Naturopathic Wisdom

2011-05-05T16:08:00.000-07:00

Allergies Start Here

Most of us think that seasonal allergies begin with breathing in pollen or dust, however the cause of allergies begins with your body’s reaction to the pollen. Yes, there is pollen in the air. But, the symptoms you are having are a measure of your immune health. The typical symptoms of runny nose, sneezing, itchy watery eyes, and others are caused by a histamine release in reaction to the allergen you have inhaled. Conventional medicine would have you believe that simply taking an antihistamine drug treats the cause of your allergies. Antihistamine drugs suppress histamine production by the mast cells, but also can cause the common side effects of drowsiness, fatigue, abdominal pain, headache, dry mucus membranes, diarrhea, and sore throat. Naturopathic medicine treats the cause and severity of the symptoms and the symptoms directly.

The cause of your allergy symptoms is located inside the intestinal tract. That is where your body first learns what measure of histamine reaction to have in response to an allergen. The core of your immune system is in your abdomen. Of all the lymph nodes in your body, 80-90% of them surround your intestines. Therefore, the body’s response to an allergen is first learned when we eat foods we are allergic.

For example, if you are allergic to wheat, then your intestines will attract more white blood cells that become mast cells that produce histamine as a result. As you continue to eat more and more foods you are allergic, the more mast cells your body will produce and the more severe histamine reaction you will experience. What you can do to calm the histamine reaction you have is avoiding allergic foods and by taking a supplement like D-Hist, which contains the ingredients quercitin, nettle, and NAC. Quercitin helps to calm the mast cells down thereby decreasing the histamine response to an allergen. Nettle is an herb known to calm allergies. And, NAC (n-acetylcysteine) is a natural allergy anti-inflammatory.

Also, the secret to curing your allergies is healing your intestinal tract. If you are having the common allergy symptoms, try to imagine those same symptoms of inflammation, redness, swelling, and histamine release also happening in your intestinal tract at the same time. Frequently in the case of severe allergies, ordering a stool test to determine if there are any abnormal microbes such as bad bacteria, yeast, or parasites that may also be contributing to the symptoms is extremely helpful. I have seen many people with severe allergies test positive for harmful bacteria, then when treated, the allergies seem to disappear. So you see, we must treat the cause of allergies and not the symptoms to achieve a cure.

Treating allergies by treating the cause instead of the symptoms is the best way to heal or cure your allergies. Naturopathic medicine offers a comprehensive approach including diet, supplements, and homeopathic remedies to treat the cause of allergies and without harmful side effects.

© 2011 David Hogg, ND
www.naturopathicwisdom.com

2010-11-20T14:19:00.001-08:00

Flu Shot Ingredients 2010-2011 Season

They have greatly updated the flu shot ingredients for 2010. The following information was taken directly from the package insert for each flu vaccine. There are 4 different flu vaccines made by different manufacturers. If you decide to vaccinate yourself, make sure you are aware of exactly what you are receiving in the vaccine. They included the H1N1 virus in all of the flu vaccines this year. Please forward this information to all of your friends.

The different vaccines are as follows;

1. Fluvirin made by Novartis

2. Afluria by CSL Biotherapeutics

3. Fluzone by Sanofi Pasteur

4. FluMist by MedImmune

Fluvirin made by Novartis contains the inactivated flu virus type A & B. Fluvirin is not recommended for children under 4 years of age. Each dose contains;

Thimerosal that has been mostly removed down to less than 1 mcg. The multidose vial contains 25 mcg murcery per dose.
influenza virus hemagglutinin 25 mcg from 3 different viruses; A/California/7/2009, NYMC X-181 (H1N1); A/Victoria/210/2009, NYMC X-187 (H3N2) (an A/Perth/16/2009-like virus); and B/Brisbane/60/2008. (3, 11). (The package insert does not give the exact proportions of each virus.)
egg proteins; virus was propagated in embryonated hen’s eggs
polymyxin
neomycin
betapropiolactone
nonylphenol ethoxylate in trace amount
the tips of the prefilled syringe may contain natural rubber latex. The multidose vial and syringe stopper/plunger do not contain latex.

Afluria by CSL Biotherapeutics

Thimerosal that has been mostly removed down to less than 1 mcg. The multidose vial contains 25 mcg murcery per dose.
influenza virus hemagglutinin 25 mcg from 3 different viruses; A/California/7/2009, NYMC X-181 (H1N1); A/Victoria/210/2009, NYMC X-187 (H3N2) (an A/Perth/16/2009-like virus); and B/Brisbane/60/2008. (3, 11). (The package insert does not give the exact proportions of each virus.)
sodium chloride
monobasic sodium phosphate
potassium chloride
calcium chloride
sodium taurodeoxycholate
ovalbumin
neomycin sulfate
polymyxin B
beta-propiolactone
the tips of the prefilled syringe may contain natural rubber latex. The multidose vial and syringe stopper/plunger do not contain latex.

Fluzone by Sanofi Pasteur

influenza virus hemagglutinin 25 mcg from 3 different viruses; A/California/7/2009, NYMC X-181 (H1N1); A/Victoria/210/2009, NYMC X-187 (H3N2) (an A/Perth/16/2009-like virus); and B/Brisbane/60/2008. (3, 11).
Each 0.25 ml dose has 22.5 mcg of influenza virus hemagglutinin (7.5 mcg of each strain) and each 0.5 ml dose has 45 mcg (15 mcg of each strain) harvested from embryonated chicken eggs in allantoic fluid inactivated with formaldehyde.
Octylphenol ethoxylate (Triton X-100)
Sodium phosphate sodium
Formaldehyde
Gelatin
Thimerosal containing 25 mcg mercury is only in the multidose vial

FluMist intranasal spray by MedImmune

Live attenuated virus reassortants of 3 wild-type influenza viruses, hemagglutinin and neuraminidase; A/California/7/2009 (H1N1); A/Perth/16/2009 (H3N2); and B/Brisbane/60/2008. (3).
harvested from embryonated chicken eggs in allantoic fluid
monosodium glutamate (MSG)
hydrolyzed porcine gelatin
arginine
sucrose
dibasic potassium phosphate
monbasic potassium phosphate
gentamicin sulfate
contains no preservatives

in Health and Service,

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

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www.naturally4health.com
www.naturopathicwisdom.com

2010-10-12T19:03:00.000-07:00

Are You Cleansing Yet? – Runny nose or flu symptoms?

Before you read on, you may enjoy reading the following previous articles;
It is Really Cleansing (Not Flu) Season - And Why
Now That You Are Cleansing
Some People Are Still Cleansing

Has your nose started to run yet? I have been seeing many people with runny noses, nasal congestion and some coughing. Some have reported feeling as if they have the flu. If you do not have symptoms yet, your turn may be coming. This coming Fall and Winter season is going to be different from now through March 2011. I believe the weather is going to be alternating hot and cold until then. And, this alternating hot and cold weather hydrotherapy will be doing things to your body to make you cleanse whether you want to or not.

Remember, the "flu" in not the flu but your body cleansing itself of stuff your body does not like. All the stuff you have eaten all year will now be exiting through your nose. If your body does not like dairy, wheat, corn flour, or other foods, even though it may seem to be ok at the time, then your body will be cleansing itself of those foods.

Every time it turns cold your body changes from getting rid of excess heat to conserving heat. This great change in the way your body deals with heat is what causes your flu/cleansing symptoms. When the weather turns cold, the body constricts the capillaries and lymphatic vessels at the surface skin in order to conserve heat. This constriction sends all of that fluid out of the body. Ever notice that your rings fit more loose in the Winter than the Summer? Where do you think that swelling goes? Well, some of it you urinate out, some your sweat out under warm winter clothes, some you poop out, and the rest goes to your nose and possibly chest. No amount of vaccines, over-the-counter flu and cold medicines will ever stop this process. And, no flu virus will ever cause your body to cleanse. Flu viruses are in response to the mucus accumulating, and not the cause of your runny nose. And, the body aches you feel as you think you are getting the flu are actually the junk you ate all year that is now moving through your lymphatic vessels since your body is now in heat conservation mode. Understand? It is really the weather with your body's response to it and not some virus that is causing your symptoms. A virus never has and never will cause your nose to run, body aches, post-nasal drip, or coughing. The virus will only be there when the mucus sits in your body too long.

Therefore, the best way to deal with these symptoms is to keep the flow and cleansing going. I give respiratory herbs to help the nose discharge and keep the lungs clear, antiviral herbs if necessary, and herbs for the throat to keep it feeling good, and most importantly homeopathic remedies specific for you and your specific symptoms, all helping you heal more quickly and in the process be healthier for the experience of cleansing. I also prescribe hydrotherapy treatments in home and office to assist with the cleansing.

In conclusion, you can see there is nothing "going around," nor has there even been. We all "get it" at the same time. We always have these symptoms occur right before, during, or after a cold change of weather. These symptoms are not caught from anyone but ourselves. We cause ourselves to cleanse when we put things into our bodies that our body does not like. So, do not take any decongestants, fever medications, or basically anything from a drug store. Take natural things and receive natural treatments to assist your body during this time. Finally, naturopathic medicine has much help for you while you are cleansing. Cleansing is exactly what you are doing after all.

