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Acidophilus "Probiotics"
Key to Anti-Aging
Grady A. Deal, PhD, LMT, DC
October 22, 2004

     100 trillion acidophilus and other beneficial bacteria lining your intestinal tract clean the intestinal tract, aid digestion, stimulate the immune system and protect the body from bad bacteria, candida yeast organisms, viruses, and parasites.

     Beneficial soil and plant based friendly bacteria used to be ingested as part of food grown in rich, unpolluted organic soil. However, for the last 50 years we have been sterilizing our soil with pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers, destroying most bacteria both bad and good.

     Also, our modern lifestyle, which includes antibiotic drug use, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, chlorinated water, chemical ingestion, pollution and poor diet of mostly processed food devoid of living probiotics, is responsible for eradicating much of the beneficial bacteria in our bodies.

     The typical processed American diet is full of sugar and refined grains that feed bad bacteria and crowd out friendly bacteria. A lack of beneficial probiotics often causes a wide range of symptoms and illnesses that can be treated by taking probiotics and enzymes in therapeutic doses and drinking kefir milk daily.

     Kefir means “feel good” and all cultures around the world drink kefir or some form of fermented, cultured beverage as a potent source of friendly bacteria and enzymes. Get some kefir culture starter powder so you can make kefir at home and find out what you have been missing all these years.

     Available as supplements and found in great abundance in kefir milk, cultured beneficial bacteria called probiotics have a proven record of successfully treating stomach problems, indigestion, gas, stomach ulcers, constipation, systemic toxicity, bad breath, body odor, chronic diarrhea, inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, parasites, chronic fatigue syndrome, high cholesterol, premature labor in pregnant women, respiratory tract infections, ear infections, recurrent ear and bladder infections, candidiasis, vaginal yeast infections, food and skin allergies and eczema, and many other health problems.

     The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, October 2003, reported that probiotics act as partners of the defense system of^ the intestine. Probiotics cross-talk with the intestinal mucosal barrier and its local immune system, and together they decide what’s good and bad and what protects you from the external environment. The gut microflora (probiotics) play a major role against unwanted bacteria through colonization resistance to foreign substances.

     In a landmark study published in the prestigious Lancet (Kalliomaki and others, 2001) concludes that probiotic therapy has profound positive effects on the immune systems of infants and children with allergies. Probiotic treatment should begin as soon as possible to reduce the damage caused by dietary allergens. Allergy experts say that probiotics can train infants' immune systems to resist allergic reactions.

     In one study, babies considered to be at high risk of developing allergies were given probiotics and were half as likely to develop allergic eczema, a condition in which the skin becomes irritated, red and itchy.

     Helpful bacteria helps keep otitis media ear infections from recurring and also helps prevent harmful bacteria from becoming resistant to antibiotics by reducing the need for the drugs (British Medical Journal, 2001).

     Researchers have found that probiotic treatment of children with autism helps prevent the toxic byproducts of Clostridia, a bad bacteria, from traveling to the brain and negatively affecting the autistic child’s psychological and communication problems. It also helps manage their associated symptoms of bloating, stomachaches, and diarrhea.

     The Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition (1998) reports that good bacteria can displace potential pathogens in the intestine, such as Helicobacter pylori, the trigger for ulcers and gastritis.

     Gastroenterology (2000) reported that 85% of test subjects taking high doses of probiotics in the treatment of pouchitis, an inflammation of the small intestine common in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, remained symptom-free. All people in the placebo group relapsed. Benefits of the probiotics lasted only as long as patients continued taking them, with all patients relapsing within 4 months of discontinuation.

     A recent research study found evidence that probiotics might have a positive effect in combating colon cancer. The study raised speculation that the acidic environment caused by probiotics in the colon may slow down the growth of tumors. (Anderson, Parrado, 1999).

     A study of flu in mice holds much promise for humans. Researchers in Japan report that 69% of mice given a nasal spray containing "good'' bacteria survived their bout with the flu, while only 15% of the untreated animals did (Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, 2001).

     Many people don’t eat enough organic raw foods containing friendly bacteria and enzymes. Ill people with recent surgeries and chronic diseasess and infants and children with allergies, need to take probiotics in therapeutic doses.

     Consult your holistic medical doctor for probiotic therapy for children because not all probiotics are appropriate for infants and children.

     Finland researchers used Lactobacillus rhamnosus, which is safe at an early age and effective in treatment of allergic inflammation and food allergy, to prevent allergy development in at-risk infants.

     During and following antibiotic therapy, triple the dose of probiotics to replace the good bacteria killed by antibiotics.

     When you are traveling, large doses of probiotics--about one-half to one full bottle in one day--are quite useful for a rapid resolution of travelers diarrhea.

     Not for just sick people, the average person would benefit from taking therapeutic doses of probiotics three times a day for two months or more until their diet and health improve.

          When probiotics are taken on an empty stomach, they can more readily attach themselves to the intestinal wall to dislodge accumulated waste material and pathogens.

     In general, when you think about taking vitamins for your health, also consider taking probiotics even more so.

     To round out your wellness program, also take therapeutic doses of systemic plant enzymes, human growth hormone activator supplements, eat more raw foods and fresh vegetable and fruit juices, eat according to your metabolic type, and drink homemade kefir cultured milk to improve all health problems.

     This self-help over-the-counter therapy represents, in my opinion, one of the most powerful wellness and anti-aging treatment available.

     Consult a holistic medical doctor for treatment of illness and disease, keeping in mind that you can do a lot yourself at home to keep the medical costs down.

