Category Archives: Questions & Answers

Questions & Answers

Do Beneficial Bacteria Communicate With Your Immune System?

There is a fascinating study that was undertaken to try and understand if and how beneficial bacteria communicate with the human immune system.

About 50 years ago, they used a 2D electron microscopy technique to discover that beneficial bacteria hang on to the bowel wall. It’s almost like the bacteria have a little grappling hook that can attach themselves, a bit like a mountain climber goes up a mountain.

For many years, scientists did not understand how gut bacteria communicated with the immune system.

In recent years, researchers used a unique tomography technique to look at bacteria in mice. Using this approach, the scientists confirmed that bacteria in the gut of mice have a grappling hook.

Related articles:

The bacteria attach themselves to the gut wall. The immune system detects the bacteria as being a normal part of the body. The immune system will communicate with tiny little packets of protein that get transferred from the bacteria into the cells of the gut wall, and then into the immune system.

It’s a bit like a docking procedure. It docks a little bit like, I suppose, how it would happen with the International Space Station. Essentially, the bacteria docks and locks onto the gut wall and then signals to the immune system. The bacteria send chemical messages but also receive communications from the internal immune system.

The immune system becomes charged up and ready to attack other kinds of pathogens.

Essentially, science is validating how beneficial bacteria contribute to the health of humans. Science is also clarifying why a healthy, beneficial gut flora is so essential to the human digestive system.

Sources:

Questions & Answers

Finding The Right Doctor For You

Having an unsupportive doctor can cause a lot of problems. Many people I’ve followed for a prolonged period have shared with me how unhappy they are with their doctor. They could be unhappy with their naturopathic, western medicine, acupuncture, or whatever kind of doctor.

Most doctors are good people. They don’t set out to be unsupportive
Doctors are often very busy and stressed. Medicine has changed since I was a child. Sometimes it feels like a supermarket; it’s so fast-paced.

The days of a family doctor who knows many generations of a family has generally come and gone in big cities. But, you can still find lots of caring doctors.

Does your current doctor pull the wool over your eyes, bully you, or make you feel bad in any way. That is not what he or she should be doing.

I don’t like it when doctors disempower their patients. If your doctor makes you feel like a foo, incapable of making your own decisions, then you have an unsupportive doctor. You need to find a new doctor.

There are plenty of nice doctors out there, and you deserve to be heard.

You wouldn’t put up with being disrespected by an electrician or a plumber, right? Your health is well worth spending the time to find a doctor who will listen and work with you.

This is why many people come to naturopaths like me. Our profession takes the time to listen to people. We listen to things and take things seriously that often the medical profession disregard.

I don’t disregard anything a patient tells me.

Related articles:

Some people may exaggerate a symptom up, or they may downplay a symptom. A good practitioner needs to be a psychologist to understand human nature, to work these kinds of things out,

How much time does your doctor spend with you? Five minutes? 10 minutes? That’s not good enough. That’s only enough time to say hello and goodbye.

It’s not uncommon for a conventional doctor to see 40 or 50 patients in a day. I’ve never seen any more than seven or eight patients per day in all my career.

I prefer not to take any more than two or max three new cases per day, and the rest of the day, see followup patients.

When you leave your practitioner’s office, you should feel inspired. You should feel confident.

You should feel happy and have some type of a plan in mind on which direction you’re going

I’ve always tried to make people feel good about themselves. It’s difficult sometimes when you work with mental health patients. But that’s the thing. When you leave your doctor’s office, you should feel good.

If you leave your doctor’s office feeling bad, it’s going to undermine your health and cause you more stress.

You need to have a positive relationship with the professional that’s going to help you through your health challenges.

Don’t give up. There are plenty of excellent doctors out there.

Sources:

Questions & Answers

CanXida for SIBO and SIFO

Dietary supplements can help manage small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). But, what if you also have small bowel fungal overgrowth (SIFO)? Or you’ve got a parasite there as well?

Many people I’ve seen in my clinic over the years don’t just suffer from one particular GI problem; they suffer from multiple GI problems.

Often, they will have lack of sufficient hydrochloric acid in the stomach, they’ll have some type of pancreatic disfunction, SIBO, they’ll have bacterial overgrowth in the large bowel, and they’ll have a yeast infection,
either in the small and large or both.

CanXida Remove is a supplement that I formulated several years ago now, primarily to clean up the digestive system.

In my clinical experience, people often have multiple species of undesirable bacteria in their gut.

When I say undesirable, these are bacteria that occur in your gut by default, but they’ve become undesirable because their populations have increased.

Why have they increased? They’ve grown because of an imbalance often precipitated by medication, such as antibiotics or stomach acid blockers.

If you’re taking a drug recurringly for a GI problem, there’s a chance that you could develop SIBO as a result.

There are eleven different ingredients in CanXida Remove. It’s an amazing product for SIBO that reduces the symptoms.

CanXida Remove contains antifungals, antiparasitics, and antibacterials. One of the most potent ingredients in CanXida Remove is standardized grapefruit seed extract (GSE). The GSE that I selected for CanXida Remove has a very high flavonoid content. The GSE is powerful but not overpowering.

Garlic and oregano are also included in CanXida Remove. The oregano is a standardized oregano extract with a high carvacrol content. The standardized garlic has a high allicin content.

CanXida Remove addresses bacteria like Klebsiella, Citrobacter, Pseudomonas, and many other species.

