerable to wear-and-tear and injury, such as disk bulges, SI joint problems, hip degradation and pain (usually on the longer leg).

According to Friberg who studied army recruits and verified his findings on Xray, up to 60% of us have an anatomical leg-length discrepancy of 5mm or more. I had previously believed that most leg-length discrepancies were functional – a muscle imbalance problem in the pelvis – but if one takes the pelvis out of the equation by just examining the legs in standing, the numbers with anatomical leg-length differences are extraordinarily high. Many of us have a small hemi-pelvis – one side of the pelvis is smaller than the other, meaning that while sitting the pelvis is tilted. A high hip/pelvis in either sitting or standing may also result in squished organs on that same side. Anatomical leg length differences and smaller hemi-pelvises are very common structural issues that can cause all kinds of pain and possibly disease processes, they are easy to fix through shoe lifts (not heel lifts!) and butt lifts, and are generally not looked for at all by most health practitioners. Not everyone with a leg-length discrepancy is in pain, (those that are using appropriate stabilization strategies will be more able to dissipate the forces away from the joints), but a tilted pelvis will affect wear at the joints (hip, SI, spine, even possibly knee and foot) over time, increasing the potential for pain at some point. Children should be checked because if caught early enough before the epiphyseal plates in the bones close, a shorter leg can actually catch up with proper shoe-lift treatment.

So, who is your structural integrator? We all need a functional medicine doctor, a dentist, and I would argue, we need someone to help us with our structure. Integrated Neurosomatic Therapists are trained to look for leg-length discrepancies and smaller hemi-pelvises, and can help restore good structure through massage therapy techniques, by releasing tight muscles that are holding bones in a poor position. KMI Practitioners and Rolfers are also structural integrators and can help us realign our posture through massage. Corrective Exercise Specialists such as CHEK Practitioners can also help you improve your posture by suggesting particular exercises that will strengthen weak muscles, thereby bringing your body back into alignment. Yoga, with its emphasis on good postural alignment, can also be very helpful.

If you want to search for other posts by title or by topic, go to www.wellnesstips.ca.

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Extra time in gym class does not appear to do anything to reduce child obesity. So, what can you do to help an overweight child? Or yourself, for that matter, if this is a concern for you?

This news from the Canadian Pediatric Society conference held in Victoria, British Columbia, at first glance may seem surprising. Exercise helps one lose weight, right? Well according to this analysis of studies of school activity interventions done on 10,000 children in BC comparing Body Mass Index (BMI) before and after the intervention, there was no change in BMI, even in the studies where the activity interventions lasted three years. The studies analysis did show improvements in health measures like blood pressure, bone density, aerobic fitness and range of motion, but none of the studies showed a drop in bodyweight. This follows on the heels of another study done on 900 teens in grades 10 to 12 in the Vancouver area studied by researchers at University of British Columbia and McGill University in Montreal, who found “… there appeared to be no link between body mass index (BMI) values and levels of physical activity”

Body Mass Index is a simple measure used to compare one’s height to one’s weight (Weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared). A healthy BMI is considered to be between 18.5 and 25, overweight between 25 and 30, and obese, over 30. This measure is frequently used in studies, and is well understood by health professionals. I think the number can be very misleading, however. For example, a very muscular male can weigh a great deal (muscle weighs more than fat), and still be very lean, but may have a BMI over 30. I find waist/hip ratio or even simply a waist measurement to be far more useful for before and after measurements.

The study results are a blow to those who are advocating for daily quality physical education in the schools, as it may be harder to convince officials to take children away from reading, writing and arithmetic if physical activity does nothing to stem the obesity tide. I hope those officials see the big picture, however. I think the goals of a physical education program should be to help children learn to love moving their bodies, so that they continue to do so when they are adults.  And the health benefits of reduced blood pressure, increased bone density, improved aerobic capacity, improved range of motion about joints, not to mention improved mental concentration are worth the time spent on daily physical education. There is no question about the increased health benefits gained from better physical fitness.

So, if your child is overweight (and if you or someone you know is overweight), what are some strategies that may work to lower body fat?