     I have found in my holistic chiropractic practice that the number one most common cause of most neck, back and joint stiffness and pain, also including arm, elbow, hand, leg, knee and foot problems and also including exacerbation of chronic fibromyalgia pain, is slouching during waking hours and sleeping on the abdomen, sleeping with the arms and hands above the shoulders, sleeping on the same side or painful side most of the time, and sleeping in a twisted position that interferes with the blood and nerve circulation to the muscles and joints that cause stiffness and pain.

     The number two cause is diet and lifestyle related toxicity caused by unhealthy foods, milk, cheese, ice cream, chocolate, MSG, coffee, wine, beer, alcohol, cigarettes, street drugs, medications and anything that poisons the body that stresses, irritates and spasms skeletal muscles that pull the neck, back and joints out of alignment and fixate them causing joint stiffness and pain.

     The number three cause is low thyroid function indicated by a basal resting temperature below 98.2 F that does not allow the needed warming effect of muscles and connective tissue that leads to joint stiffness and pain.

     The solution is to stand and sit up straight and sleep in an untwisted position on the back or sides or on the good pain free side with the arms and hands below the shoulders and not under the neck or body; eliminate all dairy, chocolate, MSG, coffee, alcohol, cigarettes, street drugs, medications and anything that poisons the body; and take, if prescribed, Armour or Cytomel thyroid medication to raise the body temperature to warm the muscles and joints.

     The easiest way to conceptualize this is that improper posture and sleeping position, unhealthy lifestyles and low body temperature causes toxicity, inflammation, water retention, edema and swelling that sensitizes and presses on your nerves and spasms your neck, back and joint muscles and is the root cause of most pain anywhere in the body. When the body is toxic, inflamed and swollen, it is more likely that stress, minimal physical exertion, exercise, massage and even chiropractic treatments can cause more inflammation, swelling, stiffness and pain, because the underlying causes have not been corrected.

     Massage, exercise, physical therapy and chiropractic treatments help spinal and joint stiffness and pain but the best results are obtained when combined with improving sleeping position, cleaning up lifestyle and correcting thyroid function to eliminate the inflammation and swelling in the tissues, spine and joints.

     In some cases, the person will need to correct sleeping position, improve lifestyle and treat underlying metabolic disorders first before receiving a program of massage, exercise and chiropractic that otherwise may cause too much irritation, inflammation, swelling and pain.

     There is a strong human tendency to deny the role played by posture, sleeping position, lifestyle and thyroid dysfunction related toxicity, inflammation, swelling and neck, back and joint pain and to blame all of this on accidents, turning the wrong way, working too hard and sitting too long, because it is easier to blame your problems on something that happened to you instead of something you did to yourself, i.e., unhealthy foods and bad habits that made you an accident waiting to happen.

     This means that your longstanding unhealthy posture, sleeping, and lifestyle habits and low body temperature problems made you toxic, inflamed, swollen and inflexible before the accident, etc., thereby causing a greater likelihood to be "injured" in the pre-existing weak places in your tissues and joints.

     This tendency to deny your own role in contributing to injury, slow healing and chronic stiffness and pain can be seen in the too often expressed "fix me 'cause I won't or can't fix myself" attitude that you need a massage or chiropractic adjustment "fix," and when this does not work, as is often the case, you blame it on the massage therapist or the chiropractor instead rightfully on yourself. Or you demand a pain pill "fix," not seeming to care that popular NSAID pain pills (Advil, Motrin, Aleve, etc.) and stronger prescribed pain killers only cover-up symptoms of joint stiffness and pain and cause more leaky gut syndrome, toxicity, inflammation, swelling, stiffness, pain, chronic degeneration and arthritis in the long run.

     In regards to thyroid dysfunction, the human tendency is: to ignore low body temperature problems; say you don't want to or need to take thyroid medication; "believe" your Establishment doctor who typically ignores the body temperature test, relies on the inadequate blood thyroid test only and says nothing is wrong with your thyroid (but something is terribly wrong -- your body temperature is too low); trust taking Synthroid that is not as effective as Armour and Cytomel according to holistic medical doctors; and sloppy-thinking claims that you used to have a thyroid problem when in most cases, you still have a thyroid dysfunction problem that both yourself and your Establishment doctors ignore and mismanage.

     Avoid Establishment massage therapists, chiropractors and medical doctors (and politicians) who arrogantly claim to fix you when you need to fix yourself and often make you worse by prescribing only quick fixes that do not improve your lifestyle and do not correct the underlying causes of neck, back, joint and other health problems. All too often, health care providers avoid confronting patients about their unhealthy lifestyles and attitudes out of a concern of offending them and ultimately losing them as patients.

     This deadly attraction is, unfortunately, mutual in that patients commonly choose the easy way out by consulting doctors that don't question bad habits and self-destructive attitudes.

     Over the past 20 years, I have seen many patients and friends go to Establishment medical doctors that are least likely to confront and challenge their unhealthy lifestyles and self-destructive attitudes.

     The easy way is not the best way in regards to your health, body, mind and spirit.

     Unfortunately, the same mind set influences Establishment doctors and therapists to avoid identifying and correcting the underlying metabolic disorders routinely mismanaged by orthodoxy to keep patients sick and dependent and coming back for more bad medicine.

     Orthodox doctors have a realistic fear that the Establishment will remove the license of any health care provider who does not cover up symptoms with drugs, adjustments, exercise, massage and supplements.

     Seek out a holistic doctor or therapist to get to the root cause of neck, back and joint pain and other health problems.

     Take responsibility for being your own doctor, because no doctor can help you as much as you can help yourself by improving posture, sleeping position, diet, lifestyle and metabolic function.

