The First case of Diet destroying a brain tumor

About five years ago, I read a study that started my interest in the ketogenic diet as a cure for cancer. In the study, a woman had a brain tumor, a Glioblastoma (GBM), completely disappear in two and half months on the diet. I learned about GBMs while living in Los Alamos, New Mexico in the 1990’s while serving on a community cancer study.  GBMs were the cancer of greatest concern because even with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, a quick death (usually with in 6 months) was certain. The study piqued my interest in how a keto diet could irradicate this deadly cancer. 

The study was done in 2008 at the Arcipedaule S. Maria Nuova Hospital in Reggio Emilia,  Italy (a Province between Florence and Milan). It described how a 65 year old woman started having nausea, headaches, and memory loss. Upon examination, several GBM tumors were discovered on each side of her brain. Surgery was performed to remove the tumors, but was not able to remove all the cancer.(GBM tumors are like blobs of jello and all the tiny globs of cancer sticking to the brain cannot be removed by surgery.) 

The patient was put on a water-only fast followed by a calorie-restricted ketogenic diet of 600 calories a day for 14 days prior to beginning the standard treatment of radiation and chemotherapy. The diet consisted of a ratio of 4 calories of fat to 1 calorie of protein or carbohydrate. The ketogenic diet, a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet causes low blood glucose levels and high blood ketone levels. The reduction in carbohydrates and high fat puts the body into a metabolic state called ketosis.

After six weeks on the diet, the patient developed high levels of uric acid in the blood (gout) so she was slowly moved to a 600 calorie a day, non-keto diet. The low calorie diet continued to keep her blood glucose level low (in the 60mg/dl range though never under 45mg/dl.)  Nine weeks later an MRI showed the brain tumor was gone. A PET scan was performed 12 weeks later and showed no sign of cancer. After 6 months the calorie restriction was stopped. Eight weeks after her calorie restriction ended, the tumor reoccurred.

The study concluded that low blood glucose in conjunction with high ketones in the blood greatly reduces cancer cells’ ability to survive. 

This is considered the first case of a GBM tumor being killed off with the help of a diet. It also inspired my two year adventure in researching how ketogenic diets  kill deadly cancers and may greatly improve your health.

Trump’s Plan for America – Improve your Health and Sanity by knowing the Future

Rapid change and uncertainty can be upsetting and even make you sick.  The media’s daily portrayal of President Trump’s s behavior as crazy and unpredictable has convinced many people that his plans are vague and out of control.  The reality is that Trump published the actions he planned to take as president in 2015 and as far as I can tell he is following the plan exactly.  Knowing his plan and what to expect next has reduced my stress and allowed me to ignore the media’s portrayal of Trump as a clueless president who has no idea what he is doing.  I summarized Donald Trump’s 10 major plans for America based on his book, Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again:

Immigration

End illegal immigration in America. Enforce existing immigration laws and deport all illegal immigrants who have come across the border or overstayed their visas. Build a wall along the US/Mexico border. End US “birth citizenship” which grants a US passport to babies born in the US to non-US citizens, in many cases their mothers travelled to the US on tourist visas, temporary visas, or illegally for the sole purpose of the birth.

Foreign policy

Foreign policy will be based on what is best for the US. The US will no longer put other countries first at the expense of the US tax payers and American workers. This will have wide-spread effects on trade, defense, and foreign policy where America is footing the bill for the defense, economic protection, safe ocean passage , or international organizations for other countries.

Trade

Renegotiate all US trade deals to favor the US.  Renegotiate or terminate NAFTA. Although WTO is not mentioned, changes to trade deals with China and Europe and Japan are specifically discussed.  Stop countries like China, Germany, and Japan from getting a trade advantage by keeping their currency artificially low.

Defense

Make the US military unquestionably the best military force in the world. The plan is to increase funding, increase troop numbers, improve training, and improve the quality and military equipment available to US troops. Have the best missile systems in the world. Charge countries the US protects around the world for the cost of the defense.

Energy

Support US oil, gas and coal production. Stop the EPA from enforcing rules that are not laws. Repeal environmental laws that impede the energy industry. Charge OPEC for the cost of the military protection the US Navy provides them.

Health Care

Replace Obamacare. Provide cheaper alternatives for health insurance that gives people more choices and does not fine those without insurance. Create more competition between insurance companies to reduce healthcare prices. Negotiate with drug companies for lower drug prices. Build and fund mental hospitals to take care of the people that need to be there.

Taxes

Make the tax code so simple that no American will need an accountant to fill out their forms. Any person earning under $25K or couple earning under $50K will pay no federal taxes. All corporate taxes will be 15% as well as individual entrepreneurs.  US corporations will be able to bring money earned overseas back to the US and pay only a 10% tax. All loopholes for the rich will be closed and the effective tax rates for the top 1% income earners will be increased.

Guns

Make gun law standard nationwide.  Allow everyone, except felons, to carry a concealed gun anywhere in the US. Make it a federal crime for any felon caught with a gun, with a 5 year sentence in federal prison with no parole or reduced time for good behavior.

Education

End federal programs for education. Give all federal funds for education to the US States to use as they see fit.

Infrastructure

Rebuild the infrastructure across the US.  Increase the amount the US spends on infrastructure from 2.4% of the US GDP (Gross Domestic Product) to 9.0% of our GDP. 

