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Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO) and Diet

November 7, 2013

I just returned from speaking about diet and nutrition at the 5th Annual Patient Day at the Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation’s conference on NMO. Again, it was inspiring for me to meet and connect with the brave folks battling this rare autoimmune disease.

Us autoimmune disorders have to stick together! In fact, many with NMO were originally misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis before having NMO confirmed by an NMO antibody test. Since MS pharmaceutical therapies can actually harm those with NMO, it is worthwhile for those with questions to get the IgG blood test and find out for sure.

One of the common symptoms of NMO, along with optic neuritis; weakness, numbness or partial paralysis of limbs; or shooting or tingling pain in neck, back, or abdomen, is bowel and digestive tract distress.

If there’s any group of sufferers that is in dire need of dietary guidance, this is it!

My sessions focused on cleaning up your diet by avoiding toxins and contaminants in our food supply, including The Scary Seven and GMOs, and generalized advice on adopting an anti-inflammatory diet.

Any issue that has inflammation at the root will benefit from an anti-inflammatory diet. Think about it: if you are inflamed –either internally or visibly– and you remove the stimuli that are found to cause you inflammation, then you will become less inflamed and will feel better.

Of course, the best anti-inflammatory diet is one that is custom-designed for your body using state-of-the-art scientific analysis of your blood (MRT) and urine (enzyme urinalysis). That’s what I do in my therapeutic dietary clinic with my clients all over the country.

I look forward to working with many more NMO patients in the future and helping them sort out the best anti-inflammatory diet approach for them.

GuthyJackson2013 — The annual group photo of the NMO patients gathered in Los Angeles for the 5th NMO Patient Day hosted by the Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation.

Label Genetically Altered Foods: It’s the Right Thing To Do

October 31, 2013

If you live in Washington State, you sit at an historic crossroads with I-522, the GMO labeling initiative.

The opponents of I-522 have spent almost $22 million to deny you of your right to know – more has been spent trying to defeat this than ever for any other ballot initiative in Washington State.

The state attorney general charges that the NO on I-522 campaign has illegally concealed more money than any other group ever accused of violating Washington’s campaign finance laws.

If Genetically Modified foods are so great, why wouldn’t manufacturers want to trumpet that from the label?

Without labeling, we will be kept in the dark about the contents of our foods. A victory for I-522, on the other hand, will likely spread GMO labeling across the country pretty quickly.

Don’t believe the lies that $22 million is purchasing on the airwaves. Vote YES on I-522.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx9UabCl55M&feature=youtu.be

How to Survive an Influx of Halloween Candy… Without Losing Your Sanity

October 29, 2013

Halloween is just days away and so is the annual haul of candy that my kids will bring home from their night of traipsing around the neighborhood. All that junk!

Our neighborhood is a Halloween magnet with people driving in from all around to trick-or-treat there. It’s a great time for costume-spotting, admiring Jack-o-Lanterns and Halloween decorations, and doing Halloween right, but the candy part of this tradition can be tiresome.

In the olden days, people offered homemade treats on Halloween like candied apples, sticky puffed rice balls, or homemade caramels or fudge; too bad we can’t advocate a return to that tradition because of modern safety concerns. Nowadays, my kids come home with a bag laden with high fructose corn syrup, “natural” and artificial flavors and petroleum-based food dyes and colors, and questionable additives like soy lecithin.

What’s a parent concerned with health to do?

At our house, we start by deleting everything with food dye and putting it into a separate bag to donate. Food dyes cause dizziness, nausea, and headaches in my sensitive son.

From what’s left, mostly chocolate bars of various sorts, he’s allowed to pick five to consume on Halloween night. The rest reside in a bowl on top of the fridge to be enjoyed one at a time as dessert after eating a complete dinner.

Even though this strategy doesn’t keep him completely safe from undesirable ingredients, it recognizes that sugary treats eaten on an empty stomach will spike glucose levels more significantly that if eaten on a stomach full of wholesome foods. By requiring dinner before treats, we hope to mitigate the impact on his body while ensuring that he doesn’t substitute candy for real food and compromise his nutrition.