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

2010-04-01T23:58:00.000-07:00

Some people are still cleansing

With the weather turning colder at least one more time before spring springs, the cold weather will cause more cleansing in those whos bodies have not cleansed yet or enough. Remember, the most common thing your body is needing to cleanse itself from is milk. See the previous article here;
http://naturopathicwisdom.blogspot.com/2010/04/milk-it-is-not-what-it-used-to-be.html

Please take the time to read the following previous articles to understand why your body is cleansing, and does not in any way have any sort of flu and never will. “The flu” is something that has been sold to us by big pharma in order to sell us flu shots. Cleansing (flu) symptoms happen every single year and has in no way due to any virus whatsoever.

It's Cleansing (Not Flu) Season, And Why

Remember, It's Cleansing (Not Flu) Season

Now That You Are Cleansing

2010-04-01T23:38:00.000-07:00

Milk: It Is Not What It Used To Be
Important: If you are allergic to any of these ingredients, you will be allergic to regular milk.

I remember the milkman. Yes, I am dating myself. I remember getting 2 quarts of milk every few days. That was good milk. Then, something happened. Milk no longer came to us straight from the dairy. We now bought milk from the grocery store in a paper then later plastic carton. I remember thinking there must be something innately wrong with drinking from plastic. Now we know drinking anything from plastic is not really good for us. For the most part, milk cows no longer graze grass at a dairy. They are fed prepared feed with all kinds of ingredients. I found one particular website that was quite helpful. The ingredients are as follows; dehydrated alfalfa pellets, almond hulls, apple pomace, apple pomace with oat hulls, bakery waste also called cookie meal (stale bread, pastries, and donuts), barley grain, beans, beet pulp, blood meal (dried blood), brewers grains (left over after beer production), canola meal, waste chocolate, citrus pulp, corn grain, high moisture corn, corn gluten feed (product of making corn starch), corn gluten meal (by-product of making corn syrup), cottonseed hulls, cottonseed meal, distillers dried grains with solubles, fat (from pork and beef, poultry, blended feed grade animal fat, blended animal and vegetable fats, and feed grade vegetable fat), tallow (calcium salts and long-chain fatty acids, hydrogenated fatty acids, hydrogenated tallow products), feather meal (hydrolyzed poultry feathers from slaughtered poultry), fish meal (by-product of making fish oil), hominy feed (by-product of making grits), flaxseed meal, lupin seeds, meat and bone meal (dried from pork), cane molasses, oat grain, oat hulls, peanut meal, rye grain, sorghum grain (milo), soybean meal, heat-treated full-fat soybeans, extruded soybeans, expeller-processed soybean meal, lignosulfonate-treated soybean meal, soy hulls, sunflower meal, urea, wheat feed flour (by-product of making wheat flour), wheat middlings (shorts, germ, and flour), wheat red dog flour (bran, shorts, germ, and flour), and whey (by-product of cheese making). They also have to add antibiotics to suppress the bacteria that grow from all these ingredients being digested in the cow intestines. They also give the cows estrogen to make them produce more milk than the cows would otherwise.
Post link in browser to see full list:
www.milkproduction.com/Library/Articles/Feed_Ingredients.htm

I have one very important question, where's the grass? Cows are supposed to be vegetarians. Cows are not carnivorous and will never be. Their stomachs are made to digest mainly grasses and weeds. If you are allergic to any of the above ingredients, you will be allergic to regular milk. The ingredients above are largely animal and fowl products, starches, bleached white flour, fibers, grains, food industry by-products, hydrogenated fats, and genetically modified soy products. If you are drinking milk or eating cheese, then you are eating all of the above ingredients. Hydrogenated fats have been linked to arteriosclerosis and heart disease. It is no wonder so many people are allergic to milk these days. Dairy is one of the main food groups I have to take people off of so their noses and lungs will clear of mucus. Can you see why?

I must quote Andy Rooney from 60 Minutes who said, "I'll bet a calf wouldn't drink most of the stuff called milk now sold in cartons. You can’t tell some of it from Diet Coke. Has it ever occurred to them that people aren't drinking it because milk isn't as good as it used to be? My suggestion, if they want to sell more milk, is that they go back to selling what comes out of a cow."
Find the segment here;
www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=3004028n&tag=mncol;lst;1

in Health and Service,

David Hogg, ND
Naturopathic Wisdom
www.naturally4health.com
www.naturopathicwisdom.com

2009-12-08T11:21:00.000-08:00

Now That You Are Cleansing

With the weather turning colder for longer periods, we are seeing more people with cleansing (not flu) symptoms. Remember the body's response to cold is what causes nasal congestion, runny noses, sore throats, and coughing symptoms. Not a virus. When the body starts conserving heat by constricting superficial vessels below the skin, all of the fluid that has been constricted must go somewhere. Some of it leaves your body naturally without you noticing, and the rest needs to leave your body through your nose. When mucus has accumulated in your nasal and sinus cavities with sitting there long enough, it will begin to culture viruses and if it sits there even longer it will culture bacteria. Remember, viruses and bacteria are not the cause of the mucus being there to begin with. They are there as a result of the mucus accumulating. That is how sore throats happen. The following are many things you can do now that you may be cleansing. The best thing to help you cleanse is the Respiratory Formula.

1. It is very important to do daily nasal washing with slightly salty water to clear your sinuses and nasal cavity of excess mucus. Salty water or saline can kill viruses and bacteria on contact due to the fact that they cannot withstand the osmotic pressure gradient. They basically break open and die from the salty water.

2. To help prevent the mucus from going to your nose in the first place, taking digestive enzymes between meals will help break up excess mucus in your digestive tract preventing it from getting to your sinuses. Enzymes are available for children and adults.

3. If you have congestion, runny nose, or even sneezing, respiratory herbs that are expectorants help they body expel the mucus through from your nose accelerating the healing and cleansing process easing your symptoms. If you take over-the-counter decongestants, you are actually drying the mucus inside your body when your body really needs to cleanse itself instead. Herbal expectorants are really the best way to decongest your sinuses.

4. If you are feeling body aches as well, then you may be need extra help in the form of warm baths everyday to induce a fever, and antiviral herbs to help support your body to deal with the virus you may have. Either way, these 2 things may help you feel better. Warm baths help open up your lymphatic vessels to help flush the mucus through your body. Plus, the warm bath induces a fever and we all know that viruses and bacteria do not survive when we have a fever.

5. If you have a fever, do not take fever medications. Any medication you may take will only prolong your illness because your body needs the fever to get well. The best thing to do is take a tepid bath to bring down your fever if it gets too high for you. What is too high I leave to your discretion. I can better tell you what may be too high for you if want my help. I can tell you that as a naturopathic doctor, I help the body heal itself naturally and do my very best to stay out of its way to health. One of the ways the body has to heal itself is by creating a fever. Suppressing what the body needs to do naturally to heal is not a healthy thing to do ever. It is better to suffer through, while managing your symptoms naturally in the meantime because your body will be healthier for it in the long run. Your immune system will be strengthened in a natural way, which is the best way after all. You ultimately must decide what you think is best for you to do if you have a fever.

6. See your local naturopathic doctor if you need help getting through this cleansing time of year. I have many different modalities I use to help people feel better and recover more quickly.

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

2009-12-08T11:07:00.000-08:00

1. Natural Flu Prevention

2. Your Dr on TV

3. It's Still Cleansing (NOT Flu) Season

4. "It" Happens Every Single Year It Turns Cold

5. Fevers Are Good For You.

1. Natural Flu Prevention

Since all the vaccines are in somewhat short supply (not to mention if people are wanting to avoid the ingredients), the H1N1 vaccine is especially limited, everyone wants to know what they can do to keep from getting the flu. If you read #3 in this edition of my newsletter then you will understand whatever symptoms you get are not really flu but cleansing symptoms. And, if you read #4, then you will realize that your body goes through this process every year, and not some virus. Therefore, no vaccine will ever stop or prevent this very natural process.

So, how can you stop or prevent getting flu-like symptoms such as runny nose, nasal or lung congestion, fever, body-aches, etc? Well, the best way is to eat healthy all year long so your body does not have to cleanse itself so drastically so as to cause you an undesirable level of discomfort. If you are eating according to your Blood Type or better GenoType, the healthier your body will be when cold weather arrives. If you have eaten junk food and foods you may be allergic to all year, then you will have a more difficult time when cold weather first impacts your body.

So, besides eating healthy, you can take daily multivitamins, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, and Probiotics to boost your body's natural immunity against all infections and allergens. You can find these in my online store naturopathicwisdom.com.

At the point where your nose is congested with having other symptoms, then you need help to relieve the symptoms. Then, the following things you can do are as follows. Many people swear by my antiviral formula, zeprevir for relief of flu symptoms because it helps your body fight infections. For relief of congestion, I prescribe digestive enzymes and my respiratory formula as decongestants and expectorants. You'll also find those in my online store. If you then get a fever, it is best you seek a natural health professional.

2. Your Dr on TV

NBC Bay Area News 11 did a story on natural flu treatment and prevention this past week. I was interviewed and was in the story. I thought Kris Sanchez did a great job with the story. I am working on getting the story on youtube. Let me know if you are interested in seeing it.

3. It's Still Cleansing (NOT Flu) Season

I hope by now that you realize what is really happening with your body this time of year is cleansing. What if the whole idea of “the flu season” was really a natural process by the body every single year? How would you then approach your symptoms? Would you approach your experience differently? Why or why not? Would you get the vaccine?

