Aloe Vera Juice

The process of digestion is very complex. Digestion is the metabolic process that converts foodstuffs within the body for use. The process begins in the mouth where it is chewed and mixed with saliva to prepare it for swallowing. After swallowing, the food is pushed through the esophagus, which transports it to the stomach where it is further diluted and mixed with enzymes, breaking down the food to be absorbed in the intestines. Most of the absorption process begins to take place in the small intestine. Macronutrients, minerals, vitamins, trace elements and water are absorbed here before reaching the colon.

The colon is the final step in the digestion process. The remaining water is reabsorbed in the colon as well as any substance that cannot pass through the intestinal wall such as dietary fiber.

Because the typical diet consists of many foods unintended for healthy digestion, maintaining a healthy digestive tract is important to the overall health of the body. Aloe vera contains numerous nutrients, enzymes, vitamins and minerals. Studies have shown that aloe consumed orally promotes normal digestion and supports a healthy immune system. It’s also very soothing and healing to the gastrointestinal tract.

Source: http://www.nutrametrix.com

By Mila McManus MD|2016-07-06T07:33:54-06:00July 6th, 2016|Articles, General|

All About Papaya

by Nancy Mehlert, MS

Here in Texas, you can find Papaya in the grocery store almost year around. This fairly medium to large sized fruit is orange in color. It grows well in any tropical area, but is native to southern Mexico and Central America. It is especially helpful to mention papaya in our newsletter this month as we look at various aspects of digestive and bowel health, as papaya is well recognized as a fruit that aids in digestion, soothes an upset tummy, and provides a respectable amount of fiber to aid in regularity and digestion. And of course, the good news is, it has a great refreshing flavor which is nice for the hottest months of the year.

The magical ingredient in papaya is called papain which supports the digestive process by breaking down proteins and also improving absorption of them. It is often extracted for digestive enzyme supplements and is also included in meat tenderizers. For those who suffer from low acid content in the stomach and have difficulty digesting meat, papain from papaya can be very helpful. Pregnant women struggling with morning sickness may find papaya to be a very soothing solution. Research also suggests papain functions as an anti-inflammatory substance.

Papaya has other important nutritional qualities as well. It has a very good Vitamin C and Vitamin A content, and these fight free radical damage in the body, creating an environment that protects against aging and disease. While very, very low in fat, the fat content is predominantly anti-inflammatory Omega 3 fatty acids. Finally, papaya is also a good source of folate, an important B vitamin, as well as a source of calcium, potassium, and magnesium.

Try papaya chopped into a salsa, as a topper on a salad, pureed and blended with coconut milk to make a summer sorbet, sliced like melon or as a fruit to dip in a chocolate fondue. The seeds, while edible, are surprisingly peppery in flavor and generally are discarded.

As a reminder to our readers, fruit offers a nice adornment or a nice finish to a meal, but, due to sugar and total carbohydrate content, one should be cautious about portion control and limit frequency of servings to 0 to 2 per day.

By Mila McManus MD|2016-07-06T06:45:24-06:00July 5th, 2016|Articles, General, NANCY’S NUTRITIONAL NUGGET|

Are You Full of It?

by Mila McManus MD

Are your bowels moving at posted speeds? This article discusses various underlying causes of constipation and sluggish bowel function and how to address the issue naturally. Laxatives are NOT the answer. Read on to find out why.

OK, so not the cleanest or most fun topic we could come up with, but it’s an important one. Sluggish bowel function and constipation are a serious matter with potential for contributing to, or causing, other health issues. Toxic sludge, for one, will simply recycle back into your body, thereby increasing toxic load. And toxic load is a cause of constipation! The causes most people think of in relation to constipation are dehydration and lack of fiber in the diet. While adding water and fiber to your diet are important for many reasons, I rarely find that these interventions alone will fix the problem.

