Category Archives: Natural Health

Natural health information that you can use to make your health better today. Why wait?

Naturopathic Medicine Reduces Healthcare Costs

I just have to post this quickie because money is always a big concern when people are considering seeing a naturopath, but according to someone other than myself (god knows I’ll say it all day long), naturopathic medicine reduces healthcare costs and saves you money.

Naturopathic Medicine Reduces Healthcare Costs

Naturopathic medicine reduces healthcare costs and helps you find optimal health

Naturopathic medicine reduces healthcare costs and helps you find optimal health

In a 2011 study tracking individual use of health care options, researchers found that:

  • 29% of those who use naturopathic medicine reduced their hospital visits!
  • 30% of those seeing a naturopathic doctor reduced their visits to specialists
  • 42% of people under naturopathic care reduced their visits to their GP
  • 48% of people seeing a naturopathic doctor reduced costly prescriptions

The bottom line? Naturopathic Medicine reduces healthcare costs and saves money in the long-term.




Another study on Canadian postal workers showed that the inclusion of naturopathic medicine to their existing care significantly decreased their cardiovascular disease risk.  A companion study showed that for those same postal workers the annual economic benefit to society was $1,138 per person treated and the cost savings to the individual or their employer were $1,187 per year.  Yup.  According to science, naturopathic medicine reduces healthcare costs.  That is awesome.



Rapid weight loss might be a myth, but real weight loss can and does happen. It's just that there isn't a shortcut.

The Biggest Loser Rapid Weight Loss – Why Isn’t This Real Life?

Rapid weight loss is what everyone seems to want and expect from themselves, in spite of the fact that it never seems to actually happen. Don’t you love TV shows where people go from morbid obesity to a relatively normal weight, losing what amounts to a couple of small children within a year?  It gives hope that you can probably shed that extra 15 lbs in a week.  Two at most, right? If those people on the television can lose 300 pounds in a year then surely 15 lbs in a week is reasonable. Except that in real life it doesn’t ever happen and the sad part is that it’s really easy to fall into the trap of beating yourself up about that.

Why Doesn’t Rapid Weight Loss Happen In Real Life?

Please be gentle with yourself – it’s not that you’re not strong enough or not dedicated enough, or sacrificing enough.  It’s not happening because it’s darn near impossible. When you lose weight the first weight you lose is water.  If you’re starting out at 450 lbs then there really are 20 lbs of extra water hanging around to lose in the first week.  If you’re starting out at 250 lbs, all of your extra water is probably 8-10 pounds.  If you only need to lose 15 pounds then maybe there’s only four or five pounds of water weight. It’s a whole different ball game. Of course you can lose the water weight quickly – just take the most inflammatory foods out of your diet. Lose the grains and dairy and processed foods and usually those pounds will drop off. But after that? Things turn real.

Rapid weight loss might be a myth, but real weight loss can and does happen. It's just that there isn't a shortcut.

Rapid weight loss might be a myth, but real weight loss can and does happen. It’s just that there isn’t a shortcut.

There is a common misconception that fat weight doesn’t do anything, but research has shown that the fat in your body plays an important role in hormone balance or imbalance, toxin processing and storage and metabolic weight.  When you go for serious weight loss you are asking your body to re-distribute those tasks to other tissues. That means detoxifying and eliminating the toxins stored in the fat tissue you’re trying to lose, re-adjusting your hormone balance (usually for the better, but it’s still a slow process) and changing your basic resting metabolism. Not to mention that for every pound of fat you lose your body needs to re-organize, eliminate or reabsorb A MILE of blood vessels.  Whaaaa??? Literally a mile of blood vessels are necessary to properly feed and circulate each pound of fat and your body has to deal with that each time you gain or lose fat. Rapid weight loss sounds do-able but rapid elimination of a mile of blood vessels?  Not so much.




The obvious complexity of fat tissue! Image by Philipp E. Scherer Touchstone Diabetes Center, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, published by NatureMedicine.

The obvious complexity of fat tissue! Image by Philipp E. Scherer
Touchstone Diabetes Center, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, published by NatureMedicine.

The Unreality of Reality TV Weight Loss

I am in no way trying to minimize the accomplishments of the people who go on reality TV and actually do the hard work to lose weight and keep it off. Just remember that most of the people on TV reality weight loss shows are going from 6000 calorie all fast-food diets with absolutely no activity to 1500 calorie diets (usually cooked by someone else) with personal trainers pushing them around for hours of every day.  Even if it’s possible for you to quit your job and devote your life to weight loss, it’s probably not possible to also pay a personal trainer, motivational coach and personal chef.  It’s just not real life – which of course is what makes it fun to watch on TV.

Real Life Weight Loss vs. The Rapid Weight Loss Dream

Today all I want you to know is that real-life weight loss is different than “reality TV” weight loss. It happens in fits and starts, there are pauses in progress.  Some weeks you might lose two pounds and some weeks you might not see the scale move at all. In fact, six weeks might go by where you’re doing everything right and the numbers on the scale aren’t changing.  That is totally normal.  It’s so easy to get discouraged and to be aiming for the numbers without paying any attention to how you feel, how your clothes are fitting or the tremendous amount of work your body is doing in that six weeks to normalize and re-adjust to this new you.

Even if you’re only losing two pounds a month, you’re still losing weight and getting healthier and making positive change.  The best part is you’re learning the behaviors as you lose to help you keep the weight off for the long run.  Just be gentle with yourself, be forgiving that you have to work in weight loss as a side activity and not as your whole purpose in life.  That isn’t a bad thing. Rapid weight loss isn’t real life and setting that as your expectation just sets you up for failure. Celebrate every progress and take time to admire how much hard work your body is doing in the times that the number on the scale isn’t changing.  It really is a big deal.  Your body is an amazing tool and an amazing gift – sometimes it benefits from a little appreciation as well.



Easy wet socks for you to try at home. This really is the best free immune boost ever.

Lifehack: Immune boost. Wet socks

I *love* *lovelove* free things that work and this is one of the best – it’s called wet socks or wet sock treatment and it is just as odd as it sounds, but it’s an awesome lifehack immune boost. First I’ll tell you how to do it, and then I’ll tell you why you might want to, because god knows anything to do with wet socks doesn’t really sound like something you’d want to do. I promise, it is.

