I often feel like I’m swimming upstream in my attempt to navigate my family through the rapids of a culture that is terribly misinformed about what to eat and the consequences of choosing wrong.  This never-ending revelation reared its ugly head on Friday when I attended our daughter Hope’s school barbeque where the food provided was the typical disease-food banquet common to all family-centered activities these days.  As you can see by the photo, it was hamburgers with processed American cheese served on white bread buns, chips and soda pop or juice boxes.  What prompted me to take the photo was I sat staring at the table in front of me realizing that not only was everything being served at this family event things I never eat (I had eaten before coming), but that each food item was known to promote the development of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and obesity - - and everyone of all ages were eating them at this school event.

I am so sick of the prevailing attitude amongst parents: (1) “Oh, there’s nothing wrong with giving the kids (or myself having) a soda now and then.” or “A little won’t hurt anybody – after all what’s more All American than grilled hamburgers, chips and soda?”; and/or (2) that  healthy nutritious food means unappetizing food.  Regarding (1), what’s becoming “All American” is rampant lifestyle diseases in the form of epidemic heart disease, diabetes, obesity and cancer at all ages, brought on by those exact attitudes and the food choices that follow.  There’s nothing wrong with organic pasture-fed hamburger meat; it's when it comes from feedlot grain-fed, hormone-, chemical- and antibiotic-laced cattle; AND then when it’s combined with white flour, one of the most harmful food choices one can make, the value of the beef protein and fat becomes a non-issue in the face of the insulin spiking and inflammation promoting characteristics of white bread (actually, even whole grain breads have the same effect; eating a gluten-free diet is one of the most powerful health decisions a person can make, without question).  As for (2), I’ve personally experienced picnics where the food served was nutritious and delicious – so the idea that “health food” is yucky food is simply wrong and/or lazy thinking.

Next up – same weekend – was when I dropped Hope off at a birthday party that was already in full swing (she was coming from another birthday party), where I was ushered into the kitchen and asked if I wanted anything only to be confronted AGAIN with pathetic food choices – pizza, ice cream and soda pop!  Nothing new there, right?   After all, next to hamburgers and chips, what’s more American than to serve kids pizza, soda pop for their birthday meal, followed by ice cream?  And we wonder why Adult Onset Diabetes had to renamed Type 2 Diabetes – because it’s now a disease of childhood – A LIFESTYLE DISEASE BEING FORCED UPON UNKNOWING CHILDREN BY IRRESPONSIBLE PARENTS!  (Those ALL CAPS - that’s me screaming.)

The final straw came early the next day, when I was out walking our dog Cooper, only to stumble across my neighbor’s Sunday paper laying in his driveway that today included three “free” diabetes bombs masqueraded as “strength and bone building” cereals – Trix Swirls, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Golden Grahams with “Whole Grain & Calcium – Guaranteed” and “Grow Up Strong” call-outs on the packaging. The only guarantee you’ll actually get from feeding your kids these cereals is you’ll be setting them on the course for insulin dysregulation leading to diabetes and abnormal blood lipids leading to heart disease, not to mention the neurotoxic effects of the food colors in the Trix Swirls (we have personal experience to this common effect – our son Timmy is very sensitive to any blue foods – his brain function and behavior becomes predictably irrational within 20 minutes of eating any foods containing blue food dyes, such as blue Gatorade, Fruit Loops, or blue Popsicles).

Yes, I want to scream.  Yes, I’m known as the food Nazi.  But isn’t our job as parents to look after the best interest of their kids’ health and future.  As a doctor, scientist and parent, I’m acutely aware of the old adage, we are what we eat.

Yours in health, Dr. Paul

If you’re a homeowner, it’s very unsettling to be hanging Christmas lights or cleaning windows and stumble across holes in the fascia boards or a pile of what looks like sand on the window sill.  You realize the holes in the wood aren't rust (yes, wood doesn't rust - I know, I'm pretty smart), and it isn’t sand you're seeing on the sill – it’s … termite poop.  By the time you see that pile, you know it’s too late – the termites have done their damage.  They’ve been insidiously and silently chewing up the inside of the wood for a long time until it eventually is showing as holes in the wood and piles of … termite poop.  At this point you have two problems to solve – not only do you have to attack the termite problem, you also have to assess the structural damage to determine if reconstructive repair work needs to be done. 

It got me thinking about the termites in our bodies. No, I’m not talking about E. coli, parasites, H. pylori, tapeworms or some other creepy critter that can take up residence in your body.  But what are the figurative termites that are eating away at our innards – the things we know that “eat” our bodies from the inside out?  Because nearly all disease processes take years, if not decades, of slowing, silently and dangerously destroying the cells of our bodies to the point where the disease becomes detectable or manifests with outward symptoms, the termite analogy is spot on.

However, the similarities stop there.

