The Highest Good
February 18, 2019
In a fourth turning environment, as predicted by historians Neil Howe and William Strauss in 1997, we find ourselves in a polarized society that breeds distrust and disdain for the other side. Politics is rife with dysfunctional attitudes that bleed into our ears from the news media. We are trying to raise our children to be honorable and hard working, yet, they see dishonor and amorality daily on social media. What a mess! Or is it the normal fluctuations of life that has repeated itself throughout time? This is what historians would have us believe.
From a recent email, the Daily Stoic:
Personalized Lifestyle Institute
February 18, 2019
Jeffrey Bland Discusses Sugar, Insulin and Disease. One of the smartest humans that I have had the pleasure to meet.
Part 1 Link
Part 2 Link
Part 3 Link
Parts of these 3 talks are a little complex, but the vast majority of the thoughts are not. it is roughly one half hour long. Give is a listen.
Dr. M
Asthma, Allergies and Nutrition - The Story
February 18, 2019
This is a chapter that I wrote for an Integrative Medicine Textbook on Allergy and Asthma. I will break it up into parts for your consumption. It is mostly unaltered from its original form which means at points it is quite technical, however, the gist is there and I hope that it provides a roadmap to health for allergy and asthma sufferers.
• Asthma is now well known to be an inflammatory disease based on the response to anti-inflammatory medications and pathophysiological evidence making it a prime candidate for anti-inflammatory nutritional interventions.
The Adult Chair -Autoimmunity
February 1, 2019
Reversing Autoimmune Disease Link
If you or someone you know struggle with an autoimmune disease or any illness, this is a show you will not want to miss.
Dr. Keesha shared how she reversed her own autoimmune disease naturally and how any disease can be reversed. We touched on the microbiome and how it relates to health, the root of autoimmune and other diseases and how to get your body healthy again naturally by examining Dr. Keesha's "4 corners of the puzzle" to health. She is a wealth of information and has some beautiful offerings for anyone ready to get healthy.
Enjoy,
Michelle
Little Hits
February 11, 2019
1) We are dead in the middle of winter and that means that your vitamin D level is likely bottoming out and you may feel the winter blues. This is a good time to consume foods with vitamin D in them, stand in front of a full spectrum light daily or to take a supplement. Oily fish like mackerel, sardines, salmon are great sources of D. Other sources are fortified milks, livers and shellfish. It is especially important for nursing mothers and their infants to get adequate amounts of vitamin D. We recommend that all babies take 400 IU of liquid oral vitamin D daily while nursing.
Vaccine Preventable Diseases
February 11, 2019
Vaccine preventable diseases are making the headlines again. It is time to reconsider your vaccine stance if you or your child have not had the measles or hepatitis A vaccines. In 2018, we had a significant uptick in cases of measles in New York City and there are currently significant outbreaks of both diseases on the west coast of the US. Currently, there are measles cases in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon, Texas and Washington. The vast majority of documented cases are in non-vaccinated individuals with the index case coming from abroad where the traveler visited an area with high rates of the disease.
Be happy! It is a Pollyanna kind of day
February 4, 2019
The weather is freezing outside with the lovely arctic polar vortex descending on us all even in North Carolina. I see days like these as the contrast like black is to the white of a perfect 70 degree sun day. We appreciate the beauty best only in the context of the opposite extreme. I find that I love the sun so much more after a few days of rain. (ever present this year.)
Everything is about perspective. The half full/empty glass analogy is real. Love the extremes for they provide you with so much more joy during the resolution phase. I think of children and longevity again here. I want my kids to outlive my wife and I by many years. The extremes of the environment are so useful to elaborate human longevity genes like sirtuins, mTOR, AMPkinase and so on. I want my kids to know that starvation, cold, heat, sadness, and other stressors are beneficial to them to live longer lives when the stress is acute and then gone.
Marijuana
February 4, 2019
Is marijuana safe for use 2.0? Last year, I wrote about this topic with the intent of laying out the facts for those that are now falling into the cannabis is safe camp. Danger Will Robinson!
The American sentiment continues to shift to an "it is safe" feeling, especially out in the wild west. When it comes to drugs that affect the brain, we have to be very careful to conclude this on a population level. What happens in adults is vastly different than what happens in teens. Consider the vaping debacle of the last few years when pondering safety. Easy access can explode use and therefore increase the risk of a subset of teens having negative outcomes.
Nourish Your Tribe has hit #1
February 3, 2019
I am really excited to report that Nourish Your Tribe has hit #1 bestseller on Amazon and remains there.
I am truly excited mostly because this information needs to be out there in a digestible form. All parents need to know what is happening to us. This story is mission critical for our kids!
if you read this book, you will know exactly what you need to know for the health of your child. If you want to go a little farther, read The Inside Tract by Dr. Gerry Mullin.
Reviews for Nourish Your Tribe
High School Students that are between the ages of 14 and 17!!!!!
February 3, 2019
Calling all High School Students that are between the ages of 14 and 17!!!!!
This is a phenomenally beneficial experience for all teenagers! Last year my son and my best friend from High School's son attended this camp for a week. The learning, the friendship and the mentoring provided were top shelf. If you have a 14 to 17 year old teenager, consider sending them to this camp this summer.
Longevity and How?
January 28th 2019
Longevity - How do we maximize it???
The fountain of youth? The perfect diet? What is it?