How To Do Wet Socks

That sounds like the punchline to a joke. Here’s what you’ll need:

  • Plain cotton socks – any height but try to at least cover your ankles.
  • Wool socks that are as tall (high?) or taller (higher?) than the cotton socks. Really try to get wool because it stays cozy even when wet.
  • Water
  • A cozy bed

Here’s the Simple Method:

  1. Find some plain cotton socks  and run them under the faucet so that they’re fully wet.
  2. Wring them out so that they are damp but not dripping
  3. Put them on your feet and put the (dry) wool socks on over top of them
  4. Go to bed and get a great night’s sleep.

What to Expect With Wet Socks:

  • Your feet will feel cold when you go to bed – that’s totally normal and they’re supposed to.
  • If you wake up int he night you will either be far too cold or far too hot, and far too hot is probably more common. That’s okay – just roll over and go back to sleep.
  • This will be an uncommonly good night of sleep – seriously.
  • You will wake up with toasty warm, mysteriously dry feet.

Why Do Wet Socks?

This is THE BEST FREE IMMUNE BOOST EVER. No joke. Essentially by making one part of your body cold while the rest of you is a normal temperature you are tricking your body into freaking out. Essentially your body can’t figure out what is wrong, so it starts to heat up your core temperature hoping to save your feet. At the same time, you boost your white blood cells in order to go out there and figure out what’s wrong.  If they happen to stumble across other things that have nothing to do with your cold feet, like say the flu virus or a cold or that sinus infection you just can’t shake, well then all the better.




Essentially you are telling your body to go on high alert and so it does, which is perfect if you feel like you’re coming down with something or the guy who sits next to you has done nothing but cough for days. Your sleep during the wet sock treatment will be abnormally deep and satisfying and you will wake up toasty warm.  The best time to use this lifehack immune boost is:

  • When you feel like you’re coming down with something
  • When everyone else in the house is sick and you’re the last man standing
  • When the guy next to you at work coughs on you constantly
  • When your kiddo comes home from preschool covered in snot
  • When you feel done with it all and just need an awesome sleep
  • When you know you’ve been pushing too hard and you can feel your body wearing down
  • When your lungs or sinuses have been congested and you can’t seem to break it up

Times not to do this:

  • If you can’t make time for a full night’s sleep – you’ve got to give your body enough time to work on this.
  • If you are taking prednisone, other steroids, or immune suppressing drugs because they will suppress your body’s response.
  • If you try wet socks and wake up in the morning with the socks still wet – this means your body just isn’t generating enough heat right now to do this thing properly.

    Easy wet socks for you to try at home. This really is the best free immune boost ever.

    Easy wet socks for you to try at home. This really is the best free immune boost ever.

The Benefits of Wet Socks:

  • You get an awesome night’s sleep
  • Your body spikes an artificial fever which helps your body to kill any unwanted bugs like viruses or bacteria
  • Helps break up chest and sinus congestion
  • Elevated white blood cells which helps stop infections from taking hold
  • Quicker recovery from illnesses
  • All of this is free and you don’t have to take any pills

Working with your body and with your immune system in this way means that you increase your bug-resistance and can stop the early phases of viruses or bacteria in their tracks because your body goes on high alert quickly. It’s so simple and it’s so brilliant. Wet socks or “wet sock therapy” is a great, easy, free lifehack immune boost.



Natural Ways to Beat the Flu

Flu season is here and as you know I’m not a huge fan of the flu shot, but there are some great natural ways to beat the flu. The best strategy is always to not get it, but if you do get the flu then we can also work on reducing the severity of the symptoms.

What is The Flu and Why is It Such a Big Deal?

The flu is actually an illness caused by the influenza virus, which passes around through the human population every year. This virus is so tricky because it spreads easily through respiratory droplets (sneezing, coughing, breathing loudly) as well as through contact with frequently touched items like door handles, door knobs, store counters and credit card machines. The influenza virus happens to mutate incredibly easy and has groups of interchangeable parts so it can sort and re-sort itself in unpredictable ways.  It can also interchange parts with strains that cause disease in birds (avian flu) and farm animals (swine flu). All in all it’s unpredictable and causes a pretty severe set of symptoms in humans that also varies from year to year.  Each year the strains of flu that sweep through the population are slightly unpredictable, but we take our best guess at what might be out there and then make the vaccines against that.

How Can You Prevent the Flu Naturally for Yourself and Your Family?

The biggest and most important ways to prevent the flu are also the most basic (and the most overlooked)

  • Wash your hands frequently when you’re around lots of people, before every meal, and before touching your eyes, nose or mouth.
  • Cover your mouth when you sneeze, preferably sneezing into the crook of your elbow, count-dracula fashion so that your hands don’t get covered in germs to spread around.
  • Get good sleep – your immune system will stay so much stronger if you give your body enough time to sleep and the right sleep environment.
  • Stay hydrated – your immune system works best if your hydration status is good.
  • Cut down on the sugar – all simple sugars like table sugar, honey, agave nectar and fruit sugars decrease the ability of your neutrophils (a type of white blood cell) to respond to threats.  That means the more sweets you’re eating over the flu season, the less likely it is that your body can defend itself (more in the next couple of weeks!)
  • Homeopathic preparations of Influenzinum can be used to prep your body for flu season and help you to fight off the virus if you’re exposed.  Look for a 30C potency and take 3-5 pellets under your tongue once weekly. This is safe for kids and adults.
  • Good natural antivirals like elderberry syrup can really help to prevent the flu even if you’ve been exposed.  1 tbsp per day for adults under normal circumstances and if you know that you had a major exposure you can take a tablespoon every couple of hours.
  • All the good basic immune boosters like zinc, vitamin C, vitamin D, selenium, echinacea and colostrum can be used for flu as well, although they aren’t specific for the virus.

    Dracula Sneeze poster from the University of Arizona Health Services. The easiest way to beat the flu is to not get it.

    Dracula Sneeze poster from the University of Arizona Health Services. The easiest way to beat the flu is to not get it.

Natural Ways to Beat The Flu If You Have a Big Exposure

Yeah – your boss just came back to work after being out for an entire week and the first thing he did was cough on you. Great. Just great.  Not to worry, there are a few great things you can do to boost your immune system like crazy to hopefully keep the flu away.

