60 Day Turnaround

I was looking back at my old laptop, synching folders onto my new one, when I saw this.  A quick read, and a quick online check assured me that this drug is still on the market, and that it is still accumulating lawsuits.  Actually, that is true of all three of these drugs.   Take a look, I am not against all drugs, but I am against statin drugs, 99.9% of the time.  Your cholesterol needs should be managed in other ways.

When Even the Drug Makers agree…. “Drugs Don’t Work”

 Vytorin – I am sure you have seen the commercials, “There are two sources of cholesterol, food and family; Vytorin treats both” are NONE perhaps!  Vytorin is a combination drug, considered more dangerous by some simply because it combines two medications.  But the fact that when compared to other drugs that claim to have similar effect, Vytorin showed an increase in thickening of carotid arteries, as well as a higher number of deaths, heart attacks, and necessitated heart surgeries; this is why we KNOW this drug is dangerous.

 

Vytorin combines Zetia with Zocor (a statin).  Zetia is a new drug that is designed to block fat absorption in the abdominal tract, not too unlike the Olestra that was used to create the WOW potato chips that were marketed as no fat because the olestra blocks the absorption of all fat (and causes horrific stomach cramps and diarrhea as well).

So what’s the news, well the news is that the ENHANCE study (which provided the results above) took way too long to make its results public, and it actually took a congressional hearing to bring these results to the surface, and now they have surfaced.  Confirming that there is no benefit to taking Zetia, I can’t say that I am shocked, I am only shocked that this study made its way out to the public at all (it wouldn’t have had this drug not been so scrutinized by congress).

 Dr. Steven Nissen, Cleveland Clinic cardiologist: “The main problem is that after six years on the market, there are no data for Zetia demonstrating any health outcome benefit… In the absence of any demonstrable effect beyond LDL lowering, nearly 1 million prescriptions per week are written for Zetia. Is this rational?”

 Let me connect a fairly obvious connection… the ENHANCE study showed how poor Zetia is at reducing cholesterol, and it took am act of congress to make the results public.  In the meantime, Zetia was being prescribed at the rate of 1 million prescriptions per week.  Wouldn’t you want to hide your results too?

 I hope that with all of this, one great thing happens.  You realize the amount of active testing that is occurring on the US population.  At 5% of the population, we consume 60% of the world’s manufactured drugs, making us the largest population of guinea pigs that you will find anywhere!  Researching this article was easy, but don’t look at the health sections of the paper, you’ll find more information in the business section.  Isn’t it great that we look at our pharmaceuticals as investments, before we hold them accountable as part of the healthcare system.

 Body By God is coming, get off your meds, make a new start, and stay away from the useless drugs (that would include just about all of them).  Oh yeah, P.S. Hagens, Berman, Sobol and Shapiro filed suit against Merck, because they believe that Merck had this information in 2006, and kept it quiet.

Paleo.  Have you heard of it?  You probably have.  So here are the reasons why I don’t eat Paleo, but I eat very CLOSE to Paleo.  Oh yeah, before I get into it… I think it is important to write this because these differences are pretty significant to me.

I don’t eat it, but I recognize it as successful in creating much healthier individuals than the cultural diet.  SAD – the standard American diet.

Paleo – the diet is based on the cave man mentality of a Paleolithic man, eat what you see, and what you can kill.  Therefore you wouldn’t bake or farm, but you would pick and eat and kill… because Paleo man was a bit light on the intelligence scale. My reasons not to eat Paleo are these:

1. I believe ADAM was the first man, and he wasn’t an idiot.  He was just as intelligent as anyone on the planet today, possibly more so.  Therefore he could have figured out without much difficulty how to farm anything.  And farming is what he did according to the Bible.  So I believe that there was a strong likelihood that man has been eating many foods that require additional effort from the very beginning. I know, not so scientific, and many who read this will disagree based on this alone.