     Correcting your posture and sleeping position is easy to understand although it is difficult to give up a favorite way of carrying yourself and sleeping.

     If you set your mind to it, you will learn to carry yourself and sleep in the proper position, and you can ask your family and friends to help remind you.

     It is another, more difficult, matter to give up favorite unhealthy foods and bad habits, but it helps, when you understand how dairy foods, for example, cause stiffness and pain.

     You may not be quite ready to let go of milk, cheese, cream and ice cream, and it may take some real effort. Keep in mind that the rewards in feeling better are considerable.

     Dairy foods (except for cultured kefir milk and yogurt -- see below), other allergy and unhealthy foods and bad habits poison, irritate and inflame the intestinal walls and break down the its immune system making it abnormally permeable or leaky to all the wrong things. This is called leaky gut syndrome that allows germs, candida, feces, cow and other animal antibodies, large fats and proteins to readily pass through the sick colon wall into general circulation.

     The blood and lymph carry these toxins and harmful elements throughout the body poisoning, inflaming and swelling all tissues and joints thereby causing painful muscle spasms, fibromyalgia and joint stiffness and pain.

     The lungs and kidneys as eliminative organs attempt to clean up the toxins and destructive factors in the blood and lymph that in turn causes lung problems that leads to mid-back, neck, shoulder and arm, elbow and hand problems and also causes kidney problems that leads to low back, buttock, hip and leg, knee and foot problems as follows.

     Dairy food (not kefir and yogurt) toxins cause chronic allergy histamine reactions, mucus congestion, inflammation and infection in the sinus, ears, eyes, and cervical lymph glands.

     Dairy foods also poison the lungs causing thoracic vertebrae T2-4 spinous pain in the lung place.

     It poisons the liver causing pain between the spine and shoulder blades in the liver reflex place; it poisons the gall bladder causing stiffness and pain between the neck and shoulders.

     This combined irritation, inflammation and swelling in the head, neck and upper thoracic area causes neck, mid back, shoulder, arm and hand, and spinal and joint subluxation-fixation, stiffness and pain.

      Dairy also poisons the kidneys causing low back, sacroiliac, hip and knee problems; and it poisons the intestines causing constipation and low back problems.

      Kefir cultured milk and yogurt are the only exception and is highly recommended because the fermentation process neutralizes the lactose and also the protein allergens found in unfermented milk.

     To emphasize the process that causes most neck and back stiffness and pain, understand that toxins and harmful elements in the blood first poison and irritate the lungs, then irritates the nerves from the upper back spine to the lungs and also irritates nearby nerves to the paraspinal muscles in the upper back (thoracic vertebrae 2 to 4 lung place).

     Because the affected nerves are interconnected to other nerves in the area, irritation originally limited to the lung place in the spine spreads and causes muscle spasms and joint stiffness and pain in the shoulder blades, shoulders and neck that becomes chronic over time.

     Since this is a slow process during years of abuse caused by an unhealthy toxic, lifestyle and improper posture and sleeping position, the cervical vertebrae 4 to 6 in the neck become fixated and subluxated.

     As a result of constant irritation, inflammation, congestion and muscle spasms in the area, the vertebral bodies of the neck and disc material between them start to break down and degenerate over time eventually causing blood and nerve circulation problems and muscle spasms in the arms, elbows and hands, especially if the person sleeps on his stomach or with his arms above his shoulders.

     In short, toxic blood from dairy, cigarettes, etc. eventually causes mid-back, neck, shoulder and arm muscle spasms and joint stiffness and pain. In a similar manner, blood toxic from dairy, coffee, alcohol, cigarettes, etc. is cleaned up by the kidneys day-to-day over the years.

      The kidneys are constantly irritated, inflamed and congested, all of which increase the likelihood of kidney dysfunction and stones. The nerves to the kidneys from the spine are in turn irritated causing thoracic vertebrae 8 to 12 kidney place irritation, inflammation and congestion.

     Nearby nerves to the kidney muscles, i.e. iliopsoas muscles, go into spasm as a result of constant irritation. The iliopsoas muscles attach along the sides of the low back spine, pelvis and lesser trochanter of the femur (leg bone near the hip joint).

     When the iliopsoas muscle goes into chronic and sometime acute spasm, it literally pulls the low back, pelvis, sacro-iliac and hips out of alignment and the joints fixate causing stiffness and pain.

     Interference to the nerves and blood supply to the legs is caused over time by pressure on the nerves and blood vessels as a result of degenerative disease of the spine and discs caused by chronic irritation and inflammation caused by lifestyle related toxicity.

     In short, toxic blood from dairy, coffee, alcohol, not drinking enough water, etc. eventually causes low back, buttock, hip, leg, knee and foot stiffness and pain, especially when the person twists his low back when sleeping or sleeps on the same side too much.

     Often after over-indulging in dairy, chocolate, coffee, alcohol, etc., the patient comes in for acute neck, back and joint stiffness and pain.

     Some patients appreciate learning that eliminating these toxic foods and habits can make them feel better. Some patients aren't interested in improving their lifestyle.

     Allergy is involved in around 80% of all health problems.

     Allergy to dairy, chocolate, MSG, wheat, corn, soy, coffee, wine, alcohol, cigarettes and other high allergy and toxic substances are a common cause of fibromyalgia, neck and back stiffness and pain.

     In some ways, you can view allergy, especially food allergy, as just another toxic insult to the neck, back and joints.

     About half the population has hypothyroidism, also called low thyroid dysfunction that is another common cause of fibromyalgia, neck and back stiffness and pain and also fatigue, depression and a wide range of other health problems.