I have come to believe that much of the commotion surrounding President Trump’s actions are caused by his business approach of getting his plan completed as quickly as possible and not from him doing  the unexpected. Whether you agree with Trump’s plan or not, you can reduce your stress by knowing more about details of what he plans to do. I highly recommend this book, 5 stars. 

The Power of Habit

The book, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business was written by journalist Charles Duhigg who became interested in habits while covering the Iraq war after observing US troops quickly and calmly respond to attacks. He learned that most military training is teaching soldiers habits so they know what to do without thinking. The author explains how habits allow us to do complex tasks without thinking, like driving a car, cooking breakfast, and walking in a familiar place.

Much of the new understanding about habits is from Eugene Pauly who had significant brain damage caused by a viral infection at age 70. Though much of his brain was destroyed by the virus including his ability to make new memories, he was able to perform complex tasks that had been established as existing habits and create new habits. By studying Pauly, scientists discovered that habits are stored in the basal ganglia, the small primitive part of the brain. Habits make up over 40% of our daily activities, which makes us very dependent on this small part of our brain. If we had to think (in our cerebral cortex) through every action we take during the day we would quickly become exhausted and unable to function. Habits are instantaneous responses to stimuli; if a child jumps in front of your car you slam on the brakes without thinking.

Habits are described as behavior loops that start with a cue like being hungry, followed by a behavior, like cooking breakfast, and ending with a reward like feeling full.  All habits start out with a craving of some kind, like a craving for food, or a craving for stimulation or socialization. Habits effectively satisfy a craving by an automatic behavior.  This seems a bit simplistic of an explanation to me considering that habits can be formed without a craving through external pressures, like a job or by your own initiative.

Although habits are powerful and never really go away, they are also fragile and can be altered by small changes to the cue. An example given was the loss of customers to a McDonalds that moved just a block away; the cue at the specific place where drivers saw the McDonalds sign was disrupted and that stopped their behavior of driving in for food.

The author states that to gain control over a habit we must understand what craving is being satisfied by the behavior. To uncover the unconscious craving  we must experiment by giving ourselves different rewards. The author gives a personal example of his cookie craving in the afternoon at work. His routine was to go to the cafeteria, buy a cookie, and talk to people while he ate it. He didn’t know if the craving was for food, stimulation, or socialization. To test out food, he brought an apple to work and ate at his desk. This did not stop his afternoon cookie craving. The next day he went for a walk around the block and that didn’t stop his craving either. Finally, he tried leaving his desk to talk to people and that stopped his craving. So he set an alarm 30 minutes before he normally went to get a cookie in the afternoon and instead talked to coworkers for ten minutes and no longer craved his afternoon cookie.

I found the description of keystone habits very useful. Keystone habits are good habits that lead to developing other good habits. One example of a keystone habit is daily exercise. Once daily exercise becomes a habit, it can lead to a habit of controlling spending, drinking less alcohol, and eating less. For weight loss, keystone habits are keeping a daily food journal and recording your weight every day.  Studies have found people who exhibit these two habits lose more weight than people who don’t have these habits. I am trying to develop these keystone habits to see if they will help me take off the ten pounds I have put on since moving to Oahu.

Another keystone habit is keeping a “conflict planning journal”, which leads to preparation for difficult circumstances. By writing down ahead of time how you are going to deal with a conflict, for instance how will you deal with a really hostile customer, you will be less upset and emotional when it happens. Being less upset leads to other positive things.

The author described successful organizations that teach their employees habits to make their businesses more effective and profitable. Alco Aluminum increased their profits by 500% by developing safety habits in their employees. Starbucks teaches their employees communication habits to deal with hostile customers. A low ranked NFL team became top ranked by teaching their players better football habits.

Although some of the author’s claims in this book are thin and there is minimal discussion about how to create habits, I found the book worth reading and recommend it.  Five stars.

IP6 - a non-toxic Treatment for Cancer

I became interested in the nutrient “inositol hexaphosphate”, known as IP6, after finding out that it reduced toxic levels of iron in the blood and organs. Initially, my research on IP6 concerned me as many health websites identify IP6 as an anti-nutrient  since it removes iron, copper, selenium, zinc and other metals from the body. If I had not just read the about the dangers of iron and learned that older adults frequently have toxic levels of iron, I would not have considered taking IP6 as a supplement.

To learn more, I got the book IP6 + Inositol: Nature's Medicine For The Millennium!: Discover How A Cocktail of Simple Molecules Can Prevent And Fight Cancer And Other Diseases by Dr. AbulKalam Shamsuddin.

IP6 is a natural substance found in the bran of grains, cereals, seeds and nuts. Since bran is now removed from most grains, Americans are getting very little IP6 compared to their grandparents. Long term studies have shown lower rates of cancer in individuals who consume lots of foods with high levels of IP6. More recent studies of IP6 consumption have also shown significantly lower cancer rates in countries that consume IP6 rich foods. Unfortunately, IP6 tends to bond with proteins in the grain which reduces how much the body can absorb from foods and makes it difficult to get the amount of IP6 into the bloodstream that was used in studies that cured cancer in mice.  The book recommends IP6 supplements be taken on an empty stomach to get the best benefit and avoid the IP6 bonding with food.