2. The Fruit.  OK, so don’t get me wrong, I like sweets, and I will cheat beyond just eating fruit once and awhile, but I don’t believe that paleo provides enough education on natural sugars, still being sugars.  It is still easy for someone eating paleo to end up with type II diabetes eating paleo, because sugar, is sugar.  So consuming fruits at high levels that are rich in free fructose, and total glycemic load, will drive your blood sugar up.

I prefer to live by a diet code that says watch the fruit, eat berries and granny smith apples with regularity, and make the banana a rare treat… or the orange, or grapes…  and though we love honey and maple syrup, watch it.  Eat with clean in mind, which is why many agave nectars should be avoided, due to processing methods that leave it less than clean.

3. Grains.  Since I obviously believe in Biblical truth, I don’t completely avoid grains.  But I eat them with caution and control.  I recently went through the Hopewell Baptist Bethlehem Walk, and watched my daughter work to grind wheat down to a flour.  What an endless task.  I imagine in the days before they figured out the stone mill, it must have taken at least three hours to get enough flour for a small loaf of bread.

In addition, these grains were pure, not tainted with genetic modification and toxic chemicals.  So for these reasons, I will not eat more than a serving a day of grain, nor will I eat any GMO grains.  Grain begins to change into sugar the moment it hits your tongue, and the fact that it is rich in lectins means that you are at inflammatory risk with all grains, hence the book title, “Wheat Bellies”.  Keep consuming that high inflammation stuff at high levels and see what happens.  Eat it as 5% of your diet, and you will enjoy the benefits of grain, without the hardship.  Oh yeah, it was a Biblical storehouse food (kept around for a time of famine), not the staple.

4. Cultured Dairy.  Perhaps the biggest scientific reason to not eat “Paleo”, is healthy dairy.  Now I must explain this first.  Many Paleo dieters eat healthy dairy all ready, which to me is a problem with philosophy.  If the diet believes that the “dumb” man had it right, and that the dumb man didn’t farm, then no dairy makes sense.  But the rules have changed with some paleo diets. Why eat it?

First off, a grass fed cow has less casein than a grain fed cow (the inflammatory protein), and if it is a specific breed of cow (Guernsey is one) then it has even less casein.  But more specifically, it has very little A1 beta casein (a genetic variant that may have appeared a couple thousand years ag0) and it has more A2 beta casein (known as the original casein).  A2 has potential digestive benefits as well as low inflammatory response.

Next, our culture has a ridiculously low level of pro-biotics in the gut compared to what we should have.  1 quadrillion is the likely number  of how many bacteria you should have in your gut.  Look at the image, that is 1 quadrillion pallets stacked up next to the tallest building in the world in Dubai.  So you must realize that if you are not eating foods that are rich in bacterial cultures, that you are missing out on a part of health that improves digestion, it provides for better immunity at the gut level, and it provides for communication of the immune system to the Gastric Associated Lymphoid Tissue, which governs systemic immune function.

I believe with no reservation, that the benefit of consuming richly cultured dairy from grass fed cows (this alters the Omega 3/6 ratio so significantly, that you can get more Omega 3 from this than eating a serving of fish) completely outweighs any negative.  It is hard to find it, and hard to get it the way you should have it, but it is worth the effort. Sometimes we get caught up in the negatives, that we have a hard time seeing the positives.

For ten years I said NO dairy… and now I am totally oppsite… IF… IF it is grass fed, and cultured (and mostly raw).

So that is the takeaway, I hope it helps you navigate the path.  You will notice we sell paleo cookbooks.  They are great, buy them, buy them all, but be wise how you eat, and alter where you can improve your overall health. Be well and Blessed!  – Dr. E

You know it goes hand in hand around the country, and much of the world, that in cold times, people eat more and typically more unhealthy.  I can understand why this might be in our genes.  It gets really cold and sure enough, hibernation sets in.  But on the other side of hibernation, is unhealthy.

