More on Lyme Disease...

Things that I learned at a lecture by Jesse Stoff MD of   East End Wellness Center
Do I have Lyme Disease or don't I? That is the question that has been plaguing me for some time now. More news below for you about tests for Lyme disease.

My story: I have hunting dogs, I used to run them often in the woods, now not so much...but when I went to a holistic MD in 2010 he was concerned about the Lyme Disease test results we got back.

I went to see a "specialist"--an Infectious Disease Control Doctor. He did all the tests he could and said that they were not conclusive. It appeared I did not have Lyme Disease although some findings came back "odd" (like I had only one positive "band" on my results), but he attributed that to my compromised immune system from Lupus.

Fast forward to spring this year, I was bitten by a tick, and it had the markings of a deer tick. I didn't realize it was on me until it had been there for over a day. I live on Long Island, where Lyme Disease is prevalent. I have been having occasional headaches and a stiff neck and shoulder (which I had been attributing to what I ate- maybe gluten cross contamination).... Well, after that lecture (sure glad I went) I 'm off to get tested again asap.

A few things I learned that I did not know that EVERYONE should know:

There are definitive tests for Lyme Disease: (even if you've had it for a long time)

• Western Blot Test - can diagnose Lyme Disease as early as 3 days after tick bite (but not always helpful for long standing Lyme disease.)
• Six peptide antibody test -  another really reliable test
• Labs can culture and grow Lyme Disease - This is a DEFINITIVE test!
• The tick that bit you can be sent to a lab to be tested to see if it is carrying Lyme Disease

Get The Most Nutrition from What you Ingest

Grandma's kitchen?

Nutri-Bullet, Vitamix, Blendtec Blender, Kitchen Aid, .....any blender you can get that will be
strong enough to pulverize the veggies and fruits to digest them better. (think baby food- easy to digest) Smoothies give you the juice plus all the fiber.

Another possibility is a juicer, any juicer that does a great job of extracting juices will do. I have a Jack Lalanne juicer it does a great job but will not juice greens (for greens you need a special juicer - or just put the greens in the blender and put them in a nut milk bag ---available at Whole Foods and other health food stores---and squeeze to extract the juice.)

If you rate the foods that you eat all day and pick the ones that are the most nutrient dense this will help you close the gaps on any deficiencies you may have. If you have been tested and shown to have defiencies eat the foods with nutrients you are lacking. You can find this information easily on the internet. This is a great site  (I put in kale- check out the nutrients!)  http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2461/2

You don't have to be perfect and pick the most nutrient dense one each time...just make sure you pick the best food most of the time, the more healthy the food/drink choices the healthier you will be!

New Mark Hyman Special on PBS

***Caught part of this yesterday. The program re-airs here at 3am I have it DVR'd. Mark Hyman is brilliant as usual. Check your local listings!

Saw a new Mark Hyman MD PBS special called "The Blood Sugar Solution" He is an outrageous holistic MD that believes and shows how changing your diet (and a few other lifestyle changes) can rid you of many, if not all disease. He speaks the truth!Tune in.

Nightshades/Solanine Toxicity Can it Cause you Pain?

Another thing to try is to go nightshade free for a few months and see if your pain and tingling symptoms subside. Nightshades can show up so many places so be cautious to avoid ALL nightshades. Some non- nightshade plants contain solanine as well, blueberries, for instance, being a case in point! Read on below...

http://www.michaellebowitzdc.com/html/Solanine.html

After testing what next.....

Wheat Grass...Very good for some, but I am allergic to it...

After you are tested for Celiac Disease and it comes back negative (make sure it was from a highly skilled celiac disease diagnostician) what can you try next? If you can't afford a food allergy test,
an elimination diet is a great to determine what foods may be bothering you....though there are many common culprits. Among them are wheat, barly,rye,oats/gluten, dairy, beef,  eggs, bananas, also foods in the  nightshade family...tomatoes, bell peppers, potatoes,eggplant etc., and sometimes beans and legumes.