Naturopathic medicine has many different modalities to help us accelerate and ease this cleansing process. For example, naturopaths believe in keeping the emunctories open. The emunctories are the organ systems of elimination, and they are the urinary system, digestive system, respiratory system, and the largest organ of elimination, the skin.

So you are thinking, what about the influenza virus? Where exactly does the virus come in to play in all of this? The flu virus had nothing to do with all that junk you ate all year that is now exiting your body. However, it does like it when you begin to expel the excess mucus from your body. The mucus creates a culture medium or food for the virus and sometimes also bacteria. The flu bug is no more responsible for all your symptoms than mosquitoes cause standing water. The medium was already there by the time the flu virus came along. The sore throat is caused by the virus culturing in the mucus sitting in your nasal cavity above your throat. When the mucus is washed from the area with saline then your throat is no longer sore. Ever notice that this process starts in many different people who never came in contact with each other in the same area and at the same time of year? The only common denominator between all these people is the weather change. I see many different people come to my office that never knew each other or even knew the same people. And, different groups of people start cleansing after progressively colder cold weather spells or fronts. Some start cleansing after the first one of the season, another the second, still others the third, then those that are left will start cleansing fourth cold wave if they are going to start cleansing at all that season. And, each of us manifests different symptoms in different ways. The healing process is different for each of us.

If the flu virus was the cause of these symptoms, don’t you think that it would start with one person then spread out like wild fire? This process does not spread this way. This cleansing happens simultaneously all over the country around the same time and always after a cold spell or cold front. Although the media and other organizations would have you believe otherwise. The flu virus is not the cause. The colder weather sending your body into a cleanse is the ultimate cause of your symptoms.

I know you remember your mother saying to you when it gets colder, “don’t go outside without your coat because you will catch a cold!” See, mother knew what she was talking about. This is why she was right. You watch, this year and in the coming years if everyone around you gets ‘the flu’ after each cold weather spell. Then, you will realize you will never have ‘the flu’ again and realize you are simply cleansing. Naturopathic doctors can offer much support to help you during this cleansing time of year to assist your body to cleanse more easily with less suffering. We have several different modalities that are used in combination according to the needs of the patient. Go to naturally4health.com to learn about the different modalities and how naturopathic medicine can help you.

4. "It" Happens Every Single Year It Turns Cold

Lets explore exactly what is happening during “flu season.” Flu season actually begins as the weather turns colder, every single year. Why this is? Every single year in the fall the body must change the way it processes heat. In the summer it must release excess heat. In the fall to winter, it must conserve heat. This happens so we stay warm in the winter and cooler in the summer. How does the body do this? It does this by either dilating or constricting blood and lymph vessels. In the summer the body opens all available blood and lymph vessels near the surface of the body to release excess heat. In the fall to winter, the body begins to constrict those surface blood and lymph vessels to conserve heat. What do you think happens when all those vessels constrict at the first cold spell or sign of winter? When all the superficial capillaries constrict all at once, like during the first cold front, they pump 6 times the volume of blood of one heartbeat. That is a lot of fluid all at once. So, this is why what is really going on is really ‘cleansing season’ and NOT ‘flu season.’ I am sure you have noticed that the rings on your fingers fit tighter in the summer and looser in the winter. Have you ever wondered where all that excess fluid goes when the temperature turns cold? Keep reading.

As studies show, at the same time as the vessels constrict, during colder weather the body increases its metabolic rate to increase heat production. This action with surface vessel constriction combines together to avoid frostbite. This is nature’s way of protecting and helping us survive the winter. The studies also show that some of the fluid that was in those surface vessels is released through the urine, stool, and by sweating. What about all the stuff that isn’t water-soluble? There is a lot of that stuff! You have seen it. You have blown it out your nose and coughed it up from your lungs. It is called mucus. You first notice it with nasal congestion then with postnasal drip and a sore throat. The body must rid itself of this excess stuff you accumulated inside your body all year. You know, the left over excess metabolic products from ice cream, sodas, chips, pastries, cookies, and especially cheese. Basically all junk food and sweets. Your body must cleanse itself annually in order to become healthy enough to survive the winter. That healing process is what gives us all stuffy and/or runny noses, sore throats, coughs, fevers, and overall feeling yucky. So, this flu is really what is called in naturopathic medicine circles as a healing crisis or cleanse, and NOT a disease crisis. This healing and cleansing process is not something to be afraid of experiencing. This cleansing process is something to welcome. We must assist the body during this time to help it cleanse itself of everything it does not need.

5. Fevers Are Good For You.

The reason you get a fever is because the mucus your body is trying to expel is staying too long in your body. The mucus staying too long acts like a culture medium to viruses and if the mucus stays long enough then it cultures bacteria. The virus does not cause the mucus to accumulate; it is actually the other way around. The mucus is food for viruses and bacteria. The fever not only helps to burn out the infection but also accelerates the expulsion of the excess mucus. The body's ability to produce a fever is actually a measure of the strength of your immune system. If you have not had the "flu" for many years, then your immune system has not been active for all that time. If your immune system has not been able to produce a fever for many years then I really do worry about you. Many people will brag that they have not been sick for many years, but that accomplishment is nothing to brag about. You are basically telling everyone, without realizing it, that your immune system has not been functioning for all that time.

One of the treatments we naturopaths use to induce fevers is hydrotherapy. We may have you take a hot bath then go to bed with heavy covers to make yourself perspire. We may have you put warm wet socks on your child covered by dry wool socks at bedtime. Another treatment that is very effective is Constitutional Hydrotherapy, which is performed in the office. Most naturopaths will try to help you improve your immune status by inducing a fever and sometimes following the heat with cold. We try to teach people the concept of being well enough to be sick. When your body has the ability to produce a fever shows your body is healthy. If you have not had any flu symptoms for a long time, call the office and I’ll show you how you can build your immune system back to health. Another concept I will discuss is the differences between healing and disease crises.

Any questions, please call the office. I am happy to be here for 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

2009-12-08T11:05:00.000-08:00

Remember, It's Cleansing (Not Flu) Season

I wanted to remind everyone that any symptoms you have this season is really about the food we ate this year and our body changing from expelling excess heat to conserving heat. I am reposting the previous article I wrote early this year.

--------------------------------------------------------

By reading this entire article, you will realize you have never nor will ever have the flu again, and you will realize what is really happening with your body is cleansing. What if the whole idea of “the flu season” was really a natural process by the body every single year? How would you then approach your symptoms? Would you approach your experience differently? Why or why not?

Lets explore exactly what is happening during “flu season.” Flu season actually begins as the weather turns colder, every single year. Why this is? Every single year in the fall the body must change the way it processes heat. In the summer it must release excess heat. In the fall to winter, it must conserve heat. This happens so we stay warm in the winter and cooler in the summer. How does the body do this? It does this by either dilating or constricting blood and lymph vessels. In the summer the body opens all available blood and lymph vessels near the surface of the body to release excess heat. In the fall to winter, the body begins to constrict those surface blood and lymph vessels to conserve heat. What do you think happens when all those vessels constrict at the first cold spell or sign of winter? When all the superficial capillaries constrict all at once, like during the first cold front, they pump 6 times the volume of blood of one heartbeat. That is a lot of blood at once. So, this is why what is really going on is really ‘cleansing season’ and NOT ‘flu season.’ I am sure you have noticed that the rings on your fingers fit tighter in the summer and looser in the winter. Have you ever wondered where all that excess fluid goes when the temperature turns cold? Read on.

Naturopathic medicine has many different modalities to help us accelerate and ease this cleansing process. Naturopaths believe in keeping the emunctories open. The emunctories are the organ systems of elimination, and they are the urinary system, digestive system, respiratory system, and the skin.

Oh what about the influenza virus? Where does the virus come in? The flu virus or bug had nothing to do with all that junk you ate all year. However, it does like it when you begin to expel the excess mucus from your body. The mucus creates a culture medium or food for the virus and sometimes also bacteria. The flu bug is no more responsible for all your symptoms than mosquitoes cause standing water. The medium was already there by the time the flu virus came along. The sore throat is caused by the virus culturing in the mucus sitting in your nasal cavity above your throat. When the mucus is removed so goes your sore throat. Every notice that this starts in many different people who never came in contact with each other in the same area and at the same time of year? The only common denominator between all these people is the weather change. I see many different people come to my office that never knew each other or even knew the same people. And, different people start cleansing after progressive and colder cold spells or fronts. Some start cleansing after the first one of the season, other the second, still others the third, then those that are left who will start cleansing fourth if they are going to start cleansing at all that season. And, each of us manifests different symptoms in different ways. The healing process is different for each of us.

If the flu virus was the cause of these symptoms, don’t you think that it would start with one person then spread out like wild fire? The virus does not spread this way. This cleansing happens simultaneously all over the country around the same time and always after a cold spell or cold front. Although the media and other organizations would have you believe otherwise. The flu virus is not the cause. The colder weather sending your body into a cleanse is the cause of this healing reaction.