IP6 provides key nutrients to the mitochondria and cell membrane. Since the mitochondria control cellular reproduction rate, cellular death, intercellular communication, and cell differentiation of new cells, it is critical for them to receive nutrients to function properly.  I learned from Tripping Over the Truth that cancers are caused by damage to mitochondria, not damage to the cell nucleus DNA which was believed for decades.  The nutrition from IP6 curtails the mitochondria from initiating increased blood flow to support cancer cells rapid growth, slows cell reproduction rates, and increases cell differentiation. Cancer cells are rapidly reproducing cells that are immortal (no apoptosis) caused by damaged mitochondria.  In late stage cancer, cancer cells replicate so fast that the cells are not differentiated enough to be recognized as a specific type of cell like a breast or liver cell. Undifferentiated cancer cells (known as cancer stem cells) can be transported in the blood stream to other organs in the body where they are not recognized as being foreign by the immune system and can continue to replicate and create a metastasized cancer site.

The book described the many other benefits of IP6 that researchers are discovering:

• reduces excess iron in cells;
• reduces xanthine oxidase, an enzyme that makes uric acid. Uric acid causes gout so reducing xanthine oxidase could offer relief to gout suffers;
• helps people with Type II Diabetes because getting inositol into the cell makes cells more responsive to insulin;
• appears to reduce blood sugar levels in the blood and help repair damage blood vessels from high glucose levels in diabetics;
• helps reduce kidney stones by binding to and removing excess calcium.
• improves the immune system, increases bone density, reduces anxiety attacks, reduces obsessive compulsive behavior, and increases energy by recharging the potassium in  ATP cycle.

IP6 looks like it may be an effective nontoxic treatment for cancer as well as a nutrient to prevent cancer. (The author did mention that he has a patent on IP6.) The book convinced me that there were enough benefits of taking IP6 to risk any side effects of lowering my metal levels. I have been taking it as a supplement for about two weeks and I have noticed that it has improved my energy level and seems to be making my skin look better (something not predicted by this book but mentioned in the Dumping Iron book).

In addition to IP6, the book covers many other topics about cancer. For example, there was a review of what is wrong with the methods used to diagnosis and treat bowel cancer. The current method of looking for blood in fecal matter results in a large percentage of false positives which requires expensive, painful, and dangerous procedures to confirm if the diagnosis is accurate or not. Even worse, this entire system of diagnosis only detects 20% of colon cancers, so 80% of colon cancer cases go undetected. The author proposes using a less invasive mucus test that is 78 to 90% effective for finding all colon cancers. Similar cases are made for breast cancer and lung cancer diagnoses using more accurate and less costly diagnostic tests that are currently available.

Although this book was not an easy read and written for people with a bioscience background, I recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about how to improve their health through better nutrition. A lot of the information and topics were understandable to an average reader like me. Highly recommended. Five stars.

Iron, The Secret Killer

I became concerned about iron in my body after reading an article by a researcher at Duke on the “Golden Age of Iron Biology”.  I then read, “Dumping Iron: How to Ditch this Secret Killer and Reclaim Your Health” by P.D. Mangan, an excellent book on recent research about the negative effects of high levels of iron in the body.  In simple language a non-biologist like me can understand, the book explains astonishing new discoveries of why high iron concentrations in the body degrades health and shortens lives.  

According to the book, iron starts accumulating in men at age 19 and in most women starting at about age 50 after the end of their menses. At 50, the average man has 4 times as much iron in his body as the average women; he also has 4 times the mortality from diseases that appear to be caused by high iron. Women’s mortality increases as their iron levels reach the same high levels as men. Though women live 4 years longer than men, at their death the average iron levels of women are the same as the average men's level. The author notes that the majority of the oldest people alive have had low levels of iron most of their lives and populations that are long lived have low levels of iron in their blood.

According to the book, there was a dramatic rise in iron levels in the US population due to the addition of iron to grains and cereals, which has caused the average person to have higher levels of iron than is healthy. One of the issues with iron is that the body has no natural way to get rid of it so it builds up first in the liver, then in the pancreas, then other organs including the heart and brain. To make matters worse, sugar and fructose increase iron absorption significantly. So all the sugary drinks and foods people have added to their diet over the past few decades has further increased their iron levels.

High iron levels damages cellular mitochondria and is suspected to cause cancer. Even more interesting, cancer cells need large amounts of iron to grow and spread. Tumors in people with low iron tend to be very small and grow slowly.

Iron is also implicated in cancer reoccurring after treatments of chemotherapy and radiation because iron is needed for cancer stem cells to form. Cancer stem cells are special cancer cells that can travel throughout the body and restart cancer growth after treatment. Low levels of iron in the blood may prevent them from forming.

I was surprised to learn that high iron levels are needed for invasive bacteria to grow in the body and low iron levels actually increase immunity to bacteria. Even viruses, like colds and flu, need lots of iron to grow so low iron levels are also antiviral. It helps explains why people with low levels of iron live so long.

Evidence is also growing that high iron levels contribute to obesity because it destroys the hormone leptin, the key hormone that reduces hunger after eating. High iron levels can make you insatiably hungry which can lead to obesity.

The author believes that the best blood iron level is just over what would normally be considered anemia. He recommends that people keep their iron levels much lower than the normal ranges and consume things that both remove iron from the body and take things that decrease iron absorption from the foods you eat. What is really interesting about this is that most of the things that decrease iron absorption are considered life-extending like green tea, dark chocolate, red wine, low dose aspirin, low calorie diets, high fiber, vegetarian diets, and exercise.

I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to improve the quality of their health and longevity using recent discoveries about iron biology. Five stars!!!!

Tripping Over the Truth about Cancer

Tripping Over theTruth: The Return of the Metabolic Theory of Cancer Illuminates a New and Hopeful Path to a Cure by Travis Christofferson is a surprisingly interesting collection of stories about the history and findings of cancer research.

