Are You Gambling Your Health?

Do you know if you are gambling with your health? Are you putting off taking care of your health for the future? Are you telling yourself you cannot take care of your health right now for various reasons? If you are not investing your health, then you are probably gambling with your health right now.

There many ways that we gamble with our health. One way we gamble our health is taking prescription drugs on a daily basis. If you are taking a daily prescription, then you are gambling that you will not acquire any of the serious side effects the drug causes. For example, if you are taking a COX2 inhibitor pain reliever, by blocking your pain you are gambling that you will not die of heart attack or stroke. What you take into your body either adds to or takes away from your health.

A second way we gamble our health is with habits and addictions. If we put into our bodies daily coffee, tobacco, sugar, alcohol, or other recreational drugs then we are gambling that we will not suffer chronic diseases as a result of that lifestyle. Notice I said daily consumption. For example, there is nothing wrong with having a cup of coffee, glass of wine, or a sweet treat occasionally. There is absolutely nothing wrong with moderation. The reason we can enjoy moderation is because we have been investing in our health with healthy foods at least 90-95% of the time. That gives us enough resources to handle our occasional indulgences. However, daily consumption of these substances will most likely cause health problems in the future.

Thirdly, is by avoiding the daily needs of our body. If you do not drink enough water, breathe enough clean air, eat plenty of healthy foods, get enough sleep everyday, or exercise frequently then you are putting off your health for later with adding to chronic disease. Without enough water, our urine concentrates which can cause urinary infections and kidney disease, puts stress on our liver, causes constipation, dries out our skin, just to name a few things. If we are breathing some kind of smoke and not enough clean air, then we deprive ourselves of oxygen which will slowly cause suffocation. Without enough healthy foods we do not create enough mineral reserve to withstand any of the indulgences we like. Without enough sleep, we become irritable, deplete our adrenals, and our bodies cannot repair itself everyday well enough to ward off diseases. Exercise helps us discharge stress, produce healthy neurotransmitters for a healthy brain and improves our mood, increases the overall health of the body.

So you see, if you are not investing in your health, you are probably gambling with your health. Invest in your health financially and otherwise and you will reap the rewards financially later and otherwise with overall health your whole life. I am happy to help anyone that would like to know more. You may be gambling with your health and not even know it.

David Hogg, ND
Naturopathic Wisdom
1101 South Winchester Blvd.
Suite E157
San Jose, CA 95128
408-297-6877
www.naturally4health.com
www.naturopathicwisdom.com
naturopathicwisdom.blogspot.com

Building Immunity Naturally

Natural immunity is something your body is very good at achieving. Every time you are exposed to a virus, millions of chemical reactions take place inside your body mobilizing your white blood cells into action. The healthy bacteria in your body tells your T-cells that there is a virus that needs killing. Your T-cells communicate with your B-cells what the virus is all about. Your B-cells create the antibodies the fight the virus. The great thing about antibodies is then you have them to protect you from that virus the rest of your life. Fever begins if the infection is severe enough. Fever is another of your body's natural ways of killing the virus. This is why it is important not to suppress fever. If you do suppress you can actually lengthen the illness you are experiencing. And not only all the virus to go on without being eradicated.

Other ways of building natural immunity are;

• taking alternating hot and cold baths, with always ending with cold.
• Taking probiotic supplements to build up your healthy bacteria. Ther-Biotic Complete is a great one.
  
• Taking adrenal adaptogen herbs, like my adrenal formula.
• Taking a natural antiviral herbal formula because it naturally boosts your own immune system to fight viruses. See Zeprevir here.
  
• Seeing your naturopathic doctor for a homeopathic remedy to help relieve your symptoms, boost your bodies vitaility, and speed healing. Read about homeopathy here.
  

Your body can handle anything that comes its way given the right environment. The above are ways to help your body have a healthy internal environment. Any questions, please let me know. And, look for the Swine vaccine ingredients this fall.