1. Control blood sugar and insulin levels, in order to reduce fat storage and encourage fat burning by:
   1. Reducing or eliminating sugar as much as possible – soda pop, juice, fruit drinks, candies, cookies, cake, puddings, sweetened yogurts etc.
      1. replacing with fresh fruit (not dried or canned) if something sweet is needed
      2. Encouraging water and raw milk (if tolerated) from grass-fed cows as the beverages of choice
      3. de-emphasizing desserts
      4. Using an activity as a treat rather than sweets
   2. Eliminating junk food – chips, cheesies, crackers, boxed breakfast cereals, pop tarts, boxed waffles, pre-mixed sauces, dressings etc. – anything that comes from a factory.
   3. Limiting the starches like white bread, pasta, white rice etc.
   4. Reading labels and avoiding artificial sweeteners – the liver stores toxins in fat tissue.  Use stevia to sweeten if needed.
   5. Choosing REAL food snacks, like a generous piece of raw cheese with some carrot sticks or an apple, a chicken leg, a hard-boiled egg, veggie sticks with a home-made full-fat yogurt dip or unsweetened nut butters.
      1. Quality fats are nourishing, not particularly fattening, and they decrease hunger.  If not sensitive, give even obese children some full-fat dairy like whole milk, raw cheese, butter, ghee etc. Girls do especially well when quality fats are included in their diet, according to this article on children's nutrition by Dr. Tom Cowan. Quality fats are needed for neurological, immune and hormone system development.
      2. Protein foods like meat, poultry and fish help children grow, decrease hunger, and are especially important for boys according to this article on children's nutrition by Dr. Tom Cowan.
      3. Vegetables are often not liked by children, so mixing with real cheese (broccoli/cauliflower and cheese sauce) or cream (creamed spinach) may help. Broccoli and cheese sauce is a MUCH better choice than macaroni and cheese sauce.
   6. Reading labels on medications/multi-vitamins – they often contain sugar or sweeteners
2. Ensure bedrooms are completely dark – night-time light messes withhormones, and hormones determine bodyweight.
3. Reduce screen time (TV and computers), and get them out of the bedroom. Not only does TV watching often go hand in hand with munching, but also advertisers market directly to kids, changing their food preferences for poorer quality food. I don't think I have ever seen a TV commercial for broccoli!
4. Do physical activity as a family (bike riding, walks, hiking etc.) to encourage life-long activity, and also to stop the lounging on the sofa watching TV syndrome. Teens that have reached their adult height can incorporate weight training into their life, which will increase insulin sensitivity.
5. Reduce or eliminate food products and skin products that have a long list of chemical ingredients. The liver stores toxins as fats, so ahigh toxic load may prevent the body from losing fat.
6. Drinking a big glass of water before meals may help by filling the stomach, reducing hunger.
7. Give your child a quality probiotic to improve the gut bacteria. There are many studies now indicating that the wrong bacteria in the gut can be a risk factor for obesity. There are probiotics made for kids available.

If you want to learn how and what to feed your children from infancy through the teenage years, I cannot recommend highly enough this article called "Feeding our Children". Children fed this way will be healthy, vibrant, and will learn and appreciate how to nourish themselves as adults.

If you want to search for other posts by title or by topic, go to www.wellnesstips.ca.

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High Density Lipoproteins (HDL) and Low Density Lipoproteins (LDL) are PROTEINS, not forms of cholesterol, contrary to popular belief. Cholesterol is cholesterol. There are NOT different forms of the cholesterol molecule.

Is it logical to think that our bodies would manufacture a substance in order to give us a disease? Of course not. Yet many of us are worried about our cholesterol levels, something our body manufactures regularly.

Cholesterol is a waxy substance that is the precursor to many of our hormones, including testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, cortisol, pregnenalone and DHEA.

Cholesterol is an antioxidant, sopping up free radicals, and is also a very important part of cell membranes, so as our cells die (blood cells, skin cells, bone cells, muscle cells etc.), cholesterol is needed to make the membranes of the replacement cells.

Considering we replace about 2 million blood cells each second, it becomes obvious that cholesterol is vitally important, and we would not survive without it. If tissue is damaged, more cholesterol is needed to repair and replace the damaged cells with healthy ones.

No wonder it is so important that our liver can easily manufacture cholesterol.

So, if LDL and HDL are not cholesterol, what are they? They are proteins that act as transportation vehicles that carry the cholesterol to the various locations in the body, just like a bus carries people to wherever they want to go.

Cholesterol is fatty, and needs to travel in a watery medium (blood), so protein carriers are necessary to make the cholesterol water soluble. The passenger is the same (cholesterol), but the bus (protein) is different, depending on the direction the cholesterol is travelling.

Would we call Harry and John "bad people" when they happened to be travelling away from the bus depot, and "good people" when they happened to be travelling toward the bus depot? The idea is absurd. Yet, this is what we do to cholesterol.

LDL proteins (so called “bad cholesterol”) carry the cholesterol from the liver out to the tissues, and HDL proteins (so called “good cholesterol”) carry the cholesterol from the tissues back to the liver. Contrary to popular belief, HDL proteins do not rid the body of the cholesterol at all – they simply return it to the liver for recycling, so it can make its next trip out on the LDL bus.

