Newsletter v1n10

"This guy's doctor told him he had six months to live. The guy said he couldn't pay his bill. The doctor gave him another six months." (Henny Youngman)

The DOCTOR YOURSELF (SM) NEWSLETTER Vol 1, No 10 March 16, 2001 "Free of charge, free of advertising, and free of the A.M.A." Written by Andrew Saul, PhD. of http://www.doctoryourself.com , a free online library of more than 180 natural healing articles with over 2,500 scientific references.

DIABETES: SUPPLEMENTS REDUCE THE DANGER "Thus, vitamin E may potentially provide additional risk reduction for the development of retinopathy or nephropathy in addition to those achievable through intensive insulin therapy alone. Vitamin E is a low-cost, readily available compound associated with few known side effects; thus, its use could have a DRAMATIC socioeconomic impact if found to be efficacious in delaying the onset of diabetic retinopathy and/or nephropathy." (emphasis added)

From: Diabetes Care 22:1245-1251 1999

(This was a crossover study on 36 patients who have Type I diabetes for less than 10 years. The dose evaluated was 1800 I.U. per day. Before taking vitamin E, retinal blood flows in these subjects was significantly lower than in the non-diabetic population. Both retinal blood flow and creatinine clearance were significantly normalized when subjects received vitamin E. The patients with the worst reading improved the most. The vitamin had no effect on blood glucose levels, and therefore would not interfere with insulin therapy.)

I am preparing a more in-depth article on Diabetes (Types I and especially II) for posting at http://doctoryourself.com next month. If you can't wait, email me for an advance copy.

WINNING THE COLD WAR AGAINST COLD SORES Herpes simplex sores heal much more quickly when a vitamin C paste (easily made from of non-acidic calcium ascorbate crystals plus a little water) is applied twice daily. But the greatest natural enemy of the cold sore is the amino acid L-lysine. Keep you wallet in your pocket: you can get lots of lysine by eating lots of beans. An effective dose is about 3 to 4 grams (3,000 to 4,000 milligrams) of lysine daily. That is about a can and a half of beans a day. Wait! Before you go off singing the "Musical Fruit" song, hear me out: Beans, and all the other legumes, are literally loaded with lysine. Peas are very high in lysine. So are lentils, refried beans, pinto beans, kidney beans, three-bean salad, bean soup, bean burritos, veggie bean-burgers, and even chickpeas (garbanzos). Lima beans are relatively low; soybeans (and anything made from soy) are unusually high in lysine. So be a has-bean! Eat your beans at every meal.

All right, I know you are going to ask, so SUGGESTIONS FOR REDUCING SOCIAL EMBARRASMENT AFTER FOLLOWING SAUL'S BEAN PROGRAM shall now follow.

First, drain 'em! Do NOT use the liquid that canned beans are packed in, nor the water that you soak or cook beans in. Such processing liquid is high in raffinose sugars, which are gas-producing par excellence. Why? Because bacteria love them so, that's why.

Odor also partly results from amines, which are formed by colon bacteria from amino acids (from protein). Eating less protein in general, and less flesh protein in particular has an olfactory benefit. The stool of a cow is a lot less unpleasant than the stool of a dog. This is related to overconsumption of protein in the meateater. Since the average American eats fully TWO TO THREE TIMES more protein a day than s/he needs, you need not worry about wasting away.

You will doubtless be pleased to know that most intestinal gas is odorless methane, odorless hydrogen, and odorless carbon dioxide. But then there's hydrogen sulfide (again, from protein) which the human nose can detect this at just ONE PART PER TWO BILLION.

Odoriffic gas is produced by bowel bacteria, given the chance, as they munch on nondigested, over-consumed, poorly-chewed food. Yes, it can be HOW you eat, not just what.

DID YOU KNOW that the average person forms 1 to 3 PINTS of bowel gas each day, with about 14 emissions?

DID YOU KNOW that this was one of the most quoted facts students lifted from my Clinical Nutrition lectures?

Okay, now for the "bottom" line:

GAS Rx:

ONE: slow down and chew your food very well. Undigested starches are another major culprit. If you must gobble your dinner, eat lots of rice, which is easy to digest.