I generally recommend taking two to three tablets of Remove per day.
If you have very severe SIBO, you may be better off starting with just one tablet per day. You can slowly build up to two or three tablets per day. If you get any side effects from CanXida Remove, cut the dose back.

Related articles:

We have seen a significant reduction in SIBO bacteria as a result of using CanXida Remove.

It’s important that you also eat right when trying to get rid of SIBO. Eat a clean, healthy diet such as the MEVY (meat, eggs, vegetables, and yogurt diet).

Also, pay attention to your lifestyle. I consider stress and lifestyle as major factors in SIBO.

Once you have your lifestyle and diet on track, all you need is a supplement that is going to clean up the gut. That supplement can certainly be CanXida Remove.

CanXida Remove works better if you take CanXida Restore as well.

Restore was designed for people with poor digestive health. It was developed for people with gas, bloating, abdominal discomfort, constipation, and diarrhea.

Restore contains several different special digestive enzymes which assist the stomach overcome that problem of that low stomach acidity.

One of the big problems caued by SIBO is lack of fat-soluble vitamins: vitamins A, D, E, and K. SIBO can also interfere with calcium, magnesium, B12, and iron absorption.

If your blood tests show that you are deficient in vitamins or minerals, heck out CanXida Rebuild. Rebuild was the last product I designed.

CanXida Rebuild contains the nutrients your body may be lacking due to SIBO.

But, even before you start taking CanXida products for a gut problem, get a baseline comprehensive stool analysis. Make sure you are off al supplements for several days before having a stool test.

Repeat the stool test, two to three months after you have corrected your diet, improved your lifestyle, and started the CanXida products.

Sources:

Questions & Answers

Diatomaceous Earth: What You Need To Know

Some people claim that diatomaceous earth is good for killing and removing parasites from the body. However, it’s all anecdotal.

What is diatomaceous earth? It’s an algae that lived millions of years ago and left a silica shell behind.

Silica is quite an interesting mineral that’s extremely hard for the body to absorb. Diatomaceous earth doesn’t mix well with fluids, especially inside the body, so it’s pretty useless as a silica supplement. There’s also no scientific evidence that shows that it removes parasites. The studies I did look at, particularly one from 2010, involving animals and diatomaceous earth, were inconclusive.

Some people recommend diatomaceous earth for a wide range of purposes: high blood pressure, AIDS, cancer, everything. It cures baldness; it cures infertility, it cures mortgage problems, it cures every flipping thing. Well, it doesn’t. It doesn’t. It’s all anecdotal. I’m sure if I gave you a cup of sand to swallow and drink, you’d say you’d feel a certain way as well.

Related articles:

Remember, just because everybody else does it, it doesn’t mean to say that it’s necessarily good or it’s going to work. I’m not a huge fan of diatomaceous earth, but if you think it works for you, then maybe it works for you.

Be very careful about inhaling diatomaceous earth because it can wreck your lungs. Very fine-grain silica causes the lung disease silicosis. Thousands of people die every year from silicosis. You don’t even want to breathe in silica.

There is food grade diatomaceous earth and filter grade. Filter grade diatomaceous earth is known to remove heavy metals from water. People then automatically assume diatomaceous earth will remove heavy metal from their bodies. It doesn’t work like that. Don’t fall for the hype.

Diatomaceous earth does have its applications, don’t get me wrong. But, when it comes to human health and killing parasites, I wouldn’t fall for the hype.

Sources:

Questions & Answers

Shampoo For Your Itchy Scalp

A question I’ve been asked several times from people is, what is the best type of shampoo I can use for my scalp or for my skin? I’ve got an itchy scalp, I got itchy ears, I’ve got itchy private parts. I wanna keep my hair fresh and clean, and what is a good shampoo I can use?
Well, my favorite brand is called Thursday Plantation. You can find these products on Amazon. I really like this company. I’ve been using their products now for probably over 25 years. I think they’re fantastic.

Thursday Plantation makes a fantastic range of shampoos and skincare products and soaps and all kinds of things.

In my opinion, this company also makes the highest grade tea tree oil on the planet. So if you want to get the best tea tree oil, look for this brand.

In multiple studies, tea tree oil has been found effective for skin infections. In one long-term study in Austrialia, I think at the John Hunter Hospital, tea tree oil was superior over ketoconazole and various other types of antifungal pharmaceuticals. It’s called tea tree oil, Australian tea tree oil, Melaleuca alternifolia.

Related articles:

In New Zealand, where I live, we’ve got tea tree as well, manuka and kanuka. But these are different types of tea tree than the Australian.
The Australian tea tree oil has, through clinical trials and research, found to have probably one of the highest grade anti-fungal activities of any kind of essential oil.
If you’re using a product for Candida on the scalp, make sure it’s got some element of tea tree oil in it.

Eveneven if you’ve got any type of a skin condition on your scalp, I would recommend tea tree oil, because it is so superior. If you don’t like the smell of it, you can also have a little bit of lavender oil that goes with it.

There are many things you can use on your skin. Apple cider vinegar, for some people, if you dilute it, works quite well as well. Jojoba oil can be mixed with a little bit of tea tree oil and used for skin problems.

Other companies which I like to use are Jason and Aubrey Organics. Aubrey make really nice products. Not tea tree, but they do make various medicated kind of scalp tonics and similar items.
If you start using tea tree oil regularly, you’ll find that your scalp will become nice and soft. Dandruff will clear up. Fungus will disappear. Particularly if you use it for three months. Just a small amount every day. I think you’ll be quite surprised with the appearance of your scalp. I highly recommend it.

Sources: