Help for Fall Allergies
This can be a difficult time of year for many people. It is the time when autumn plants bloom outdoors and mold spores bloom indoors. Both of these trigger allergic responses in people prone to allergies.
What are allergies? Why do some people get them? And how can you find relief if you have allergies?
What are allergies?
Allergies occur when a plant or animal protein or a synthetic substance contacts your mucous membrane and your immune system reacts to reject the irritant. These irritants can include:
* Mold
* Pollen
* Dust
* Animal Dander
When your immune system senses one of these irritants it creates an antibody. The antibody protein is rushed to the site of the irritation and “pops” a mast cell. This releases histamines, which create inflammation in the area surrounding the site. This in turn attracts white blood cells and plasma fluid from the lymphatic system, causing heat and swelling. At the same time, blood vessels in the area dilate, causing redness. This irritation may also cause pain.
Although trigger proteins often come from pollen or mold spores, they can really come from anything. For instance, the most common food allergy in North America is milk. Here, the allergic reactions happen within the intestines, where the milk antibody protein (casein) pops the mast cells in the intestines similar to the way a needle pops a balloon.
Something interesting about the nature of mast cells is that they seem to be connected in groups. The H-1 (histamine-1) receptors line the sinuses, intestines, skin, joints and lungs. So, when ragweed pollen triggers mast cells in the nose or a milk protein triggers mast cells in the intestines, all the body’s H-1 mast cells react. That’s why milk allergy is related to asthma, ragweed-induced asthma is related to eczema, and mold-induced eczema is related to arthritis.
Why do I have allergies?
A more important question than “What are allergies” may be “Why do I have allergies when others do not?” A little story might help us understand where we are in the course of health in North America and around the world.
Many years ago, coal miners took a canary with them into the mines to check whether the air was safe for them to breathe. As long as the canary was alive, the miners knew that the air was safe. However, if the canary began having breathing problems, the miners knew that the air was toxic and that they had to immediately leave the mine. Today coal miners use sophisticated air-quality sensors to test for toxic air.
People with allergies are like canaries in the coal mine: They suffer sooner than others. But make no mistake – toxic air affects everyone sooner or later! Those watching world health trends are seeing incredible increases in rates of hay fever, asthma, arthritis and many other allergy-related disorders.
Therefore, we can easily say that there are only two kinds of people:
1. Those who have allergies today
2. Those who will develop allergies tomorrow
Health research from around the world confirms this startling trend.
What you can do
Allergy protection is possible when you approach the problem from two perspectives: isolation and insulation.
Isolation
This means keeping your environment as allergen-free as possible. You avoid foods that may be allergy triggers as well as keep your indoor air as clean as possible. It may also mean you stay indoors when allergen counts are high.
Insulation
This means keeping your mast cells as tough as possible so they don’t “pop” too easily. All mast cells are made of good fats, such as those in DFH Omega Synergy. Using these fats in a high concentration (two per meal) over time will toughen up mast cells and help prevent histamine release.
Vitamin B-12 also helps protect you from allergies by reducing the total amount of histamines your body makes. According to an ongoing study of B-12 and allergies, it takes about three milligrams of B-12 to break through the allergy process and reduce symptoms. Additionally, there appears to be a long-term effect. People in the B-12 study experienced more allergy relief in their second year than they did during the first.
A few other nutrients play important roles in allergy reduction:
* Maximum levels of Vitamin C (learn about the Vitamin C Flush) act directly to help block histamines
* Calcium assists B-12 in blocking histamine formation
* Probiotics with enzymes (such as those in Digestive Complex) help reduce mast cell triggers found in foods.
What we all can do
The incidence of allergies increases as carbon dioxide increases in our air and toxins increase in our water and foods. Everything we do to reduce these toxins and support organic agriculture decreases the toxic burden that all of us, including our children and grandchildren, are forced to bear. We are the canaries in the coal mine. Each of us must decide for ourselves how to best insulate our bodies, while at the same time, doing our part to help reduce our planet’s toxic load.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Protecting Yourself Against the Cold and Flu
What You Can Do to Protect Against Cold or Flu
Cold and flu season is here. What do we do to stay well or speed the healing process if we are sick? Here are some great recommendations from a number of different sources:
* Wash your hands
First, the largest contributor to infection is unwashed hands. Washing your hands with soap every few hours will reduce the chance for pathogens to gain access to your system. As important as washing your hands is making sure they are completely dry. Then, use the disposable towel to open the door out of the washroom. Many ugly microbes lurk on door handles – usually from people who have not properly washed and dried their hands.