The difference between High Density Lipoproteins (HDL) and Low Density Lipoproteins (LDL) is the size and density of the molecule, with HDL molecules being larger. The smaller the molecule, the more likely it will get stuck or caught in the gap junctions between arterial cells etc., where they then oxidize, causing inflammation, which begins the artery-narrowing process.

Our bodies also make VLDL (Very Low Density Lipoproteins) which also carry cholesterol but in lesser amounts per molecule due to the much much smaller size, and these molecules are far more likely to get caught along the walls of the arteries than LDL.

If the LDL molecules are of normal size, they don’t get stuck. They just do their job as they should. People are rarely tested for their VLDL levels, yet this along with triglyceride levels are much more predictive of cardiovascular disease than total cholesterol. So, it is not the cholesterol that is the problem, but the size of the protein carrier.

Can you do anything to control the size of the protein carrier? Yes. Diet is very important. And do you think it is lowering saturated fat and cholesterol intake that will make the difference? No.

As it turns out, the higher the easily digestible carbohydrate intake (sugar, flour, processed grains – no, rice cakes are NOT healthy!), the more the VLDL proteins made (the smaller ones that are more likely to get stuck) which greatly increase one's risk of cardiovascular disease.

Sugar and flour products also increase glycation and Advanced Glycation Endproducts (AGEs), which causes arterial inflammation, also known to increase cardiovascular disease risk, and sugar and flour increase insulin secretion, which increases sympathetic load, increasing blood pressure, another risk factor for heart disease.

There is simply nothing healthy at all about quickly digested carbohydrates like processed sugar, flour and processed grains (puffed wheat etc.), and until we stop eating them, the scourge of modern degenerative diseases won't abate.

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Making some changes in one’s lifestyle can help lower blood pressure. Here are some ideas for you.

First of all, what IS blood pressure exactly? Your doctor tells you two numbers, say 130 over 80 – what do they mean?

The first or top number is the pressure or force the blood is exerting on the walls of the artery while the heart is contracting, and the bottom number is the pressure or force the blood is exerting on the walls of the artery when the heart is relaxing between beats, and filling up with blood.

So, if the pressure is high, it means the arteries may be constricted or possibly partially blocked, which is why blood pressure is an easy way to detect potential cardiovascular risk factors.

The bottom number is particularly telling, because if that number is higher than it should be when the heart is between beats, it is likely there is a problem. “Normal” blood pressure is considered to be 120/80, and most people get put on medication if their blood pressure rises to 140/90.

I find it interesting to note that in the primitive cultures that were studied in the 1920s and 30s, blood pressure tended to decline with age, rather than go up, as we are currently witnessing in Western society.

Here is the Cole’s Notes version for lowering blood pressure naturally. For more info on each, click through the links. (Except for the refined sugar and starch section, which I'll expand upon below.)

• Cut out all refined sugar and refined starch (flour products like baked goods, pasta, crackers).
• Figure out what your major stresses are, and deal with them if possible, accept them if they are out of your control.
• Dwell on the good in your life, and what makes you happy, rather than dwelling on what upsets you.
• Exercise enough to make you feel good. Walking is enough for many, not enough for some.
• Drink half your bodyweight in pounds, in ounces of pure water each day
• Switch from using white and dry table salt to using
  gray and moist air-dried sea salt.
• Get adequate dark time each night, so melatonin, your rest and repair hormone can do its magic.
• Eat according to yourmetabolic type.
• See an Osteopathic Manual Practitioner or a NUCCA chiropractor to ensure that your top vertebrae (the atlas) is in its proper alignment.

There are two mechanisms by which eating too much sugar and flour (which the body treats as sugar) increases blood pressure. First, diets high in refined sugar and starch cause a greater insulin response, which I have discussed at great length in other posts.

High insulin increases heart rate, constricts blood vessels, and stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, all of which increases blood pressure. So, eat no added sugar and refined carbohydrate, lower the insulin response, lower the blood pressure. I think that doctors that study their patient data have probably noticed that frequently high blood-pressure patients also have higher insulin levels.

The other way in which eating easily digestible and refined carbohydrates increases blood pressure is by causing the kidneys to retain salt. The body then retains water in order to keep the blood sodium concentration constant.

So water is not necessarily retained by consuming too much sodium, but rather by the easily digestible carbohydrates stopping the excretion of the sodium which is already there.

So, stop eating the added sugar and flour products, the kidneys stop retaining salt, the body stops retaining water. A much healthier diuretic than a drug!