Other causes of sluggish bowel function and constipation:

Inflammation in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. This includes Crohn’s disease and Ulcerative Colitis, but these are usually accompanied by bouts of diarrhea, bloody stools, and other symptoms.
Dysbiosis. This is a fancy word for “the bacteria, yeast, viruses, and parasites living in your GI tract are out of balance”. Have you ever had a course of antibiotics? Of course you have. This is one of the main contributors to dysbiosis.
Low thyroid function. EVEN IF your thyroid levels are normal, this does not confirm that your thyroid function is normal or optimal. Test your thyroid function here with our online symptom checker.
Food allergies and sensitivities. Unfortunately, conventional medical doctors typically test for only IgE reactions to foods. It’s important to test for other types of food sensitivities, such as IgG reactions. The most common food sensitivities include gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, yeast, and corn.
Certain supplements, particularly calcium and iron.
Congesting foods, particularly gluten (wheat, rye, spelt, barley) and dairy (cheese, ice cream, milk, yogurt, cream)
Colon cancer or other conditions affecting your anatomy, such as scar tissue from surgeries or endometriosis.
Side effect of medications, including narcotic pain meds (e.g., hydrocodone), calcium-containing anti-acids (e.g. TUMS), certain antihistamines (e.g., Benadryl), certain blood pressure medications including calcium channel blockers (e.g., amlodipine) and diuretics (e.g., hydrochlorothiazide), and certain antidepressants (e.g., fluoxetine, amitriptyline)
Dependence on laxatives. The more you use them, the more difficult it’ll be to stop using them
Diabetes. Diabetes can affect nerve function, including the nerves that control the function of the GI tract.
Neurologic diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
Magnesium deficiency
Poor dietary habits in general. This makes sense because eating a lot of processed food will contribute to inflammation, magnesium deficiency, low fiber, and other health issues that lead to the need to take medications such as those listed above which further contribute to the problem.

Recommendations:

Heal your GI tract by working with our functional medicine specialists. This usually involves a customized vitamin/mineral regimen, detoxification support, dietary changes, probiotics, and hormone balance and optimization
Test for food sensitivities and/or start an elimination diet (e.g., eliminate all dairy and gluten from your diet for 4 to 6 weeks to see if bowel function improves.)
Work with our functional medicine specialists to address the underlying causes of what ails you so that you can potentially wean off your medications that are contributing to your sluggish bowel function.
Clean up your diet. Schedule a consultation with our nutritionist on staff for help.
Supplements that can be very effective in alleviating your constipation include probiotics, magnesium citrate, aloe vera, and digestive enzymes. We highly recommend that you work with a functional medicine specialist for advice on brands, doses, etc. It’s also important to be properly evaluated.
Fiber can actually make constipation worse. This sometimes should NOT be your first line of defense.
A word about Miralax (and other laxatives with polyethylene glycol as the active ingredient): The FDA has added “neuropsychiatric events” to the list of potential side effects in relation to the use of these laxatives. “Neuropsychiatric events” would include conditions such as memory loss, autism, depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, etc. Polyethylene glycol is a string of ethylene glycol molecules. Ethylene glycol is anti-freeze. Need I say more? Please remember that, just because you can get a drug over-the-counter, doesn’t mean it’s safe.

References:

https://www.gutsense.org/constipation/normal_stools.html

www.mercola.com

By Mila McManus MD|2016-07-06T06:40:59-06:00July 5th, 2016|Articles, General|

Oil Pulling for Dental Health

A Number of Benefits with Oil Pulling!

Oil Pulling has been around for centuries, but might be better understood if it were called Oil Swishing. It is a very simple procedure of putting a well-chosen oil in your mouth and swishing the oil around like mouthwash for 5 to 20 minutes, the purpose being to trap germs, toxins, and plaque in the oil and then to spit the oil out, leaving your mouth cleaner, fresher and in good health. It can even whiten your teeth. The most commonly recommended oil is coconut oil, known for its antimicrobial effects, although sesame, sunflower, and olive oils are also often suggested. It is suggested that coconut oil kills the bacteria that causes cavities and possibly gum disease, though there are more positive comments and experience of users to validate it than scientific research at this time. Here’s how to perform oil pulling:

Select an organic, raw or cold pressed coconut oil.
You can soften ½ cup of oil by putting it in a jar, then place the jar in warm water, add 10-20 drops of clove or peppermint essential oil and then pour into silicone bite-sized candy molds and freeze or refrigerate. These can be stored in a jar in the refrigerator and one can be used every day for oil swishing.
Another option is to place 2 to 3 tsp of coconut oil in the mouth. It melts immediately. Swish for 5 to 20 minutes, then be sure to spit it out rather than swallow it, as it will be full of germs, toxins, and plaque.
You may want to consider where you will spit. It is not great for septic systems and potentially could clog up a sink on a cold day, so a trashcan may be the best option.