David Hogg, ND
Naturopathic Wisdom
1101 South Winchester Blvd.
Suite E157
San Jose, CA 95128
408-297-6877
www.naturally4health.com
www.naturopathicwisdom.com

Swine Flu Vaccine Ingredients
Currently, the company, Novartis is making the new swine flu vaccine has not released the ingredients quite yet. Once it is released, I will forward those ingredients on to you. What we can look at is the ingredients of 2 of the flu vaccines that they are currently producing. This way, you can make an educated decision and choice as to whether you will choose or not to receive the vaccine. I spoke to the local county vaccination clinic and they said that the swine flu vaccine will not be ready until October of this year. At that time, I will be letting all of you know exactly what the vaccine contains.

First, the annual flu vaccine they make is Fluvirin. Fluvirin contains the attenuated virus, egg or chicken proteins, neomycin or polymixin, betapropriolactone, nonoxynol-9, formaldehyde, and thiomersal (50% mercury). Egg or chicken cells are used as the medium to grow and produce the virus. (I just had thought. Why are our pharmaceutical companies producing viruses? Something to think about.) Neomycin or polymixin are antibiotics used to prevent injection site infections. If getting an injection can potentially cause an infection, then why receive the vaccine? According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), beta-propriolactone is "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen based on sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals." It caused stomach cancer in rats. It causes several different cancers when applied topically. When given as an injection, propriolactone cause cancer at the injection site.
No one should receive the vaccine they have a(n);

• Sudden feverish illness or infection. (The vaccine should be postponed until after recovery).
• Allergy to eggs or chicken protein.
• Allergy to the antibiotics neomycin or polymixin.
• Allergy to betapropriolactone, nonoxynol 9, formaldehyde or thiomersal.

Second, we can look at the avian flu vaccine, Aflunov, to see what the common side are;

"More common

• Fever

Less common

• Body aches or pain
• Chills
• Cough
• Difficulty in breathing
• Ear congestion
• Headache
• Loss of voice
• Nasal congestion
• Runny nose
• Sneezing
• Sore throat
• Unusual tiredness or weakness

Some side effects may occur that usually do not need medical attention. These side effects may go away during treatment as your body adjusts to the medicine. Also, your health care professional may be able to tell you about ways to prevent or reduce some of these side effects. Check with your health care professional if any of the following side effects continue or are bothersome or if you have any questions about them:

More common

• Nausea
• Pain, redness, swelling, or tenderness at injection site

Less common

• Diarrhea

Other side effects not listed may also occur in some patients. If you notice any other effects, check with your healthcare professional."

If you are noticing that these effects seem like the flu, you are not mistaken. Many flu vaccines are not vaccines at all but inoculations. Inoculations are actually injecting the virus into the host with the intention of developing immunity. However, using an injection for inoculation actually bypasses the immune system and puts the attenuated or live virus and chemicals in the vaccine directly into the blood stream. If I were to ask you, 'would you like to receive a vaccine containing egg or chicken protein, neomycin or polymixin,betapropriolactone, nonoxynol 9, formaldehyde, and thiomersal with the intention of developing immunity to viruses?' Would you take it? Why or why not?

Much of the intention and advertising that is done to persuade people to receive a vaccine is to prevent illness. None of the information promoting vaccines ever warns people of the ingredients the vaccines contain and their harmful side effects. If every commercial or doctor that promotes vaccination actually told people the ingredients before vaccination, I think many people would opt out of vaccination all together.

The vaccine idea is great except for the other ingredients they come with. However, the idea is not really practical. It is really better to allow your body's immune system to be exposed to viruses naturally instead to them being injected directly into the blood stream. Don't you think?

David Hogg, ND
Naturopathic Wisdom
1101 South Winchester Blvd.
Suite E157
San Jose, CA 95128
408-297-6877
www.naturally4health.com
www.naturopathicwisdom.com

Crisis or Health Care, Which do you choose?