* Clean surfaces
Next, disinfect surfaces that are shared by many people. For instance, public telephones bring you within kissing distance of hundreds or even thousands of people. Who knows what their hygiene habits are? In a typical day we may be exposed to germs from as many as 150 countries or more!
* Reduce stress
Reduce stress during this season. Stress decreases the effectiveness of your immune system. Your immune system may begin to overreact or not react in time to stop an infection when you are under stress. The source of the stress really does not matter. For instance, job stress and an injury may seem like entirely different stresses to your mind but they are treated exactly the same way by your body.
What determines if you get sick or not?
To better understand viral infections we need to look a bit deeper into medical research. In the book, The Promise of Sleep, William Dement, MD describes a routine where live rhino viruses are cultured and people are routinely infected. Yet, not all of them get sick. Some people actually feel better after the virus has been introduced.
Viruses have existed on earth far longer than humans have. We exist in the same time and space constantly. You even have many, many thousands of live rhino viruses in your nose right now! Why aren’t they causing an infection? It has to do with an argument that occurred 150 years ago between Louis Pasteur and Antoine Bechamp.
Pasteur and Bechamp were physicians in France. They were keenly aware of the same things you and I experience every year: during the cold and flu season, some people get sick and some people don’t. Pasteur spent his life looking for what makes sick people sick. Bechamp spent his career looking for what keeps healthy people healthy – and how we can be like them! They settled their argument with the discovery that illness visits people with poor habits much more frequently than those who care for their health.
It turns out that microbes prefer to wreak their havoc on people with compromised immune systems. Dr. Dement discovered that simple things will make you vulnerable to infection with a cold or the flu, such as:
o An imbalanced diet
o Alcohol and caffeine consumption
o An argument with someone you love
He noted that the greatest contributor to wellness or illness concerning these infections is the amount of sleep that we get. Just as Pasteur and Bechamp discovered more than a century ago, our health revolves around a healthy lifestyle more than the virulence of a microbe.
Help protect against seasonal illness
The phrase that describes our vulnerability or resistance to disease is “biological terrain.” The terrain or landscape of our health is made up of our genetics, our environment and, most importantly, our lifestyle. Vigorous application of the 10 Essentials yields the healthiest, most sickness or illness-resistant terrain. Skipping even one of these principles will change your terrain and leave you vulnerable to infection.
* A base of healthy nutrients
Establishing a base of healthy nutrients can provide us with a very resilient terrain. The more dense the base is, the more sickness or illness-resistant our terrain will be. Taking a multiple vitamin and mineral supplement every day is an excellent start. Almost all physicians recommend an Omega-3 supplement as well. If your terrain is being remodeled by stress, you may need adaptogens to help you keep from getting sick. Indeed, the long-term studies of adaptogens in Russia clearly demonstrated that these plants help your body resist infections and aid in healing.
* Vitamin C
Vitamin C is a favorite for protecting against the common cold. Russell Jaffe, MD, former director of the National Institutes of Health, recommends a loading dose of Vitamin C: one teaspoon of Vitamin C crystals every 15 minutes until you “flush.” By this, he means a complete bowel evacuation. After the flush, he recommends a daily serving of Vitamin C (for one month) that is equivalent to 75% of the amount it took you to flush. This should really improve your terrain!
* Echinacea
Echinacea is used in a similar way. Significant medical research from Germany suggests that an hourly dose of Echinacea will help reduce symptoms and shorten the duration of a virus infection. Taking a gram of Echinacea every hour for three days may even reduce chances of an infection that has already begun. Continue taking Echinacea three times daily for up to two weeks afterward to protect against a relapse.
What are the best ways to protect against virus infections from colds and flu? Reduce your exposure through hand-washing and other sanitary procedures. If your lifestyle has become so hectic that you become vulnerable, aggressive nutrition can restore balance to your immune system. If you feel a bug coming on, traditional remedies such as Vitamin C and Echinacea may be the final bulwark between you and a serious infection.
Take Control of Your Health
* Wash your hands every few hours and dry hands thoroughly
* Most importantly, get your rest
* Take a “base” of nutrients:
o A multiple vitamin and mineral supplement
o An Omega-3 fatty acid supplement
o A stress-specific antioxidant supplement
* Try traditional remedies
o Echinacea hourly for three days, then three times daily for two more
weeks
o Vitamin C flush, then 75% of “flush” amount daily for one month
Cold and flu season is here. What do we do to stay well or speed the healing process if we are sick? Here are some great recommendations from a number of different sources:
* Wash your hands
First, the largest contributor to infection is unwashed hands. Washing your hands with soap every few hours will reduce the chance for pathogens to gain access to your system. As important as washing your hands is making sure they are completely dry. Then, use the disposable towel to open the door out of the washroom. Many ugly microbes lurk on door handles – usually from people who have not properly washed and dried their hands.
