Have You Had Your Bulletproof Coffee?

[Guest Post from Hanna Sender]

I love coffee. The smell, the taste, the morning ritual of it. However, too much caffeine, especially during certain points of a healing journey, can put a lot of stress on our bodies. It is best to stick to one cup of coffee a day and to avoid putting ourselves on that all too familiar caffeine rollercoaster! And if we’re going to be sticking to one cup a day, we should strive to make it the best cup possible, right?

Like any other food or beverage, the quality of coffee can really differ and it is extremely important to know what you’re getting. Conventional coffee is one of the most chemically treated crops around, full of toxins, pesticides, and mold that can wreak havoc in your body. To avoid accidentally drinking these unwanted toxins every morning, always choose organic and look for coffee that is proud of where it has been sourced from! Once you’ve got quality covered, you’ll be well on your way to making my personal favorite coffee drink…
Bulletproof Coffee!



You may or may not have heard of this growing trend that advocates for putting butter and oil in your coffee. Though this might sound a bit odd at first, I guarantee you will be a convert once you try it. This coffee is delicious, creamy, satiating, and moreover, good for you! It is a great way to start your day with some healthy fats, which are not only extremely beneficial on their own, but also serve to slow down the effect of the caffeine in your body (see you later, caffeine crash!) Additionally, the MCT oil helps you to feel extra clearheaded and alert. Recipe below!


Ingredients:
- Organic coffee beans or grounds
- Boiling Water
- Grass-fed butter (Kerrygold is my favorite!)
- High quality MCT oil (most health food stores carry this, or you can order it online)

Tools:
- French Press (this is my favorite way to make bulletproof coffee; it creates a rich, full-bodied, smooth flavor.)
- Blender or immersion blender

Directions
Brew French Press coffee. Once brewed, pour into blender (or large immersion blender cup if that is what you are using.) Add one tablespoon grassfed butter and 1-2 teaspoons XCT oil, and blend! Blending, as opposed to just stirring, allows the fats to become emulsified and creates a delicious layer of foam on top of your drink. Enjoy!

**Don’t worry… if coffee can’t be included as a friendly part of your diet at the moment, we have a great post on a healthy, caffeine-free coffee alternative!

Why You Need to Detox

To achieve health in the office, our goal is to get rid of toxins and with the right nutrition, the body can heal.  Healing is all about detoxing.  There are two types of toxins: external toxins (exotoxins) and internal toxins (endotoxins).  It is normal to have a certain amount of toxicity in the body.   A healthy body, toxins in, toxins out for we have our natural detox pathways where toxins end up in urine, bowel movements and sweat.  But when these pathways get overloaded by too many toxins and we can't eliminate them fast enough an imbalance occurs.  It first occurs as inflammation at the cellular level.  If this imbalance is not fixed at the cellular level then it increases to inflammation of the tissues and then inflammation of the organ.  When the organ is inflamed we start feeling symptoms. All disease starts with inflammation.  High toxicity can cause any symptom, it just depends on where it is in the body.  Manifestation also depends on the person's weak link which is determined by genetics.  Most commonly toxicity can cause digestive issues, skin reactions, feeling tired or unfocused or headaches.

Endotoxins are by-products of normal, everyday metabolic activities, but they can also be the result of destructive thoughts, emotions or stress.There are fleeting thoughts and then there are those bigger, all-consuming emotions you push aside.  You think they're gone because you're not actively thinking about them, but in fact, they may be impacting your immune, digestive or nervous systems.  Stress, anxiety and other negative emotions have a real impact on your health and so a key part of detoxing is not only nourishing the body, but also nourishing the mind.  