Please read the books in my post "Books to Read on Healing".Here are some of the titles you can start with "Pain Free in 6 Weeks", "Gluten Toxicity", "The Lupus Recovery Diet", and "The MS Recovery Diet" should give you all the information you need to know the above foods are issues for many people. Many other books can be read on the list as well....

Mark Hyman MD has a few great books on the subject of elimination diets. The Ultrawellness Diet the Ultra Simple Diet and possibly some of his other books describe in detail how to execute an elimination diet. There are also many on the internet. Some books, sites, also call these diets the caveman diet or the rare foods diet. The basic idea behind these diets is to take the foods most people have issues with for a period of time and then replace them one by one to see if there is a reaction, best to keep a journal while doing this to note if you feel good /bad and symptoms you may have.

I firmly believe that the reason most people feel better on a raw food diet (it is a total elimination diet and if you stay on this diet, foods are never added back--no gluten, eggs, dairy, no meat as well) or a macrobiotic diet (not usually totally gluten free, but dairy free and sometimes egg free) is because these are by their design a form of elimination diet...

Most and Least Common Defieciencies Chart

Raw Brazil Nut Hearts are high in minerals and especially selenium!

The best way to tell your deficiencies is a blood test...but if you can't afford it, check out the following chart to tell what the most common deficiencies are...then supplement or eat foods rich in those nutrients or BOTH! Remember your body can't heal efficiently without essential nutrients!

http://1stholistic.com/nutrition/hol_nutr-def-symptoms.htm

My "Lupus Hope Healing Plan" Blog (repost)

Photo by Carly K.

Please take a look at my Lupus Hope Healing Plan blog. It is packed with things to do to feel better!

http://lupushope.blogspot.com/2010/03/lupus-hope-healing-plan-blog.html

Is it Celiac Disease? Should I go Gluten Free even when my test is Negative for Celiac Disease?

Lots of delicious foods in life are NATURALLY gluten free!

If you are tested for Celiac Disease and are found not to have it , it could be that you really DO have it but they missed it, or you have just plain gluten intolerance instead. Here are some reasons Celiac Disease/gluten issues are missed. Sometimes after the testing comes back negative but you are still feeling poorly, and you know something is wrong, you owe it to yourself to see if going gluten free makes you feel better. Almost everyone will feel better when going gluten free...but get tested for Celiac Disease first! And for goodness sake it CAN be healthy if you eat a nutritious gluten free diet. Just like anything else you can do it wrong by eating gluten free junk foods.

1) If you took a  blood test (Celiac Disease Panel) are you gluten free? If you go gluten free before you take the test, the results would give you a false negative. If you are tested by endoscopy of the small intestine, Dr. Peter Green and others say all it takes for a false negative on this test is to test the wrong spot in the intestine. Best to go to a proven specialist for this because if you have Celiac Disease and you don't continue to eat gluten free you are subject to disease manifestations including colon cancer and possible death. Celiac Disease is  NOT something to play around with!

2) Maybe you don't have Celiac Disease maybe you just have Gluten Intolerance, maybe if you test negative for celiac disease (sometimes this takes multiple tests to get a proper diagnosis) you can try a gluten free diet for a few weeks to a month...if you feel better it's a no brainer...eat gluten free. Go to the bottom for easy gluten free diet ideas, it can be simple.

3) The bottom line is do you feel better when you avoid gluten?

Gluten free can be really expensive when you buy- gf mixes, cakes, cookies, bread,  they are not very healthy choices anyway.  It is also more expensive when you purchase gf specialty flours, pre-made boxed and jarred foods.


Is GF healthy? And EASY? 

 YES!!!! When you eat a gluten free diet all that is necessary is to leave out the bread, pasta, and all common starches. A great and easy dinner is a small portion (deck of cards)  of fish or meat or chicken, rice (preferably brown- or can go grain free also and skip the rice) and 1-3 veggies. Some fruit for dessert.
You could also have a salad with grilled chicken/steak or fish or beans (read the labels of the dressings), good old olive oil and vinegar does well in a pinch. Have the hamburger or the hotdog without the bun. Potato salad is OK too but watch the mayo for other health reasons. (too much fat in mayo but it is gluten free)
Read labels for things that you wouldn't consider to have wheat, barley, rye, oats. Wheat turns up in some odd places:  like twizzlers, soy sauce, soups, gravies, seasoned french fries, dressings, vitamin pills, etc. READ all your labels!!! Read on below if you'd like...