Some people only come in to the office for help when they are in crisis. Many others get that in order to stay out of crisis-care, they need to invest in their health-care to stay healthy.

Think of it this way. If you wait until your gas tank is empty to fill up with gas, then you are in crisis because you need gas to fill up to get where you need to go. But, you only have time to fill up your gas tank with $5 every time you stop for gas. Then, how many times will you be visiting the gas station? You'll be in crisis for gas very frequently and since you only have enough time to invest to fill up your tank with $5 worth of gas.

If however, you invest the time and money it takes to fill up your tank, then you can go for much longer without having to fill up again. And, you now have the choice to fill up at 1/4 tank instead of constantly having to fill up on empty. See what I'm talking about?

Another analogy is choosing crisis-care is like constantly treading water. You tread water as long as you can until you need to be rescued, again and again. Others choose disease-care. They decide to get well enough over a period of visits and decide to start wearing a life jacket. Then when something comes up again, they call for help. Still others choose to learn to sail - above the water. They decide they no longer want to just manage crisis or diseases but choose to achieve optimal health. That requires continued monthly visits to achieve.

Health is the same way. If you only see your doctor when you are in crisis because you have limited the time or energy to spend on your health. Then, you will constantly wait to be in crisis with your health before you see a doctor. You will only be getting crisis-care, instead of health-care. I see patients occasionally cancel their follow up appointment because they are doing great. I am glad the treatment worked, but what about your health? It is then obvious that those people only cared enough about themselves to move out of crisis. I then see them call the office for another appointment when they are in crisis again. And, so it goes on and on. If that is what you want, I'll provide that for you.

If however, you decide to stop living from crisis to crisis, and start investing the time and energy it takes to regain your health, you will begin a journey into health-care. Everyone has a choice they can make when seeing a doctor. People tend to make one of three choices, crisis-care, disease-care, or health-care. Crisis-care as you already guessed is waiting until you have a crisis and only coming in when you are in dire need. Disease-care is seeing a doctor just long enough to get over the disease then stop coming in for care. Health-care is when you may have been motivated to come in because of a crisis, but you see the value in going past the disease-care stage and into health-care.

Then you begin to see by investing in your health you are able to stay out of crisis-care and move through disease-care into regaining your health. To move into health-care, it takes building a relationship with a doctor so they get to know your history, symptom tendencies, allergic tendencies, food cravings, emotional blocks and buttons, and everything else required about you. Then especially, over time a doctor can build a bigger and wider view of your situation in order to help you move into optimal health. They can help you move up and up through each of the steps of health to achieve optimal health.

There is something about living in this quick-fix society that as long as we feel comfortable we think everything is great with our health. That is not necessarily so. That is crisis-care. Cancer for instance is quiet and insidious. That person thinks everything was great then suddenly they are diagnosed with it. They think it came out of no where. But it most assuredly did not. They were too busy to worry about their health, as long as they stayed "not sick" they thought they were fine. Now, they have a new crisis. Understand?

I hope you can see the importance of regular office visits and of building a relationship with your doctor. Your MD most likely focuses on crisis-care. That is the purpose of those drugs they prescribe. To get you out of a crisis.

Naturopathic doctors, like myself, are really into the philosophy that "prevention is the best cure" after all. You deserve your health naturally. You deserve to live a long healthy crisis-free life for the rest of your life. I will always be here for you if crisis-care is what you want as well. I hope you decide on health-care. Because then I can help you achieve optimal health. Call the office today to begin your health journey.

in Health and Service,

David Hogg, ND
Naturopathic Wisdom
1101 South Winchester Blvd.
Suite E157
San Jose, CA 95128
408-297-6877
www.naturally4health.com
www.naturopathicwisdom.com

Hormones and Cancer and other risks

This website lists many studies with associated risks. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/whi/estro_pro.htm

It seems that giving estrogen with progestin did not have any significant impact on quality of life in women. And, that "the overall (increased) risks (breast cancer, lung cancer, dementia, heart attacks, stroke, and blood clots) outweighed the benefits." Even over a 3 year period after ceasing hormone therapy, women are found to have a 12% increased risk of fatal and nonfatal malignancies. I believe this is because hormones are fat soluble and can be stored in the bodies fat cells even after women stop taking them.