* Clean surfaces
Next, disinfect surfaces that are shared by many people. For instance, public telephones bring you within kissing distance of hundreds or even thousands of people. Who knows what their hygiene habits are? In a typical day we may be exposed to germs from as many as 150 countries or more!
* Reduce stress
Reduce stress during this season. Stress decreases the effectiveness of your immune system. Your immune system may begin to overreact or not react in time to stop an infection when you are under stress. The source of the stress really does not matter. For instance, job stress and an injury may seem like entirely different stresses to your mind but they are treated exactly the same way by your body.
What determines if you get sick or not?
To better understand viral infections we need to look a bit deeper into medical research. In the book, The Promise of Sleep, William Dement, MD describes a routine where live rhino viruses are cultured and people are routinely infected. Yet, not all of them get sick. Some people actually feel better after the virus has been introduced.
Viruses have existed on earth far longer than humans have. We exist in the same time and space constantly. You even have many, many thousands of live rhino viruses in your nose right now! Why aren’t they causing an infection? It has to do with an argument that occurred 150 years ago between Louis Pasteur and Antoine Bechamp.
Pasteur and Bechamp were physicians in France. They were keenly aware of the same things you and I experience every year: during the cold and flu season, some people get sick and some people don’t. Pasteur spent his life looking for what makes sick people sick. Bechamp spent his career looking for what keeps healthy people healthy – and how we can be like them! They settled their argument with the discovery that illness visits people with poor habits much more frequently than those who care for their health.
It turns out that microbes prefer to wreak their havoc on people with compromised immune systems. Dr. Dement discovered that simple things will make you vulnerable to infection with a cold or the flu, such as:
o An imbalanced diet
o Alcohol and caffeine consumption
o An argument with someone you love
He noted that the greatest contributor to wellness or illness concerning these infections is the amount of sleep that we get. Just as Pasteur and Bechamp discovered more than a century ago, our health revolves around a healthy lifestyle more than the virulence of a microbe.
Help protect against seasonal illness
The phrase that describes our vulnerability or resistance to disease is “biological terrain.” The terrain or landscape of our health is made up of our genetics, our environment and, most importantly, our lifestyle. Vigorous application of the 10 Essentials yields the healthiest, most sickness or illness-resistant terrain. Skipping even one of these principles will change your terrain and leave you vulnerable to infection.
* A base of healthy nutrients
Establishing a base of healthy nutrients can provide us with a very resilient terrain. The more dense the base is, the more sickness or illness-resistant our terrain will be. Taking a multiple vitamin and mineral supplement every day is an excellent start. Almost all physicians recommend an Omega-3 supplement as well. If your terrain is being remodeled by stress, you may need adaptogens to help you keep from getting sick. Indeed, the long-term studies of adaptogens in Russia clearly demonstrated that these plants help your body resist infections and aid in healing.
* Vitamin C
Vitamin C is a favorite for protecting against the common cold. Russell Jaffe, MD, former director of the National Institutes of Health, recommends a loading dose of Vitamin C: one teaspoon of Vitamin C crystals every 15 minutes until you “flush.” By this, he means a complete bowel evacuation. After the flush, he recommends a daily serving of Vitamin C (for one month) that is equivalent to 75% of the amount it took you to flush. This should really improve your terrain!
* Echinacea
Echinacea is used in a similar way. Significant medical research from Germany suggests that an hourly dose of Echinacea will help reduce symptoms and shorten the duration of a virus infection. Taking a gram of Echinacea every hour for three days may even reduce chances of an infection that has already begun. Continue taking Echinacea three times daily for up to two weeks afterward to protect against a relapse.
What are the best ways to protect against virus infections from colds and flu? Reduce your exposure through hand-washing and other sanitary procedures. If your lifestyle has become so hectic that you become vulnerable, aggressive nutrition can restore balance to your immune system. If you feel a bug coming on, traditional remedies such as Vitamin C and Echinacea may be the final bulwark between you and a serious infection.
Take Control of Your Health
* Wash your hands every few hours and dry hands thoroughly
* Most importantly, get your rest
* Take a “base” of nutrients:
o A multiple vitamin and mineral supplement
o An Omega-3 fatty acid supplement
o A stress-specific antioxidant supplement
* Try traditional remedies
o Echinacea hourly for three days, then three times daily for two more
weeks
o Vitamin C flush, then 75% of “flush” amount daily for one month
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
OCTOBER IS BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH!