One of the stories in the book is about Dr. Warburg who in 1924 discovered that cancer cells can only live on glycogen (sugar) and later that cancer cells have fewer mitochondria than healthy cells. Dr. Warburg’s  extraordinary brilliance, his personal sacrifices to contribute to understanding cancer, and the dedication of his students make the story an inspiring read.

The book describes three shocking revelations from recent discoveries made at the multinational Cancer Genome Atlas project funded by the National Cancer Institute, started in 2006.

First: most cancers are not caused by genetic damage to DNA, which mainstream medicine believes (except Dr. Warburg and his students) to be the primary cause of cancer since the discovery of DNA in the 1950s.

Second: the body does a remarkably good job of repairing DNA; most cancer cells have far less DNA damage than anyone realized, which destroyed the accepted model of cancer known as the “Somatic Theory of Cancer“.

Third: tumors are rarely comprised of just one type of cancer cell and instead consist of thousands of genetically different cancer cells. This explains why cancer growths are so resistance to chemotherapy and radiation. Cancer growths with thousands of versions of DNA are far more likely to survive compared to a mass of cells with the same DNA. Sadly, it also explains why if cancer returns it is much harder to treat; the cancer cells that survived initial treatments are not affected by the same subsequent treatments.

The book describes a discovery in 1978 that strongly pointed to cell mitochondria damage being the cause of cancer. Cancer researcher Cyril Darlington found that  x-rays with enough energy to damage the DNA in the cell nucleus did not cause cancer, yet when the energy in x-rays was increased enough to damage cell mitochondria, it did cause cancer. Sadly this research was totally ignored until Thomas Seyfried wrote his landmark book in 2012 “Cancer as a metabolic disease”. Mitochondria controls cellular growth rates, apoptosis (programmed cellular death), and intracellular communications. When the mitochondria of cells are damaged, it causes rapid cell replication (from days to hours), the cells become immortal and never die, and they tell nearby cells to redirect the blood flow to support their rapid growth.

One of the strangest discoveries the book describes is that when the cell’s mitochondria is damaged, it sends an emergency message (known as a “retrograde response”) to the cell’s nucleus. The nucleus attempts to help the mitochondria by sending it pieces of DNA to help it survive without oxygen. These pieces of DNA activate some cell functions like high-growth and deactivate other functions like DNA repair which can cause cancer cells to replicate. Ironically, these changes can also damage the DNA of the cell nucleus because it is no longer being repaired. Cancer researchers who thought that DNA damage was the cause of cancer didn’t realize it was just a side effect of mitochondria damage.

One disturbing fact is that despite the number of smokers being cut by 50% in the last 40 years, cancer incidence is going up as is cancer mortality. In fact, the mortality rates are increasing so fast that the author predicts cancer will soon over take heart disease as the number one cause of death. This contradicts what I had been hearing from the media, about most cancers having effective cures and that a cure to all cancers was very close.

Despite the bad news, the author has a positive view of future cancer treatment because of an experimental diet that promotes low blood sugar. The diet basically consists of no sugar, very low carbohydrates, limited protein, and huge amounts of saturated fat.  This diet is known as the ketogenic diet. There are several trials going on around the world and there have been some extraordinary results with many people surviving previously incurable forms of cancer.  

I find it exciting to think that a diet could be the cure to cancer. Imagine getting diagnosed with cancer and instead of surgery, radiation treatment, and chemo therapy, the doctor just makes you an appointment with a dietitian. I highly recommend this book, five stars.

Could it Be B12; An Epidemic of Misdiagnoses

“Could it Be B12?; An Epidemic of Misdiagnoses”, by Sally M. Pacholok, R.N., B.S.N. and Jeffery J. Stuart, D.O., appears to be written by people who work in a clinical setting where they routinely see people misdiagnosed with fatal conditions when all they have is a severe vitamin B12 shortage. The book is primarily a compilation of misdiagnoses cases and the patients’ amazing recoveries, often within hours of receiving a B12 shot. The stories raise troubling questions about how the current medical establishment has a tendency to diagnose older Americans with untreatable chronic conditions without further investigation, even something as simple as an inexpensive B12 blood test.

Initially I was unhappy that the book did not provide an explanation about why B12 is so important for your health.  So I started to research what B12 does in the body and I learned that it does so many critical functions that it would require another book to explain them all. Having investigated  B12 made reading the book more enjoyable for me as I could see how a lack of B12 could lead to all the misdiagnosed conditions mentioned. Below is list of some of the things B12 does for our bodies:

·       B12 is required for the formation of red blood cells. Red blood cells (the hemoglobin inside red blood cells) carry oxygen to the body from the lungs and carbon dioxide to the lungs to be expelled.

·       B12 is needed to convert heart and vessel damaging homocysteine to healthy methionine. Methionine is needed to make S-adenosylmethione, which is needed to make DNA for cell replication and to make RNA.

·       B12 is needed for the metabolism of every cell in our body.

Every cell in the body needs B12 to function properly which explains why a shortage of it can cause symptoms similar to multiple sclerosis (MS). A shortage can also cause mental illness, heart disease, an impaired immunity system, auto immune diseases, cancer, infertility, autism, and brain damage in children.  