If you are on hormones for whatever reason, be it birth control or menopause, to help your symptoms, then it is very important for you to get off them and onto natural therapies. I have helped many women with their premenstrual, menopausal and post-menopausal symptoms naturally and never needing hormones. I have had several women call and ask if I prescribed hormones. My answer is, "I can prescribe them, but I have yet to find it necessary." Hormones can disrupt your bodies own natural processes and get in the way of your bodies own natural protection mechanisms. After helping women stop taking hormone therapy of some kind, and after helping them with their symptoms, I help them detox the hormones out of their body with herbal medicines and other natural therapies such as hydrotherapy. If you have any other questions, please call the office and I am happy to talk with you.

in Health and Service,

David Hogg, ND
Naturopathic Wisdom
1101 South Winchester Blvd.
Suite E157
San Jose, CA 95128
408-297-6877
www.naturally4health.com
www.naturopathicwisdom.com

Zicam ingredients

are not all natural. The ingredients contain many natural ingredients plus 2 harmful chemicals. They are both highly alkaline and can be as abrasive and harmful as strong acids. They are benzalkonium chloride and sodium hydroxide. The news story above makes the low dose homeopathic zinc as the culprit, which is also the official position of the FDA. However, I believe it is those 2 chemicals that are causing people to loose their sense of smell. According to Wikipedia, "Benzalkonium chloride solutions of 10% or more are toxic to humans, causing irritation to the skin and mucosa, and death if taken internally." And Wikipedia on, "Sodium hydroxide is extremely caustic, and can react with fats and oils on skin, in a reaction which creates salts. For this reason, sodium hydroxide is very dangerous, and skin should immediately be rinsed with mild acid, such as vinegar or low molar citric acid, following exposure. Do NOT wash with water following contact with this substance as this will merely exacerbate the corrosive affect."
It seems easy to figure out what is causing people to loose their sense of smell. Caustic highly alkaline chemicals. And, not the homeopathic zinc.

Causes of Heartburn

I especially enjoy the commercials for heartburn. They all tend to say you can eat whatever you want if you take this pill everyday. Most doctors, except Naturoapthic ones, tell you the cause is too much acid. The cause of heartburn is actually the opposite.

Lets first understand how the stomach is supposed to work. The stomach is acidic when empty. When we eat food and even before we swallow it, the stomach starts producing acid to digest the food. The acid production continues until the acid level is sufficient to digest what you have eaten. After the food has been broken down by the acid, the stomach allows the food to pass through the pyloric sphincter on its want the the duodenum and small intestine. The stomach will continue emptying as long as there is food digested properly to pass through on to the small intestine.

Where the problem comes in when the stomach acid produced is not sufficient to digest the food. The food will then stay on your stomach for a longer period with the stomach trying to digest it by producing more acid but there is not enough. The natural response of the stomach is that if something cannot pass it must come back up. Hence heartburn and esophageal reflux. By the way, gastric esophageal reflux disease (GERD) is not a disease, but a condition that can be corrected. This is why the dinner you had at 6pm is still on your stomach at 10 or 11 pm when you went to bed and why you have to sleep sitting up.

If then you take antacids that decrease the acid more, then you are getting in the body's way of properly digesting the food you ate. You also then cannot break down proteins, absorb B vitamins or minerals. Without stomach acid these nutrients cannot be broken down or absorbed.

The common side effects of antacids are; constipation, no appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, headache, confusion, high calcium and low phosphates in the blood leading to other problems like osteopenia. And, milk-alkali syndrome is becoming increasingly more prevalent.
The common side effects of proton pump inhibitors are headache, diarrhea, constipation, muscle aches, vertigo, malaise, dizziness, dry mouth, dry skin, nausea, vomiting, rash, confusion, and fatigue.