Going gluten free may still help...think it's not nutritious? See this post
http://lupushope.blogspot.com/2012/01/gluten-free-diets-can-be-healthy.html

http://lupushope.blogspot.com/2011/08/good-healthy-vs-badunhealthy-gluten.html

Read the following article on

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704893604576200393522456636.html

Common Sense Healing

Hi! I am still in the process of selling my home and buying the next one. We are also packing, packing and packing! Forgive me for the lack of regular posting. My kids are also going to be out of school soon for the summer also. I will  try to do my best to keep posting regularly. Do ask questions if you'd like and I'll do my best to answer them!

I will have to post a bunch on my new home and how we will keep the toxins down, our health up and the new purchases to a minimum, both to save money and because new items, if not ecologically friendly, out gas tons of toxins (new beds/furniture/rugs/laminates etc) Now on to today's post....

People still have a hard time seeing the common sense behind holistic healing. If you or a friend  or family member have a disease of some type, even if you decide to go the conventional doctor route, it makes sense to:

1) Get rid of inflammation and eat an anti-inflammatory diet, this includes getting rid of hidden food allergies.

2) Find out if you have toxins in your body and the best/easiest ways to discharge them, and DEFINITELY limit you exposure to new toxins (if your body is already loaded with toxins you don't need to expose yourself to more toxins if they are avoidable)

3) Does your body need support/supplements ? Is your body deficient in any nutrients necessary for it to function properly? Find out all deficiencies and correct them ASAP!

4) Trust your body. If it can heal a cut finger and grow new cells for repair,  it can heal almost anything.

Books to Read on Healing (a repost)

Not sure if what I'm saying could be true? Want to find out more? Read up! See the titles below...

You can request many of these books through your local library. Ask the librarian for the book/s you are interested in and if they don't have the book, many times they can do an interlibrary loan (get it from another library).

"The Lupus Recovery Diet" by Jill Harrington (title says it all)

"Pain Free in 6 weeks" by Sherry RogersMD (total toxic load on the body, ways to heal, holistic)

"The Gluten Connection" by Shari Leiberman (diseases that can be exacerbated by gluten)

"Gluten Toxicity..." by Shelly L. Stuart R.N., B.Sc.N. (how gluten can wreak havoc in the body)

"Living on Live Food" by Alissa Cohen (A raw food diet, tons of recipes and testimonies)

"The Great Life Diet" by Denny Waxman (A macrobiotic diet)

" The MS Recovery Diet" by Anne Sawyer (healing MS through diet)

"Living Well with Autoimmune Disease..." Mary J. Shomon (holistic)

"The Ageless Woman" by Serafina Corsello, MD (MD+alternative/holistic)

"Dr. Mercola's Total Health Program" by Dr Joseph Mercola (diet for your specific body type)

"Arthritis..." 2nd Edition by Ellen Kamhi PhD RN HNC and Eugene Zampieron ND MH(AHG)(Holistic and Alternative by the "Natural Nurse" and a Naturopathic Doctor)

"An Alternative Approach to Allergies" by Theron Randolph MD and Ralph W. Moss PhD

"Celiac Disease a Hidden Epidemic" Peter H.R. Green MD and Rory Jones

"Food That Helps Win the Battle Against Fibromyalgia" by Deirdre Rawlings N.D., Ph.D.