As I read through the stories and symptoms of acute B12 shortage I started wondering if I might have a B12 shortage. The authors implore readers to get a B12 blood test before taking B12 supplements to see if you actually have a B12 shortage.  According to them, the minimum level is 450pg/ml, which is 80% percent above the current recommended 250pg/ml. Of course I totally ignored their advice to get a blood test and began taking B12 supplements. I took the type they recommended, methyl cobalamin, 2 mg or 2000mcg, in a sub lingual pill.

The book does an excellent job of explaining the reasons why older people tend to be short of B12. Many medications keep B12 from being absorbed in the intestines and to get B12 from food requires the right stomach acid strength and a critical enzyme.  If these are missing, it is easy to get short of B12. The authors recommend taking B12 as a shot or as a sub lingual pill that you dissolve under your tongue to help bypass stomach acid and enzyme problems.

The book gives great advice about B12’s interactions with other drugs. Folic acid, for example, which is taken as a supplement by some people, masks a B12 shortage.  I was surprised that the authors didn’t make a distinction between the natural version of folate and synthetic made folic acid; my research about folic acid indicates it has lots of negative side effects that natural folate (which is in fresh lettuce and greens) does not. I take folate supplements with my B12.

The book was a great read that inspired me to start taking B12 supplements with my folate and B6 supplements. So far the result have been very positive; I feel like I have more energy and my memory is improving.  I recommend reading it, especially if you are over 50. Five Stars. 

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

This book, by Rebecca Skloot, tells the extraordinary story of how Henrietta Lacks’s cancer cells became immortal. On one level the book detailed how cancer researchers in the 1950's were able to keep Henrietta’s cancer cells alive in the laboratory and how her immortal cancer cells led to amazing things such as making the Salk polio vaccine available, discovering chemicals that caused cancer, and designing drugs for chemotherapy. Researchers learned how cells grow, how DNA works, and so many fundamental discoveries in biology and medicine from research on Henrietta’s cells that many biologists believe her cells were the single biggest development in biology in the 20^th century.  

On another level the book told the personal story of Henrietta Lacks and how destructive her death from cervical cancer was to her family. The book moved between the personal story of Henrietta’s family and the revolutionary discoveries and huge profits in the pharmaceutical industry made from her cancer cells.

The most disturbing part of the story was that the family was never told that their mother’s cells were being grown in thousands of laboratories around the world. Her cells were unique and amazing because they quickly grew in a lab and unlike other cells, if cared for, they never died. Countless researchers have worked with her cells, known in laboratory circles as HeLa cells for the first two initials of her name. Many of the researchers who made discovery after discovery using her cells became curious about Henrietta Lacks.

Over time a huge scientific controversy developed between rich and famous cancer researchers who had identified eight unique types of cancer cells and a young scientist who claimed the eight unique properties were all in fact just HeLa cells. This made previous cancer research not only invalid but a waste of hundreds of millions of dollars. The only way to prove the young scientist’s claim was to get a DNA sample from Henrietta’s now grown children. Although the family was living in incredible poverty, they freely gave blood samples to help the researchers. However, the researchers leaked their names to the press and the subsequent stories written about them caused the family great distress.  They had no idea that their mother’s cells were still alive and being grown in laboratories around the world. The staggering poverty of the family of a woman whose immortal cancer cells had revolutionized 20^th century medicine stood in stark contrast to the billions of dollars the pharmaceutical industry generated every year from discoveries using her cells.

At the end of the book, it described the legal cases that determined that when you give a tissue or blood sample to your doctor, you lose all rights to it.  Researchers and companies have taken peoples’ samples during the course of their treatments, patented their DNA, and made billions using it for unique treatments.  I would never have guessed.

In spite of what sounds like very dry subject matter, I found the book compelling and entertaining and I could not put it down. 

Five Stars!

Why People in Hawaii are so Healthy and Happy

Gout and Molybdenum

One of the challenges of living on the Big Island of Hawaii was I often had gout attacks when emissions from the active volcano (volcanic smog or VOG) got really bad. I attributed my gout attacks during heavy VOG to two main factors. First, the VOG is always the worst when the trade winds stop.  When the trade winds stop it gets really hot in Hawaii. When it is really hot it increases my chances of getting dehydrated which concentrates uric acid and makes an attack more likely. Second, VOG is mostly sulfuric acid which is highly acidic and acidity in my body increases my chances of getting a gout attack.

As I continue to research nutrition, I came across another possible explanation as to why my gout attacks were more frequent during heavy VOG events. According to Dr. Jermey E. Kaslow, gout can be caused by very low levels of molybdenum or very high levels of molybdenum. 

Molybdenum is a micro nutrient that is necessary for the breakdown of  ammonia and uric acid. It also is a key element in dozens of enzymes that remove toxins from the liver and the body. One of molybdenum’s critical functions is the breakdown of sulfur-based amino acids.

Shortages of molybdenum are really rare and only occurs in a few places where there is a very low amount in the soil. Since we get a lot of our nutrition locally, I wondered how much molybdenum there is in Hawaii’s soil. Apparently molybdenum is very deficient in Hawaii’s soil, so much so that some crops are hard to grow. 

Even more interesting is that although there is plenty of molybdenum in Hawaii’s volcanic rocks, it is absent in the soil. It is possible that the sulfuric acid in the VOGgy rain washes the molybdenum out of the soil.

One of the best sources of molybdenum is peas which is one of the foods I have found most helpful during an attack. So with my fingers crossed, I am taking very small doses of the micro nutrient molybdenum to see if I am deficient and will have any beneficial results from taking it. It has been over 18 months now since my last gout attack, so I am curious to see if this supplement will keep my luck going.