By Mila McManus MD|2016-05-25T09:17:23-06:00May 25th, 2016|Articles, General|

Coconut Water is all the rage. But is it good for you?????

by Nancy Mehlert, MS

Coconut waters have hit the grocery store aisles in the last year or two. Every time I walk by them, there are more brands, more flavors. So are they a good choice? Certainly relative to a soft drink filled with phosphoric acid, caramel colors and sugar or artificial sweeteners I would have to say they are an improvement. And most certainly in terms of hydration a coconut water is an improvement over the ever popular sports drinks laden with sugars, artificial sweeteners and food coloring. But is it really all it is marketed to be? Let’s take a look….

Coconut water is found in nature, inside of a green, young coconut usually harvested when it is 5-7 months old when it contains the most water. These coconuts are about the size of a basketball! As the coconut matures on the tree, the coconut meats increase and the water decreases.

The coconut water from a young coconut is truly nutritious and has been consumed for centuries in tropical countries. The elixir is so rich in electrolyte content that it has been used in emergency situations for IV hydration. Directly from the coconut, these waters are about 46 calories per cup and 10 grams of natural sugar. Potassium rich, it is in fact an excellent electrolyte beverage and offers about 600mg per 8 ounce serving. It also has a little bit of sodium, calcium and magnesium too as well as a small amount of many other minerals, vitamins and phytonutrients.

Coconut water, because of these nutrient values, can help to lower blood pressure, support weight loss, increase athletic performance, boost energy, lower cholesterol, and relax muscle tension. For those with kidney disease, it should be limited because of the high potassium content.

Knowing what comes out of the young coconut right out of the tree vs what lands in the store in a container becomes the main concern. What happens in “man”ufacturing? What should you be looking for when you buy coconut water in the store?

Ideally, buy a fresh, young coconut and extract the water from it. This is the real thing that nature created. Because the fresh coconut water is very perishable, you may find raw, fresh coconut water in a refrigerated section of a health store.
Second best choice if fresh is not available is to look for “cold pressured” coconut water which is very lightly processed with high pressure rather than heat, which helps to eliminate bacteria while maintaining a greater level of the vitamins and minerals.
If coconut water does not need refrigeration, you will likely discover that it has been pasteurized, meaning that a high temperature has been used to kill bacteria but it also destroys most of the natural vitamins and minerals in the product.
Coconut water made from concentrate should be avoided as it is the most processed form with little, if any, nutrition left in it short of sugar.
Because coconut water has a unique taste, many companies are now enhancing the taste with flavors or to cover up the fact that they are not using young coconuts but older more bitter coconut waters. Avoid coconut waters with added sugars and flavors. The primary ingredient should be 100% coconut water.

While hydration is important as the summer months approach, by taking a few simple steps, you can stay hydrated and electrolyte-balanced.

Eat whole real food with plentiful vegetables and fruits which are a good source of water, fiber, minerals, vitamins and phytonutrients.
Eat foods that provide optimal levels of potassium, such as leafy greens, broccoli and cabbage, sweet potatoes, squash, bananas and avocados. Coconut water counts here IF the criteria above are met.
Eat hydrating foods just prior to and during activities in the heat such as celery, watermelon, cucumber, kiwi, bell pepper, citrus fruits, carrots and pineapple.
Drink enough water to result in urination every 3-4 hours at a minimum. Be sure to replenish the body with water following vigorous exercise especially in very warm or hot weather when increased sweating tends to occur.

My favorite alternative to real food as a hydration product with electrolytes is Vega Sport Hydrator.

Sources: http://draxe.com/electrolyte-imbalance/

http://draxe.com/is-coconut-water-good-for-you/

By Mila McManus MD|2016-05-24T18:27:41-06:00May 24th, 2016|Articles, General, NANCY’S NUTRITIONAL NUGGET|

What is a Biological Dentist?

My View: William P. Glaros, DDS

A Biological Dentist is a licensed dentist who uses the greatest elements and practices of conventional dentistry, who also has a great appreciation and gives consideration to the relationship of teeth and oral health to the entire body.

