drsandeepgupta.com Dr Sandeep Gupta's Nutritional Medicine Blog

It is common knowledge that almost all houses are electrically “grounded” to the earth. Why? It is a safety mechanism by which any accumulated current can safely be discharged and therefore the risk of electrocution and other problems associated with electrical current accumulation be avoided.

Could it be possible that “grounding” our human body could also have a significant effect on our health?

Around 1993, a cable television business man from Montana by the name of Clinton Ober, dared to ask the question. He was soon after to come across information about a paper being compiled by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and US Department of Energy (DOE) on the hazardous effects of Electric and Magnetic Fields (EMF) on health. Some of the findings in their key studies were that ungrounded exposure to EMF causes:

• Changes in the rhythym of release of important hormones in the body (the “circadian rhythym”)

• Accelerated tumor growth

• Impaired release of the sleep hormone “melatonin” by the pineal gland

• Decreased immune system function

It seemed clear to Ober that humans did not evolve insulated from the earth. In fact native cultures probably had a much closer contact with the Earth in all senses of the word. This included having direct physical contact of our skin with the earth for the majority of the day.

Ober decided to test his theory that grounding the human body would relieve a lot of health problems. He created a study using dissipative carbon fiber mattress pads which could be placed under fitted sheets, which were connected via a ground wire to a ground rod driven into the earth near their bedroom window. The grounded mattress pads were designed to replicate the ground plane of the earth in the bed.

Despite being a non-controlled study of only 60 participants, his results were significant and decisive:

• 85% went to sleep quicker

• 93% reported sleeping better throughout the night

• 100% reported waking, being and feeling more rested

• 82% experienced a significant reduction in muscle stiffness

• 74% experienced the elimination of/or a reduction of chronic back and joint pain

• 78% reported improved general health

In addition, several subjects in the study also reported experiencing significant relief from asthmatic and respiratory conditions, rheumatoid arthritis, PMS, sleep apnea and hypertension.

This study was soon followed up by Dr Russell Whitten of Ojai, CA, who performed a similar grounding of 35 of his own patients and found similar results.

Overall the results indicated that the human body, with loss of ground contact, is now operating in a bio-electrically stressed state.

Many people report a more restful sleep after waking on the ground barefoot before sleeping. Now we have technology that can ground us while sleeping, and when awake and functioning in the world. It is technology that can antidote the harmful effects of other technology. For more details visit www.agroundedlife.com. To purchase a grounding bed pad in Australia, click here.

Coeliac Disease is a hereditary form of intolerance to a portion of gluten, the protein in many common grains including wheat, oats, barley and rye. A recent study published in the journal ‘Gastroenterology’ in July 2009 showed that the incidence of Coeliac Disease has increased dramatically over the last 50 years.

The study compared blood samples from 9133 adults from Warren Air Force Base, USA between 1948 and 1954 with age and gender-matched controls from two recent samples from Minnesota, USA. The results showed a 4.5 fold and 4 fold increase in prevalance of undiagnosed Coeliac Disease with the two recent samples, respectively, as compared to the air force samples.

The reasons for this huge increase in rates of Coeliac Disease are unclear. What is clear is that diseases of gluten intolerance are increasing in importance, and do not always present as a classic syndrome of diarrhoea, weight loss and abdominal pain.

Although considered somewhat controversial by the medical profession, the experience of many nutritional doctors around the world is that gluten intolerance may play a major role in a number of conditions, even in the absence of true Coeliac Disease. Examples of these conditions include Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, schizophrenia, irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease.

It is recommended to consult a health practitioner before excluding gluten from your diet, as it is more difficult to test for Coeliac Disease once gluten has been excluded from the diet. A simple blood test can be performed to screen for Coeliac Disease, and can be performed by any medical practitioner. It is also important to ensure that we have a balanced diet plan which will meet all essential nutrients before excluding all gluten products.

Examples of non-gluten based grains include rice, millet, buckwheat, quinoa and amaranth. All fruits and vegetables appear to be free of gluten. Wheatgrass also appears to be safe for those with gluten intolerance, although it may be wise to avoid it if you have a severe reaction to wheat products. Further information on the Coeliac Disease can be found at www.glutenfree.org.au..

Reference: Gastroenterology. 2009 Jul;137(1):88-93. Pub Med Abstract

Osteoporosis means weak, brittle bones, and is a risk factor for bone fractures. It can be easily prevented by some simple lifestyle measures.

FOODS AND LIFESTYLE FACTORS TO EMPHASIZE

•    Emphasize green vegetables – these high magnesium foods can be introduced in the form of fresh, raw salads, or in the form of vegetable juices or green smoothies.