Hawaii Nutrients

As we were researching for our last book, "Your Ideal Hawaii Health: Why People in Hawaii are so Healthy and Happy",  we discovered that the health and happiness was due to people getting nutrients in Hawaii that are missing on the mainland. People living in Hawaii get vitamin D from the tropical sunshine, iodine from the ocean, and omega 3 oils in local fish and grass fed beef. Each of these nutrients are so important that doctors have written entire books about how they can be a miracle cure for people that are severely deficient in any one of them. As we read stories of amazing recoveries from taking a few supplements, we were curious if taking additional supplements of these nutrients would have an even greater positive effect on us?

We found iodine the most appealing to try after reading about people who reported that their tumors disappeared and kids with autism had sudden improvements after taking iodine supplements. It was hard to believe that a simple inexpensive supplement could have such a big impact. After convincing ourselves that it was safe for us to try, we started taking iodine supplements in the form of Lugol's Solution (5 drops of 2%) in the morning. We were impressed at how much energy iodine suddenly gave us and we no longer need coffee to get us going. It has been over two years now and we still take iodine every day.

Over the last two years we have found Facebook groups on iodine and we followed one of them closely. It seems like most people are excited at first and then find for one reason or another that the supplement did not do what they were expecting.  Generally people on Facebook groups trying iodine seem to have some severe illness and when they are not cured overnight they are very disappointed. For us, our low energy was cured within a few weeks, so we are very happy about that.

Our success with iodine supplements has inspired us to try other supplements and continue researching key nutrients missing in our diet. We will post what we discover in our continuing adventure in improving our Hawaii life with better nutrition.

Rainbows and Health

It has been a year now since we moved to Oahu from the Big Island. We live in central Oahu at an elevation of 800 feet above sea level in the town of Mililani. This is the first time we have lived significantly above sea level since moving to Hawaii, and though we miss our daily walks on the beach, we love the cooler climate and gentle rains at this altitude. We also love the amazing and frequent rainbows we see at all times of the day. The fine mist and tropical sun make the rainbows unusually thick, bright and long lasting.

We have enjoyed eating at the wonderful restaurants on Oahu. The food is delicious, the service excellent and the prices are cheaper than the Big Island. We have also found great grocery stores with excellent selections of delicious foods to cook.

Unfortunately, our reduced exercise and the great Oahu food has added inches to our waistlines and 20 pounds to our weight. Our weight gain has motivated us to get back to our healthy diet and restart our Big Island weight loss plan.

We restarted our research about health and longevity, picking up where we left off from our last book "Your Ideal Hawaii Health". Our new discoveries about health have been life changing in a good way. Our next post will highlight what we have discovered and how we are using the knowledge to improve our health, increase our brain functioning and support our weight loss.

Zika in Hawaii

Predicted spread of Zika virus-carrying mosquito in the U.S.

When we first heard about the Zika virus we were concerned that it would quickly spread in Hawaii’s tropical climate, like dengue fever recently has on the Big Island, and become a major health issue in the state.  According to our research, the worst case scenario for Zika is pretty dire.

Zika is not only linked to the serious birth defect microcephaly (abnormally small skull), it is also linked to Guillain-Barre syndrome, an autoimmune disorder in adults that can cause paralysis. For those who are healthy and not pregnant, they may get by with no symptoms or only experience mild, flu-like symptoms.

Although the disease seems far away, we have growing concerns after the CDC reported 157 pregnant women in the U.S. have tested positive for Zika and over 300 others have been infected primarily from trips outside the county.

Unfortunately, the Zika carrying mosquito, Aedes aegypti, likes warm, wet weather like we have in Hawaii. They breed in flower pots, tires, trash and small pools of water and live in and around homes which makes traditional evening insecticide fogging from sprayers mounted on trucks useless.  The Aedes aegypti's eggs can even dry out and cling to surfaces and come back to life during the next rain. The Aedes requires indoor and outdoor spraying and both the adult insects and larvae have to be killed to get rid of it. 

The virus has already spread rapidly on the tropical island of  Puerto Rico and is expected to reach the southern U.S. states as their warm, wet weather arrives. Although, the Zika carrying mosquito, Aedes aegypti, is not common in the northern states, like New York, they have, Aedes albopictus, another mosquito thought capable of carrying Zika. If we get warm, wet weather this year, much of the U.S. population may be affected by the virus.

Thus far congress has not provided the $2B funds requested by President Obama to protect against a Zika epidemic.  State funds are short for mosquito spraying and the Aedes requires high-touch, door-to-door spraying to eradicate. The concentration of people from all over the world in Brazil this summer for the Olympics has many concerned that it will even more rapidly spread the Zika virus world-wide.

So far, the only victims of the Zika virus in Hawaii contracted it outside the state. At this point it seems likely that the virus will spread to the U.S. mainland before Hawaii. But if the virus spreads as predicted, it is only a matter of time before it gets to Hawaii and much of the rest of the world with potentially catastrophic effects to us all. 

Amazing Apple Pectin

We recently discovered some amazing health benefits of taking apple pectin.  We have known for awhile about the benefits of malic acid found in tart green apples, which we take as a supplement for sore muscles and gout.  But we did not realize that the pectin in tart apples helps with digestion, colon health, lowering cholesterol, removing heavy metals from the blood, and keeping cancer from spreading.