What creates endotoxins?

anger and resentment
anxiety
bacterial end products
bowel toxins
fear
free radicals
jealousy
hormones
self-criticism
metabolic waste
pessimism



Exotoxins enter your body when you ingest them in food or drink, or inhale them into your lungs.
What creates exotoxins?
air pollution
alcohol
skin care
cleaning supplies
food sensitvities
heavy metals

We know these toxins come out through the urine, bowels and skin but how do they get there?  Through the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system is a complex network of vessels and nodes that carry lymphatic fluid throughout the body, like the way arteries and veins circulate blood.  In fact, lymphatic vessels flow alongside your blood vessels.  Unlike the circulatory system, the lymphatic system does not have a pump (the heart).  Instead it relies on muscle movement to push fluid through its channels.  This means exercise and massage aren't just important for soothing your mind and muscles; they're also essential for a healthy lymphatic system.  

Lymphatic fluid carries white blood cells called lymphotcytes.  These cells disable harmful foreign invaders picked up from your blood.  When you are sick your lymphnodes can be swollen because they are working overtime to rid your body of foreign invaders.  

Your GALT is also part of the lymphatic system.  The GALT is the intersection of our gastrointestinal system, immune system, and nervous system and it is made up of a network of immune cells and membranes that line the inside passages of our body.  Think of it as our "inside skin".  The functions of the skin are to absorb nutrients and provide a barrier that protects toxins from getting into the body.  The GALT works similarly, but it lines the inside passages of our body including the sinuses, nose, lungs, mouth, esophagus, stomach, large intestine, small intestine, colon, vagina, urethra and bladder.

So your GALT protects you from toxins leaky from those areas into the rest of the body but when the body is overloaded with toxins the GALT barrier won't work well and toxins start to leak out in other areas of the body.  When this happens to the digestive system it is known as Leaky Gut Syndrome.  

More on the GALT and Leaky Gut Syndrome next blog.

How Scar Therapy Can Make You Healthier

In the office we check for different stressors on the body.  These stressors can interfere with health and scar tissue is considered to be one of the five major stressors.  The reason scar tissue can be a stressor is because it is shown that 80% of nerve fibers go to the surface of the skin.  This abundance of fibers is so dense under the surface of the skin that if one were able to remove the skin from the body without upsetting the network of sympathetic nerve fibers underneath, the individual would still be recognizable.  When a scar occurs and the body heals it, the skin and nerves heal in a mish-mash way creating scar tissue.  It is in the scar tissue that electronic impulses get lost and cannot flow through properly causing stress on the body. The end result can often be a concentration of electrical energy in the area of the healing scar.  Dr. Ulan (the founder of Nutrition Response Testing) refers to this effect as acting like a condenser which collects electrical energy.  As electrical energy is collected in this area it can randomly discharge amounts of this energy.  This random discharge of energy can most certainly upset the control and balance of nervous system. When the nervous system is under stress and the brain is not communicating well with the body healing will be slow.  This is why treating scars is so important.



Considering the effects of scars it is important to realize the following facts.  The size of the scar does not correlate with how much stress it can put on the body.  A small, seemingly insignificant scar may cause a great deal of harm as compared to a large scar which may have no effect on the individual.  So size has no bearing on the effects a scar may or may not cause.  Another important point of consideration is that not all scars cause the electrical stress on the body.  A scar that causes this type of stress we call active.  A scar may be active for a protracted period of time, may be active spontaneously, may be inactive for years and suddenly, for no apparent reason, become active, and vice versa.  When the possibility of scars presents itself, it is important to check and correct the active scars as often as necessary until they no longer present as active.  Periodical checking is also a good idea because of the possibility of their becoming active again later in the future.

Topical application of wheat germ oil or sesame oil, whichever the scar tests for, often will inactivate a scar.  This may occur immediately or take several weeks to accomplish.  Cold laser application is another method of inactivating a scar.  This is done for a period of four minutes, usually done in the office but the practitioner can rent out a laser or have the patient buy one for home use.  