     Orthodox medical blood tests for hypothyroidism often give a false negative reading, because you may have adequate T4 thyroid in your bloodstream, but this does not necessarily mean that you can convert T4 in the blood to T3 for use at the cell level.

     Holistic medical doctors, chiropractors and naturopaths recommend the temperature test for low thyroid function. If your body can make the necessary conversion from T4 to T3, your temperature will be in normal range of 98.2 to 98.8 F.

     Take your oral temperature using a digital electronic thermometer. Take your temperature four times a day immediately upon waking up, after resting about 3 hours after you wake up, in the afternoon and in the evening. If your average temperature is below 98.2 F, this is an indication of low thyroid function.

     Temperatures above 98.8 F can indicate temporary infection, chronic infection or hyperthyroidism. Consult a holistic medical doctor for diagnosis and treatment of low or high thyroid dysfunction, infection and disease.

     Take your resting temperature. Record date, time and resting temperatures morning, afternoon and evening for one week periodically.

     If below 98.2 F, consult a holistic medical doctor or osteopath nearest you, via the American College for Advancement in Medicine http://acam.org/, for a prescription for Cytomel, Nature-throid, Westroid or Armour thyroid medication, if indicated.

     Note that holistic medical doctors worldwide usually don't prescribe Synthroid thyroid medication alone-- see article http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/19/22/16.html and also see www.drlowe.com.

     An excerpt from the chiroweb article by Dr. John Lowe, DC states: "Endocrinologists dictate other mainstream medical specialists' beliefs about hypothyroidism and its treatment.

     "One such belief is that the proper aim of thyroid hormone therapy is to bring the patient's thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) blood level into the reference range (formerly called the "normal range").

     "To endocrinologists, when a patient's TSH level is within this range, the patient is ipso facto well, even if he or she remains disabled by hypothyroid symptoms. (4., 6., 7.)

     "Treating hypothyroid patients according to this criterion has left millions of them chronically ill, disabled, and prematurely dead.

     "The reason is clear. During primary hypothyroidism, the pituitary gland increases its release of TSH, raising the blood level above the reference range. The pituitary is highly sensitive to T4, and small dosages of T4 decrease the pituitary release of TSH, lowering it into the reference range.

     "Tissues other than the pituitary are comparatively insensitive to small dosages of T4. Much higher dosages are required to normalize the metabolism of these other tissues.

     "However, T4 does not increase the metabolism of many patients' tissues, no matter how high the dosage.

     "Only a thyroid hormone preparation that contains T3 will accelerate these patients' metabolism.

     Hence, when T4 therapy normalizes TSH blood levels of many patients, it leaves their metabolism subnormal. These patients remain symptomatic despite their normal TSH levels.

     This finding has led researchers, myself among them, to urge physicians to no longer titrate patients' thyroid hormone dosages by TSH."

     References: (4). Lowe JC. The Metabolic Treatment of Fibromyalgia. Boulder, McDowell Publishing Co., 2000. (6). Skinner GRB, Holmes D, Ahmad A, Davies J, Benitez J. Clinical response to thyroxine sodium in clinically hypothyroid but biochemically euthyroid (7). Derry DM: Consequences of the TSH. Brit Med J May 29, 2000.

     Holistic medical doctors generally start patients on the desiccated form of thyroid medication (Nature-Throid or Armour) but if poor results, he may try Cytomel (T3) and in some cases, Cytomel along with Synthroid (T4), but usually not Synthroid alone.

     Armour thyroid has helped many low thyroid function patients. But Armour or Nature-Throid have both T4 and T3 and the T4 portion may not be converted to T3 and may actually worsen hypothyroidism symptoms, including neck, back and joint problems.

     Your holistic medical doctor may put you on Cytomel T3 thyroid medication, and later at the right time take you off thyroid medication to allow your natural thyroid function to take over.

     Some medical doctors recommend Nature-Throid or Armour thyroid at first and continue with it and other medical doctors prefer Cytomel and some doctors recommend both Nature-Throid or Armour and Cytomel at the same time or consecutively under their direction.

     As I understand it, the rule of thumb is to take adequate thyroid medication to raise your body temperature to the normal 98.6 F range.

     Consult a holistic medical doctor in this regard. Nature-Throid desicated thyroid tablets by Western Research Labs is the same as Armour thyroid. Holistic medical doctors like to prescribe Nature-Throid that is bound with silica instead of prescribing Armour that is bound with corn starch, a common allergen.

     Westhroid also manufactured by Western Research is exactly the same as Armour in that both are bound with corn starch.

     Your holistic medical doctor or osteopath can order Nature-Throid direct from Western Research at wholesale doctor's prices. It is best to order the 1000 count; put some in a bottle for daily use and store the rest in the refrigerator (cover the bottle in the refrigerator with several plastic bags to keep it dry).

     Contact: Western Research Labs, 21602 N. 21st Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85027, toll free 977 797-7997, fax 623 879-8683. Your doctor can call Western Research and register with them by providing his license and drug prescribing numbers and then place the order.

     Taking thyroid medication, if necessary, increases and normalizes the body temperature and this warms the muscles, connective tissue and joints making them more relaxed, flexible and healthy.

     Most Establishment medical doctors discredit the basal resting temperature test, Armour, Cytomel and holistic medical doctors. Orthodox medical doctors don't seem to mind that the blood temperature test alone is often inaccurate and that Synthroid thyroid medication, one of the most commonly prescribed medical drugs ever, is not that effective in correcting thyroid dysfunction and raising the body temperature to normal.