So far this year we have been blessed with some crazy warm weather, just crazy.  Yeah, say it out loud, crazy.  But today really changed that.  It was perfect, the brisk feeling of winter.   We finally went out to cut down our tree, and I was so thankful for the cold weather to make it feel a bit more like Christmas.  So we were out all bundled up, cutting down trees, drinking hot chocolate (half cups only, that stuff is unhealthy), then once we were done, the desire came, so we went to Alpine Bakery, which is a great spot for an unhealthy meal.  My wife is still hard core on the Advanced plan (14-15 weeks right now), so she had them make a chicken dish with some slight modifications, but Brooke and I shared a pizza, and it felt good to eat that after being out in the cold (but I felt bad shortly after).

So perhaps for you eating a pizza isn’t so bad, maybe its ten cookies, or maybe just the opposite, it would be bad for you to eat a grapefruit.  Whatever the level of sugar, grain, legume, root vegetable control you are at right now, I think it is important that you figure out how to make wiser choices through the next six weeks or more.  Then by the end of January, you will be ready to jump into Total Food Makeover, to get yourself really focused on your diet.  Get clean, and get your body clean.

So these are some good substitutions on a daily basis, that will help to make you more resilient to whatever other poor choices you decide to make.

Cookies – I am not saying you cannot have any, but you can have less.  So a good alternative is to go ahead and make some alternative grain cookies right now.  There are some lemon flavored almond flour cookies in the advanced nutrition plan book that will leave you thinking you just had a regular Christmas cookie.  And if you are making cookies and want to frost them, substitute xylitol for sugar in making frosting… use palm oil as your thick fat, and you are actually eating healthy.

Potatoes – in many parts of the country/world, people eat more and more root vegetables in times of cold.  Canadians love their potato based perogies… sugar BOMB.  Every thing about this little package of food creates blood sugar rise.  In Buffalo, we ate a TON of pasta through the winter (lasts 8 months by the way), so you have one choice as you age, become overweight.  It isn’t a conscious choice, or a choice at all for that matter.  You simply expand because you are.  So instead of going potato/root vege… try satisfying that desire with some squash.  Butternut and Acorn squash provide some great taste, and some great sweetness, but with little blood sugar rise.  And these are cheap, as I was told that BJ’s had them for $0.25 each recently.

Vegetables – man, everyone loves to move more and more into “comfort food” in the winter, which usually means less and less healthy food.  But you can do a lot with vegetables.  Look at my nice spinach garden growing on the back deck.  Yes, you can own this cool tower garden and do the same.  So I sauté the spinach if i want it cooked, or I can make a great salad, and add some pecans, and Gorgonzola, and this salad satisfies any time of year.  But you want the potatoes, I know, you are missing out on veges for those root veges with no value. So how about soup?  My wife makes an incredible cauliflower soup.  Want the recipe?  steamed cauliflower, vitamix (blend it) for 4 minutes, add some salt and pepper, and be shocked by how good this vegetable is, and how thick and potato like it becomes.  Yep, health, not heart attack.

Dessert – fruit and whipped cream  This is your simple answer.  Berries, and whipped cream, it is perfect in the middle of winter, and if you want something cooked/baked, then take those berries, create an almond meal based crumble (do a search on our daily sprout page for the answer) and then add the whipped cream once you bake that.  No sugar necessary, just whip heavy whipping cream until it is as stiff as you like.

So, please, please, please make some changes.  These changes, applied several times a week will allow you to walk away from the holidays without adding any extra weight, or dysfunction.

And while I am on dysfunction, can I just remind you at this time, that dysfunction is what we are after with our care.  Don’t fall into the category of coming in to get cracked. the “I just want a good adjustment”, mentality does nothing to insure you are improving function.  We are correcting spines to create optimal nervous systems, ones that need less and less cracking once we have achieved the level of correction we are looking for.

Looking forward to the next two weeks of Joy and Love!  Be well!  – Dr. E

As I sit in the private dining area of the Tellus museum, listening to Dr. Bob Braille (a chiropractor who thinks much like I do), about the failure of medicine… I consider this one truth and it makes me sad that we are so ridiculous.