I know you remember your mother saying to you when it gets colder, “don’t go outside without your coat because you will catch a cold!” See, mother knew what she was talking about. This is why she was right. You watch, this year and in the coming years if everyone around you gets ‘the flu’ after each cold weather spell. Then, you will realize you will never get ‘the flu’ again and realize you are simply cleansing. Naturopathic doctors can offer much support to help you during this cleansing time of year to assist your body to cleanse more easily with less suffering. We have several different modalities that are used in combination according to the needs of the patient. Go to naturally4health.com to learn about the different modalities and how naturopathic medicine can help 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

2009-09-23T17:14:00.001-07:00

Swine Flu Vaccine Ingredients Part II

I must first begin with asking you to review an article I wrote earlier this year on the flu. It is not really the flu, but your body cleansing itself. It will do this process every year whether you get sick or not and whether you get the flu vaccine or not. This is nature's way to cleanse the body in order to survive the winter. Shifting from ridding itself of excess heat to conserving heat. The flu symptoms are as simple as that. Read the previous blog post here.

Remember when I wrote about the swine flu ingredients in a later blog article? Well, we are here now with the vaccine at your local county health clinic. The ingredients are a little scary to me because they are different than the ordinary vaccines that they are producing. I wrote then that Novartis usually puts into their vaccines the attenuated virus, egg or chicken proteins, neomycin or polymixin (antibiotics), betapropriolactone, nonoxynol-9, formaldehyde, and thiomersal (50% mercury). Well, the H1N1 swine flu vaccination also contains the MF-59 adjuvant. The purpose of the MF-59 adjuvant, Novartis says, to cause an immune response against the swine flu virus. What if you do not have the virus in your body except from the vaccine? What response would it cause then? What happens to the adjuvant anyway? Does it eventually leave your body somehow? Does it stay? I am unable to find any reference to find any answers to these questions. I have discovered that the MF59 adjuvant contains squalene and 2 surfactants; all designed to illicit an immune response from your body. They have tested the vaccine on 28,000 people. Why not 100,000 of the general population? Why only 28,000? The results said the vaccine was "well tolerated." What does that mean? What side effects did they experience? We may never know. I do not want to take something that was "tolerated." I only want to take something into my body that was "harmless."

The two surfactants give me great concern as well as the other ingredients mentioned above. They are polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate and sorbitan trioleate. I looked up the materials safety data sheet (MSDS) on both of these compounds, which reported that both are potentially carcinogenic and teratogenic. It does mention the carcinogenicity, in another area of the MSDS, is unknown. Basically, they are substances to stay away from all together. The boiling point of polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate is exactly the same as water. So, if these compounds get into the water supply, distillation will not remove them. The MSDS on both of these compounds says they are also potentially combustible and caution to keep away from heat. Animal studies have shown polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate to cause cardiac changes, changes in behavior (altered sleep time) and weight loss (upon repeated or prolonged ingestion). The impact on the environment is unknown because they do not know what metabolic products will arise from the injection. The MSDS on sorbitan trioleate says to wash the skin immediately after exposure and to "thoroughly with running water and non-abrasive soap." And, "to wash contaminated clothing before reusing." The MSDS also says that if ingested, to seek immediate medical attention. Working around sorbitan trioleate, the MSDS recommends working around ventilation, wearing splash goggles, a lab coat, and a vapor respirator. If these compounds are so dangerous, why are they in a vaccine?

I do not recommend anyone take this vaccine that is immune compromised, or has any immune disease of any kind, or anyone that may have an over active immune system as in the case of any kind of chronic inflammation or autoimmune disease. I do not recommend the vaccine to anyone under the age of 6. Actually, I cannot in good conscience recommend the vaccine at all. But if you are going to take this vaccine I think you will be taking it at your own risk.

On another note, the leader of Roche's Tamiflu task force reports there are a few cases of Swine Flu becoming resistant to Tamiflu, and calls it a very low percentage. He says it is a good sign that the people who had the resistant strain have not passed the disease on to other people. How does he know that? Really, how does he know? If they have not passed it on to other people, how did they contract the resistant strain of swine flu? What about all the friends and family of those people? Are they not infected too? I would think so. If germs cause disease, and they do NOT, then their friends and family would be infected too. He also said the resistant strain has been like the widespread version of the virus in that it typically produces only mild symptoms. What?!?! If this is so, why do we need a vaccine? Why all the fear mongering on telling people they may die if they do not receive the vaccine? If there is nothing to worry about and the symptoms are only mild, what is all the fuss about? It is estimated that Novartis has sold roughly 50 billion dollars of the vaccine.

Please read my last article, click here, about the swine flu vaccine ingredients.

A fiasco that occurred when they last used fear to persuade people to receive the swine flu vaccine was in 1976. Many people contracted Guillain-Barre syndrome as a result of the vaccine. Guillain-Barre syndrome is a disorder where the body's own immune system attack its own nervous system.

Read about Guillain-Barre syndrome here at the National Institute of Health website, http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/gbs/gbs.htm

You will also read there that is no known cure of Guillain-Barre syndrome. Naturopathic doctors have been treating Guillain-Barre syndrome with success for many years. It's just that you do not hear about those successes because they did not use drugs in the treatment. Guillain-Barre syndrome can be a devastating because of being sudden and unexpected. Prevention is the best cure for anything.

First, do no harm and prevention is the best cure are part of the foundation of naturopathic medicine. Do not give people some cocktail of drugs and constituents that may lead to disease. Do not give people anything that may cause a devastating disease. Give people instead advice about what they can do to prevent disease such eating healthy foods and drinking healthy drinks and water. And if they do become ill, be there for them with natural things to help them heal faster. Isn't that a better way than fear mongering to get people to buy a vaccine? I believe so. Naturopathic medicine has been helping people heal naturally for over 100 years, and for 1000's of years before the word naturopathy came into being. Herbal medicines as well as water cure therapies have been used for tens of thousands of years. And, homeopathy has been around for 200 years and is still going strong. None of the therapies used by naturopathic doctors will ever create billions of dollars for their companies in the way that drugs create billions and trillions for their companies. It is always healthier and more cost effective to keep close to nature for ourselves, our own health, and the health of our environment.

Any questions, feel free to call or write. I am here for 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

2009-08-29T10:18:00.000-07:00

1. Pay Now Or Pay Later
2. Save Money, See A Naturopathic Doctor
3. New Health Memberships Available in Office

1. Pay Now Or Pay Later

I recently saw the movie Food, Inc. In the movie there was a family of 5 where the father had hypertension and diabetes. They are all over weight. They are a family that could not even "afford" to buy vegetables because they are "too expensive." The only place the family can afford to eat is Mickie D's. The movie showed them shopping in the grocery store where one of the daughters picked up broccoli but the mother said it costs too much. In the interview with the family, the mother stated they were paying $200 per month for the father's blood pressure and diabetes medication. They have been eating fast food all their lives because it was the only food they could "afford." Now, they are paying for their choices. If they instead stopped giving money the pharmaceutical companies for the drugs and used that money to buy vegetables, the father's blood pressure would come down and he would no longer be diabetic. The mother herself said, "it's either we pay for vegetables or buy his medication." Sometimes we need to hear what we say out loud. I am sure they are still eating fast food. They are saving now for suffering later.

Please do not be like them. Invest in your health now with paying now. Buy and eat vegetables, free-range meats, and low heavy metals fish. If you eat healthy now, you will reap the benefits later. You will be investing now, instead of like this family that chose to pay later.

2. Save Money, See A Naturopathic Doctor

If you stay with prescription drugs, you are more likely to develop chronic diseases as a result of symptom or disease suppression. The symptoms may go away temporarily but the disease will go deeper into the body and surface some other way. For example, if you apply a steroid cream to your skin for eczema or other skin problem, you will suppress the symptoms and not treating the disease, but be telling the disease to go somewhere else. Typically, people develop some kind of lung disease as a result of steroid suppression. Then, the doctor will prescribe more steroids for the lung symptoms, which then tells the disease go somewhere else. Then, the disease will either go to the brain or liver. If the suppression of mental or liver diseases is prescribed, that may lead to depression, an emotional disease. Then you'll be on more drugs to suppress the depression. See the point I am making?

Therefore, besides eating and living healthy, seeing a naturopathic doctor is one of the best ways to invest in your health. If you do you will reap the benefits of better health and preventing many chronic diseases later in life. If you see a naturopathic doctor or homeopath, like myself, then drugs will not be used suppress your symptoms. Instead, the cause of your symptoms will be treated. I tell all my patients, "I am not hear to treat your symptoms, I am hear to treat the cause of your symptoms." Your body has its own wisdom about how it heals itself. It does not always heal itself in the way we want it to in order we desire. So, your symptoms may not necessarily go away right away as with drugs, but they will eventually as your body heals itself from the inside out, one layer at a time. We must trust the wisdom of the body. Many people find homeopathy to have very quick results. One day you feel bad, the next day you feel well. Herbal medicine is also very effective. So you see, what I help you do is help you heal your body from the inside out without disease and symptom suppression.

3. New Health Memberships Available in Office

There are new health memberships available in my office to help you save money while receiving naturopathic health care. Most people spend about $900 in the first 3-4 months of seeing me. With standard rates for BEST treatments at $65 per visit, a person will spend nearly $900 over 13 treatments. With these new memberships available, you can pay $900 for unlimited naturopathic health care for the whole year, plus a small scheduling fee. Call the office for updated details and we'll send you a brochure on the Naturopathic Health Memberships available.