Since the days of Greek and Roman philosophers or the naturalists Darwin and Lamarck, humans have thought about the changes that occur within mammalian species as they attempt to adapt to the ever changing environment and live as long as possible as well as furthering the species through successful procreation.
Longevity is on the minds of many of us, me especially. Fears of a ruined society or early demise are always swirling in the news with global temperature alterations and sea levels rise, polluted waterways or our air, dysfunctional governments not serving the people, etc... Little of this is controllable by us at the base level.
Extreme Ownership
January 28, 2019
I decided to reprint the newsletter for Extreme Ownership as I find it so missing in society and critically important to our cultural survival. Too often we see people blame others for their own inner failings as a self saving event although in truth it is a personal failing and stagnation point.
"Leadership is infinitely more about brains than it is about brawn. The brawn stuff is from the movies and it doesn't work in reality." - Jocko Willink
Extreme Ownership - What is the essence of extreme ownership? Why is it a moto for children to learn today? Why are young people not practicing it now?
Sugar Excess
January 21, 2019
How do we get ourselves and our children off of sugar laden foods?
Added sugar is still a huge issue for children. 50+ % of their added sugar comes from sweetened beverages and sweet desserts. Average American children consume 18-19 tsp or 70+ grams of added sugar a day. Where is the other 50% coming from? Unfortunately, it is coming from processed bread, pasta, pretzels, ketchup, tomato sauce, canned soups, "health" bars and NUT BUTTERS and so much more! There is zero health benefit and significant health disruption from these added sugars.
I have found that over the years the best advice that I have for this issue is to attack it in one of two ways.
Safe Drug Use
January 21, 2019
Throughout my medical career there has been a mantra: "kids are NOT just little adults". What this meant was that physiologically children are very different from the adult versions of themselves. No where is this more true than in the realm of pharmacology, drugs. During my training years, my attending physicians were very careful to check dosages for all medicines because history had taught them that to fail at this task could cause a side effect that could be devastating.
In the Journal Pediatrics, Dr. Yin's study looked at medication errors when the drug was given to children in a liquid form. They asked over 2000 parents to measure liquid medications using a syringe or a 30 ml cup. 84% made at least one error which was >20% deviation from prescribed dose. This was usually an overdose. 21% measured out 2X the amount as recommended on the drug label. They noted that dosing errors were 4.6X more likely with a 30 ml cup than with a syringe.
Human Health and Longevity
December 31, 2018
With the new year upon us, we are going to continue to look at new ways to change our outcomes as they relate to human health and longevity. In my mind, it is no longer ok to sit back and wait for a diagnosis to occur where a prevention strategy is potentially available. We are going to continue to share relevant cutting edge data on prevention and lifestyle changes that maximize your health, your vitality and your telomere length.
I think of a recent case where a teenage patient had elevated markers of autoimmune thyroid disease without symptoms. She was sent by her pediatrician to an endocrine specialist for evaluation.
How long does the common cold last?
January 14, 2019
A common question that carries much controversy, even from my colleagues.
In a literature review published in the British Medical Journal, Dr. Thomson discussed the natural course of upper respiratory infections in children. They identified the mean number of days when symptoms had resolved in 50% of children and at the 90% threshold on no anti viral medicine.
It takes 25 days for >90% of the children to be symptom free from acute cough. The CDC has this statistic at 10-14 days. Sore throat resolved in 2-7 days while the CDC has this at 7-14 days. Congestion resolved in 15 days.
THE FIRST TWO THOUSAND DAYS FOR MOM AND BABY XII
January 7, 2019
Part III Newborn Tolerance - the do:
If all of the suppositions discussed so far come to fruition as the science evolves, then we have actionable advice to give now. We do know a few things are for certain already from the research on immunity and tolerance.
The know:
1) Vaginal deliveries are better for the child's immune system than c sections.
Daughters and Fathers
January 7, 2019
I think back to the day my daughter was born with such happiness. Having already had a son come into the world, the anticipation of our second child was palpable that December day so many years ago. When the clarion call from Dr. Jones announced that it was a girl, I did a dance around the room looking like a giddy fool.
As a father, the thought of a daughter was so heavenly, that I still struggle to put into words what she means to me. Daughters are gifts to their fathers to soften them by peering into their eyes with pure love.
THE FIRST TWO THOUSAND DAYS FOR MOM AND BABY XI
December 31, 2018
Part II Newborn Tolerance:
If the immune system wants to learn which ingested proteins are good and which are troublemakers at birth, where would it go wrong?
The answer is very complicated, however, one of the driving factors seems to be the lack of exposure to friendly bacteria that act as an immune educator. This is the basis of the biome depletion theory. In the absence of this natural exposure and education, the immune system is believed to become intolerant to perturbations over time.
As we discussed, the military police/Treg cells are critical to the immune system's ability to dampen inflammation after a robust response to an invading pathogen has occurred.
ADHD
January 14, 2019
ADHD diagnosis is higher depending on the month of birth says a study by Dr. Layton and colleagues in the
New England Journal of Medicine this past
November. The articles conclusion is as follows: "Rates of diagnosis and treatment of ADHD are higher among children born in August than among children born in September in states with a September 1 cutoff for kindergarten entry. "
I have first hand and second hand experience with this real phenomenon as less mature children get behaviorally diagnosed as hyper and inattentive by their teachers when they are merely young and immature. This is a far cry from true ADHD.