TWO: sprout your beans, and/or cook them thoroughly. Remember: drain off that canning or cooking water!

THREE: allow time for colon bacteria to adapt to dietary changes. Most new vegetarians have a not-new body, full of stuff from the old days of revelry. Transition can take a while, but I think you will FEEL better right away.

FOUR: cut down on sweets excess simple carbohydrates are good culture medium for bacteria, so starve the little beggars.

(Liebman, B. "Out of Gas?" Center for Science in the Public Interest's NUTRITION ACTION HEALTHLETTER, March 1991 is a rather funny and very informative little article on this happy topic, and was used as a reference for this article, as was the standard dietetics textbook Nutrition and Diet Therapy, by S. R. Williams, St. Louis: Mosby, 1993.)

BOOK REVIEW:

(Note: Although I enthusiastically recommend the books I review; I do not sell them. To purchase copies, try your favorite bookseller. To borrow copies, ask your public library's interlibrary loan department to assist you.)

Cheraskin, E., Ringsdorf, W. M. and Sisley, E. L. The Vitamin C Connection: Getting Well and Staying Well with Vitamin C (1983) New York: Harper and Row

Professor of Oral Medicine Emanuel Cheraskin, M.D. and his coauthors have written an excellent guide to vitamin C therapy, which is also an excellent review of the literature as well; 45 PAGES (that's hundreds) of medical references are cited and discussed. Studies not supporting vitamin C are also included, and ably and directly refuted by overwhelming favorable evidence. Though slightly more technical than most popular health books, The Vitamin C Connection is of special interest to layman and professional alike, because it so thoroughly debunks many commonly held misconceptions about this enormously versatile, safe and effective vitamin. Did you know that vitamin C actually helps PREVENT kidney stones by inhibiting the formation of urinary calcium compounds? Here's a good loaner for your family doctor. (279 pages, cloth)

DoctorYourself Recommended WEBSITE OF THE MONTH: One of my favorite anti-vaccination websites is the information-rich http://www.whale.to/vaccines.html , based in the United Kingdom. Read up before you decide to let anyone stick anything into an arm you love.

Reader's Question: How can I clean the stains and deposits out of my juicer?

You might try what I do: Run a couple of pounds of concord or other grapes WITH SEEDS through your juicer. The tiny little seeds do a great job of scrubbing. I do this about once or twice a year. Another way is to soak the individual moving parts in liquid chlorine bleach, diluted to 1:1 with water. Now don't get any of this on your good clothes. I'd recommend that you wear rubber gloves, as bleach is a bit rough on the hands. Leave the parts soaking for a few hours and voila! Rinse the parts thoroughly in cold water, and let them soak in water only overnight to remove any trace of the chlorine. But the best way is to clean your juicer immediately after every use. (OK, drink the juice first. You know I meant that anyway.) If you clean promptly, you'll rarely need to use my other two above mentioned hints.

THE SECRET Barry Sultanoff, M.D.

I learned in anatomy class that the lungs are located in the chest, enclosed and protected by the rib cage. When you breathe, you welcome and receive oxygen into your lungs. From there, the oxygen becomes distributed throughout the body by way of the bloodstream. This life-sustaining oxygen is carried by a system of "roadways" that vary in size from major "highways" called arteries to smaller "byways" called arterioles and capillaries. The oxygen that travels along these pathways brings life to all your cells.

By using your imagination, you can magnify the efficiency of this oxygen transport system. You can play a very powerful role in enhancing your own vitality. By focusing your attention in the specific way that I am going to tell you now, you can optimize the delivery of oxygen throughout the "bio-region" that is you---and create a climate of peace, well-being, and balance throughout your "domain."

All you need to know is this "secret" about yourself:

You have a unique anatomy, known only to yourself: Your lungs are located in your belly, right behind your navel. This is not literally true, of course, but by telling yourself that it is (that is, by imagining that you have "secret" lungs in your belly that no one else knows about) you will automatically breathe deeper and freer.