First, our food supply has changed so drastically in the past 50 years that we now find ourselves consuming ‘termites’ – we actually choose to ingest termites in the form of lifestyle choices by eating things that are known to cause disease.  Whether it’s in the form of soda pop (and dozens of other processed foods) that contain high fructose corn syrup*, a direct pipeline to diabetes and obesity, or snack foods made with heart disease and cancer-causing hydrogenated oils and which are laced with neuroexcitotoxins such as MSG that are known to kill off brain cells leading to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, we’re dumping termites into our bodies.  These foods that we are choosing to eat are eroding our health just like termites erode the integrity of the wood they live in.  

Second, when we make the decision to stop ingesting ‘termite foods’, we solve the two problems at the same time.  One, by not eating any more termites, we no longer have a termite problem – we don’t have to engage in a ‘pest control’ project (you don’t have to “tent” your body, other than choosing to avoid bad food choices); by virtue of eating whole, fresh, natural, health-promoting foods, we by default, eliminate the processed, toxic, disease-promoting termite foods.  Two, because of our body’s inborn or innate intelligence that’s built into our genetic code, when provided with purity and sufficiency combined with the avoidance of toxicity and deficiency, the body will heal and rebuild itself - so there’s no need for reconstruction.  That’s right – when we provide the body with optimal nutrition and avoid destructive food choices, our bodies are programmed to return to health.  We just need to not interfere with this perfect innate intelligence. 

So the next time you’re about to eat some deep fried food or drink a diet soda, just visualize that you’re eating termites (or better yet, termite poop).

*If you haven’ watched this video about high fructose corn syrup and its direct causation to obesity and diabetes, do so now – it’s powerful: 

This blog was inspired by a sermon I heard on KWAVE radio this morning by Pastor Barry Stagner of Calvary Chapel Tustin called Termites and Toadstools.  It never fails that when I listen to a spiritual message I immediately process it into a natural healthy living perspective message – thanks Pastor Barry!

What does health insurance buy anyway?  Does health insurance move you toward being healthier?  Of course someone will always bring up the argument around needing care for a traumatic injury such as a broken leg or the emergency care needed for some life-threatening condition such as a heart attack (although in 40% of all heart attacks, the first symptom is sudden death, so that’s money down the drain).   Someone might also say, ‘What if I get diabetes?’  What if you do?  Does medical care reverse or cure diabetes?  Or does it simply manage the manifestations of the condition?  By the way, diabetes itself is a manifestation of inappropriate lifestyle choices (primarily a sedentary life combined with poor food choices).   I guess what I’m hung up on is that the vast majority of health conditions or diseases that people perceive health insurance will prove valuable or manage for them are in reality, lifestyle diseases – heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and the “all the above” conditions and more that obesity causes.  

Or here’s another way of looking at it:  If everyone had unlimited access to health care – doctors, drugs, and surgery – would we be any healthier?   Yes, people would have access to the doctors, drugs and treatments to mitigate the effects (symptoms) of their improper and unhealthy lifestyles, but would those people actually be healthier?   Would we have less diabetes, cancer, heart disease, or obesity?  No way.  Let's be honest - we're just treating bad lifestyles!  Even worse, we’re insuring them.

For example, if a person takes medication to lower their high blood pressure, does it make them healthier?  Yes, the drug will lower their blood pressure, but does that make them healthier?  The medical or allopathic paradigm will tell you yes because your blood pressure readings are within ‘normal’ limits; but does that make you healthy?  What is health?  How do we define this thing called health?  (In that example, studies show that people who take high blood pressure medication die at the same age as those who don’t – they just die with lower blood pressure. Go figure.)

What is health?
Health is when all your cells of your body are functioning at an optimal level.  When those cells become dysfunctional, our health suffers and some ‘condition’ manifests itself (by the way, it usually takes decades of improper living to reach a point where a disease will reach a stage where it’s symptomatic or diagnostically detectable – and all that time, you’re paying your insurance premiums. Imagine if you'd been paying instead for a gym membership, personal training, nutritional coaching, chiropractic wellness care, or a personal chef - something that actually made you healthy.).  For example, taking insulin for Type 2 diabetes, provides an exogenous supply (an outside source) of the insulin your cells should normally produce, but it doesn’t cause the cells of the pancreas, which were functioning abnormal, to become healthy and start functioning normally and produce insulin.  Does it help manage your blood glucose levels?  Yes.  Does it make you become healthier? No.

What would make the cells of the pancreas healthy and produce insulin?  I'm so glad you asked.  Science has determined what makes ALL the cells of the body, including the insulin producing cells of the pancreas (called the Islets of Langerhans for you trivia buffs), and that of course is a lifestyle incorporating proper nutrition, regular exercise, and proper rest.  Did you know that Type 2 diabetes can be reversed within 30-60 days with lifestyle changes alone?  It's true.