     If you are taking Synthroid and your body temperature is below 98.2 F, consult a holistic medical doctor who may switch medications from Synthroid to Nature-Throid or Cytomel or both.

     Holistic medical doctors are also more likely to search for other causes of low body temperature as compared to Establishment medical doctors that may prescribe Synthroid without much concern for normal body temperature or other related health problems.

     Chiropractors can educate you about this process and also refer you to holistic medical doctors for treatment of thyroid dysfunction. Chiropractors are not licensed to practice medicine, diagnose thyroid dysfunction or prescribe or sell Armour or Cytomel thyroid medication.

     You are therefore advised to discuss any of Dr. Deal's recommendations with a holistic medical doctor.

     Contact the American College for Advancement in Medicine, 24411 Ridge Route, Suite 115, Laguna Hills, CA 92653, phone 949-309-3520 or 800-532-3688, Fax 949.309.3538, Email info@acam.org. or visit their website http://www.acam.org/. Then go to Public and click to open a menu and select Find Doctor for a referral to a holistic medical doctor nearest you. Or call the Physician Referral Hotline 1-888-439-6891.

     Even if you have to travel to larger city for treatment, proper treatment for hypothyroidism may improve your neck, back and joint stiffness, pain, fibromyalgia and other health problems. Often, treatment can be continued by telephone and mail.

     Chronic candidiasis, also frequently ignored and mismanaged by orthodoxy, is also a very common cause of neck, back and joint stiffness and pain and fibromyalgia, because candidiasis poisons you and diminishes your immune system.

     When infected, massive amounts of debris from millions of candida organisms dying daily makes you toxic and your immune system gets completely worn out fighting off these invading toxic protein parts.

     Consequently, candidiasis induced intestinal toxicity and immune dysfunction causes worse leaky gut syndrome, more systemic toxicity, more infections and degenerative diseases, more fatigue and depression, more inflammation and swelling and more neck, back and joint stiffness and pain and fibromyalgia pain all over your body.

      For candidiasis, your holistic medical doctor may prescribe Diflucan. You might consider taking silymarin extract capsules (from milk thistle seeds) concurrently with candidiasis therapy to help protect the liver.

     Holistic doctors may recommend grapefruit extract capsules, acidolphilus, caprylic acid capsules, and garlic for candidiasis in between medical treatment with Diflucan.

     Taking only natural therapies like grapefruit extract capsules, etc. for candidiasis, especially difficult cases, is simply ineffective.

     Consult a holistic medical doctor for medical treatment with Diflucan.

     Holistic doctors report that klebsiella infection in the intestines may also be a cause of neck, back and joint stiffness and pain.

     Since most Establishment labs do not test for klebsiella and most labs do not properly test for candidiasis, parasites, allergy and toxicity, your holistic doctor can call Meridian Valley Lab. 1 425 271-8689 or Great Smokies Lab. 1-800-522-4762 for better testing methods.

     Again, it bears repeating that anything that causes toxicity, leaky gut syndrome, inflammation and swelling, as does dairy, chocolate, cigarettes, alcohol, coffee, allergy, hypothyroidism and candidiasis, also causes neck, back and joint stiffness and pain and fibromyalgia. Correct the underlying causes to get the best results.

     Case Findings: A waitress advised to test for food allergy found that eliminating wheat in her diet solved her low back and female disorder problems.

     A contractor reported that the cinch in his side and the kidney area back pain, which had bothered him for over ten years, quickly disappeared when he gave up his Pepsi habit.

     Not sleeping on her bad side cleared up a troublesome hip, thigh and knee problem for a janitor who wasted over a thousand dollars on drugs and herbs.

     A construction worker on low back disability was able to return to work by not drinking beer and coffee.

     Eliminating dairy and chocolate helped a chiropractor with chronic sinus congestion and neck stiffness and pain.

     A Buddhist minister solved his kidney, low back and neck problems by drinking more water, by eliminating dairy and coffee and by treating hypothyroidism.

     After taking thyroid medication for a short time, a real estate broker reported relief of chronic low back and hip stiffness and pain and was able to exercise and run without any discomfort.

     A woman with mental illness, back pain and severe fibromyalgia pain all over her body recovered her health by eliminating dairy and other unhealthy foods from her diet and by taking thyroid medication.

     A friend with chronic neck stiffness and migraines found relief by not eating chocolate and foods containing hidden MSG.

     A diabetic with out of control blood sugar, staph infection on his legs, and neck stiffness and pain corrected all of these problems and reduced his insulin by taking thyroid medication, drinking more water and eliminating dairy.

     Wellness awaits you !

     In his book, No Milk (1991), Daniel Twogood, D.C. writes that patients who complain of headaches and neck and back stiffness and pain will almost always respond after they have eliminated all chocolate, dairy and MSG from their diets.

     Dr. Twogood cites numerous case studies which outline how many offending foods and substances are hidden in processed foods. He points out that patients typically do not know that dairy foods and chocolate may be causing their neck and back problems.

     Sami Bahna, M.D. and Douglas Heiner, M.D., authors of Allergies to Milk (1980) review the scientific literature documenting the gastrointestinal, respiratory, dermatological, hematological, cardiovascular, urinary, central nervous system and musculoskeletal symptoms caused by dairy foods, and note that most of these symptoms improve or disappear when dairy foods are eliminated from the diet.

     These studies support the idea that dairy foods are a cause of neck, back and joint problems.