Try it right now. Imagine that your lungs are in your belly. They are feeling very much at home there, settled in behind your navel. Feel them comfortably nestled in, with plenty of room to expand and contract.

Just check in with your lungs and make sure that you are breathing into them. See and feel the breath of life traveling there, carrying life-giving oxygen. Now, the air is going to where it really needs to go.

Ah! What peace! What fullness, ease, and joy!

(Reprinted with permission of the author. Copyright c 2001 Barry Sultanoff, M.D. Dr. Sultanoff is the author of Putting Out the Fire of Addiction: A Holistic Guide to Recovery (Keats, 2000) and a CD, "Dances with Breath." Barry's e-mail is: beautyacts@aol.com and his website is http://www.humormatters.com/healingmatters.htm )

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Doctor Yourself STEALTH FOOD of the Month: "CELESTE" PIZZA FOR ONE

Okay, nobody is likely to consider a frozen pepperoni pizza to be a health food, but even junk food eaters deserve simple honesty in packaging, just as cigarette smokers deserve an ingredients list on a pack of smokes. That would make a pretty big pack, as there are hundreds of chemical goodies in processed tobacco, but back to microwave pizza: Good ol' Madison Avenue portrays a nice, smiling gray-haired "Mama Celeste" on the front of the box. I rather doubt if that's the CEO of the company. Maybe she is a model, but it is just a corporate image and truth is not important. But this is: Also "modeling" on the pizza box's back cover is a beautiful full-color shot of "Mama" Celeste's "quality" ingredients, "bursting with flavor" and "authentic Italian taste and quality," including "delicious cheese." Only problem is, the fine print on the side of the box very quietly tells us that the number two ingredient in the pizza's topping is "cheese substitute." You have to read very carefully to find this statement, and even then, many folks do not realize that ingredients are listed by weight, largest to smallest. So the second ingredient is a huge one. Far, far down the ingredients list, there is an entry for mozzarella cheese, which is a minor ingredient only. And in the photograph? Not a single shot of the chemical formula for cheese substitute... but a nice glossy color picture of a nice big wedge of real cheese, tucked amongst peppers, mushrooms, onions and tomatoes.

Mama won't come to a toll-free phone, evidently, but you can write "her" at Mama Celeste Consumer Affairs, 1000 St. Louis Union Station, St. Louis, MO 63103.

And while you are at it, you might want to read up on each of the no fewer than SEVEN artificial preservatives in this "Pizza for One (TM)."

Pizza for One? How about "Chemistry 101"?

TODAY'S REASON TO BECOME (MORE OF) A VEGETARIAN: Because ALBERT EINSTEIN Said So! Specifically, he wrote:

"Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."

SPROUTING HINTS from an Indoor (and Outdoor) Farmer: Common reasons why seeds rot but do not germinate:

1) Old seed! Use fresh seed; buy from a store that sells a high volume of seed specifically for sprouting.

2) Chlorine in the rinse water! Take a hint from amateur aquarists: draw gallon jars of cold water and let the water sit for several days before you use it for rinsing and draining your sprouts.

3) Inappropriate use of light! Start seeds in low light; only for the last two or three days do they need daylight.

4) Failure to rinse *and drain* your sprouts at least twice daily. Once a day is not enough for taking vitamins, brushing teeth... or rinsing sprouts.

More hints at http://doctoryourself.com/sprouting.html

COMING IN THE NEXT ISSUE:

PMS / PMDD

GALLSTONES

LIVE TO BE 120 YEARS YOUNG

LACTOSE INTOLERANCE

And more, of course!

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AN IMPORTANT NOTE: This newsletter is not in any way offered as prescription, diagnosis nor treatment for any disease, illness, infirmity or physical condition. Any form of self-treatment or alternative health program necessarily must involve an individual's acceptance of some risk, and no one should assume otherwise. Persons needing medical care should obtain it from a physician. Consult your doctor before making any health decision.

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Copyright c 2001 and prior years Andrew W. Saul Permission to reproduce single copies of this newsletter FOR NON-COMMERCIAL, PERSONAL USE ONLY is hereby granted providing no alteration of content is made and authorship credit is given.