The truth?  That the medical model tells you that in every diagnostic situation, that the POSITION of the medical model is that it was not the patient’s fault.  In other words, they have a general assumption that your condition is not a direct result of your choices.  This is the model of health that governs our nation.  Now, don’t get me wrong, some doctors may individually decide that you should change something, improve something, etc.  But the model… the insurance driven diagnoses, the pharmaceutical recommendations… are based on a backbone of mis-information that says the patient is the victim.  I do believe that there are certain outcomes that simply happen, because it is a fallen world.

But the fall of the world was originally based on man’s choice…. and it doesn’t make much sense to put the rest of it on anything other than choice.

This is a mess.  An absolute mess.  It lets poor decision making run rampant, and every day it does.  We don’t wake up with a passion for well.  We wake up with a hope of no ill.

My example: I have really bad shoulders, they don’t work well.  I have sometimes let myself say that they are a poor design.  Guess what… I am wrong.  The shoulder is magnificent, the mobility of a shoulder joint allows an incredible amount of function.  So then why are mine such a mess… because I have made poor choices.

I was always the guy who went after contact while playing hockey.  In other words, I played physically, always throwing my shoulders into my opponents, not looking to avoid them.  I separated my left shoulder for the first time when I was 12 years old.  The second was at 13, then 15, then my right one two times in one year at 16… it continues.  So is the shoulder a poor design, or is the choice to pursue a collegiate career in hockey a poor choice.

In 1999, after playing four years of hockey at The University of Buffalo, I was at Life University playing for a club team, and in my second year with them (they allowed two years following the 4 NCAA years), I was in my second National Championship Game (the prior year we beat the Hoosiers for a championship).  I was hit hard into the boards, and completely destroyed my right shoulder joint.  I put myself into the situation, and I didn’t work to avoid the contact.  Decision.  Now I have largely given up on them… further poor decision.

So if your heart is the equivalent of my shoulders.  What do you do?  Who is to blame?  Your parents?  In the moment that a doctor tells you, “You have a genetically weak heart.  Your vascular health is poor due to the congenital disposition passed down by your parents, and there is nothing you can do about it, so you need to take X, Y and Z for the rest of your life if you want to survive.”   What do you believe?  Most of you, in that moment, will believe your doctor.

Yet it is a pure lie.  One that has been perpetrated on the doctor, and now due to his poor belief system, it is perpetrated on you.  IF you think that maybe you are a unique situation.  “There cannot be many people like me, I am probably a unique situation, and I must really need this.  I know Dr. Eric makes sense, but he doesn’t know my situation.”  Guess what, you are not unique.  You are part of that population we always talk about, the 75% of the population running towards death due to preventable disease.

This is an important question – what should you do?  Take the drugs or not take the drugs?  Well, in most cases we would see that the drug couldn’t prevent anything.  Statin drugs don’t prevent heart attacks, and diuretics are in the same class of non-prevention.  But my goal in my education isn’t that you simply don’t take drugs.  That isn’t the point.  The point is that you actually DO SOMETHING else.  Health requires work, not simply a decision not to medicate.

In 2007 $4.5Trillion were spent on healthcare worldwide.  The 330 million people of the US spent $2.2 Trillion on that total.  Out of 7 billion people, we spent that much.  WOW!  The total cost per person in other industrialized nations, averaged $2,900 per year, where our country averaged $7,200.  That is the total expense per person, meaning including both public funds as well as private funds.

It is a pretty amazing number, especially when we consider our failures in overall health.  We are not some incredibly healthy nation, in any measure, but especially in measures that really matter, such as life expectancy.  We die one year earlier than all of our other industrialized nation counter parts.  But more important, is the rate of our death compared to other specific people groups, such as Okinawans who when living under their traditional model, average just over 90 years of life.

Consider that 6.7 deaths occur per every 1000 live births in the first 12 months.  Other industrialized nations average 3.9 per 1000.  Yes, nearly double the number of children die within their first year of life in our country.  So, do you think it is wise to live under the direction of a pediatrician, or obstetrician?  They are the ones giving you birthing and early rearing advice, yet it seems their advice is failing.

The model is broken.  The model that says you are well because you are symptom free, and when you are ill it is because you have poor genes, is never going to work.  It is a broken model, and the only one to fix it is you.  I value the adjustment more than anything.