     The following books and doctors report that toxins, dairy foods, allergy, and hypothyroidism cause musculoskeletal stiffness and pain: The Milk of Human Kindness is not Pasteurized (1985) by William Campbell Douglass, M.D.; The XO Factor (1983) by Kurt Oster, M.D. and Donald Ross, Ph.D.; The Food Allergy Plan (1986) by Keith Mumby, M.D.; the pioneer specialists in food allergy, Theron Randolph, M.D., Marshall Mandell, M.D. and Abram Hoffer, M.D.
     It is very important for you to order the following book on low thyroid function. Order Solved: The Riddle of Illness by Stephen E. Langer and James F. Scheer from amazon.com because you may have a thyroid problem that your Establishment medical doctor has overlooked.

     Consult a chiropractor or medical doctor for diagnosis and treatment of any neck, back, joint or health problems and to approve any of Dr. Deal's recommendations, including the stretching exercise below, as this article does not represent diagnosis or treatment.

     If the stretching exercise seems to irritate or aggravate your condition, discontinue it and consult a chiropractor or medical doctor.

Low Back Stretching Exercise

     Best to do the exercise on the bed or the floor on a soft pad or carpet.

     Take 5 breaths on left side, 5 breaths on right side, repeat for a total of 50 breaths or more.

     The idea is to gently twist the low back to stretch and relax the muscles. Do not tense your muscles. It's all about relaxing the muscles.

     As you improve, you will be able to bring the knee down to the bed or floor.

     Most people with low back stiffness and pain and degenerative changes in the lumbar spine need to do this stretching exercise at least twice a day (when you wake up and late evening) indefinitely and when you have acute pain, it may help to do them more often as many as five or more times a day. In many cases, it is advised to take frequent short walks and do the stretching exercise, because if you lie around too much, your muscles may stiffen more.

      It usually takes about 3 days to see any benefits and it could take longer, so be patient.

     Lay on your back, bring one knee up, lean it to the center, hook the other leg on top, allow gravity to pull it down, breath and relax, do not force the knee down, switch to the other knee after 5 breaths and repeat, try to keep the shoulders as flat as possible.

      Consult a chiropractor or medical doctor for diagnosis and treatment of any neck, back, joint or health problems and to approve any of Dr. Deal's recommendations, including this stretching exercise, as this article does not represent diagnosis or treatment.

     If the stretching exercise seems to irritate or aggravate your condition, discontinue it and consult a chiropractor or holistic medical doctor.

Enzymes in Therapeutic Doses
Key to Anti-Aging
Grady A. Deal, PhD, LMT, DC
October 22, 2004

     You use enzymes in washing detergents to break down stains in your clothes. You add enzymes to your septic tank to break down sewage. Why not take enzymes to clean up your blood, organs and skin, to treat illness and spinal stiffness and pain, and to slow down the aging process?

     Taking systemic enzymes made from plants in a therapeutic dose of five capsules three times a day on an empty stomach slows aging by reducing inflammation, eating scar tissue, cleaning the blood and improving immunity.

     You will have more energy and flexibility and less stiffness and pain, and your chronic illnesses may improve.

     You are familiar with taking enzymes at mealtime to digest the contents of your stomach. But when the same enzymes are taken on an empty stomach, they enter the bloodstream through the intestinal wall and digest excess fiber in the blood all over the body.

     Thus, systemic enzymes target the blood all over the body and digestive enzymes target the food in your stomach.

     Enzymes reduce inflammation, which is the first response of the immune system to irritation, injury and infection. The body responds with an inflammatory cascade involving redness, heat, swelling, pain, dysfunction and tissue damage that regenerates and heals with minimal scarring. But if inflammation is prolonged, the damaged tissue is replaced by mostly scar tissue.

     Enzymes in a therapeutic dose neutralize inflammatory agents to levels where repair and regeneration can begin.

     Take enzymes to control inflammation and to speed up the healing process.

     Enzymes eat the scar tissue and fibrosis that eventually kills us all.

     The body produces plenty of enzymes that give you lots of energy, flexibility and pain-free life when you’re young.

     By age 27 to 35, enzyme production drops causing most aches, pains and arthritic changes. Scarring or fibrosis begins building in the blood vessels, muscles, joints and organs. Immune function begins to lag under high stress lifestyles. Blood gets thicker and slows down circulation.

     From 35 to 45 stress and the drop in enzymes causes a reduction in the sexual hormones of testosterone and progesterone. Sex drive, mental drive, zest for life, bone density, muscle mass and overall energy diminish significantly and taking enzymes helps.

     From 45 to 60 muscle mass decreases and organ tissue breaks down and is replaced by fibrosis, scars. Thick blood slows down circulation depriving your tissues of oxygen, especially the brain.

     From 60 onward, the internal organs and brain begin to shrink and harden with scar tissue, fibrosis. This means your ability to produce enzymes diminishes as the years go by.

     The body is able to make only a limited, finite amount of enzymes in a lifetime and we use up a good deal of them by the time we reach our 40's.

     Over the years scar tissue and fibrosis replace normal cells and tissues in joints and organs causing decreased flexibility, shrinkage and function.

     Enzyme supplementation helps breakdown old scar tissue and helps prevent new scar tissue allowing regeneration and healing, especially as you get older.

     Enzymes clean the blood and improve its ability to deliver nutrients and remove toxins from the blood.

     Enzymes improve circulation by eating the excess fibrin and by reducing the stickiness of blood cells that cause blood to sometimes get as thick as catsup, that can lead to clot formation, stroke and heart attack.

     The blood tends to get increasingly sluggish and toxic, because aging, trauma and stress reduce enzyme production and the liver decreases its ability to breakdown blood toxins.