Another idea that can work is seeking out Bemer Therapy, which improves microcirculation. Once capillary beds are open, less pressure is required to push the blood through the circulatory system.

A Bemer is a mat which one lies on, and it uses pulsed electromagnetic fields to improve microcirculation – arterial, venous, lymph circulation. The EMFs are very low – between the AM and FM radio signals, and definitely lower than what cell phones emit.

In addition to improving blood pressure, improved microcirculation also helps nutrition get to cells, and waste leave cells, and may reduce external pressure on arteries and veins caused by edema, by getting lymph to flow as well. If you want to actually see the impact of Bemer Therapy on improving microcirculation please watch this short video.
Unblocking a blood vessel with Bemer.

If you want to try Bemer therapy, google your home town and Bemer, to find out where you can go to give it a try, and if you are considering getting a Bemer for home, please comment below.

I'd love to hear your comments!

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There is a growing body of evidence of harm from long-term use of cell phones, and although the jury is still out, it may be wise to heed the early warning signs.

Although I have heard the warnings and the reassurances with respect to cell-phone safety and have been meaning to write about this topic for some time, it has taken me this long to broach this topic because I feel a bit like I am walking on foreign territory – something I don’t understand too fully, and am trying to wrap my head around. So I will present what I have found, and you can follow the resource links and make up your own mind. I use my cell phone daily, but am now trying to get into the habit of using the speaker phone option, rather than holding the phone to my head. Once again, I figure better safe than sorry.

The radiation the cell phones emit is between 1 and 3 Watts, in the microwave range, and that radiation DOES get absorbed by the head, or whatever body part is nearest the phone. Initially the concern was that this radiation heated the cells causing damage, but from the resources I’ve looked at, it looks like the body is able to dispel the heat quite easily. Based on that knowledge, claims to cell-phone safety have been made.

However, the radiation emitted from the phone is pulsed, and apparently very similar to the electrical oscillations sent within the brain (alpha and delta brain waves). Our body is a very sensitive electrochemical system, so it seems reasonable that radio waves from external sources at similar frequencies to our internal frequencies may interfere with our bioelectrical systems, in much the same way that cell phones interfere with airplane controls and hospital equipment. One can induce a seizure in photo-sensivitive epileptics by flashing a light at 15hz. The seizure is not caused by a reaction to the heat of the light, but rather by how the brain interprets or recognizes the frequency of the impulses. So it is the similarity to the frequencies commonly used within the body, confusing the body which may be problematic. One of the frequencies used by cell phones seems to be similar to one that induces cell division in the body, perhaps explaining the links between cell-phone use and brain cancer. Other EMF studies have shown links to Alzheimers, leukemia, ALS, breast cancer, blood pressure, heart disease, fertility, miscarriage, joint pain, migraines, fatigue, concentration difficulties, increased reaction time, and sleep disorders.

Children under the age of 16 are particularly vulnerable because their skulls are thinner and much smaller, increasing the radiation absorption. And if they are using cell phones at such a young age, they will have many more years of exposure than if they were starting later, potentially exacerbating the damage, as studies seem to indicate that the longer the exposure, the heavier the use, the more likely a problem. Some people may be far more sensitive to this electromagnetic pollution than others, and Bluetooth handsets actually increase rather than reduce exposure. Since radio frequencies are known to disrupt melatonin production, if you have difficulty sleeping, it may be worth getting a land line, rather than having a cordless or a cell phone, to reduce exposure. If you have a cell phone, carry it in your briefcase, knapsack or purse rather than in a pocket.

To check the the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) (the quantity of radiofrequency energy that is absorbed by your body) of your cell phone,
click here.

Comments and feed-back keep most writers going, so please do comment!

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What should you do if your friend or relative passes out from over-drinking? What should you do if you have had a bit too much to drink yourself?

A client of mine told me this story about a friend of hers that needlessly passed away, and I thought that there was a lesson here that we could all benefit from. There is a lot of publicity around the idea of not drinking and driving, but I haven’t seen anything in the media about the potential dangers of drinking and passing out.

If you have taken first aid, you know that when someone is unconscious, that person needs to be placed in the recovery position, or on their side with their head tilted back slightly, but the face pointing towards the floor. The reason for this is to drain any vomit.

My client’s friend responsibly took himself home after drinking too much, laid on his back on his bed, passed out, then suffocated to death on his own vomit. Probably if he had been lying on his side, he would be alive today. So, the moral of the story is, if your friend passes out, place him on his side, face angled towards the floor slightly. You may just be saving a life. And if you think you have had a bit too much to drink, lie yourself down on your side when you go to sleep, just to be safe.

Perhaps this info should be taught in the schools? What do you think?

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