"Breakthrough, Eight Steps to Wellness.." by Suzanne Somers(interviews cutting edge doctors)

""The UltraMind Solution.." by Mark Hyman MD(healing your broken brain, through healing your body first)

" The Cure Heal Your Body, Save Your Life.." by Dr. Timothy Brantley

"52 Ways to a Healthy You" by Laura Lewis

"The Women's Guide to Thyroid Health" by Kathryn R. Simpson, MS (Holistic, root cures, thyroid disease)

"Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms? When My Lab Tests are Normal" by Datis Kharrazian, DHSc, DC, MS

"The Optimum Nutrition Bible" by Patrick Holford

Dr. Andrew Weil's Guide to Optimum Health" CD Set

"Health Wars" by Philip Day

"Cereal Killers..." by Dr. Ron Hoggan and Scott Adams (celiac disease treatments and other diseases that can affect a celiac patient- outrageous book!)

"The Sinatra Solution" by Stephen T. Sinatra MD (reversing heart disease with diet and holistic medicine)

"Is Your Cardiologist Killing You" by Sherry Rogers MD (research into the protocols tat cardiologists employ and why holistic approaches are safer and work better)

"Your Child Doesn't Have to Die" by Leanne Sorteberg (Holistic medicine and nutrition healed her child's cancer)

"The Detox Strategy" by Brenda Watson CNC with Leonard Smith MD

" ChefMD's Big Book of Culinary Medicine..." by John LaPuma MD (healthy cooking and halting disease with foods)


A link to my recommended raw food "un-cookbooks" (you know what I mean! Raw Food!)
http://lupushopecookbook.blogspot.com/2009/08/great-raw-food-books.html

A link to some of my favorite Vegan and Macrobiotic Cookbooks
http://lupushope.blogspot.com/2010/05/some-favorites-vegan-and-macrobiotic.html

B12 Deficiency and Common Lupus and other Disease Symptoms

 

 

Toni Camara Kaste shared Dr. Fred Pescatore's status.

From Fred Pescatore MD shared on FaceBook...and my comment...

 

Spotlight today on: Vitamin B12 – this helps to regulate the expression of genes, meaning it prevents things like cancer from happening. Most processed foods are fortified with folic acid, which masks B12 deficiency, signs of which are aggression, obsessive-compulsive behavior, sleeplessness, & tingling in the arms & legs. Don’t settle for low levels even if they are “low normal.” 200 to 1,100 picograms per milliliter is normal, but levels of under 400 increase your risk of mental health problems like dementia and depression.
Best Sources: Shellfish, fish, liver, beef, eggs

· · Share

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    Toni Camara Kaste Doctors should study nutrition and how deficiencies "present". Or at the very least should ALWAYS work with a nutritionist with each patient...then less patients would hear from the doctor "gee you have numbness and tingling...I'll give you this drug, or I don't know why your having these symptoms, live with it, or ..." or worse they tell the patient they're crazy or have too much anxiety or stress in their lives or maybe it's a panic attack....TEST for DEFICIENCIES!!!!! Supplements are necessary many times whether you eat meat or are a vegan most people are low and also to reiterate, the best test for B12 deficiency is the MMA test and homocysteine levels
  • http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/mma/tab/test
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    22 hours ago ·
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Natural Home and Garden Magazine

 I subscribe to some magazines/ newsletters already so it is not in my budget at this time to subscribe to this one, but it is an incredible magazine and website and they also have a free e-newsletter. I found the magazine at my local library to take out for free. I love magazines that focus on health, the environment, sustainability, frugality, saving money and going back to the "old fashioned" grandparent's way of doing things, so this is a perfect one for me. If you are interested, the link is below, check it out.

http://www.naturalhomeandgarden.com/

Another Book to Check out "Wheat Belly"

Found a book recently called "Wheat Belly" by William Davis MD at my local library. It is worth a read. More information on how the wheat we presently eat has changed from what our ancestors ate (sometimes containing many more times the gluten of the wheat, in preparation, in our ancestors bread - also the proteins are different from breeding the wheat for a higher yield) and how Celiac Disease is not the only reason not to eat wheat. It focuses on both weight loss and health. A great summer read and maybe you will be able to fit into your summer wardrobe better too!