  • No sugar – give your body a fighting chance to keep your immune system up and eliminate all sugar for 24-48 hours.  This includes table sugar, pastries, sweets, chocolate, honey, agave nectar, juices, fruit and sugars in other foods.
  • Dose up the elderberry – 1-2 tbsp every 2 hours that you’re awake
  • Aim for 10 hours of sleep. Nothing helps your immune system like sleep does.
  • Treat yourself to some at-home hydrotherapy like the wet sock treatment. If you haven’t heard me talk about this before – it’s AWESOME. This will be the entire topic of next week’s post. It’s just as crazy as it sounds and it’s also the best free immune boost out there.
  • Use some saline nasal rinse in a neti pot or just a regular nose spray and also a salt water gargle for your throat.  This helps to make these environments less friendly to the flu virus. If you can do this right after your exposure then all the better, but if not then do it in the evening when you get home and again the following morning.
  • If you have some at home, the natural flu remedy oscillococcinum from Boiron seems to be able to stop the flu in it’s tracks. Just one dose after an exposure should do, but if you tend to over think things then feel free to take a second dose after 24 hours.  1 tube should be enough to dose an entire family of 4.
  • Echinacea extract has been shown in studies to help prevent the flu, and with a known exposure you can take a dropper full of the liquid extract every couple of hours or 1-2 capsules every couple of hours for the first 24 hours.  If it doesn’t kick it after that then it isn’t going to.
  • You don’t have to do all of these, but try to really focus on supporting your body and giving it what it needs and use whatever tools you can. The most important things are avoiding sugars, sleeping and doing a good saline nasal rinse and gargle.  The supplements can be added in just depending on what you happen to have at home.




    Oscillococcinum from Boiron. A great tool in the flu-prevention kit.

    Oscillococcinum from Boiron. A great tool in the flu-prevention kit.

How To Beat the Flu Naturally Once You’ve Already Got It

You tried everything you could, but this year’s virus is a strong one and you came down with the flu anyway… Here’s how to handle it.

  • Take time off work. Most people know that when they have the fever and body aches and chills then it’s a good time to call in, but just in case.  Flu needs plenty of rest to heal and it can linger if you don’t rest up front so might as well enjoy just about the only benefit to the flu, which is a few days off of work.
  • Hydrate like you’ve never hydrated before.  Fevers burn off a lot of moisture and so does all of that mucus.  It is much easier to dehydrate when you’ve got the flu and much harder to fix it (plus being dehydrated gets in the way of your natural defense mechanisms and slows down your immune response).
  • Clean foods only – for a few days avoid the grains, dairy products and especially the sugar. Lots of chicken soup and simple to digest foods can be really helpful. If you don’t have an appetite then just focus on the water and liquids – broth can be tremendously helpful.
  • Sleep. Seriously sleep is a big part of when healing happens so sleep at night, sleep in the day, just sleep. You’re off work anyway – what could be better than falling asleep in front of a Seinfeld marathon?
  • Elderberry syrup can shorten the duration of the flu by 24-48 hours (which is about what tamiflu® will do as well). 2 tbsp three times daily for an adult.
  • Manage the symptoms.  The congestion and stuffiness that can come with the flu gets better with NAC 600 mg between every meal.  The body aches are helped by a hot bath with epsom salts, natural anti-inflammatories like turmeric or ibuprophen if you tend in that direction.
  • Fever is generally a good thing because it’s one of the ways your immune system kills viruses, but if it starts to get too high (which is rare with the flu) then take something like acetaminophen or a tepid bath to reduce the fever.  My idea of too high in an adult would be 103-104* but figure out what your feelings are about it and stick to that.
  • Call your mom or dad if you can. Really nothing makes you feel better when you’re sick than talking with someone beloved.

Next week we’ll talk about wet socks because that one always makes people curious. All in all just take good care of yourself this flu season and if you do get the flu, don’t panic.  Just look at it as a forced relaxation – sometimes your body needs that. The best natural ways to beat the flu really are the simple things like keeping a good diet, good hygiene and getting good sleep.



Is Consumerism Killing you? Cash Register Receipts are Toxic.

There are plenty of problems with consumerism, but this one is reasonably unanticipated – because register receipts are toxic.  In terms of neutral substances that I am not likely to consider harmful, paper generally ranks high on the list.  The problem with thermal receipts is that it’s paper that is coated with massive amounts of BPA as a developing agent for the print. According to a University of Missouri – Columbia study, this issue is compounded by using hand sanitizer, creams or lotions before you touch a receipt. We’ll talk about that more in a second, but let’s cover the basics first.  Also remember the new substitute for BPA, BPS,  is TOXIC!

What is BPA?

According to Frederick vom Saal, Curators Professor of Biological Sciences in the College of Arts and Science at MU, “BPA first was developed by a biochemist and tested as an artificial estrogen supplement,” apparently, having been declined for medical use, the manufacturer found industrial uses for it.  BPA (or it’s little sister BPS) is now used to make plastics soft, but the estrogenic effects are still there. BPA and BPS are most commonly found in:

  • Store and restaurant receipts
  • Airline tickets
  • ATM receipts
  • Plastic bottles and food containers
  • Linings of cans for canned food
  • Baby bottles
  • Dental composits

Many plastic water bottles currently available are proudly labeled “BPA FREE!” but that’s misleading, because they just substituted BPA for BPS which has the same endocrine disrupting effects. And obviously, the BPA hasn’t been taken out of anything that isn’t consumable – like the toxic register receipts.

BPA free is a load of B(p)S! And because of BPA register receipts are toxic

BPA free is a load of B(p)S! And because of BPA register receipts are toxic.

What Does BPA Do To Humans?

BPA has strong estrogen effects. It has also been shown to alter signaling mechanisms involving hormones. Excess estrogen is strongly implicated in obesity, mood disorders, hormone disorders and infertility, breast and prostate cancer. Not to mention reproductive harm to fetuses – meaning exposure to BPA in utero may lead to reproductive problems for that child when they grow up.  Seriously – if they can harm your unborn child, then register receipts are TOXIC.




How Much BPA do You Get From Touching Register Receipts?

This research study tried to establish a feel for how much BPA is absorbed with normal shopping behavior.  Subjects BPA levels were tested before and after handling register receipts when the subject had previously used a skin product like hand sanitizer or lotion. Their levels were also tested after handling register receipts and then eating fries. The results? BPA is absorbed very rapidly in these conditions, which mimic normal human shopping.  Vom Saal, the primary researcher, went on to say:

“Our research found that large amounts of BPA can be transferred to your hands and then to the food you hold and eat as well as be absorbed through your skin. BPA exhibits hormone-like properties and has been proven to cause reproductive defects in fetuses, infants, children and adults as well as cancer, metabolic and immune problems in rodents. BPA from thermal papers will be absorbed into your blood rapidly; at those levels, many diseases such as diabetes and disorders such as obesity increase as well. Use of BPA or other similar chemicals that are being used to replace BPA in thermal paper pose a threat to human health.”