Fact #1:
I think Willie Nelson once sang, “Momma, don’t let your daughters grow up to be inactive.”
Here’s another reason to encourage your daughters to be physically active: Girls and young women who exercise regularly between the ages of 12 and 35 have a substantially lower risk of breast cancer before menopause compared to those who are less active, new research shows.
Source: A prospective study of age-specific physical activity and premenopausal breast cancer.
Fact #2:
Sleep well knowing melatonin may promote breast health.
Low melatonin levels are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women, according to a prospective case-control study. The researchers found that women with the lowest levels of melatonin had a statistically significantly higher incidence of breast cancer than those with the highest levels.
DFH carries a 3 mg Melatonin tablet. Typical dosing is 1-3 tablets at bedtime. Start with one and increase if needed.
Source: Urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin levels and risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women.
Fact #3:
It’s a sunny day for breast health!
Increased intake of vitamin D from the diet and from sunlight may reduce the risk for breast cancer by over 20 per cent, says a new study. “This study suggests that vitamin D is associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer regardless of [estrogen-receptor (ER) positive and progesterone-receptor (PR)] status of the tumor,” wrote lead author Kristina Blackmore from Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.
DFH offers you two vitamin D products. Our Vitamin D Synergy contains 2000 IU’s of vitamin D while our Vitamin D Supreme contains 5000 IU’s of vitamin D.
Source: Vitamin D From Dietary Intake and Sunlight Exposure and the Risk of Hormone-Receptor-Defined Breast Cancer.
Fact #4:
It may be time to purchase a good Indian cookbook.
Curcumin, the yellow extract from the common curry spice turmeric, has been shown to block RON tyrosine kinase-mediated invasion of breast cancer cells. DFH’s C3 Curcumin is the same curcumin currently being investigated at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Source: Curcumin blocks RON tyrosine kinase-mediated invasion of breast carcinoma cells.
Fact #5:
Maybe now your broccoli will seem more appetizing.
Sulforaphane, a compound found in broccoli, is found to have anticarcinogenic properties due to its ability to induce expression of phase II detoxification genes.
Source: Expression of MRP1 and GSTP1-1 modulate the acute cellular response to treatment with the chemopreventive isothiocyanate, sulforaphane.
Fact #1:
I think Willie Nelson once sang, “Momma, don’t let your daughters grow up to be inactive.”
Here’s another reason to encourage your daughters to be physically active: Girls and young women who exercise regularly between the ages of 12 and 35 have a substantially lower risk of breast cancer before menopause compared to those who are less active, new research shows.
Source: A prospective study of age-specific physical activity and premenopausal breast cancer.
Fact #2:
Sleep well knowing melatonin may promote breast health.
Low melatonin levels are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women, according to a prospective case-control study. The researchers found that women with the lowest levels of melatonin had a statistically significantly higher incidence of breast cancer than those with the highest levels.
DFH carries a 3 mg Melatonin tablet. Typical dosing is 1-3 tablets at bedtime. Start with one and increase if needed.
Source: Urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin levels and risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women.
Fact #3:
It’s a sunny day for breast health!
Increased intake of vitamin D from the diet and from sunlight may reduce the risk for breast cancer by over 20 per cent, says a new study. “This study suggests that vitamin D is associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer regardless of [estrogen-receptor (ER) positive and progesterone-receptor (PR)] status of the tumor,” wrote lead author Kristina Blackmore from Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.
DFH offers you two vitamin D products. Our Vitamin D Synergy contains 2000 IU’s of vitamin D while our Vitamin D Supreme contains 5000 IU’s of vitamin D.
Source: Vitamin D From Dietary Intake and Sunlight Exposure and the Risk of Hormone-Receptor-Defined Breast Cancer.
Fact #4:
It may be time to purchase a good Indian cookbook.
Curcumin, the yellow extract from the common curry spice turmeric, has been shown to block RON tyrosine kinase-mediated invasion of breast cancer cells. DFH’s C3 Curcumin is the same curcumin currently being investigated at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Source: Curcumin blocks RON tyrosine kinase-mediated invasion of breast carcinoma cells.
Fact #5:
Maybe now your broccoli will seem more appetizing.
Sulforaphane, a compound found in broccoli, is found to have anticarcinogenic properties due to its ability to induce expression of phase II detoxification genes.
Source: Expression of MRP1 and GSTP1-1 modulate the acute cellular response to treatment with the chemopreventive isothiocyanate, sulforaphane.
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