     Taking five plant enzymes three times a day on an empty stomach can take the strain off of the liver, help clean the blood and slow down aging.

     Enzymes improve immunity by restoring and balancing homeostasis of the immune system. When the immune system is low, taking enzymes increases the immune response, produces more natural killer cells, improves the efficiency of the white blood cells and disrupts virus replication.

     Conversely, when cranked up too high, the immune system creates antibodies that attack it's own tissues, as seen in the autoimmune diseases of multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus.

     Taking enzymes can tone down immune function and help decrease excess inflammation and antibodies.

     Increasing amounts of enzymes are lost in the normal aging process or as a consequence of injury, trauma and stress, excess fiber or fibrin in the body is continually deposited in blood vessels, simple cuts, internal organs.

     Excess fiber causes blood vessel scar tissue called arteriosclerosis.

     Normal tissue in stressed organs is replaced by scar tissue reducing their size and function over time.

     Wounds heals with thicker, less pliable, and more visible scars.

     Men develop prostate problems and women develop fibrocystic breast disease, uterine fibroids, and endometriosis, in other words scarring.

      There’s not enough enzymes to get rid of excess fiber in joints, organs and blood vessels.

     Replacing lost enzymes reduces the amount of scar tissue and fibrosis in the body.

     Physicians are now discovering that old scar tissue can be "eaten away" from surgical wounds, pulmonary fibrosis, kidney fibrosis and clogged blood vessels.

     Medical doctors in Europe and Asia have used enzymes for over 40 years and now more and more US doctors are prescribing enzymes in therapeutic doses for a wide variety of health conditions and as an effective anti-aging therapy.

     Systemic enzymes, as well as digestive enzymes, are perfectly safe and free of dangerous side effects. They have no toxic dose.

     Drink lots of water so the enzyme capsules don’t get caught in the esophagus and cause irritation.

     Don’t take enzymes if you are a hemophiliac or are on prescription blood thinners, because the enzymes cause the possibility of thinning the blood too much.

     Your doctor, particularly holistic medical doctors, will often slowly decrease blood thinning medication and prescribe increasing amounts of systemic enzymes to thin your blood more naturally.

     You can find a holistic medical doctor nearest you on the internet at www.acam.org.

     You can discuss enzymes with your medical doctor and take them under his supervision, especially if you are seriously ill. For example, people with pancreatic insufficiency caused by pancreatitis are given very high levels of lipase enzymes to improve fat metabolism under medical supervision.

     Most people eat the typical diet of too many cooked foods and too many processed snack foods completely devoid of any living enzymes. They try to make up for this by taking vitamins, often with little success, because vitamins are only co-enzymes that help systemic enzymes work.

     All these years, we have had it backwards by taking lots of vitamins but little or no enzymes. Reverse this trend by taking lots of enzymes to increase the effectiveness of your vitamins.

     Add enzyme capsules to your supplementation program, and eat more raw foods and drink kefir cultured milk filled with enzymes and probiotics.

 Feeling Young
Anti-Aging, Enzymes, Probiotics, Kefir
Grady A. Deal, PhD, LMT, DC
November, 2004

     I can now see that feeling young at any age is possible but I wasn't too sure of that around six months ago. Despite having a healthy diet and lifestyle and taking lots of vitamins, minerals and herbs, Father Time, fatigue, and stiffness were creeping up on me.

     I wanted to feel young again. But how? I thought that I had tried everything. Drinking green tea and coffee to pick up my energy helped but they made me toxic causing more problems. The caffeine would perk me up but then drop me down. That didn't work.

     I learned about the health benefits of kefir cultured milk. I bought some kefir at the health food store but pasteurization had killed all the friendly bacteria and beneficial enzymes. I ordered some kefir culture starter powder to make my own kefir at home. And I love the stuff.

     This sounds easy but for twenty-five years I had warned my patients to not drink milk and eat dairy because they are truthfully one of the worst foods you can eat that causes most allergies, colds, flu, sinus conditions, constipation and worse.

     I did the research and found that kefir is not just plain pasteurized homogenized milk; it is fermented milk transformed into one of the best foods you can drink.

     Those who are lactose intolerant or allergic to milk can tolerate kefir very well without any problems because the fermentation process eliminates lactose and predigests and neutralizes the protein allergens found in ordinary unfermented milk.

     Was I feeling young again as a benefit of adding kefir to my diet? It was the beginning, thank God.

     I felt even better when I started taking a therapeutic dose of 5 enzyme capsules and 5 probiotic capsules three times a day on an empty stomach.

     Taking enzymes on a full stomach digests the food in your gastrointestinal tract. But taking them on an empty stomach allows the enzymes to enter the bloodstream and travel throughout the body thinning the blood by decreasing excess fiber and cholesterol in the blood and by decreasing excess fiber in tissues and joints that improves flexibility and slows down internal scarring in organs and external scarring and aging of the skin.

     And when probiotics are taken on an empty stomach, they can more readily attach themselves to the intestinal wall to dislodge accumulated waste material and pathogens.

     Keep in mind that kefir cultured milk is loaded with enzymes and probiotics that both share the ability to aid digestion; clean up and thin the blood; control bad bacteria, yeasts, viruses, diet and lifestyle related toxins and environmental offenders; improve constipation and inflammatory bowel disease; and strengthen the immune system and improve allergies.

     What more can you do to feel and stay younger? Human growth hormone (HGH) activators in a supplement containing immunoglobulins stimulate the body to produce its own HGH naturally to help smooth the skin, improve wrinkles, add muscle mass, tone and strengthen weak muscles, thicken and rejuvenate thinning and graying hair, and improve energy levels.