The press release from MU can be found here.  I have to say, I feel a little weird that we live in a world where register receipts are toxic. These things in our environment that we come into contact with on a near-daily basis shouldn’t be implicated in things like cancer and fetal reproductive defects.  The important thing is knowing as a consumer how to protect yourself because clearly we can’t rely on our government doing it for us. Make sure you handle receipts, airline tickets and ATM printouts as minimally as possible and never after you have put on hand sanitizer or lotion.  Also wash your hands before eating to make sure BPA you have touched doesn’t make it into your food. After all, if something as simple as a register receipt is toxic, just think of all the other things you come into contact with.



Johns Hopkins Scientist -Shocking Report on Flu Vaccines |REALfarmacy.com | Healthy News and Information

Just a quick update – great information on the hype surrounding the flu vaccine.

Johns Hopkins Scientist Reveals Shocking Report on Flu Vaccines |REALfarmacy.com | Healthy News and Information.



The Best Alzheimer’s Supplements

The last post talked a lot about healthy-living strategies for Alzheimer’s prevention, but it’s also important to know about the best Alzheimer’s supplements – especially when there are so many products to choose from. There is a limited body of research for natural supplements in Alzheimer’s disease, but some of the strategies are promising, and could often be used alongside conventional drugs for memory loss and dementia.

Ketogenic diet, Coconut Oil and MCTs

Perhaps the best known alternative therapy for Alzheimer’s disease, these three therapies are just different ways of skinning the same cat.  The theory behind this therapy is that while your body can use many fuel sources, your brain is limited to glucose, or sugar, as a fuel.  In order for your cells, including your brain cells to use sugar they have to be able to respond effectively to insulin signaling.  If your diet has always been a little higher in sugars or starches, or if you have a genetic tendency towards blood sugar abnormalities including diabetes then you may not have good insulin signaling.  The first sign of this is usually something called metabolic syndrome or insulin resistance.  Insulin resistance is the first step along the path towards both diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.

Coconut oil or MCT oil - one of the best supplements for Alzheimer's disease. Photo by Aravind Sivaraj.

Coconut oil or MCT oil – one of the best supplements for Alzheimer’s disease. Photo by Aravind Sivaraj.

In good news, even if your insulin signaling isn’t so good, there is a back-door to brain fuel, which allows you to bypass both glucose and insulin.  This back-door is called ketones. Ketones are made when your body breaks down fats for fuel instead of sugar and they can feed your brain even when glucose can’t. Ketogenic diets have been used to help children with epilepsy that is uncontrolled by drugs alone to reduce their seizure frequency and evidence with Alzheimer’s suggests that this could potentially be a good diet for neuroprotection in general.  Ketogenic diets generally have a 4:1or 3:1 ratio of good dietary fats: proteins and carbohydrates (including starches and sugar) combined.  There are urine test strips, called keto-strips, that you can use to test your urine to see if your body is in ketosis. Obviously this isn’t the easiest diet to maintain long-term so using fats that are more ketogenic, like coconut oil or MCT, can help.

Coconut oil is unique in that it contains a high proportion of a type of fat called medium chain triglycerides, or MCTs.  Most of the fats that we eat in our diet are made of long-chain triglycerides, but the shorter MCTs are more efficient for your body to convert into ketones, and so are more able to fuel your brain if glucose isn’t working. If a full ketogenic  diet is too difficult then using raw coconut oil, or the extracted MCTs from coconut oil can help boost your brain power.  In fact, five tablespoons of coconut oil or MCT oil spread out through the day is one of the best Alzheimer’s disease supplements that we know of. In fact a pilot study published recently in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease indicated that neurons treated with amyloid-beta (which induces the changes of Alzhimer’s disease) were actually protected by the addition of coconut oil.

Antioxidants – Some of the Best Alzheimer’s Supplements Around

One of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease is extensive oxidative stress throughout the brain and neurological system. This includes the typical free radical formation, as well as protein and lipid oxidation (which means free radicals steal electrons from proteins and fats), DNA oxidation (scary thought – stealing electrons from your genes), and neuron death. Many antioxidants have been studied (here, here, here and many other places too) to help prevent or reverse this type of damage including:

We should all age so well. The best Alzheimer's supplements for this Female Buddhist lay rununciant at en:Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia (January 2005). Photo by Peter Rimar.

We should all age so well. The best Alzheimer’s supplements for this Female Buddhist lay rununciant at en:Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia (January 2005). Photo by Peter Rimar.

  • CoQ10 – This substance acts as an antioxidant and also stimulates energy production at a cellular level. Not only that, it helps protect your heart.
  • Vitamin E – especially the gamma-tocopherol form, which is more fat soluble and crosses into the brain more effectively.
  • Ferulic acid – this is a phenolic compound found in flax seeds, coffee beans, apples, artichokes, peanuts, fennel and other plants. It is a strong anti-oxidant and in animal studies has shown direct effects against breast and liver cancer.
  • Polyphenols – including quercetin (from many foods) and resveratrol (from red grapes or red wine). These are good anti-inflammatories and anti-oxidants.
  • Alpha-lipoic acid – this fat-soluble (so brain-friendly) antioxidant will also help to lower blood sugars so that makes it one of the best Alzheimer’s supplements out there. It’s a double-whammy.
  • N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) – this amino acids helps your body to recycle glutathione, which is your master antioxidant. It also helps to break up mucus and congestion, which can also be helpful in an elderly population.
  • EGCG – this is the most-researched antioxidant from green tea and has shown benefits to brain health, heart health and aging generally.
  • Curcumin – this strong anti-inflammatory from turmeric has shown a tremendous preventative effect in Alzheimer’s disease and helps to protect your brain from oxidative damage as well as inflammatory changes.
  • Melatonin – this is your natural sleep hormone, which has the added bonus of helping Alzheimer’s patients to sleep more soundly – which is usually one of the worst issues for both caregivers and patients in late-stage Alzheimer’s disease.



The research evidence shows that each one alone has significant benefits, but that combining a variety of different antioxidants is the best strategy for Alzheimer’s disease.  My favorite combination of supplements to start with would be alpha-lipoic acid 600 mg per day (take this one with food because the blood sugar drop on an empty stomach can be significant), CoQ10 400 IUs, and an antioxidant combo with vitamin A, E, and C in it at the minimum but look for some of the others as well.  Also a cup or two of green tea daily and melatonin, 3-20 mg at night for sleep. Of course you should talk with your doctor before starting this or any other suggestion.