The Book http://www.amazon.com/Wheat-Belly-Lose-Weight-Health/dp/1609611543/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338394588&sr=1-1

The Blog http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/

Holistic View of Lupus by Edgar Cayce

A friend of mine, Lisa,(used to have a blog called Lupus Girl Goes Raw) posted this article on her new blog, I am very glad she shared this with me. I feel that Edgar Cayce has the right ideas in this article. Read up everyone! Have a great Memorial Day Weekend! and remember those who fought for our freedom! Check out her new blog below.

http://lupusfreeisme.blogspot.com/2012/05/edgar-cayces-perspective-of-lupus.html

Dr. Peter Osborne on The Flaws of Celiac Disease and Gluten Sensitivity Testing

If you haven't done it yet, please sign up for The Gluten Free Society's  E-Newletter they give so much in depth information on Celiac Disease and Gluten Sensitivity. Click below for an article and video on the flaws with Celiac Disease and Gluten Sensitivity testing.

http://www.glutenfreesociety.org/gluten-free-society-blog/gluten-sensitivity-genes-and-the-flaws-of-lab-testing/

Top Detoxifying Fruits and Veggies from Natural News

Green smoothies are a great way to get these foods in.

Be aware not to go too crazy with these foods at first, as your body detoxifies, you can sometimes feel more under the weather. The toxins have to get all the way out of your body THEN you feel much better. Go slow but consistently when adding these foods. If you feel too badly cut back just a little. I find it's better to detoxify slowly then feel horrible all at once. Remember the pay off is worth it to feel better at the end.

http://www.naturalnews.com/035883_detoxification_fruits_vegetables.html

World Lupus Day Today, May 10th 2012

Click the link below for events around the world for World Lupus Day.

 As usual on this day, I would urge you to tell anyone you know with Lupus to check for Celiac Disease and other food allergies as well....this of course goes for you too if you have Lupus and haven't gotten tested as yet. Changing your diet can do wonders!

                                                       http://worldlupusday.org/

Doctors Should Be Held Accountable for Drug Caused Deficiencies

Drink those green smoothies/juices!

***NEVER stop taking medications without a doctor's help...if you want to get off medications and your regular physician won't agree to help you seek a holistic physician with many great references!

I don't know how many of you take prescription pharmaceuticals or how many of you have parents that fall into the trap of getting older and their doctor just keeps writing out the prescriptions and before you know it the patient is on slews of medications for this, that and the other thing....

Here is my point for today...if a doctor writes a prescription for a medication that is known to cause B12 deficiency, at the VERY LEAST the doctor should test this patient for the deficiency to start and tell the patient to supplement that nutrient if needed and also check periodically for deficiency. Right now my mother in law is on many medications. The only way she can find out about drug caused deficiencies is by asking the pharmacist. OK, the pharmacist knows what drug causes what ....why aren't the doctors expected to know and care? Unless she takes it on herself  her B12 deficiency or supplementation and progress in correcting that deficiency, will not be kept track of. Most doctors don't test for B12 or even know the best B12 test
 (It is the MMA test http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/mma/tab/test)

You all know how I feel about medications to start with...covering up a symptom is never a good idea...you need to get to the ROOT CAUSE and correct the body's issues or you will never heal, taking medication just puts a band-aid on. Yes sometimes we need the occasional band-aid but eventually we need the body to heal itself.

If you are on medications please check what problems they cause and make sure your doctor is paying attention! You tell him/her what tests to order if necessary!

Paul Nison interviews Rosemary Fletcher that healed MS with a Raw Food Diet

Please click below to see an amazing story of healing from MS from Paul Nison. The woman's website is www.youhealyou.net Please check it out!


http://healthwatchman.com/amazing-healing-story-ever/

David Wolfe and Nutri-Bullet Blender

Click below for a clip of David Wolfe on a infomercial for the Nutri- Bullet. I was so surprised to see David Wolfe looking way too much like a "regular" guy. Not his usual personna...but to help folks eat healthy it looks like he'll go the gamut!

http://healthychoiceseveryday.com/?tag=david-wolfe