Some of the elements and practices of conventional dentistry used include many wonderful and effective dental materials. A difference would be that in a Biological practice, dental materials are tested for each biological patient to determine which material is suitably compatible for that patient. We practice with minimal use of any metal products, with the interest in minimizing galvanic (def: involving electric currents produced by chemical action) reactions due to interacting, dissimilar metals.

Reportedly, 50% of the dentists in this country do not place mercury fillings. We call that “mercury-free”, a good start. Biological Dentists do not place mercury fillings out of a concern that the filling is a continuous source of mercury vapor at levels that can exceed those considered hazardous in non-dental environments.

We are interested and active in protecting our patients, our planet, and our dental team. This is called “mercury–safe”. A practice that is concerned with mercury from mercury fillings has mercury trapping systems in the office to prevent mercury fillings being dumped into our public water supply during its removal from the teeth. During the removal of these same filling types, Biological Dentists protect their patients with drapes to their knees, protective surgical caps, healthy alternative air to breath during removal, modified removal techniques to minimize exposure, and multiple air filters and purifiers in each treatment room. The dental team seeks protection by wearing protective Haz-mat-type masks, eye protection, and non-latex gloves that are replaced immediately after mercury-filling removal and after hands have been washed with cold water.

Beyond the “mercury-free” and “mercury-safe” practices, Biological Dentists believe that there are relationships in the body that make sense, according to principals of acupuncture. This is one of the considerations that leads us to a concern about retaining dead teeth in the mouth, also known as root canal treated teeth. Combining this concern with the scientific studies showing anaerobic and other toxic bacteria throughout the body with the source being the dead teeth, leads a Biological Dentist to question the health-based considerations of keeping and/or performing root canal treatments on teeth.

Though this communication is not meant to be exhaustive or instructive, a critical element not yet addressed is the importance of detox and nutritional support for each patient. Best care practice warrants every patient to be working with a health care provider with whom they share beliefs and who is appropriately adept at this service.

www.biologicaldentist.com

By Mila McManus MD|2016-05-22T09:41:57-06:00May 22nd, 2016|Articles, General|

Cooking with Oils

by Nancy Mehlert, MS

When you think about including fats in your diet, remember that you are a living being. Your cells are smart and cannot be fooled. They are filled with DNA and memory. Your cells recognize and utilize undamaged fats in highly productive health-giving ways if you consume them in their natural state. Beware that man gets engaged in doing things that damage the structure of fats including applying heat, bleaching, esterifying, hydrogenating, and using chemical solvents.

Once you’ve purchased undamaged oils, be sure to not destroy them with your own cooking methods. There is great controversy and discrepancy about temperature tolerance when cooking with oils if you search on line and explore resources for this information. The safest most conservative approach for good health is to rely on saturated fat sources for cooking and save monounsaturated fats such as olive oil for cold preparation only.

We recommend that your everyday cooking fats/oils for good health be a saturated (a strongly bonded molecular structure) fat such as butter, ghee, tallow, or coconut oil. It is important to choose a good source where animals have eaten their natural diet (pastured), where the animal has not been given antibiotics or hormones and has been raised in a humane and natural environment. This includes beef tallow, duck fat and pork lard. Epic is a brand you can look for in the market or online. Coconut oil should be organic, pressed, and free from refining, bleaching or deodorizing. If the producer knows and cares, it will usually be well described on the packaging. See our Product of the Month in this month’s newsletter for more details. For the highest temperatures on the stovetop, oven or on the grill, coconut oil and ghee are your best bet; however, we recommend that you limit or avoid extremely high temperature cooking as a matter of routine due to the damaging effect it has on the food and thus your health. Low and slow cooking is healthier.

By Mila McManus MD|2016-05-04T06:00:14-06:00May 4th, 2016|Articles, General, NANCY’S NUTRITIONAL NUGGET|

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly on Coconut Oil and Olive Oil

By Nancy Mehlert, MS

We often emphasize how important it is to choose healthy oils and we describe them as “undamaged”. Typically, once man begins to extract oil from its source, the goal is to find the fastest, cheapest way to extract the oil from the source, maximizing the amount of oil extracted, then treating the oil to make it look, smell and taste good, and last as long as possible. All of this is accomplished by using high temperatures, extensive refining and chemicals. Unfortunately, not only are the health benefits of the oils lost in this processing, but can actually cause harm. Here’s the scoop you need to know about two of the most important oils we recommend for everyday use, coconut oil and olive oil.