I’m not saying that our approach is perfect, but it’s the best we’ve figured out. Let me know below if you have different strategies at your house!

If you’re looking for safer, more natural candy alternatives for your kids, check out Surf Sweets Natural Candies and Unreal Candy.

The MRT vs the ALCAT: Is Food Sensitivity Testing Reliable?

October 28, 2013

People ask me all the time if food sensitivity testing is reliable. My answer is always: “Depends on which test you use.”

Food sensitivity/food allergy testing that looks for IgE or IgG antibodies can show us whether or not someone has been exposed to a food and created an antibody to it, but not necessarily if the person becomes symptomatic when exposed.

In other words, antibodies can tell us there is a gun in the room, but not whether it has been fired. The existence of these antibodies are not reliable indicators of symptoms.

The ALCAT test, invented in the early 1980s by a team led by Dr. Mark Pasula, was the first test to look at the release of inflammatory markers known as mediators rather than the slippery antibodies. Over time, Dr. Pasula wasn’t satisfied with the way the ALCAT measured the mediator release from the blood. This led to a bitter difference of opinion within ALCAT and Dr. Pasoula split to apply what he had figured out to making a more accurate and reliable test.

The state-of-the-art Mediator Release Test, or MRT, is like ALCAT 2.0.

Dr. Allen Bonilla, D.C., in Los Angeles, recently decided to see once and for all which test, the ALCAT or the MRT, would provide more accurate results with which to treat his suffering patients. In this video, he takes blood samples for three ALCAT tests and three MRT tests on the same afternoon and submitted them to the labs.

Holding the results side-by-side, it’s plain to see that the ALCAT results changed radically from sample to sample, while the MRT results were practically identical for the three submissions.

Thank you, Dr. Bonilla, for this enlightening experiment, and for sharing it on video. (Be sure to continue reading below the video for more…)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXJpGmyrxTU

I’ve always found it hard to trust ALCAT results when working with clients, and now I can see exactly how unreliable this test is. It’s unfortunate, because ALCAT employs a sales force that convinces allergists and other doctors to order this test for their patients. When following the ALCAT results does not eliminate their symptoms, they dismiss the idea the dietary therapy could help relieve their condition.

Oxford Laboratories, on the other hand, the company Dr. Pasula founded to build the MRT, realizes that doctors do not have the time or expertise in nutrition to correctly interpret the test results and implement a therapeutic diet, so they focused their efforts on training Registered Dieticians (RDs) and other practitioners knowledgeable in nutrition and food.

Which makes the MRT a choice to go with a professional who can take the time to work with you to regain your health.

My food sensitivities clinic is open to clients nationwide. My clients receive not only the reliable results from the MRT, but also extensive analysis and customized anti-inflammatory diet plans complete with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack ideas, recipes, and safe brands and shopping advice.

Bike-or-Walk-To-School Day

October 23, 2013

Today was bike-or-walk-to-school day at my 3rd grade daughter’s school.

Our bike brigade met up with other students and parents as we neared the school. We appreciated the gorgeous fall colors spotlit by the rising sun as we made our journey.

Our bike brigade, led by another mom, met at our regular bus stop just after dawn this morning for the 3-mile ride to school. Once we arrived, the kids were greeted with bagels and cream cheese, granola bars, stickers, and yellow tickets redeemable at the school store.

Coordinated by our fantastic Physical Education and Healthy Living teacher, Robin Riley, and parent volunteers, the students were excited for the excuse to ride bicycles or simply walk to school, even if they were driven to within a few blocks before they left the car. As a language immersion charter school, students live all over the metro area and most live too far to ride or walk to school regularly.

It was a glorious ride on a brisk autumn morning. I’m ready to do it again before the snow falls!

Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO) and Diet

Label Genetically Altered Foods: It’s the Right Thing To Do

How to Survive an Influx of Halloween Candy… Without Losing Your Sanity

The MRT vs the ALCAT: Is Food Sensitivity Testing Reliable?

Bike-or-Walk-To-School Day

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