Magnesium for Alzheimer’s Disease

Magnesium levels in the brain help to increase the density and plasticity of brain synapses. This means your brain cells can connect to each other more frequently and with more flexibility – changing more effectively as you learn new skills. Unfortunately keeping magnesium levels high in the brain, or even in the body, can be a challenge with modern diets – here is my recent post on Magnesium in general.  There are a couple of types of magnesium that might help with this:

  • Magnesium threonate – has been shown to be effective in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s.  It improved brain levels of magnesium and prevented and reversed cognitive defects as well as synaptic loss. This form of magnesium is taken orally so the dose is limited by bowel tolerance because any magnesium that you take orally will cause loose stools if the dose is higher than your body can absorb at one time.
  • Magnesium Oil – this form of magnesium, which is usually magnesium chloride, is applied topically so there is no trouble with the bowel tolerance issue.  There aren’t any research studies specifically about topical magnesium in Alzheimer’s disease, but logically this could be a good addition to the magnesium threonate to help restore magnesium in the brain and body. Magnesium oil can be applied several times per day and allows magnesium to absorb directly through the skin. Use caution on cuts or scrapes (or newly shaved skin) because it burns like salt water would.

Huperzine A – Best Alzheimer’s Supplement mimicking drug activity

Huperzine A, which is an Alzheimer’s drug in China, is sold over the counter in the US as a nutritional supplement.  It is a plant sourced compound that has strong acetylcholinesterase inhibiting activity in the brain – just like the most common class of drug used to treat Alzheimers, which are cholinesterase inhibitors. This includes the drugs Aricept, Exelon, Razadyne, Cognex and Namenda. Huperzine A has also shown neuroprotective effects as well as the surprising ability to reduce iron levels in the brain – and this may also be beneficial in Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s Disease is debilitating and tragic, but there is so much we can do to both prevent it as well as to slow down the progression. The products that I consider to be the best supplements for Alzheimer’s  is not a complete list of everything out there, but they are the supplements that I feel have the most credible research behind them.  As a starting place the lifestyle steps in the prevention article should be priority one, followed by the addition of useful supplements including  coconut oil, a mix of antioxidants, magnesium and huperzine A.  Above all, it is helpful to work with a practitioner who can help to guide you in these times and make sure any supplements or nutritional changes you make will work well with any pharmaceutical medicines you are taking.



Protect Your Brain – Seven Things You Can Do To Prevent Alzheimer’s

Learning to prevent Alzheimer’s is a topic near and dear to my heart, simply because I have seen exactly how destructive it can be to both those who are struggling with it and to their family. There is a common misconception that Alzheimer’s will neatly eat away at your memory and leave other things intact, but it actually degrades your brain globally destroying memory, personality, skills and social functions. Alzheimer’s destroys everything about the person in a slow, systematic downhill slide.  It’s horrible for the person who is struggling and equally hard for their loved ones. Nobody knows exactly what causes Alzheimer’s disease, but there are clearly both genetic and lifestyle components. The great news is that there are many steps you can take to keep your brain healthy and sharp into old age.  There is no guarantee that you will be protected, but certainly you can reduce your risk.

Alzheimer's disease brain comparison

Normal brain (left) vs. Alzheimer’s brain (right). Notice the similarities between these pictures and the alcoholic brain pictures below.

Proven Measures to Prevent Alzheimer’s: The Seven Foundations of Good Health.

1. Active body

  • Physical exercise reduces your risk of Alzheimer’s dementia by 50% – that is a dramatic difference. Also, if cognitive decline has already started then getting more exercise can slow to progress of the condition.
  • Aim for 30 minutes of activity that increases your heart rate (or aerobic activity) 5 times per week.
  • Building strong muscles helps maintain brain health as well. Adding 2-3 sessions of resistance exercise like lifting weights not only increases muscle mass but also makes your brain healthier.
  • Exercises or activities that increase balance and coordination such as tai-chi, yoga, qi gong, or even stand up paddle boarding can help your brain to develop new connections, strengthen your body and even prevent head injury, which is also a contributor to Alzheimer’s and other forms of memory loss.

2. Active Mind

  • It makes sense that exercising the brain will help to keep it stronger and more active as you age.
  • Learn something new, take up a new hobby, or try strategy games, puzzles, riddles or memory games.
  • Do the same old thing in a different way – take a new driving route to the grocery store, try writing with the other hand or rearrange your kitchen.  Doing something a new way pushes your brain to create new neural pathways.

3. Active Social Life

  • Research shows that the more connected you are to your social group and to other people, the more likely it is that you will do well on test of memory and cognition.
  • It is easier with age to become more socially isolated so take care to cultivate and maintain healthy friendships and relationships.
  • If you are in a position with a recent move or transition out of the work force and don’t have great social connections then it is time to build some. Volunteer, take night classes, join a club or social group, visit a community or senior center, get out and about, or get a small part time fun job.

4. Healthy Diet

  • Alzheimer’s is highly linked to heart disease so adopting a heart-healthy diet will also help you to prevent Alzheimer’s long term. It is also highly linked to diabetes, so managing healthy blood sugars in key in keeping your brain functioning at its best.
  • Eat plenty of good quality fats and oils like olive oil, grass fed butter, fish oil, coconut oil and avocados.  Decrease the amount of fatty or processed meats, shortening, and especially trans fats.
  • Increase the amount of vegetables and fruits that you eat every day especially the darkly or richly pigmented veggies and fruits like blueberries, pomegranate, beets, carrots, raspberries, elderberry, and blackberry.
  • Minimize the candy, cookies, sweets and also breads in the diet.  Alzheimer’s is closely related to diabetes and involves an insulin-resistance within the brain itself so it is important that you maintain healthy blood sugar levels.
  • Eat small amounts regularly – for brain health, 4-5 small meals daily is better than 2-3 larger ones.
  • A daily cup of green tea has also been shown to reduce your risk and promote brain health.




5. Healthy Sleep

  •  Sleep can be a struggle with age so it is important to create a good sleep environment. Make sure to use good sleep hygiene with a totally dark room, no background noise and a regular sleep schedule.
  • Use melatonin if you have difficulty falling asleep or sleep lightly. Melatonin by itself has shown great benefit in protecting the health and function of the brain so this could be a double-whammy.  Also in a senior population melatonin at high dose, like 20 mg nightly,  is safe and possibly advisable because research is showing benefits with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
  • The average person needs 8 hours of sleep to peak creativity and productivity.