If you or someone you know is not receiving the correct number of adjustments, do something about it.  Don’t focus on how you feel, focus on getting it all correct.

In late January, we will host a 40-Day Total Food Makeover, I recommend you begin making the necessary commitment in your heart right now.  Your Monday nights need to be spent with us.

Be healthy, Be blessed and Be wise – Dr. E

I was forwarded this Suero-Cleanse testimonial from Dr. Jockers, and I thought… I have better ones than this.  But then I thought, “what a transforming moment for this persons life”.  You can hear the excitement and relief in this patient.  It almost sounds like she never thought she would be well again, and then it was here, at her door step… hers for the taking.

What is the cleanse?  Be sure to go here and look through the search pages (these are links on our web site for those reading this in a seat).  But a simple answer, drink nothing but Suero Viv for three days.  6 bottles a day.  Cultured Whey protein (by culturing it, there is NO protein in the drink), with loads of hydration potential and probiotics equivalent to a gallon of yogurt.

Listen to what Michelle had to say:

SeuroViv 3-Day Cleanse:

For about 5 years now, I have been struggling to lose weight, even though I was, for the most part, careful about eating correctly, and included various probiotics in my diet on a regular basis.  Frustrated with a swollen belly and an ongoing painful gut, I decided to drink the “Gold” SueroViv for 3-days, as a fast.  I drank 3 bottles per day, along with lots of water and freshly squeezed lemons.  To my delight, I weighed myself at the end of the week and had lost 10lbs, and my stomach was noticably flatter!!  Even more importantly, the pain inside my gut disappeared, and I experienced a very “quiet” inner calm while on this fast.  Thank you Dr. David for promoting the healing power of cultured Whey!

Michele

52 yrs

patient of Dr. David Jockers for 6 months

Did you catch my story from cleanse #1?  7 lbs and 1 inch off my waist.  And I don’t believe I have an inch to lose normally.  Sure, I think anyone can squeeze out 7#, but what a change.

My point in posting this today isn’t necessarily to promote the suero cleanse, though you are crazy if you haven’t done one yet.  How could you be reading all the positives, and not find the desire to do this?  But the reality of the message, is that in general, eating clean, is worth it.  And you are worth it, and you can do it.  Don’t let yourself be weak, and don’t lie to yourself calling yourself weak.  Take a stand for yourself, and force yourself into a healthy routine.  Do it now, before Christmas, so that you can be confident in whatever new goals you set for 2013.

Your expectations should simply be to do well and be honorable in the process!

Be Blessed – Dr. E

I always find myself smiling more in December.  I simply like Christmas… though I will say, that it makes more sense to me to smile in cold weather Christmas than warm.  It just doesn’t seem right, though I wasn’t complaining today as I was sorting out the lights outside in shorts and a t-shirt.

But as I sorted out the lights, there was an overwhelming question that stung me.  “What will you do different this year?”  You know, one thing that is interesting to me, is how we have made Christmas such a big deal, when there is no Biblical basis for celebrating it.  Don’t get me wrong, the reason I smile is because I absolutely love it, but the Bible doesn’t say to celebrate Christmas.

It does tell us to celebrate passover, and other festivals of the Lord:

Exodus says: “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD–a lasting ordinance.”  Yet most of us don’t celebrate that, but we sure like Christmas, with no Biblical directive.

Now I am not saying to stop celebrating, though I know some of you don’t, and others think that they are absolutely crazy for not.  Yet they might be making the wise choice.  But what I am saying, is that if we are to take a made up holiday, act like it is derived Biblically, and then make it so heavily about ourselves and our tight family unit, then we re missing the point.  I have a change to propose.

What if Christmas became more about the gift of giving?  Wait you say, it already is… but what if it was you giving to someone else, who does or does not deserve, but simply doesn’t have.  More than they deserve, or don’t deserve to be given to, they simply don’t have.  So obviously I am not talking about your spouse or children, they don’t count.  I have already had some of that guilt, purchasing a present that I realized afterwards was not necessary… ooooh, but how they will smile and laugh!