No Stress Bone Broth Powder

Bone broth is a wonderful, medicinal drink to help heal the gut, immune system, skin, hair, and brain.  I have written on it's health benefits before and in my office have handouts with recipes.  Even though simmering a bone for hours sounds easy sometimes it's hard for my patients to comply.  It's only worth making if the bone is organic and sometimes that can be hard to find.  The broth is also a warm drink that can be hard to drink in the heat of the summer.  So I went looking for alternatives to making your own and found some online companies where you can buy it but it's on the expensive side.  Bare and Bones has a great one but with shipping it is $90 for 6 pounds of it.  In my research, a patient actually brought  to my attention, Epigenetic Labs that makes a bone broth powder.  How convenient!  I already do a morning shake for most of my breakfasts and instead of protein powder I would try the bone broth powder that is 20 grams of protein for a scoop.  I bought the original for $49 for about 25 scoops (chocolate and vanilla are sweetened with stevia which are great options for the original does have to be hidden in a smoothie).  



Besides a great source of protein the bone broth helps heal the gut, grow healthier nails, skin and hair and is great brain food!  A wonderful way to start the day!  So you can add just water or milk to the powder or make a smoothie.  Here's the recipe I use for my morning smoothie with my Ninja blender:

1/2 an avocado with the pit
1 cup spinach
1 scoop bone broth powder
1 Tbsp. flax seeds
8 cocoa beans
1 Tbsp. maple syrup
1Tbsp. bee pollen
1/2 inch turmeric root
1/2 inch ginger root
1/2 inch sunchoke
1 Tbsp. spirulina

'Healthy' Ice Cream!

With my diet being sugar-free, dairy-free and gluten-free one of the hardest foods to find for me to eat is ice cream.  It's not easy to be constantly telling my daughter no as we pass by ice cream trucks.  Luckily she understands when we go to birthday parties and we bring our own dessert.  At certain stores you can find ice cream made from coconut milk or almond milk and sweetened with agave or cane sugar.  Cane sugar or evaporated cane juice is different than 'sugar' and it will be labelled as 'cane sugar'.   It is the same sugar that comes from the cane stalk but is less processed and therefore the body recognizes it as food and not as a toxin and doesn't do harm to the body.  But still too much does spike the blood sugar and cause a flood of insulin which puts stress on the pancreas and digestive system.  So even too much of a healthy thing is still too much.  I test for both sugar and cane sugar as food sensitivities so it can be decided if your body can handle the cane sugar or not.  Luckily for my daughter and I, we can.  

So that brings us to 620 Manhattan Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11222, across the street from my Brooklyn office, to an artisanal ice cream shoppe, Van Leeuwen, where they make  delicious ice cream using organic cane sugar.  They have flavors that use dairy and they have others that use coconut cream and cashew milk.  The vegan flavors include: 

DARK CHOCOLATE

SALTED CARAMEL 

CHOC CHIP COOKIE DOUGH 

MINT CHIP

COFFEE BEAN

BANANA NUT

PEANUT BUTTER CHOC CHIP

MATCHA GREEN TEA

My daughter had a scoop of the chocolate and I had a scoop of the coffee and it was delish!

They have 3 trucks in NYC that if you go to their website you can find the locations of for they change daily.  They also have trucks in LA.  They have 8 shops with 5 in NYC and 3 in LA.  They have 3 in Brooklyn (Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Boerum Hill) and 2 in Manhattan (West Village, East Village).  So check it out and enjoy!  Happy summer!

Is Butter Healthy For You?

I am an avid supporter of eating butter. I truly believe it is a healthy fat that should be in your diet. For those of you not eating or drinking milk or cheese you can still eat butter for butter does not contain mold, casein or lactose in it which are the main reasons why people cannot digest milk or cheese well. I put butter in the same category as olive oil and coconut oil for healthy cooking and science is slowly catching up now declaring butter 'may not be bad' for you which is a far different story than what science was saying decades ago when it was declaring butter will clog arteries and cause heart attacks.

A systematic review and meta-analysis looking at the association of butter consumption with chronic disease and all-cause mortality made headlines. Senior author Dariush Mozaffarian noted that “overall, our results suggest that butter should neither be demonized nor considered ‘back’ as a route to good health.”

What the study missed unfortunately is there is no specific comparison (i.e. butter vs. olive oil), so the default comparison becomes butter vs. the rest of the diet. That means butter is being compared to a largely unhealthy mix of refined grains, soda, other sources of sugar, potatoes, and red meat (for reference, less than five percent of the US population meet the Dietary Guidelines for Americans). Partially hydrogenated oils—a source of trans fat—were also in the mix, as they would have been high in the food supply during much of the time period of the studies included.