6. Healthy Stress Levels

  • Every life has challenges, but worrying has never actually solved any of them.
  • Undue levels of stress create changes in your body that then change your mental functioning.
  • Breathe – stress reduces the amount of oxygen in your brain, so deep belly breathing for a few minutes a couple of times a day can help to re-oxygenate and re-energize your brain.

7. Stop With the Self-Harm.

  • Avoiding some of the major triggers of Alzheimer’s disease will obviously keep you protected longer.
  • Quit smoking – smoking has been shown to lead to earlier onset of dementia.
  • Drink in moderation – excessive alcohol also speeds up the onset of memory loss and dementia, some of which is entirely alcohol related.

    Normal brain vs. an alcoholic's brain. Notice any similarities to the Alzheimer's brain pictures? Drinking only in moderation helps you prevent Alzheimer's disease.

    Normal brain vs. an alcoholic’s brain. Notice any similarities to the Alzheimer’s brain pictures? Drinking only in moderation helps you prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

  • Protect your noggin – head injury is strongly linked to Alzheimer’s and protecting your head can help your brain to stay sharp.

As the US population ages the rates of Alzheimer’s disease are rising.  Protect your brain and adopt an anti-Alzheimer’s lifestyle.  It is literally never too late to make positive change – even if it’s walking around the block every day. There is always something you can do to change your health and well being and to change your disease risk – you can delay or even prevent Alzheimer’s even if you have a family history of the disease. Look to future posts to talk about some of the supplements and specific activities that can be helpful for Alzheimer’s disease.



Grain Brain - a Great Resource to help you go gluten free easily

Gluten Free Easily, Thanks to Grain Brain

I’ve been gluten free for about seven years now and it’s made a tremendous difference in my life, but I can’t really say it was easy – especially at first.  Honestly, I really just wish I’d had Kristen Loberg and David Perlmutter’s book Grain Brain. Not so much for the information about gluten and your brain – honestly at that point in my life I didn’t care what it was doing to my brain, I just wanted my joints to stop hurting (great success, by the way). But the problem was, that it wasn’t easy at all to find the gluten hiding in things. Because due to some inconvenient labeling, they don’t just say “gluten” – in fact they work really really hard NOT to say “gluten” so thanks so much to grain brain for these great tools to make gluten free easy.

I am sharing this information from Grain Brain, simply because I so wish it had been around in such a clear way when I was starting out. This will help you to go gluten free easily. Or at least with fewer accidental gluten episodes.

Grains and starches which contain gluten:

  • Barley
  • Bulgur
  • Couscous
  • Farina
  • Graham flour
  • Kamut
  • Matzo
  • Rye
  • Semolina
  • Spelt
  • Triticale
  • Wheat
  • Wheat germ
  • Wheat grass (I’m including it here because although there is some debate about whether or not it contains enough gluten to trigger a reaction, it most certainly triggers a reaction in me – so count this one as a just-in-case)

Gluten-Free Grains and Starches (Stick to This List and You’ll be Fine!)

  • Amaranth
  • Arrowroot
  • Buckwheat (Best. Pancakes. Ever.)
  • Corn
  • Millet
  • Potato
  • Quinoa
  • Rice
  • Sorghum
  • Soy
  • Tapioca
  • Teff

These Prepared Foods Often Contain Hidden Gluten:

  • Canned baked beans (sigh. Camp food.)
  • Beer
  • Blue cheese
  • Bouillons/broths that are premade
  • Breaded foods
  • Cereals (not so hidden in this one – but even the ones that claim to be “rice” or “corn” are often a mix)
  • Chocolate milk (store bought, not home-made)
  • Cold cuts (weird that those aren’t just meat.)
  • Communion wafers
  • Egg substitute (sigh)
  • Energy bars
  • Flavored coffees and teas
  • French fries (apparently often dusted with flour before freezing, but it usually isn’t listed on the label)
  • Fried vegetables/tempura
  • Fruit fillings and puddings
  • Gravy
  • Hot dogs
  • Ice cream (eek!!! Thank god Hagen Daz makes some really clean ones.)
  • Imitation crabmeat, bacon, etc…
  • Instant hot drinks
  • Ketchup
  • Malt, malt flavoring, malt vinegar, hydrolized malt extract
  • Marinades or pre-marinated meat
  • Mayonnaise
  • Pre-made meatballs or meatloaf
  • Non-dairy creamer
  • Oatmeal, oat bran or oats unless certified gluten free
  • Processed cheese (easy-melt, velveeta – this means queso! Arg!!)
  • Roasted nuts (why? why?)
  • Root beer
  • Salad dressings
  • Sausage
  • Seitan
  • Soups (store bought – no worries if you’re cooking at home)
  • Soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, Bragg’s liquid aminos  (try coconut aminos – they’re delicious)
  • Syrups
  • Tabbouleh
  • Trail mix
  • Veggie burgers
  • Vodka (blarg. The good news is that there are several great gluten free vodkas – one of which is Texas’ own Tito’s Handmade Vodka, which is 100% corn. Also Ciroc Ultra Premium Vodka, which is 100% from grapes, and Smironff Vodka, which is also 100% corn.)
  • Wheatgrass
  • Wine coolers




    Grain Brain - a Great Resource to help you go gluten free easily

    Grain Brain – a Great Resource to help you go gluten free easily

Non-Food Sources of Gluten

  • Makeup
  • Lipstick and lip balm
  • Medications (sigh. Check the package insert)
  • Play-Doh
  • Shampoo and conditioner
  • Vitamins and supplements (also check the label – the good ones don’t have it.)
  • Volumizing hair products
  • Dog biscuits (hopefully you’re not eating these, but for some people – one dear friend included – even handling them is enough to trigger a reaction)

Secret Names for Gluten (Hidden Gluten in Food)

  • Amino peptide complex
  • Avena sativa (this should be wild oats, but sometimes it’s wild whatever-grass-they-happen-to-grab)
  • Brown rice syrup
  • Caramel color (often made from barley)
  • Cyclodextrin, dextrin, maltodextrin (could also be from corn)
  • Fermented grain extract
  • Hordeum distichon or Hordeum vulgare (I’ve never stumbled across these words, but apparently they’re types of grasses).
  • Hydrolysate
  • Hydrolyzed vegetable protein, textured vegetable protein, vegetable protein, HVP, TVP.
  • Modified food starch
  • Natural flavoring (this is in everything)
  • Phytosphingosine extract
  • Secale cereale
  • Soy protein (!!)
  • Triticum aestivum and Triticum vulgare
  • Yeast extract

The Biggest Tip to Going Gluten Free Easily

The biggest thing you can do to make sure you’re gluten free is to only shop on the outer edge of the grocery store – fruits, veggies, meats, and most dairy are typically pretty gluten-free.  I head into the aisle part for things like nuts, cleaning products, pickles and pickled veggies, the occasional GF baking mix, and paper products and that’s about it. Of course this means I cook at home a lot, but it also means that my body feels better every day because I’m not getting the gluten that causes so much inflammation.