•    Emphasize berries, citrus fruit, tomatoes and other high vitamin C containing foods

•    Add in sea vegetables such as dulse, kelp, wakame and nori for all minerals including boron

•    Try Horsetail and nettle tea – these common herbs grow wildly and are an excellent source of silicon

•    Weight-bearing exercise – walking, jogging, weights, 30min five times a week walking is a good starting point

•    Sunlight exposure – 10-15 minutes at ‘off-peak’ times is ideal for a light-skinned person – try 10am or 3pm – this will generally provide approximately 20,000iu of vitamin D3.

•    Ignore calcium supplements – numerous studies have shown that calcium has very little impact on osteoporosis and may actually negatively impact vitamin D status

•    Consider a salivary hormone test panel to check for hormonal imbalances that may impact hormone balance

•   Consider adding maca root to your diet – maca is a traditional South American herb that has been shown to increase all steroid hormones

FOODS TO AVOID

•    White sugar products (including commercial sweets / soft drinks / pastries) – XYLITOL is a excellent alternative for sugar. Sugar leaches minerals from bone.

•    Artificial additives (eg Monosodium Glutamate, Aspartame, Saccharin, Nutrasweet)

•    Dairy products (including milk / butter / cheese / yoghurt) – are not essential for adequate calcium intake and in fact most likely detrimental to bone health

•    Caffeine (coffee / black tea) – are highly acidic and leach bone minerals – green tea is an acceptable transition food

•    Red and white meats are also highly acid forming and leach minerals from bone – emphasize plant-based foods

Further reading: “Building Bone Vitality” by Lanou and Castleman. Purchase from Amazon.com

in 1945 Aldous Huxley released a ground-breaking book named “The Perennial Philosophy”. The key tenet of the book is that there is a fundamental truth which underpins all cultures and also, all religious traditions that exist today. This basic truth is described as unrelated to culture, terminology, societal changes or dogma. Ken Wilbur in his work “Eye to Eye: The Quest for the New Paradigm” similarly describes a spectrum of being. On one side of the spectrum is the individual consciousness and on the other end is universal consciousness. A key tenet of the Perennial Philosophy is that within us we possess this purely conscious essence, which is in fact identical in nature, but simply of a smaller magnitude, to universal consciousness. Universal consciousness can be described as the ground of all being, spirit or God; the basic reality at the heart of the universe. And the purpose of human life to realize the first and reunite it with the latter, an experience described by mystics of all traditions.

– Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything, 42-3

Fasting has been used ancient times as a profound way to activate the body’s healing mechanisms. Fasting has also a part of many ancient religious traditions as a way of enhancing spiritual awareness. Different modes of fasting include dry fasting, fasting on water only, and fasting on fruit or vegetable juice. Gabriel Cousens M.D., a world leader in holistic medicine, recommends 7-day fasting on green vegetable juices two to four times a year as the optimal way of activating the anti-ageing, anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic genes. During these fasts, adjuvant procedures include daily water enemas, herbal kidney and liver support, liquid zeolite, proteolytic enzyme support, far infra-red saunas, rebounding and gentle exercise. Additionally the participants experience the “Zero Point” course for healing emotional blocks and raising understanding of one’s sacred design.

During a fast, the body’s energy is able to focus on healing itself rather than digesting and eliminating food. The “vital life force” is activated, the seven chakras are balanced and the mind cleared. Research in the early 1900s on incurable schizophrenics showed a 65% healing rate simply by placing the patients on a 28-day water fast. Potent bowel neurotoxins such as 6-hydroxy-skatole were cleared from the intestines of the patients and thus their minds were allowed to be cleared and the mental illness healed. This points to a significant healing benefit from regular fasting. Fasting was a regular part of Mahatma Gandhi’s weekly routine. At the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Centre in Arizona, USA, type 2 diabetics are regularly reversed using a 7-day green juice fast followed by an extremely low-glycaemic, highly mineralized, organic vegan raw food diet. The potential of this direction in holistic healing is staggering and the need for high quality research urgent.

Estrogens are a group of hormones, which are primarily female reproductive hormones. In today’s society it is very common for both females and males to have a relative excess of estrogens in the body, due to several factors. Below are some hints in keeping these levels under control.

1. BUY ORGANIC WHERE POSSIBLE. Pesticides and herbicides contain compounds which are classed as “xeno-estrogens” as they have a strong estrogen-like effect in the human body.

2. LIMIT MEAT AND DAIRY INTAKE. Conventional meat, poultry and dairy products contain estrogen-like compounds in the form of hormones injected to the livestock to increase the yield of the stock.

3. EAT BROCCOLI AND OTHER CRUCIFEROUS VEGETABLES. These vegetables contain and compound called ‘Indole-3-Carbinol’ which promotes healthy estrogen metabolism.

4. TAKE GROUND FLAXSEED DAILY. Flaxseed contains ‘alpha-linolenic acid’, an important Omega-3 fatty acid, and also contains ‘lignans which are vitally important in protecting from breast cancer and detoxifying estrogens in the body.