Overall, the study reported that butter consumption was weakly associated with increased total mortality, not associated with cardiovascular disease, and slightly protective against diabetes. These predominantly neutral findings for butter were also acknowledged in the press release:

“Even though people who eat more butter generally have worse diets and lifestyles, it seemed to be pretty neutral overall,” said lead author Laura Pimpin. “This suggests that butter may be a “middle-of-the-road” food: a more healthful choice than sugar or starch, such as the white bread or potato on which butter is commonly spread and which have been linked to higher risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease".

So with this step of declaring butter as neutral maybe in another decade science will actually agree with me. We shall see!

Green Vaccine

The concept of the vaccine is accurate.  Introducing a germ into the body in a low dose so the immune system can build antibodies to it and not get sick in the future is how the body was made to deal with germs.  The problem with vaccines is not the germ but the mercury, aluminum, formaldehyde and any other toxins they put in it.  There is a way to get a vaccine using homeopathy and not injections.  The method is called homeoprophylaxis, or HP for short. HP is delivered on tiny sugar pellets, one disease at a time, devoid of adjuvents, preservatives, antibiotics, animal viruses, GMOs or excipients of any kind. It contains only the frequency of the disease. This is how illness occurs in nature. The innate developing immune system recognizes one disease, begins an immune response by producing a fever, then a discharge or eruption, and then resolution by developing lifelong immunity to a specific virus. HP produces a similar response yet in a much milder way. We might observe a very brief runny nose or perhaps a longer nap. However, there is no immune system confusion, no viral competition, no crossed signals, and no system overload like with conventional vaccines!



HP is made by serial dilution of an original substance, either from a natural disease or from an animal, mineral or vegetable source. It’s this stimulation to the immune system that primes it to recognize a disease when encountered in the environment to effectively mount an immune response in the most natural way.
 
There has never been a death from homeoprophylaxis, nor are there dangerous side effects. Large-scale observational studies have been conducted for the following diseases:

Leptospirosis in Cuba (2.5 million people)
Meningitis in Brazil (85,000 people)
Japanese encephalitis in India (20 million people)
Homeoprophylaxis is also effective for the prevention of childhood diseases as observed in 3500 children (Golden, Isaac. “Homeoprophylaxis-A Fifteen Year Clinical Study: A Statistical Review of Efficacy and Safety of Long Term Homeoprophylaxis. Gisborne. Vic. 2004).
When and Where to Use Homeoprophylaxis

There are 3 applications for HP –
Endemic disease (such as leptospirosis)
Short term epidemics (such as influenza)
Childhood diseases
For endemic disease there have been large studies (millions of people) and over time with annual dosing, the stats improve and disease incidence reduces significantly. In short term epidemics, like flu, you just dose for a few weeks/months until the risk is past.  For childhood disease there are single monthly doses for a period of about 3 years.  This includes 8 diseases that are on the recommended schedule that parents typically vaccinate for.  Protection begins immediately with the first dose and continues for a period of about 10 years. Re-doses can be administered in teen years or young adulthood depending on exposure to disease and risk of the specific disease.

For those traveling to foreign countries, HP is an easy and safe alternative to tropical disease vaccines. While some travel clinics will claim that you ‘must’ receive vaccines to travel, this is inaccurate. The only vaccine required to re-enter the US is yellow fever if you have visited a country where yellow fever is endemic. This information can be found on the CDC site under “travel” where you can click links to each country and learn of the yellow fever risk. All other vaccines for hepatitis, dengue fever, typhoid, malaria, and others can be declined and suitable HP doses can provide protection. Many of the studies already conducted have taken place in countries where these tropical epidemics exist.

To learn more the second international conference for parents and healthcare practitioners is taking place in St. Petersburg Florida, October 7-9, 2016.
Click here to find out the details:  worldwidechoice.org/conference