Going gluten free is always a big change, because as you can see there are a shocking number of things that we come in contact with every day that have gluten in them outside of the obvious bread, cookies, cakes, crackers and pasta. Hopefully thanks to Grain Brain you can do gluten free easily and start out with fewer accidental gluten-ings.



Do I need the flu shot? Great picture from © Shannon Matteson | Dreamstime Stock Photos

Do I Need the Flu Shot? Facts about Flu Vaccine, Including Dog Ingredients.

We’re coming up on back-to-school season, which means the start of flu season so the biggest question I’m hearing at the office is “do I need the flu shot?” It’s a great question, and I can’t answer it for you specifically, but I can give you some facts about the flu vaccine, the FluMist® nasal spray and also some natural alternatives to the flu shot so that you can make the best decision possible for you. Just make sure you read down to the part about dog proteins (eek!!!)

What is the Flu Vaccine? The Basics

The flu vaccine or nasal mist is typically tiny doses of the actual flu virus that has been weakened or “killed,” depending on the vaccine type, so that your immune system can respond without you actually having to get the flu.  There are several forms from several manufacturers. These are mostly “trivalent” which means there are three different strains of flu, and “quatrivalent” meaning four strains.  According to the CDC the 2014-2015 trivalent vaccine will have:

  • an A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus
  • an A/Texas/50/2012 (H3N2)-like virus
  • a B/Massachusetts/2/2012-like virus.

The quadrivalent form will add B virus (B/Brisbane/60/2008-like virus). There are three broad categories of Influenza vaccines, depending on the way they are produced. Each form has it’s own strengths and weaknesses. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website, these types are:

IIV or Inactivated Influenza Vaccine:

As the name suggests, these vaccinations contain an inactivated form of the virus so they can not give you influenza. These are all injected only. The trivalent form has been used clinically before, but this is the first year for the quadrivalent form, so there isn’t as much safety data on that one. This does contain egg ingredients so watch for egg allergies and it is not safe for infants under 6 months. This is the oldest type of influenza vaccine and so has the most safety and clinical data.

RIV or Recombinant Influenza Vaccine:

This vaccine is extremely new technology and has not been on the market until this flu season.  It does not use eggs anywhere in it’s production and so is safe for those with egg allergy.  Uniquely, it also does not use the actual influenza virus, but is rather a lab-altered insect virus called baculovirus. Because this is new technology it has only been approved for those between the ages of 18 to 49 years old and not enough data is available to pregnant women, nursing mothers, children or adults over 50 years of age. This new technology is marketed as Flublok®

Live, Attenuated Influenza Vaccine or LAIV:

This is administered as a nasal mist, called FluMist® and is actually the live virus, that has been weakened so that it is extremely unlikely to cause the flu, but can generate a strong immune response. Because this actually contains live virus is shouldn’t be given to anyone with family members who are immune-supressed or immune deficient, or people with medical conditions that make them more at risk for serious complications of the flu. This form also isn’t suitable for pregnant women. This is approved for people over the age of 2 and under the age of 50. The most common side effect of this vaccine is runny or congested nose, and in kiddos age 2 through 6 years old there can be a fever after the vaccine. This also shouldn’t be given to children or adolescents who are taking aspirin or other salicylates because there is a risk of a condition called Reyes Syndrome.

Any vaccine, whether it’s delivered as an injection or not, can cause symptoms or adverse events. There is a hotline to report any adverse events to the appropriately named Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting Service (VAERS) 1-800-822-7967or you can visit their website to report an event. There is also a National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) you can get more information at 1-800-338-2382.




Do I need the flu shot? Great picture from © Shannon Matteson | Dreamstime Stock Photos

Do I need the flu shot? Great picture from © Shannon Matteson | Dreamstime Stock Photos

What is the Success Rate of the Flu Vaccine?

First off, every year the vaccine is different so we don’t know for the 2014 flu shot, but we can get a ballpark idea from previous years vaccines. An important fact to remember is that the flu vaccine only protects from the actual influenza virus (and only if they get the right strains in the shot), but there are many other viruses that can create “influenza-like-illnesses” that it’s still entirely possible to get something that looks and feels like the flu, it just isn’t. There are two factors that determine how well the flu shot works every year and one of them is how well the vaccine matches the actual strains that people get. The other is how healthy you are as a whole person (we’ll talk about that in just a minute). The CDC says:

“At least two factors play an important role in determining the likelihood that flu vaccine will protect a person from flu illness: 1) characteristics of the person being vaccinated (such as their age and health), and 2) the similarity or “match” between the flu viruses the flu vaccine is designed to protect against and the flu viruses spreading in the community.”

Effectiveness is difficult to determine from the research, or at least difficult to decode if you’re not a researcher or a statistician. In terms of general effectiveness the best study I found was published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases in 2012. This study says that the flu shot is 59% effective in preventing the flu, which sounds amazing.  Except that when you do the math, it’s less amazing and more just meh. In a normal population about 2.7 out of every 100 people will get the flu in any given year.  This study shows that if those 100 people get vaccinated then only 1.2 out of those 100 people will get the flu (and going from 2.7% to 1.2% is 59% risk reduction). So… It’s not actually tricky math, it’s just that 59% sounds WAY better than saving 1.5 people out of every 100 people vaccinated from the flu. That just sounds mediocre at best.

This study published by Vanderbilt University Medical Center about the 2010 – 2011 flu season inspected adults who were hospitalized for influenza-like illness. All of those people were tested to see if it was actually the flu, or another virus and also tested to see if they had evidence of the flu shot.  Out of  169 cases admitted to the hospital who had their vaccine status confirmed there were 17 actual flu cases, the other 152 cases were other viruses with the same symptoms. Of the 17 flu cases 11 were not vaccinated and 6 were vaccinated, making the flu shot 71% effective at preventing hospitalizations.  This is because in the vaccinated group there were less than half the number of cases than in the non-vaccinated group (but notably still a fair number of cases). It seems reasonable to point out that this study was funded by the Center for Disease Control.