In the coconut industry, conventional coconut is dried in a wood-fueled kiln or in the sun over a period of several days. The result is called copra and it is packed tightly into burlap type sacks that hold the meat of about 400-500 coconuts. These bags are then moved through a very slow, time consuming transport to a large, industrial oil mill, usually in Europe or Asia. As a result of unhygienic drying methods, humid tropical conditions, bulk shipping and long distances with lengthy delays, the copra develops mold on it. These molds can also result in carcinogenic aflatoxin contamination. The oil extraction begins using large-scale, high pressure, energy intensive equipment and chemicals such as hexane to remove the mold from the copra. The result is a very low quality, damaged coconut oil with little to no available health benefits. This is why we emphasize organic, non-GMO, expeller pressed or raw and unrefined coconut oil so that you can benefit from the undamaged oil.

In the olive oil industry, a similar process occurs. Heat and chemicals are used to extract every last bit of oil from the olives, and these chemicals degrade the final product. To make matters worse, you may have recently seen the CBS News show 60 Minutes which exposed the hazardous chemicals and mislabeling of olive oil coming out of the Mediterranean. According to Italian authorities, as much as 80% of the olive oil investigated uncovered fraudulent labeling and false documentation. In one investigation of 10 tons of colored table olives, the coloring agent added was a prohibited and dangerous copper chlorophyllin complex also known as E141. “Made in Italy” claims were fraudulent and other illicit substances were found in production areas. Pesticides, mineral oil hydrocarbons, plasticizers, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and styrene were also found in the oils. For these reasons, we HIGHLY recommend First Cold Pressed, Organic, Non-GMO verified oils from small family owned farms, and more recently, from California.

Healthy undamaged oils are essential for good health but unfortunately highly processed and damaged oils are dangerous to your health, contributing to inflammation and disease. Be sure to make good choices when purchasing your oils.

References:

http://olivecenter.ucdavis.edu/research/files/report041211finalreduced.pdf

http://www.kokonutpacific.com.au/production/CopraKP.php

By Mila McManus MD|2016-04-29T15:24:12-06:00April 29th, 2016|Articles, General|

Coconut Oil

By Nancy Mehlert, MS

If you haven’t incorporated coconut oil into your lifestyle, it is time! From every standpoint, nutritional or supplemental, it is a wise and healthful choice for the whole family. It should be one of the primary cooking oils used in your kitchen every day. While you are at it, add it to your personal hygiene and first aid kit too. According to Mary Enig, Ph.D., the nation’s leading expert on fats and oils: Coconut oil has a unique role in the diet as an important physiologically functional food which offers health and nutritional benefits. We recommend the real thing rather than a coconut oil pill. We don’t recommend broccoli pills either. Eat the real thing.

What’s unique about it?

Unlike most vegetable and seed oils, coconut oil is nature’s richest source of medium-chain fatty acids (rather than a long-chain fatty acid). This quality makes coconut oil much more capable of permeating cell membranes easily, and much more easily digested.
Medium chain fatty acids, such as coconut oil, go directly to the liver where they are immediately converted to energy rather than being stored as fat.
Medium chain fatty acids are also able to stimulate metabolism which can support weigh loss. One way it does this is by stimulating the activity of the thyroid.
Coconut oil also has anti-microbial action due to the lauric acid it contains. Lauri acid is also found in mother’s breast milk. Lauric acid fights dangerous micro-organisms such as viruses, bacteria, yeasts, parasites and molds.
Coconut flour and coconut oil are considered gluten free and hypoallergenic, unlike most nuts and flours.

How do I know what to buy?