Do the Blue Shield plans offered above provide you with a healthy diet, consistent exercise and adequate rest and stress reduction/avoidance?  I wouldn't bet on it - your life’s at stake.   Eat right, start moving and get to bed earlier.

You can do it!

Yours in health, Dr. Paul

Did you know that eating things like Cheerios, pasta, bread (yes, your beloved bread), crackers, cakes and candy are more likely to raise your cholesterol and disrupt your HDL/LDL ratios than eating steak? (PS. Did you notice I called those things ‘things’ and not food?  Just seeing if you’re paying attention.)

Why do so many meat eaters along with so many vegetarians struggle with their weight?  One eats saturated animal fat while the other doesn’t and yet they both are often overweight.  Is it possible that eating fat isn't what's making people fat today?

The answer lies in what is now being referred to as the ‘master hormone’ – its name is insulin and, it’s way more important as a biomarker for health than cholesterol, HDL/LDL, or bone density.

As a matter of fact, insulin is being called the ‘longevity biomarker’ – meaning a good predictor of how long you’ll live is your insulin levels on an ongoing, daily basis.

Did you get that?  That means you can live longer (and live well) by managing your insulin production in a healthy manner.

Too much of a good thing
Insulin is an anabolic hormone, meaning it’s responsible for growth and repair – that’s a good thing … up to a point.  When there’s too much insulin produced and circulating throughout the body, the cells of the body become insulin resistant to protect themselves from being overdosed.  When that happens, a lot happens, and it’s all bad.  All chronic lifestyle diseases that dominate our culture today (heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, arthritis, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases) are either directly caused or indirectly influenced by insulin resistance.

Insulin resistance leads to the following:

• Diabetes:  Increased blood sugar from insulin resistance is the best predictor to becoming diabetic
• Suppressed immune system: Vitamin C and glucose are very similar in their biochemical structure so when there’s excess glucose (which goes hand in hand with insulin resistance), the immune system suffers.  Also, because vitamin C and insulin share the same pathway into our cells, insulin resistance by definition causes vitamin C resistance.
• Increased fat: Excess insulin and glucose result in saturated fat storage – in the blood AND the body – you get fat and your cholesterol and HDL/LDL levels go bad.
• High blood pressure from decreased magnesium levels:  (1) magnesium allows for smooth muscle relaxation; when magnesium levels are depressed, it results in chronic increase in blood pressure; (2) magnesium is also important for proper insulin production and absorption; so decreased levels of magnesium worsen insulin resistance.
• High blood pressure from increased sodium levels:  High insulin levels lead to increased sodium levels which also causes high blood pressure and fluid retention.
• Cardiovascular disease (heart attack and stroke):  Insulin stimulates the sympathetic stress response which results in raised LDL levels.
• Increased risk of cancer:  Insulin is also mytogenic – meaning it stimulates cell division; when insulin levels are abnormally high it results in abnormal cell division = cancerous cell growth.
• Osteoporosis: Osteoporosis is not caused by a deficiency in calcium – it’s a hormone and pH problem that is negatively impacted by insulin resistance.
• Thyroid problems: Hyperinsulinemia results in abnormal thyroid hormone regulation
• Dysfunctional sex hormone production:  Insulin participates in the production of cholesterol which all sex hormones are derived from.

Are you starting to get the big idea?  This is no joke.

It’s your fault
Any lifestyle behavior that you do that elevates insulin levels too quickly or keeps it high for extended periods is bad for nearly every aspect of your health.  What causes insulin levels to spike to abnormal levels?   It’s not just when you indulge in a Crispy Cream orgy or eat an entire bag of Chips Ahoy cookies.  When we eat a refined processed food diet, experience chronic stress, are sleep deprived and don’t exercise, our insulin levels rise. 

The Top Insulin Spikers:

• Refined sugar (i.e. sweets: soda pop - even diet soda, candy, energy drinks, coffee drinks - Frappuccinos, sport drinks, corn syrup - it’s in everything, usually as high fructose corn syrup)
• Refined carbohydrates (flour products - bread, pasta, muffins, cereals, crackers, cookies, cakes, etc.)  
• Sedentary lifestyle
• Chronic stress
• Sleep deprivation

The Good News: Avoiding or Reversing/Curing Insulin Resistance is Easy
Insulin resistance and all of its deadly consequences are all associated with lifestyle behaviors that can easily be avoided and/or reversed.

The Insulin Helpers

• High fiber plant-driven diet - eat lots of salads and vegetables (avoiding all grains and dairy)
• Regular consumption of quality fats and quality proteins
• Regular (daily) moderate to intense exercise
• Optimal sleep (no less than seven hours)
• Adequate water intake
• Lifestyle stress avoidance/management

In summary, virtually every hormone in the body is affected by insulin.  You can immediately improve your health and ultimately prolong your life by stepping off the insulin train right now!

You can do it!

Yours in health, Dr. Paul