In Health and Service,

David Hogg, ND
Naturopathic Wisdom

www.naturally4health.com
www.naturopathicwisdom.com

naturopathicwisdom.blogspot.com

2009-08-29T09:53:00.000-07:00

1. Coffee & Fatigue
2. New Naturopathic (In Office) Health Plans Available

1. Coffee & Fatigue

Coffee. I love the smell of coffee. I used to make it for my grandfather every morning when I visited him as a child. I also enjoyed watching it make on the stove in his clear glass pot. We all have memories around coffee. We have coffee at breakfast time, after dinner with or without dessert, and with friends and alone. Coffee houses have become places of socializing. We use coffee to wake up in the morning. We use it get over a hangover. But unfortunately, we drink it everyday so we can stay awake, work, and work faster.

Coffee was originally meant to be an occasional beverage and not a daily one. Drinking coffee occasionally can be beneficial. But, daily coffee is not good for us at all in my opinion. For as many studies that say that coffee gives us benefits, you'll find studies that show the harmful effects. I realize the pros and cons of coffee are very controversial. Please remember who (the corporations) stands to benefit when studies are released on how great coffee is for you. Drinking 1 cup per week maybe. But, daily coffee has more harmful effects than we ever want to admit. Unfortunately, in this society we tend to turn everything into a dependency and an addiction.

So, here's the straight information. I believe everyone agrees that coffee stimulates the adrenal glands to release adrenalin. I hear you say, "Yes, that is what I want it to do so I can wake up and get to work." Well, I understand. Except, daily drinking coffee keeps your adrenals turned "on" for hours everyday your drink it. When your adrenals are on, adrenalin (epinephrine) is constantly pumped through your blood stream. Adrenalin helps to shut your digestion and immune system off, and shunts blood to your bones, heart, and muscles. The reason is that your body is misled to believe you have a bear to fight or run from. No, I am not talking about your boss. Your body is falsely put into a fight or flight response by drinking coffee. This is not healthy to do to your body everyday. Many of us do this everyday and have for many years. I spoke last time about gambling with your health, and this is what you are doing with your health drinking coffee everyday. How many years do you think your body can take the coffee you drink everyday.

Part of the trouble is that after many years of drinking coffee everyday, you need more of it to get the same effect. For those of you are now drinking 1/2 to 1 full pot of coffee everyday, you probably started out drinking 1 cup a day. Those of you who are currently drinking only 1 cup per day need to understand that you may be having to increase the amount of daily coffee to achieve the same results.

The main trouble is when you drink coffee; the first thing that happens is the caffeine stimulates the adrenals to produce adrenalin. Adrenalin then stimulates the pancreas to produce glucagon, which tells the liver to convert fat to glucose. The glucose is there for energy to go to your muscles to fight or run from the bear your body has been fooled into believing is there. When you do not use the glucose, it rises to excess in your blood stream. Excess glucose in the blood causes your pancreas then to produce insulin that makes the glucose go back into fat storage. Your heart rate increasing, from the coffee, will use some of the glucose, but the rest will most likely go back into fat.

I believe coffee will wear out your pancreas and adrenals. I believe some of the obesity and diabetes in this country is due to abuse of coffee. Coffee also causes adrenal fatigue as well. Please realize the fatigue you feel the next day is NOT due to a coffee deficiency. Your fatigue IS due to the coffee you are drinking everyday. When you feel so fatigued that you cannot get going without coffee, your daily coffee causes the fatigue you feel. Understand? So, do you want to treat your fatigue with more coffee? Or, do you want to treat the cause? As a naturopathic doctor, I help you treat the cause of your fatigue. How many years do you think your body can withstand you drinking daily coffee? People come in to my office with migraines, high blood pressure, diabetes, hives, allergies, and others that can be contributed to by daily coffee.

Giving up coffee is challenging. But, you can do it. Cold turkey is brutal. I do not recommend that. An easy way is to switch to green tea as part of withdrawing from coffee. Green tea still has caffeine and can be as strong as coffee. The other way is to dilute the coffee and/or switch to decaffeinated. Decaf coffee still has come caffeine, but definitely not as much. What makes withdrawing from coffee the most difficult is the headaches that occur. Caffeine is also an allergen and can contribute to migraines. If a headache occurs from caffeine withdrawal, you can drink as little coffee as possible to relieve the headache as you withdraw. When people are off coffee completely with no withdrawal symptoms, most people begin to feel much better than they did while drinking coffee every day. Your adrenals and pancreas will begin to repair. You mental function improves. Allergies can improve also because you are no longer continually adding the allergen caffeine to your body.

Does coffee still smell as good as it did before you read this newsletter? Maybe, or maybe not. I am here to help you understand that excesses harm the body no matter what the excess may be. Whether it be sugar, caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, or other habit. Daily indulgences are bad for your health. They are not investments in your health but are actually withdrawals to your health. With drinking daily coffee you are actually gambling with your health. Most people do not want to change their lifestyle but want their symptoms to go away. Whatever the reason you are drinking coffee everyday, it can be helped by naturopathic medicine naturally.

Feel free to call me. I am happy to answer all of your questions.

2. New Naturopathic Health Plans Available to Save You Money

I have been inspired by the movie Sicko to add to the solution of high health care costs. Call the office to learn more. I want to help you save $1,000's per year on office visits.

in Health and Service,

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

2009-07-22T22:11:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-22T22:10:00.002-07:00

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

2009-07-22T22:10:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-22T22:08:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-22T22:07:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-22T22:06:00.002-07:00

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.

2009-07-22T22:06:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-22T22:04:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-09T11:05:00.000-07:00

Summer is Here - Invest Your Health Wisely

It is time for us to start thinking about how we will invest our health this summer in preparation for flu season this Fall. Yes, it really does matter what we eat now because it relates to our health later. Unfortunately, we are in a quick fix belief society. That belief system also keeps us looking at our symptoms as if they suddenly happened instead of asking ourselves what we did yesterday or even last month to cause them. We never think our current symptoms are the result of what we have been eating or drinking over the past year that may have been making withdrawals on our health. And, no way would we think what have been doing habitually for many years could have a negative impact on our health. Yes, all the stuff that comes out of your nose in the Fall and Winter seasons came from the allergic foods you consumed all year long. Remember my article titled "It's Really Cleansing (not flu) Season?" Go back and read that one to remind yourself that what you choose to eat now will affect how sick you may become if you come down with "the flu" this fall or winter. No matter what happens to you, I am always there for you.

We usually think of summer as a time to have fun so we eat whatever we want because we want to have fun. Unfortunately, if you had way too much fun eating ice cream, candy, cold soda drinks all summer long, you will pay the consequences later when "cleansing season" arrives. Remember, as soon as it turns cold, your body goes into a mode of preserving heat instead of ridding itself of excess. That change causes your lymphatics and other vessels to squeeze down thereby squeezing out all the excess stuff (forgive the medical term) that it does not need to survive the winter.

So Doctor, what do I do, you ask?
You need to invest your health by;

Eating 3 or more servings of green vegetables per day.They give you vitamins and minerals and the fiber in them helps absorb the bad stuff and carry it out of the body.
Limiting starchy vegetables like french fries and eating more leafy green salads
Limiting ice cream or eating soy or rice ice creams instead
Taking enzymes with meals when you are eating the 'bad' things, like this one --> click here or this one for children
Taking probiotics to help keep your intestines healthy all year long like this one --> click here
Exercising daily keeps your lymphatics moving and making you perspire clearing your body of metabolic and consumed toxins
See your local Naturopathic doctor for a check up, if you have not already, and learn what foods you should or should not be eating. And, how to eat what you want and to help avoid the consequences later.

2009-06-09T10:34:00.000-07:00

Boosting Your Immunity

There are many ways to boost your immune system. When I spoke last time of the causes of disease, we can look at what to and what not to do to keep ourselves healthy. These are in are no particular order.
Eating Healthy - eating dark fruits, eating green vegetables especially the leafy variety, eating organic foods, drinking clean filtered water,
Thinking healthy - getting outside in the sunshine helps lift our mood, exercise relieves stress, practicing forgiveness, overcoming negative thoughts with positive affirmations
Rest - getting 8 hours of sleep nightly, taking naps when you can, having brief do nothing periods letting your mind rest, going to bed when tired
Things you can take;
Probiotics with meals help build up your healthy bacteria which are the vital link to your immune system, like Ther-Biotic Complete.
Adrenal tonic; herbal adrenal adaptogenic herbs are shown in studies to boost immunity. They also help to relieve anxiety, have antiviral actions, help to repair the adrenal glands, and especially help us to adapt to stress.
Treatments you can receive;
Constitutional Hydrotherapy (read blog article here) - boosts your immune system by pumping your lymphatic system assisting your body to rid itself of metabolic toxins, is very relaxing, reestablishes healthy blood levels of cholesterol, helps lower blood pressure, goes a long way to increase your vitality. Hydrotherapy is one of the most powerful and most under used modalities naturopathic doctors have available. Call the office for an appointment. (see #4)
Home treatments;
Taking a brief cold shower daily before you leave the shower in the morning. Simply turn the hot off and stand under the cold water for a few seconds to tolerance.
Being in nature;
Whether you go for a walk on the beach or in the mountains goes a long way to relieve stress and keep us connected to the earth.
-David Hogg, ND
naturally4health.com
naturopathicwisdom.com
zeprevir.com