As with most oils, it is very possible and likely that cheaper versions will be manufactured, refined and chemically treated. These will not yield the health benefits desired. Look for these key words and phrases on the jar to ensure the highest quality:
USDA Certified Organic
Non-GMO
Raw, unrefined, cold or expeller pressed
If the container does no more than to say it is “pure”, even if it is organic, it is likely coconut oil made from copra, a dried, old and moldy coconut that must be refined, bleached and deodorized using chemical processing with chemicals such as hexane.
We recommend Tropical Traditions, Fresh Shores, Dr. Bronners, Nature’s Way to name a few. We carry Tropical Traditions at our facility for your convenience.

How do I use it?

In our world of internet information, and to save space, I will suggest that you explore internet resources because frankly, coconut oil has too many uses to list here. But know this:
If you eat, you need coconut oil: It is a perfect oil for stir fry, baking, and sautéing literally anything from eggs and veggies to meat. Toss a tablespoon into your morning smoothie and add to your cup of coffee! Then season your cast iron skillet with it.
If you bathe and groom your body, you need coconut oil: From makeup remover, to lotion or deodorant, hair conditioner and toothpaste, solving diaper rash or jock itch, coconut oil is an outstanding choice for personal body care.
If you have a medicine cabinet, you need coconut oil: Antimicrobial action protects scrapes and burns, soothes away baby rash, psoriasis or eczema, works as a lubricant for anal or vaginal use without disturbing normal flora and so much more.
If you have a home, you can even explore polishing furniture and leather with it (look for good instructions and test a small hidden area first).

The uses are many, the benefits are countless. Go coco-nuts!

By Mila McManus MD|2016-04-29T09:15:52-06:00April 29th, 2016|Articles, General, NANCY’S NUTRITIONAL NUGGET|

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly on Coconut Oil and Olive Oil

By Nancy Mehlert, MS

We often emphasize how important it is to choose healthy oils and we describe them as “undamaged”. Typically, once man begins to extract oil from its source, the goal is to find the fastest, cheapest way to extract the oil from the source, maximizing the amount of oil extracted, then treating the oil to make it look, smell and taste good, and last as long as possible. All of this is accomplished by using high temperatures, extensive refining and chemicals. Unfortunately, not only are the health benefits of the oils lost in this processing, but can actually cause harm. Here’s the scoop you need to know about two of the most important oils we recommend for everyday use, coconut oil and olive oil.

Copra

In the coconut industry, conventional coconut is dried in a wood-fueled kiln or in the sun over a period of several days. The result is called copra and it is packed tightly into burlap type sacks that hold the meat of about 400-500 coconuts. These bags are then moved through a very slow, time consuming transport to a large, industrial oil mill, usually in Europe or Asia. As a result of unhygienic drying methods, humid tropical conditions, bulk shipping and long distances with lengthy delays, the copra develops mold on it. These molds can also result in carcinogenic aflatoxin contamination. The oil extraction begins using large-scale, high pressure, energy intensive equipment and chemicals such as hexane to remove the mold from the copra. The result is a very low quality, damaged coconut oil with little to no available health benefits. This is why we emphasize organic, non-GMO, expeller pressed or raw and unrefined coconut oil so that you can benefit from the undamaged oil.

In the olive oil industry, a similar process occurs. Heat and chemicals are used to extract every last bit of oil from the olives, and these chemicals degrade the final product. To make matters worse, you may have recently seen the CBS News show 60 Minutes which exposed the hazardous chemicals and mislabeling of olive oil coming out of the Mediterranean. According to Italian authorities, as much as 80% of the olive oil investigated uncovered fraudulent labeling and false documentation. In one investigation of 10 tons of colored table olives, the coloring agent added was a prohibited and dangerous copper chlorophyllin complex also known as E141. “Made in Italy” claims were fraudulent and other illicit substances were found in production areas. Pesticides, mineral oil hydrocarbons, plasticizers, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and styrene were also found in the oils. For these reasons, we HIGHLY recommend First Cold Pressed, Organic, Non-GMO verified oils from small family owned farms, and more recently, from California.

Healthy undamaged oils are essential for good health but unfortunately highly processed and damaged oils are dangerous to your health, contributing to inflammation and disease. Be sure to make good choices when purchasing your oils.

References:

http://olivecenter.ucdavis.edu/research/files/report041211finalreduced.pdf

http://www.kokonutpacific.com.au/production/CopraKP.php

By Mila McManus MD|2016-04-29T09:04:00-06:00April 29th, 2016|Articles, General|