Other main causes of heartburn are what you may be eating. Many things cause the esophageal sphincter to relax allowing the contents of the stomach into the esophagus. Coffee and caffeinated beverages, sodas, chocolate, and tomatoes decrease the sphincter pressure. Milk and dairy causes delayed stomach emptying and increases acid production because milk actually neutralizes acids into alkaline. So, your stomach needs to produce more acid than usual to digest dairy foods. Other foods that can contribute to heartburn are meat, alcohol, hot sauces, spicy foods, fried foods, fatty foods, rich foods, salty foods, sweet foods and sugar.

The way I work is by actually helping your body restore healthy levels of stomach acid and repair the lining so you can digest your food and absorb your nutrients properly. If you or know anyone who is having to take antacids or proton pump inhibitors, please have them call me.

in Health and Service,

David Hogg, ND
Naturopathic Wisdom
1101 South Winchester Blvd.
Suite E157
San Jose, CA 95128
408-297-6877
www.naturally4health.com
www.naturopathicwisdom.com

Causes of Headaches

I know you see the headache commercials daily on television if you watch them. They all promise you fast relief from the pain, but they tell you nothing about what may have caused the headache and what you can do about not having them return. They lead you to believe that your body is completely incapable of handling the headache on its own. That your body has no innate ability to deal with pain so you must reach for something to make the pain go away. This then creates dependency on that advertised pain medication. Because since you do not know what caused your headache, you will reach for another pain pill to make the pain go away. What they really want you to believe is that your headache is really due to lack pain killers. I assure you it is not.

Many pain killers have really bad side effects. Aspirin causes the following common reactions; upset stomach, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, rash, ringing in the ears, dizziness, increased uric acid in the blood, bleeding, bruising, constipation, and diarrhea. It also has serious reactions, but why risk it? Acetaminophen causes the common reactions of; nausea, hives, rash, with serious reactions of liver toxicity, jaundice, anemia, leukopenia, neutropenia, and anaphylaxis reaction. Ibuprofen causes the common reactions of upset stomach, nausea, abdominal pain, headaches, dizziness, rash, elevated liver enzymes, edema, ringing in the ears, bruising, with serious reactions of GI bleeding, heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, blood clots, heart failure, kidney toxicity and many others.

I want to see a commercial someday for headaches that is more like a public service announcement. It will start out like a typical headache commercial, then the person with the headache will ask themselves the following questions;
Have I had enough water to drink today?
Did I eat something I could be allergic to?
Is it because of the argument I had today with my spouse/significant other/family member?
Did I get enough sleep?
Are my sinuses congested?
Are my muscles tense for some reason?

As soon as they realize the cause of the headache, they will go about correcting that then the headache will shortly subside. If they have not had enough water, then most likely drinking a big glass of water will ease the pain. If they were allergic to something they ate then drinking water and taking a natural antihistamine supplement like D-Hist will help. Then to avoid the headache again, they will avoid that food. If an argument is the reason for the headache, then practicing forgiveness of yourself and others will ease the headache. If lack of sleep is the reason then taking a nap will most likely ease the headache. If sinus congestion is the reason, then drinking lots of water, taking enzymes, and respiratory herbs will help. If you muscles are tense, then having someone massage you or taking a hot bath to relax will ease the pain. These remedies carry no side effects, especially water.

When a headache is persistent or recurrent and the above solutions do not help, you need to come in for a visit. By taking a history of the symptoms I can help discover the cause of your headaches. I have many modalities that I use to help your body heal itself.

in Health and Service,

David Hogg, ND
Naturopathic Wisdom
1101 South Winchester Blvd.
Suite E157
San Jose, CA 95128
408-297-6877
www.naturally4health.com
www.naturopathicwisdom.com