2009-06-09T10:31:00.002-07:00

Swine Flu Update
Well, it seems the symptoms from the swine flu are no worse than the normal flu. http://healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=626918 (Please see my article on how flu season is really cleansing season in my blog.) The chicken little's are yelling about how bad it still is for everyone. Which will you believe. Remember, as I wrote last time about how germs do not cause disease. That the cause of disease lies inside your own body. If you take things into your body that cause your body to be unhealthy, then you will have a compromised internal environment leaving you open to infection. You see, bacteria and viruses feed on the bad stuff you have ingested. For example, when mucus accumulates in your nasal cavity, it creates a culture medium for viruses and bacteria. Keeping your body healthy by eating right, staying away from junk food will help keep your body healthy. As well as keeping your thoughts healthy and handling stress well.
-David Hogg, ND
naturally4health.com
naturopathicwisdom.com
zeprevir.com

2009-06-09T10:31:00.001-07:00

Heal Your Body With Hydrotherapy

For those of you with chronic disease, Constitutional Hydrotherapy is incredibly powerful for healing your body. The treatment takes about an hour and you feel so relaxed afterwards. Healing your body occurs best when you are completely relaxed. The treatment pumps your lymphatic system to help move metabolic toxins through and out of your body. It also causes your blood capillaries to open and close and open again causing a nervous system feedback mechanism creating relaxation. The treatment also consists of very mild electrical stimulation over your lungs and liver stimulating your body to heal itself. Very relaxing music is played for you during the treatment. Some people like listening to ocean waves. The cost is only $55. You can read more on Constitutional Hydrotherapy at my blog here.

2009-06-09T10:29:00.001-07:00

Causes of Kidney Stones

I hope you can begin to see a theme in my articles. Treating the intestinal tract is the key to treating all diseases. If you intestinal tract is healthy, then you will stay healthy. Some say we live and die with our colons. Others say it is the liver. Well the liver cannot live without a healthy digestive tract. The skin is not healthy without your inner skin being healthy. And so it is with your internal chemistry. I believe much of the cause of kidney stones begins with digestion symptoms early on. I tend to see low stomach acid (hypochlorhydria), indigestion or heartburn in patients with kidney stones. From the book, No More Kidney Stones, "loss of bicarbonate leads to an acid urine with the increased risk of uric acid stones," and "fat malabsorption prevents calcium from combining with oxalate in the first part of the intestine causing increase urinary oxalates."
Loss of bicarbonate tends to come from eating a diet to high in protein and sugars and low in vegetables. Thereby increasing your production or uric acid. The same dietary habits also contributes to gout. And, fat malabsorption can come from irritable bowel, irritable bowel disease, celiac disease, or rarely a genetic polymorphism. Fat absorption is dependent on the integrity of your intestinal tract. Therefore how healthy your intestinal tract is dictates how well you absorb fats, minerals, vitamins, proteins (amino acids), and carbohydrates.
Eating healthy is at the foundation of health. No disease or symptom ever comes out of nowhere. As we all know, kidney stones take time to form. And, so then the cause of them really began before they ever began to form. Eat healthy so your intestinal tract can be healthy so you can be healthy and live a long healthy prosperous life.

2009-05-01T12:51:00.000-07:00

The Swine Flu Scare

Before you head for the hills, you must read this entire article;
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-sci-swine-history27-2009apr27,0,967115.story
History tends to repeat itself. The fear that is being sold through the media is to sell you on the idea that you need a vaccine. Is it really worth the risk to get the vaccine?

Part of the problem with this whole scare is that western medicine does not have many answers for viral infections. They only have drugs and vaccinations. Naturopathic medicine has so many different modalities available for viral infections. We use homeopathy (very successfully used throughout all pandemics in history), herbal medicines (that suppress viruses and boost your immune system into action), hydrotherapy (to induce fever to kill the virus), and many others. Homeopathy, herbal medicines, and hydrotherapy are the main ones I use in my practice for infections, and you know that if you have ever been in my office to be treated.

The first best thing you can do right now is stay calm. Continue to go about your day and not listen to the "chicken little's" in the media.
2nd; Most important! Eat healthy and stay away from junk food. Your internal environment needs to stay healthy to maintain a strong immune system, and to make sure you are not a good host for viruses.
3rd; Drink your daily 8 cups of water. Becoming dehydrated allows for thicker mucus, slows natural everyday detoxification, slows down peristalsis leading to constipation, and concentrates your urine.
4th; Take probiotics daily like this one, Ther-Biotic Complete. Probiotics are your natural immune system to all outside invading organisms. Keep them healthy and they will keep you healthy.
5th; Have an antiviral herbal formula on hand like Zeprevir. These herbs are shown in studies to prevent viruses from replicating themselves allowing your immune system to kill the virus, boosting your white blood cells into action.

Vaccines are believed to help our bodies do what it cannot. This theory is flawed. Our bodies have an incredibly powerful immune system. More powerful than any vaccine you could ever receive. It is estimated that one-third of all Americans receive the flu vaccine every year. At a cost of $25 per vaccine, that amounts to about 2.5 billion dollars in annual sales. Therefore, who really benefits from you getting the vaccine? The vaccine ingredients include the hopefully attenuated (not dead but suspended sort of) virus, thimerasol (50% mercury), antibiotics (to prevent injection site infection), octosanol-9 (a preservative and spermacide), and a type of formaldehyde. So, do you really want to recieve a vaccine?

The cause of all diseases rests with your internal environment. And, not in the organism or germ. Louis Pasteur, who is origially responsible for our modern germ causes disease theory, realized he was wrong late in life. Bernard, his counterpart, and Pasteur debated most of their lives on the cause of disease. Bernard believed the cause was in the internal environment while Pasteur believed it was the germ. By the time Pasteur announced that he had been wrong all along, the drug companies and media had already sold and convinced the public on the germ theory being correct.

Henry Lindlahr, MD, author of Philosophy of Natural Therapeutics and found of Nature Cure medicine, cites the cause of all diseases are from these; 1) lowered vitality, 2) abnormal composition of blood and lymph, and 3) accumulation of waste matter, morid materials and poisons. In his book, he explains further the causes of these three points.

Conclusion; Your body's immune system is incredibly powerful to fight anything, and especially when you have given your body a healthy environment.

In Health,
David Hogg, ND
www.naturopathicwisdom.com
www.naturally4health.com

2009-04-20T16:33:00.000-07:00

A Cause of Breast Cancer

The possibility of antibiotics associated with breast cancer began in 1981, which caused a new study to be conducted. This study was performed in Seattle on 10,000 women. Women who had been on antibiotics over 25 times had twice the risk of developing breast cancer, and women who had been on antibiotics between 1 and 25 times had a 50% increase in risk. The study suggests the association is real.

Naturopathic medicine understands how antibiotics affect the body. Antibiotics destroy the healthy bacteria occupying the intestinal tract and other areas of the body, which play an important role in our immune system. The healthy bacteria communicate with our immune system and let our bodies know what should be attacked, and what is helpful and friendly to our bodies. Because antibiotics kill the healthy bacteria, they remove a vital link of our immune protection.

Taking probiotics (healthy flora/bacteria) is a vital part of everyday prevention, and also when taking antibiotics. Taking probiotics helps to reestablish the healthy beneficial connection with our immune system. If you are having any sort of immune challenge, taking probiotics are a valuable part of your preventative health. Antibiotics also leave us open for local and systemic yeast infections which can cause a myriad of symptoms. I've seen studies where 1/3 of cancer patients had some kind of harmful levels of yeast in their body.

If you need to take antibiotics, then taking beneficial yeast, Sacchromyces boulardi, which helps to protect our normal healthy flora from being destroyed.

Naturopathic medicine teaches to first do no harm. My own choice with antibiotics is I will only take them if my life is being threatened and they are the only, best option. If you are not already taking some form of probiotics, I suggest you begin now. Naturopathic doctors have known for decades the healthy benefit of using "pro"-biotics instead of "anti"-biotics.

A lab test is available that can evaluate the state of your intestinal environment to discover the levels of healthy and bad bacteria in your body. The test also looks for yeast and parasites. Without our healthy bacteria at healthy levels, we are left open for pathogenic and/or opportunistic bacteria, yeast overgrowth, and parasites.

You can find the probiotic, Ther-Biotic Complete (The best probiotic I have found), available at http://www.naturopathicwisdom.com/thercomp.php

2009-04-20T16:32:00.000-07:00

Invest Your Health! by David Hogg, ND

Right.
This is usually the last thing people invest in when it comes to thinking about investments. We make deposits and ithdrawals to our health everyday of our lives, whether you realize it or not. There are foods that make withdrawals to or decrease our health, and foods that make deposits to our health. We think these are easy and commonsensical, but not necessarily so. In addition there are habits, emotions, and thoughts that can add to or diminish our health.

Do not be fooled by your cravings, whether be they behaviors or foods. Most of the things we crave are not really good for us. We can crave avocados or sweets. One of them adds to, and the other diminishes our health, respectively. For example, we may like pizza, but we pay a price of the body having to process the white flour, cheese, processed meat, and the fact that is was cooked at very high heat.