Obviously the flu shot reduces risk, but doesn’t prevent the flu entirely and doesn’t even prevent hospitalization entirely. Of course, nothing works 100% of the time, but given the amount of hype there is every year about flu shots I would love for this information to be more exciting than lukewarm.

Are there Allergy Risks with the Various Types of Flu Shot or FluMist® Nasal Spray?

Yes.  Vaccines in general contain many ingredients. The most up to date list I was able to find on the CDC website was for the 2013 flu shot and included a number of potentially allergenic ingredients including:

  • Thimersol (mercury)
  • Egg protein
  • Antibiotics including neomycin sulphate, polymyxin-B, gentamycin sulphate, polymyxin,
  • Formaldehyde
  • MSG
  • Polysorbate 20, polysorbate 80,
  • Hydrocortisone
  • EDTA
  • Gelatin or hydrolized porcine gelatin (sorry if you’re kosher or halal) and most distressing, the Madin Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) cell protein and DNA. I’m presuming that’s exactly what it sounds like – dog kidney. This probably isn’t a big deal  health-wise, it’s really just high up on my creepy factor.

Please note that not every vaccine contains all of these ingredients.  The ingredient list for the 2013 vaccines is here.  The Institute for Vaccine Safety at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health has a complete breakdown of what each additional ingredient is used for here.  Here is the complete breakdown of mercury and egg protein for the 2014-2015 vaccinations from the CDC. In general the package insert should have the complete ingredient list for the exact vaccine you’re getting so always ask to see it to verify the ingredients before you get the injection.

In addition to distressing chemical ingredients including thimersol (mercury), aluminum, phenol and MSG, your flu vaccine may also contain animal ingredients from egg, pork or more alarmingly from dog.

What Is the Truth About Mercury and Chemicals in the Flu Shot?

In 2001 the use of the mercury-based preservative thimersol was discouraged from childhood vaccines because generally injecting mercury into children seems a bad idea, but it can still be used in multi-dose vials of the influenza vaccine.   For the 2014-2015 influenza vaccine there are single-dose vials available that are thimersol free and also the FluMist nasal spray is thimersol free. Thimersol is highly controversial and a more complete history of it’s use, safety and recent prohibition can be found here. According to the CDC vaccines also often contain a number of somewhat alarming ingredients including aluminum, phenol, antibiotics, egg protein, MSG and formaldehyde in small amounts. Honestly, I’m still stuck at dog protein, but given that I’m allergic to MSG and no huge fan of aluminum or formaldehyde it’s possible that those should be bothering me more right now. But dog proteins. Really?!?

Can the Flu shot protect me from heart attack?

Surprisingly, it can.  People with severe heart disease are more at risk of dying from influenza or its severe complications including pneumonia, respiratory failure and heart attack.  According to the Mayo Clinic, getting the flu shot can help to prevent flu, which may help you to prevent a heart attack as well. Also, even if you do get the flu after having the vaccination, you are more likely to have a milder flu with less severe complications. A huge research study confirmed this, showing that the risk of major cardiac events in the unvaccinated high-risk population was 4.7% vs 2.9% in the vaccinated group.  Essentially in this population being vaccinated against the flu cuts the risk of having a major cardiac event almost in half because major cardiac events can be triggered by the flu virus.  Not having a heart attack is actually a really big deal and a great reason to get a flu shot.

Is the Flu Shot a Good Idea for Pregnant Women?

Pregnancy is certainly a riskier time to get the flu. Pregnant women are more likely to develop more severe symptoms if they do get the flu, and according to the CDC high fevers caused by the flu can actually lead to birth defects in the unborn child. Also getting a flu shot during pregnancy gives both the mother and the fetus protection against the flu, and the fetus can retain that protection for up to 6 months after birth. Since the flu can be fatal for newborns this may be a compelling reason for pregnant women to consider the vaccination in spite of the additional ingredients.

Is There a Natural Alternative to the Flu Shot?

There is a homeopathic preparation of influenza that has been used historically.  Public records of the homeopathic influenzinum as a preventative were not kept, but there is historical information for other homeopathic vaccinations.  According to an article by homeopath Patty Smith-Verspoor,  in one case using homeopathic meningitis virus for 18,640 children during an outbreak only 4 cases of actual infection were reported (0.0002%).  Also in the flu epidemic of 1818-1819 homeopathic MDs who treated using this form of medicine lost less than 1% of their patients, while the death rate for conventional medicine was 30%. Research evidence isn’t present for flu prevention, but a study published in 2013 gives evidence that homeopathic flu virus does induce cellular and immunological changes to cells in a lab. No matter the lack of modern research,  the historic use is compelling.  The homeopathic influenzinum may be a useful tool in flu prevention

So Do I Need The Flu Shot?

The accurate answer is that this is a question only you and your doctor can answer accurately.  Clearly the benefits outweigh the risks if you are at risk for serious heart disease because not having a heart attack can be life-saving. Everything else is such a personal decision and depends so much on your medical history, your risk factors and your overall health as well as what risk you feel the additives will be to your body (if any).  The best answer is get all the information you can and have a serious, informed talk with your physician about it. Learn everything you can and ask your physician, who knows your health history, “do I need the flu shot?”.

What Else Can I do to Protect Myself From the Flu?

Helping the health of your body as a whole not only helps protect you from the flu, but also makes the flu shot more effective if you do decide to get it. This means eating balanced meals regularly with fruits and veggies and lean proteins and good fats and not as much starch or sugar as you might typically get. It also means getting rest, drinking water, exercising and generally being a healthy human.  I know, it’s not as glamorous as dog protein, but it’s also not made of DOG. Also good flu season habits are covering coughs, washing your hands often and especially before eating and trying to avoid sick people. Some natural supplements that can help to boost your protection against viruses specifically are colostrum and elderberry syrup.

Generally I have to apologize for all the links, but vaccines are a huge issue and it’s important to have reliable information so you can make the best decisions for you and your family. If you’re asking the question “do I need the flu shot?” maybe this will help you to feel better about your choices, and also give you some data to bring to your doctor’s office when you have the conversation with them. Also, I’m writing an article about vaccines for the awesome Austin Fit magazine so I’ll link to that here as soon as it’s available.