Pectin is found in many fruits, however most of the health studies were done with apple pectin.  The most concentrated apple pectin is found in under-ripe, hard, green apples.  As the fruit ripens the pectin is destroyed and some varieties of apples have no pectin at all when they are ripe. Pectin is extracted by boiling the apples, skins and all, until it becomes a runny applesauce.  Some people just use apple cores and skins.  The thick slimy liquid that drips through the strainer is liquid pectin.

Pectin is a soluble fiber which has the benefit of attaching to LDL cholesterol and removing it.  Taking pectin as a supplement can lower levels of LDL in the blood and liver and improve the functioning of the gall bladder.  Pectin fiber has also been shown to remove heavy metals from the blood stream. Children with high levels of lead in their blood stream had a 50% reduction in lead levels by being on apple pectin for one month.  Ukrainian children exposed to uranium had success removing it from their bodies over a year with pectin. Pectin has also been used to remove cadmium and mercury. Like other nutritional fiber, pectin slows the rate of fat and carbohydrate absorption. If pectin is taken 30 minutes before a meal it can reduce your appetite. A study showed women taking it for a year lost an average of 12% of their body fat.  

Pectin increases the moisture in the intestines which increases the removal of old waste that can block the intestines from absorbing nutrition.  The increased moisture also makes it much easier for good probiotic bacteria to thrive in the intestines.  Pectin also appears to reduce the incidence of bowel cancer if consumed long term.

Pectin attaches to and destroys an enzyme that allows prostate cancer to metastasize. Laboratory studies show that contact with pectin causes the cancer cell rate of apoptosis (cell death) to increase by 40 times.  

Although we have only been taking Now Foods Apple Pectin  Capsules for only a month, it does seem to be helping our intestines and increasing our stamina and it is only about costs around $15 a month.

Hawaii Avocados

Hawaii Avocado Tree

Hawaii has over 300 varieties of avocados. The variations of shape, size, and taste are amazing. The avocado skins vary from pliable to woody, smooth to rough, and are green-yellow, reddish-purple, purple, or black in color. Some taste buttery and others are fibrous.

The majority of avocados found outside of Hawaii are the black-skinned 'Haas' which originally came from the Guatemala. 'Haas' do not grow well in Hawaii so we have numerous other varieties available in stores and Famer’s markets around the islands.  Over half of the commercial avocado acreage in Hawaii are 'Sharwil', a Mexican and Guatemalan cross.  'Sharwil' have small seeds and greenish-yellow flesh with a rich, nutty flavor which many consider far superior to ‘Haas’.

'Greengold' and 'Murashige' are other green-skinned avocados commercially raised in Hawaii.  However, 'Sharwil'  is the only Hawaii grown avocado authorized for shipment to Alaska and the US mainland in compliance with USDA requirements.

We love the many varieties of avocados and are happy that they are also a great source Vitamin K, Folate, Vitamin C, Potassium, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, and Vitamin E.   They also has Magnesium, Manganese, Copper, Iron, Zinc, Phosphorous, Vitamin A, Vitamin B1 (Thiamine), Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), and Vitamin B3 (Niacin).  The avocado is a great source of fiber which makes it good for the digestive system and very filling.  Unlike other fruits which are mostly carbohydrates, avocados are mostly fat, with oleic acid which is a healthy monounsaturated fatty acid.

The plentiful supply of highly nutritious avocados in Hawaii is one of the reasons people in Hawaii are so Healthy and Happy. 

East Hawaii Blue Zones Project

East Hawaii, which includes Hilo, was selected as one of 3 communities in the state of Hawaii as a Blue Zones project by HSMA, Blue Zones LLC, and Healthways Inc.  The Island of Kauai has been a Blue Zones Project pilot since 2013.

According to Dan Buettner, author of The Blue Zones, people in the Blue Zones he identified reach age 100 at 10 times the average rate.  Blue Zones LLC states that only 20% of how long a person lives is because of their genes; the other 80% is due to their lifestyle and environment. 

The Blue Zones project has best practices for communities to improve the lifestyle and environment for the residents. In Albert Lea, Minnesota, a Blue Zones project since 2009, the residents lost a total of 12,000 pounds, cut their health care costs, and added over 3 years to the residents’ average life expectancy.    

To be selected as a Blue Zones project, the community must have broad buy-in within the community including local leaders, schools, employers, restaurants, and grocery stores who agree to support the program.  In addition, at least 20% of the citizens must sign a personal pledge to take actions to improve their well-being which include eating wisely, moving naturally, making changes at home, connecting socially, and finding a purpose.

The personal pledges are based on 9 shared traits of the world’s longest lived people that Buettner identified.  Summaries of these traits listed on bluezones.com website include:

Move Naturally The world’s longest-lived people don’t pump iron or run marathons or join gyms. Their environments nudge them into moving without thinking about it.

Purpose Why do you wake up in the morning? Knowing your sense of purpose adds up to seven years of extra life expectancy.

Down Shift Stress leads to chronic inflammation, associated with every major age-related disease. The world’s longest-lived people have routines to reduce their stress.

80% Rule “Hara hachi bu” – the Okinawans say this mantra before meals as a reminder to stop eating when their stomachs are 80% full. That could be the difference between losing weight or gaining it.

Plant Slant The cornerstone of most centenarian diets are beans. They typically eat meat, mostly pork, only five times per month.

Wine  Moderate drinkers outlive non-drinkers, especially if they share those drinks with friends.

Belong Attending faith-based services four times a month adds 4 to 14 years of life expectancy.

Loved Ones First Centenarians put their families first. They keep aging parents and grandparents nearby, commit to a life partner, and invest time and love in their children.