Most empty foods like white bread, white rice, white sugar, white flour pasta, white potatoes, and alcohol (even sugar alcohols) actually cause our body to be robbed of minerals that are needed to process all the sugar that goes into our body as a result of eating these foods. This kind of chronic health withdrawal habit will cause us to reap the consequences of ill health later on in life, and frequently sooner. You may enjoy it now, but you will pay later with ill health.

If we hold on to anger, anxiety or grief, the we are depleting our health reserves. If we release these emotions in a healthy way, then we are adding to our health. If you find yourself stuck in one of these you probably need naturopathic/homeopathic help getting through this time.

Over the counter medications can help us immediately, yet can cause side effects. If you choose to see your conventional doctor and receive a prescription, you feel better immediately, but you may pay the price of harmful side effects later. Most medications only treat the symptoms anyway, so is it not better to treat the cause of your symptoms? I think so.

So, is it not better to invest in your health today so you can reap the dividends of optimal health tomorrow? As a naturopathic doctor, I believe strongly in this concept. You can pay now for healthy foods and/or helpful supplements, or pay later for ill health. It is your choice completely. You decide how you will invest your own health.

*You also invest by visiting this office regularly. Many of us only want to invest in crisis care. You know, that is the help -me -now -mentality -then -when -I'm -better -I -dont -need -to -come -in thing. When I am able to see you over time, instead of once or twice, I can obtain a much better picture of you and how to help you. I can always help if I see you once. Yet, I can help you 10 times better by seeing you regularly. This way, I can check in with you to see what symptom have changed, what worked, what didn't, did you follow my recommendations or not and why, which all of this gives me more information about your health situation, and get more information about you and your health all together. Then change the plan accordingly so you can continue up the stream to healthier
place. Most of all, you come in regularly so I can give you support. We all need that.

To find out your state of health currently on deposit, there are tests available in my office to see if you are deficient or sufficient in vitamins, minerals, and amino acids (protein). Other tests can detect toxic minerals, cardiovascular health markers, hormones, allergies, healthy and harmful bacteria, yeasts, and parasites. Many current health conditions are related to either deficiencies
or excesses of these different markers of health. Therefore, begin today investing in your health. You will pay many dividends in good health later. I am here and available to help you with your health goals. Get started by calling the office today. 408-297-6877

2009-03-02T11:57:00.000-08:00

It’s Cleansing (Not Flu) Season - And Why

Lets explore exactly what is happening during “flu season.” Flu season actually begins as the weather turns colder, every single year. Why this is? Every single year in the fall the body must change the way it processes heat. In the summer it must release excess heat. In the fall to winter, it must conserve heat. This happens so we stay warm in the winter and cooler in the summer. How does the body do this? It does this by either dilating or constricting blood and lymph vessels. In the summer the body opens all available blood and lymph vessels near the surface of the body to release excess heat. In the fall to winter, the body begins to constrict those surface blood and lymph vessels to conserve heat. What do you think happens when all those vessels constrict at the first cold spell or sign of winter? When all the superficial capillaries constrict all at once, like during the first cold front, they pump 6 times the volume of blood of one heartbeat. That is a lot of blood at once. So, this is why what is really going on is really ‘cleansing season’ and NOT ‘flu season.’ I am sure you have noticed that the rings on your fingers fit tighter in the summer and looser in the winter. Have you ever wondered where all that excess fluid goes when the temperature turns cold? Read on.

As studies show, at the same time as the vessels constrict, during colder weather the body increases its metabolic rate to increase heat production. This action with surface vessel constriction combines together to avoid frostbite. This is nature’s way of protecting and helping us survive the winter. The studies also show that some of the fluid that was in those surface vessels is released through the urine, stool, and by sweating. What about all the stuff that isn’t water-soluble? There is a lot of that stuff! You have seen it. You have blown it out your nose and coughed it up from your lungs. It is called mucus. You first notice it with nasal congestion then with postnasal drip and a sore throat. The body must rid itself of this excess stuff you accumulated inside your body all year. You know, the left over excess metabolic products from ice cream, sodas, chips, pastries, cookies, and especially cheese. Basically all junk food and sweets. Your body must cleanse itself annually in order to become healthy enough to survive the winter. That healing process is what gives us all stuffy and/or runny noses, sore throats, coughs, fevers, and overall feeling yucky. So, this flu is really what is called in naturopathic medicine circles as a healing crisis or cleanse, and NOT a disease crisis. And, not something to be afraid of having. This cleansing process is something to welcome. We must assist the body during this time to help it cleanse itself of everything it does not need.

I know you remember your mother saying to you when it gets colder, “don’t go outside without your coat because you will catch a cold!” See, mother knew what she was talking about. This is why she was right. You watch, this year and in the coming years if everyone around you gets ‘the flu’ after each cold weather spell. Then, you will realize you will never get ‘the flu’ again and realize you are simply cleansing. Naturopathic doctors can offer much support to help you during this cleansing time of year to assist your body to cleanse more easily with less suffering. We have several different modalities that are used in combination according to the needs of the patient. Go to naturally4health.com to learn about the different modalities and how naturopathic medicine can help you.

2006-10-05T22:52:00.000-07:00

WHAT IS HOMEOPATHY?

I believe homeopathy to be the only medicine that takes into account everything that may be happening with you. It looks at all your physical symptoms including diet, sleep, weather intolerance, mental/emotional symptoms, and more. Homeopathy sees you as an individual, not as a disease. Ten different people with the same disease will all have individual expressions of that disease. Therefore, all of them may receive a different homeopathic remedy based on their individual symptom picture. In allopathic medicine, they would all receive the same or similar medicine. In order to come up with a remedy for you, a homeopath will need to know all of your symptoms with what makes them better or worse, time of day when better or worse, your mental emotional state and other symptoms that accompanies the chief concern. Homeopathy always works. The secret lies in taking the right remedy. Getting the right remedy requires seeing a qualified Homeopath who practices Classical Homeopathy, which is the kind of homeopathy I practice.

Homeopathy was the number 1 medicine in the United States in the 19th Century before the pharmaceutical companies came along. It is still the number 1 medicine used by the British Royal Family. It is also quite prevalent in France and India, just to name a few countries.
Homeopathic medicine is now having a resurgence in the U.S. It is a 200 year old scientific system of medicine. The founder, Samuel Hahneman, MD, believed in medicine that did not cause harm in a person in order to heal them, but instead gave healing and recovery. He was disillusioned with the medicine of his time. He thought there must be a better, more humane way to treat diseases than blood letting or giving mercury or antimony.

Homeopathy is based on the system of medicine known as the law of similars. In other words, what may cause a disease can cure a disease when given in a harmless high dilution. There are many studies on Homeopathic medicines and treatment of diseases which prove it’s efficacy.
The link following is an excellent article on homeopathy and it’s basic theories on MSN; http://content.health.msn.com/content/article/14/1668_50915?

You may also see my website for a comparison to allopathic medicine. In addition, read the 1st edition of the following book online, Homeopathy, Beyond Flat Earth Medicine, at beyondflatearth.com.

2006-10-05T22:48:00.000-07:00

EVERYDAY PREVENTION

There are 4 things to take that I consider a part of everyday disease prevention: fish oils, probiotics, green drinks and antioxidants.

Fish oils
- are exceptional for the prevention of many chronic western health problems such as cardiovascular diseases, depression, and inflammatory conditions.
Probiotics
-are the beneficial flora that is vital to our immune system for intestinal, respiratory, and uro-genital health.
Green drinks
-provide essential food born nutrients, vitamins and minerals to our bodies especially when we don’t eat a healthy diet. If you are getting less than 3 servings of green vegetables, then you need to be taking a green powdered drink on a daily basis to get the nutrients you would be getting from those vegetables.
Antioxidant formula
-are especially needed with the amount of stress we put ourselves in and the toxic environment we all live in. various antioxidants help protect our bodies from oxidative damage and help our liver produce our own powerful antioxidants.

2006-10-05T22:46:00.000-07:00

ARE YOU AFRAID TO BE SICK?
Do you run from illness?

Most, if not everyone, is afraid to be sick. How many of you have avoided a hug or a handshake with someone because either you didn’t want to spread your germs to them, or you didn’t want to catch something? If you are a parent, how many of you have either kept your children at home when they are not ill, but may be contagious, or you kept them away from other children for fear of your children catching something? Lastly, how many of you have cancelled your doctor’s appointment because you were afraid of giving your illness to everyone in the doctor’s office? When you think about it, does it really make sense to cancel a doctor’s appointment when you are ill?

This question was posed to me recently and here is my answer: I’m not afraid to be sick. I don’t like it when it happens, but I’m not afraid. I even hug my sick friends. As a doctor, I see people who are ill all the time. Do I always become ill with what they have? No, of course not. Also, I may have to touch people when they are ill in order to help them. Therefore, I don’t subscribe to the fear that I’m going to “catch” something from someone if I touch an ill person while they are in my office. If I am exposed to a germ, then my immune system will make antibodies for it, and as a result, I’ll be immune if I’m exposed to that germ again. My immune system will now be stronger.

I’m also not afraid because I have so many medicines at my disposal, like homeopathy, herbs, and hydrotherapy, to name a few, that help me to recover quickly.