     My approach to taking anti-aging supplements is to take the HGH activators around an hour before bedtime. When I wake up to go to the bathroom once or twice during the night, I take 5 enzymes capsules and 5 probiotic capsules on an empty stomach and go back to bed. I repeat this if I get up again, and I also take 5 capsules each of enzymes and probiotics once or twice during the day.

     I also take 3 to 5 enzyme capsules with a large meal. I usually enjoy 16 oz. of kefir in the morning and again as an after dinner snack that satisfies me and really helps me stay away from less healthy snacks. I take more enzymes and probiotics each time I drink kefir.

Kefir Cultured Milk Makes You Feel Good
Grady A. Deal, PhD, LMT, DC
October 22, 2004

     Adding kefir, a traditional fermented food to your diet, can help prevent disease, boost your immunity and increase your daily energy.

     Kefir is a refreshing cultured-milk beverage, which originated many centuries ago, in the Northern Caucasus Mountains in Turkey.It contains Lactobacillus Caucasus and other friendly organisms.

     Kefir's tart and refreshing flavor is similar to buttermilk or a drinking-style yogurt.

     The word kefir is derived from the Turkish word “feeling good.” The friendly flora in kefir help convert the tryptophan in milk to serotonin, the brain chemical that makes you happier and improves your sense of well being. Personally, it makes me feel really good. It gives me a natural high almost immediately.

     Both kefir and yogurt are cultured milk products, but they contain different types of beneficial bacteria.

     Yogurt contains only temporary beneficial bacteria that keep the digestive system clean and provide food for the friendly bacteria already present in the intestines.

     Unlike yogurt, kefir actually adds many new valuable organisms and colonizes the intestinal tract providing long term lasting benefits.

     Unlike yogurt, kefir contains several major strains of friendly bacteria and beneficial yeasts that dominate, control and eliminate destructive pathogenic yeasts in the body by penetrating the mucosal lining where unhealthy yeast and bacteria reside -- forming a virtual SWAT team that housecleans and strengthens the intestines. The body thereby becomes more efficient in resisting pathogens like E. coli and intestinal parasites.

     Unlike yogurt, kefir's active yeast and bacteria help digest the foods, proteins, minerals, fats and carbohydrates that you eat and by keeping the colon environment clean and healthy.

     The curd size of kefir is smaller than yogurt, so it’s also easier to digest, making it an ideal food for babies, pregnant or nursing mothers, the elderly, and anyone with digestive disorders.

     Kefir is highly recommended after antibiotic use.

     But you might say, I like yogurt, and I don’t need kefir. Unfortunately, yogurt and kefir available on the commercial market are often pasteurized. Even some yogurt at the health food store is pasteurized.

     Pasteurization kills the friendly organisms in commercial yogurt and kefir, and about the only benefit you get from eating pasteurized yogurt and pasteurized kefir is that they provide food for the existing friendly organisms already in your gastrointestinal tract.

     This means that pasteurized yogurt and pasteurized kefir, as well as commercial pasteurized lactaid milk or pasteurized buttermilk, don’t add any additional friendly organisms to your intestines, because, again, pasteurization kills the friendly organisms.

     Although pasteurized before the beneficial bacteria are added, acidophilus milk does not help colonize the intestines and offers only temporary benefit.

     You can make yogurt at home and it’s not too difficult, but it’s a lot easier to make homemade kefir.

     And you now know that kefir is far superior to yogurt at every level.

     So why continue to rely on yogurt, especially commercial pasteurized yogurt, when it’s not doing the job you think it is anyway?

     Yogurt is a good habit but it’s functions as a bad habit if it keeps you from developing a better habit of drinking kefir.

     Mix kefir culture starter powder with milk at home. Put a lid on the jar and let it sit on the counter without refrigeration. After 24 hours, put the kefir in the refrigerator.

     You don’t need to use a kefir starter for each batch. Save some of the existing kefir milk and add more milk in a clean gallon jar and allow it to ferment for 24 hours. You keep repeating the process indefinitely and occasionally you may need to start all over with new kefir starter powder.

     Share your kefir with your friends and family and teach them to make their own kefir.

     During hurricanes and other emergencies, you don’t need to refrigerate kefir. Purchase milk at the market that has emergency generators for refrigeration and at home make just enough kefir to drink and keep making more all without refrigeration. Kefir tastes best chilled but it is also tasty unchilled.

     If you are lactose intolerant, not to worry because the kefir fermentation process converts lactose to lactic acid that gives kefir its slightly tart taste and other characteristic flavors and aromas.

     Additionally, those allergic to dairy will likely tolerate kefir very well without any problems because fermentation predigests and changes the protein allergens found in ordinary unfermented milk.

     So why isn’t unpasteurized kefir available at the market if its so healthy? Its because the processed food industry likes the long shelf life of pasteurized dairy products and it wants to avoid the possibility of being sued.

     The solution is to purchase the kefir culture starter powder and add it to milk at home.

     You can use kefir sweetened with xylitol or stevia as a base in smoothies with fruit. Smoothies is a good way to introduce kefir to children who may not like plain kefir.

     Xylitol is a low calorie non-sugar sweetener and stevia is an herbal powder that has no calories but it stimulates the sweet taste buds on your tongue. Both xylitol and stevia are suitable and recommended for diabetics and those intolerant to glucose and sugar.

      Kefir is an acquired taste and if given half a chance, you will quickly develop a decided preference for it over ordinary pasteurized milk.

      You will likely miss kefir when you skip a day without it.

      You will certainly feel better and your health may improve in many unsuspected and wonderful ways.