5. MAINTAIN HEALTHY LIVER AND BOWEL FUNCTION. The liver and bowel are the primary organs which excrete and detoxify estrogens.

Make sure you pass a good bowel motion each day, by having plenty of filtered water and also fibre in your diet.

Liver function can be supported by drinking fresh vegetable juice every week and periodically undergoing a liver-gallbladder cleanse.

6. LIMIT USE OF PLASTIC PRODUCTS. Many plastic products act as synthetic estrogens within the body. Plastics outgas oestrogenic compounds when exposed to sunlight, heat or air. Especially hazardous are soft plastics and water bottles when left in the sun.

The raw and living food movement has a simple philosophy. “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it”. This is certainly a truism when it comes to diet. Research has shown that around 50% of vitamins, 50% of protein, 80% of minerals, 100% of enzymes and the majority of biophoton energy is destroyed when food is cooked beyond approximately 50 degrees celsius. This is significant information for those in search of optimal health.

Research by Paul Kouchakoff in 1930 showed that after ingestion of cooked food, there is a phenomenon called digestive leukocytosis which takes place. This means that the number of white blood cells increases significantly and the proportions of the subtypes of white blood cells changes, as if the blood was mounting a response to a foreign invader. This effect was not seen when raw and living foods were ingested.

Furthermore when significant quantities of raw and living foods were added to a cooked meal, the phenomenon of digestive leukocytosis did not occur. This is a significant statement for the power of adding more living foods into our diet, and may mean that live foods have a beneficial effect upon the immune system.

Other research by Prof Francis Popp of Germany has shown that biophoton emissions can be measured in food through use of a biophoton analyzer. Through using such a device, he was able to note a direct correlation of the health of a person with the level of biophoton energy in their system.

His research further went on to show that organic raw and living foods had up to eight times the amount of biophoton energy as raw foods in general, and that cooked foods had almost no biophoton energy at all.

Although certain constitution types such as vata Ayurvedic types, or those with low spleen yang, as per traditional chinese medicine have been traditionally cautioned against raw and living food diets, with the advent of massive variety within the raw and living food movement, experience has shown that people with these constitutions can gently transition to a raw and living food diet with great benefit.

Reference: Gabriel Cousens M.D.,  “Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine”, 2003, North Atlantic Books. Purchase from Raw Pleasure

Research cited in “The China Study” by T. Colin Cambell, PhD, the largest human epidemiological study ever conducted, suggests that animal protein consumption has a direct association with cancer. The most striking association with cancer was with casein, a protein found in cow’s milk and other cow dairy products. This association was also reproduced amongst other categories of chronic disease, such as heart disease, diabetes and obesity. Vegetable proteins were not associated with increased chronic disease at all in this study.

Research published in Diabetes Care in 1988 showed that cooked animal protein is just as potent a stimulator of insulin as is pure glucose in type 2 diabetes. Insulin is the hormone released by the pancreas in response to a high sugar meal, and high levels are implicated in type 2 diabetes, obesity and a variety of other disoreders. This information combined with epidemiological data suggesting a direct correlation between intake of animal protein and incidence of diabetes and other insulin disturbances points to a significant role of cooked animal products in the causation of these disorders.

This information is in direct contrast to that provided by proponents of the many high animal protein diets currently available. Certainly, most holistic physicians would advocate the exclusion of refined carbohydrates such as white sugar and refined grains as part of the journey to wellness. Furthermore, certain people have a constitution with a greater need for protein and fat (eg fast oxidizer and parasympathetic metabolic types) than others, however experienced clinicians such as Dr Gabriel Cousens M.D. in Arizona, USA, have found that using concentrated plant-based protein superfoods such as spirulina, chlorella, bee pollen, hemp protein and fermented rice proteins (which are up to 80% complete protein) can provide the effect needed to balance their metabolism, without the higher rates of cancer and chronic disease.

Dr Joel Fuhrmann in his book “The Eat to Live Diet” quotes the nutrient density of various commonly eaten foods according to their concentration of health-promoting nutrients. On a scale of 1 to 1000, almost all animal-based foods rated in the 1 to 100 bracket, while dark green vegetables like kale rating over 900 on the scale.

In addition, a multitude of spiritual traditions from around the world, including the yogic, Buddhist and Essene traditions have described the plant-based diet as the most beneficial diet for personal spiritual evolution.

Recent data on Greenhouse gases has also suggested that methane as well as nitrous oxide from animal agriculture not only plays a very significant part in Global Warming, but in effect may be more significant than carbon dioxide production, as backed up by research from James Hansen, the pre-eminent researcher in the field.

The message is simple: consider a plant-based diet for health, spiritual, ecological and ethical reasons.