So a few weeks ago I wrote about random acts of kindness, and now I am collecting from you for another one.  I have a woman, who was the roommate that Laura lived with her last year of school, while getting her occupational therapy degree.  This girl, has had some difficult times with a divorce and now the loss of her home and belongings from hurricane Sandy.  So this week, we are going to be sending money, and an Ikea gift card to help her (single mom of two), get back on her feet.

If you have clothes for a boy or girl, size 5/6, that you would want to donate.  I am willing to cover mailing them.  If you would be willing to give anywhere from $5 to $500, I would appreciate it.

Simply write a check and record what it is for, or give some cash at the front desk.  I will send it off soon, and write about the follow up.

You see, this Christmas is going to be special.  My girls need to understand the true love of Christmas, and if we are going to claim this as a Biblical holiday, then I would surely want to involve LOVE!  They are going to be witness to our efforts, and will bear some of the burden of this as I get them to find items that they love, that they will be asked to give.  I know the outcome will be good.

Love all of you for your commitment to what matters! Be Well and Blessed – Dr E

This past week, Dr. Mercola wrote another article about the follies of prescription drugs, this time specifically about the accidental overdose deaths that occur.  He starts the article immediately with a startling stat, that every 19 seconds an American dies from an accidental prescription overdose.

Staggering numbers that come from a CNN report dated November 14th of this year.  Most weeks I give a doctor’s report, and I touch on the problem with our country’s medical system being based on medication, followed by surgery.  That is the system, drug until it has shown to be a failure, then cut.  And every week I talk about the dangers of that system. But what I do know, is that most of you forget about it once some time has passed.  You fail to remember that living day to day without a constant ambition to NOT end up in a pharmaceutical reality, will always end up in that reality.  It takes intentional living to be healthier than the average person in our country.  Otherwise you are inheriting this risk.

Listen, my point is simply that the risk of medication use is absolutely real, and though some medications carry greater risk than others, the long term risk is serious.  If you haven’t read cancer killers yet, pick it up.  There are some awesome references to more recent medical literature that attacks the use of NSAID’s (such as ibuprofen), and daily low dose aspirin.  These are research articles that likely never get read by the average physician… thus the continued risk of these drugs is propagated by the average MD simply because a lack of knowledge.

Hosea 4:6 – My people will be destroyed for a lack of knowledge.

Hmmm.

Further into the article Mercola begins to touch on one of the most commonly abused classes of drugs, and the fact that it is older adults that do so.  This class is the opioid class, the rough stuff, and these days that most commonly means oxycodone.  You know, over the years I have had a number of people who have made comments towards wine or alcohol that were very strongly negative… “No, never, I do not touch alcohol at all”.  I respect that position, until I find that those same people are taking a significant amount of opiate.  My point is that if you plan on making a stand, then make a stand.  Don’t be hypocritical, an opiate is a bit more damaging than a glass of wine.

So what about other drug classes that are abused?  Anti-depressants, sleep aids, and other drugs designed to have an impact on the nervous system are commonly abused, accidentally.

Dr. Gupta reported:⁴

“ …after just a few months of taking the pills, something starts to change in the body. The effectiveness wears off, and patients typically report getting only about 30% pain relief, compared with when they started. Even more concerning, a subgroup of these patients develop a condition known as hyperalgesia, an increased sensitivity to pain.

As you might guess, all of this creates a situation where the person starts to take more and more pills. And even though they are no longer providing much pain relief, they can still diminish the body’s drive to breathe.

If you are awake you may not notice it, but if you fall asleep with too many of these pills in your system, you never wake up. Add alcohol, and the problem is exponentially worse. People who take pain or sleeping pills and drink a couple glasses of wine are playing Russian roulette.”

The rest of the article is worth looking at.  Be sure to share it with family, don’t be scared, people need to read this, and as you share this information, you are likely to help someone work hard to find alternate solutions for their pain.

Hoping that we can all move in the right direction together.  Be well and blessed – Dr. E