Right Tribe They world’s longest lived people chose or were born into social circles that support healthy behaviors.

East Hawaii is the perfect place for a Blue Zone project as it already has many of the nine shared traits listed above. When we researched our book on “Why People in Hawaii are so Healthy and Happy” we found lots of reasons why people in Hawaii already live longer and have better health than the rest of the US. 

Why are People in Hawaii so Healthy and Happy?

We moved to Hawaii seven years ago to escape our stressful life in California.  We were out of shape, exhausted, and obese.  Fortunately, just being in Hawaii improved our health and helped us lose weight.  We have watched many other people lose fat  and improve their health by spending  time in Hawaii. We have even seen people who arrived in Hawaii barely able to walk with a walker become more mobile every month; some were ultimately able to walk freely without any assistance.

After completing our Hawaii Island travel guide, a friend of ours insisted that our next book be about why people feel so much better when they are in Hawaii.   We agreed that it would be fasinating to research the mystery of why every year residents in Hawaii are ranked the healthiest and happiest in the US.

We were not prepared for the shocking answer. We found hundreds of medical studies that completely contradicted everything we had been taught about what is healthy to eat. The diet we thought was healthy was actually harming our health significantly according to the health studies.

Our weight loss and improved fitness in Hawaii were due to high levels of nutrients in Hawaii’s food and environment, not because of the foods we thought were healthy.  Just by living in Hawaii we had stumbled into better health. The miracle health improvements we saw in ourselves and others were because of critically missing essential nutrients abundant in Hawaii yet missing on the mainland.

Our new book, Your Ideal Hawaii Health: Why People in Hawaii are so Healthy and Happy, answers our friend’s question.  The book cites the health studies  and tells our personal experiences of the changes we made in our diet and lifestyle in Hawaii that allowed us to achieve our health goals, improve our fitness, and increase our happiness.

If you are struggling with your weight, depression, or health conditions you may want to read the book and find out why just living in Hawaii can make you healthier and happier. 

Your Ideal Hawaii 2015 Day Planner

Every year we use to hunt for a day planner to keep track of our goals, events, daily to-do lists, and record the food we ate.  Although some day planners were close to what we were looking for, none provided everything we wanted and we were frustrated by their high cost.  Two years ago, we started to published our own day planner with all the tools we needed to set goals and keep track of our progress every day and month during the year.  If you are looking for a day planner for 2015, consider Your Ideal Hawaii Day Planner 2015, available now on Amazon for $5.99.

We tend to get more of the things we appreciate, so the front of the Hawaii-themed Day Planner has a page to list the things you appreciate to refer to every day.  Each day in the Planner has space to track food eaten, calories, and your daily weight, which we have found keeps us achieving our weight and health goals. Each week has a space write down your insights, which we find helpful to refer to later, sometimes years later.  We also record the events of the world and important happenings in our life in our Day Planner.

Your Ideal Hawaii Day Planner 2015  is a 9”x 6” paperback book that is sturdy and easy to carry. The front cover has a picture of a beautiful red Lehua flower from Hawaii’s native Ohia trees. The 150 pages in the interior are black and white.   The 2015 Day Planner has all the Federal holidays as well as unique holidays and special days celebrated in Hawaii.

At the front of the Planner are pages for writing your Goals for the year, what you are Thankful for, your Choices for the upcoming year, and your Plans for where you want to spend your time in 2015.  Each month has an overview calendar with a section on the side for writing monthly Goals, Health Choices, Appreciations, Projects, Adventures, and Events.  Each monthly calendar is followed by two pages for each week to plan and record each day. 

Overview calendars for December 2014 and January 2016 are also included.  At the back of the Planner are pages to record your 2015 Accomplishments and make Plans for 2016.  You can look inside the day planner on Amazon here.

If you are looking for a great Day Planner for 2015 for yourself or someone else, give this one a try and let us know how it works for you.

Bread, Gout, and Breathlessness

We recently read The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance by Jeff Volek and Stephen Phinney and it gave us a new insight into how bread and other carbohydrates cause gout attacks and make us short of breath.

Eating carbohydrates causes glucose (blood sugar) levels to rise and the body to produce insulin to store any excess glucose as glycogen in the liver.  When the insulin level goes down, the stored glycogen is broken down into glucose for energy.   The process of glycogen breaking down produces CO2 which is released through breathing.  Exercise uses the stored glycogen faster and increases the concentration of CO2 in the blood making it more acidic. The increased acidity can cause Uric acid in the blood to start precipitating out into the needle like crystals that cause gout.   Exercise causes rapid breathing to rid of the body of CO2 and can make you breathless.

However, there is a form of fuel other than glucose.  If there is no glucose available, the liver will convert fat to ketones for energy.  Ketones are burned differently and produce much less CO2 than glycogen so you can exercise more before you are out of breath. There are other benefits to ketogenic energy including better efficiency of the muscles, like the heart.  The average person can only store about 2000 calories as glycogen and although it can be quickly converted to energy, once it is gone the muscles and brain stop functioning.  We have seen this happen to Ironman athletes in Kona. When the body is using ketones for fuel, it can convert up to 40,000 calories a day, 20 times more than from glucogen.

We have been on the ketogenic diet for almost 6 months.  After the adaption period, we are feeling more energetic than ever.   We love not being hungry all the time and have made great progress on our weight loss.   The best part is no gout attacks, even though it has been very hot and humid this year and we have been exercising more.