Naturopathic parents are not afraid to have their children around other children who are sick. Naturopathic parents know that exposure to common childhood diseases as early as possible in the child’s life will strengthen their immune system. This may sound crazy to most of you. It is known that children not exposed to the common childhood diseases have a weaker immune system and are more likely to develop allergies as a result. Children that are kept in a sterile bubble will have a weaker immune system when they are older. Most importantly, if they do not contract the common childhood diseases as a child, the experience of the disease will be much worse as an adult. For example, chicken pox as an adult disease can be as a severe as shingles.
In my experience, Homeopathy will boost your immune system naturally in order for you to recover faster. I have parents of children in my practice who I know will attest to this.

2006-10-05T22:44:00.000-07:00

CASE OF MONO AND HOMEOPATHY

E., I will call her, was an 18- year-old woman who was referred to me by her mother. E. had seen her MD the day before seeing me in February 2004, and was diagnosed with mononucleosis. Her doctor told her she was going to have to live with the symptoms, and that she was going to be ill for quite some time.

When she came to my office, she complained of swollen and painful tonsils, pain when swallowing even her own saliva, a stiff neck with pain so severe she could not turn her head, and other symptoms. She had taken an over the counter pain reliever for her fever. E. reported to me that all of her symptoms had begun 2 days prior. She wanted to know if I could suggest a homeopathic remedy that would help with her symptoms, and speed her recovery.

I spent an hour listening to her describe her symptoms. I asked specific homeopathic questions, and then was able to suggest a remedy, based on those symptoms, for her to take every 2 hours. She and her mother left to pick up the homeopathic remedy that I had suggested. What’s important her is that the remedy chosen was based on her individual expression of her symptoms, not the diagnosis. This is the main difference from allopathic medicine.

I called E. 2 days later to check on her progress. Her mother answered the telephone and said that E. was not home, because she was out with friends. This news greatly surprised me, and I wondered how a person who was so ill 2 days ago be out with friends! Her mother further told me that the sore throat E. was experiencing had completely resolved the day after beginning the remedy. Prior to E. leaving the office, I had her schedule for a follow up the following Tuesday.
E. came in for her appointment as scheduled. I saw a young woman in the waiting room, but did not recognize her as E. I then called her name, and the young woman answered. I was amazed by how healthy she looked. She appeared to be completely well.

E. told me she had no throat pain at all, no fever, aches, or trouble swallowing, and she said her tonsils felt normal.
The Homeopathic remedy is the only thing I suggested for her to take. I saw Homeopathy treat diseases such as this when I was in medical school, and have since seen it help many others in my practice.
I’ll now let her speak to you in her own words. “I think that my recovery was amazing, and the fact that I would have been living with all those symptoms really scared me. Thank you so much again for everything.” -E.
I invite anyone who would like to try Homeopathy to call me to see if it can help. Individual results vary.

2006-10-05T22:43:00.000-07:00

WILL IT BE CONVENTIONAL OR NATURAL MEDICINE?

COMMENTARY by David Hogg, ND
When is it best to seek conventional treatment or alternative, Naturopathic methods? I believe natural medicine should be the first choice for all diseases. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a health care system. We live in a disease management system. Most doctors wait until you are ill before they treat you.

Naturopathic doctors assess the state of your current health, then help you achieve an even greater state of health. Everything a natural doctor does is moving you towards health. A conventional doctor may give you pharmaceutical drugs that have side effects
Whether you have common complaints such as colds or flu, bronchitis, indigestion, constipation or diarrhea, I invite you to seek alternative medicine first. I’m asked very often, “What does a Naturopath do?” I always answer that we are trained the same as MD’s the first 2 years of medical school, except, Naturopaths differ by using a combination of homeopathy, herbs, vitamins and supplements, hydrotherapy, and mind-body medicine to help with the same diseases.

However, there are many situations where it is absolutely necessary to seek conventional medicine. Any natural or conventional doctor can help you make that decision. I believe in educating patients to help them to make the best decision for their needs.

Naturopathic doctors do have the knowledge to perform many exams and order lab tests. Here in California this fall, Naturopathic doctors will be licensed as primary care providers and will be able to perform or order these tests.

In the current health care system, the only way to avoid the out of pocket expense is to go with doctor that is covered by your insurance. In California, until the licensure of ND’s, coverage of Naturopathic doctors by insurance companies, for the most part, is not available.
For my own health, there is no other first option but natural medicine.

2006-10-05T22:42:00.000-07:00

WHEN TO TAKE YOUR SUPPLEMENTS?

With all the supplements you may be taking, when do you take which ones? Well, there is a general rule of thumb for taking them. Vitamins and minerals should be taken with meals so that your digestion will help absorb them. Herbs and enzymes are better absorbed when taken on an empty stomach. This is because they need to pass the stomach while its’ acid level is low to reach the small intestine for absorption. If the different supplements you are taking fit into the same general category, you can take them together. If you are still in doubt as to when to take your supplements, ask at your next visit.

2006-10-05T22:40:00.000-07:00

ANTIBIOTICS NOT EFFECTIVE FOR SINUSITIS

A recent Swiss study used a common antibiotic to treat sinusitis. “There was no difference in the time to cure, the primary outcome, between active treatment and placebo, the team reports in the August 11/25 issue of the Journal Archives of Internal Medicine.”

Sinusitis often occurs when the production of mucus is more than natural evaporation. This creates an environment for viruses and bacteria to multiply that end up causing a person to contract sinusitis. There already are naturally healthy bacteria living in the sinus and nasal cavities, yet they will over multiply and become an infection when the environment has too much mucus

The journal also cited, “patients treated with the antibiotic were significantly more likely to have diarrhea, and there was also a trend toward more abdominal pain.” The reason for these side effects occurring are due to the antibiotic killing the healthy intestinal bacteria. The study concluded that only “symptomatic treatment is justified” for sinusitis.

Prevention is the best cure, which is a great Naturopathic principle, for all diseases, including sinusitis. By avoiding foods, like dairy and wheat, that may cause an overproduction of mucus in you, especially during allergy and flu seasons will go a long way in prevention.
Source; Arch Intern Med 2003;163:1793-1798

2006-10-05T22:39:00.000-07:00

WAYS TO TAKE TINCTURES

The taste of most herbal tinctures’ leaves something to be desired, to say the least. In other words, they just taste awful. There are many easier ways to take them without tasting them or taste them very little, though you must decide which way is best for you.

Tinctures are made with alcohol to extract the active ingredients. For those of you sensitive to alcohol, you can put the bottle overnight in a safe place where it will not be disturbed, leaving the lid off. By the next morning the alcohol content will be greatly reduced and easier to take.

As far as the taste, I know some who squirt the tincture straight into their mouth, then chase it with water. (cont’d) I think this is either a really brave or crazy way to take tinctures. I, personally, have either put water in my mouth or a glass, added the tincture, then swallowed as quickly as I can. Other ways include, making a glass of EmergenC vitamin C in water, then adding the tincture. You can also add stevia to this drink to help achieve a sweet taste. Or, you can use vegetable glycerin or a glycerin based flavoring to help mask the flavor of the tincture. Another way to flavor the tincture is with the amino acid glycine because it does taste sweet as well.

If none of these help with the flavor then you can buy empty veggie caps to fill with the tincture as one of my patients have done. I think this is an ingenius way to avoid tasting the flavor of the tincture.

Which ever way you decide, you may notice that the unpleasantness of the taste will diminish over time.

2006-10-05T22:37:00.000-07:00

NATURAL FLU PREVENTION

It’s that time of season again. The CDC is predicting one of the worst flu seasons in quite some time. Although, the manufacturers of the flu vaccine are saying they are completely out of stock, they say everyone who wants a vaccine will get one.

The good news is so far this year, most of the patients with flu like symptoms visiting doctors mostly have sinus infections according a recent news report.

Yet, I want you to know that Homeopathy has great success with helping recover from the flu. There are several different over-the-counter homeopathic preparations to take in case you do come down with the flu.

Because of the effects of sugars, flour, and chocolate on the immune system, it’s a great idea to be easy on the sweets or try to avoid them altogether as much as possible this season. If you can’t avoid or limit due to family and friend pressures and not to spoil your fun of the holidays completely, then the following supplements are entirely necessary to keep your immune system up to par.

Vitamin C feeds the adrenal glands, which helps increase energy. Also, it greatly helps the body detoxify, as well as an anti-oxidant for cellular protection.
Zinc plays a very important role in the immune system. You can take it as lozenges or as a supplement.

The following 4 herbal medicines have been known traditionally and in studies to help prevent and recover from viral infections.

Ligusticum, Lomatium (Osha) , and Sambucus (Elderberry) are specific for helping with viral infections. Glycyrrhiza (Licorice) and Astragalus also help with viral infections. Glycyrrhiza is an adrenal tonic, and Astragalus is an adrenal adaptogen.

I have the above herbs in a combination formula in my office as part of the help I have to offer you in case you do become ill. Meanwhile, take the one herb you believe will help you the most along with vitamin C and zinc, and you’ll go a long way in either preventing the flu, or reducing it’s severity.

2006-10-05T22:35:00.000-07:00

ANTIBIOTIC USE LINKED TO BREAST CANCER

The possibility of antibiotics associated with breast cancer began in 1981, which caused a new study to be conducted. This study was performed in Seattle on 10,000 women. Women who had been on antibiotics over 25 times had twice the risk of developing breast cancer, and women who had been on antibiotics between 1 and 25 times had a 50% increase in risk. The study suggests the association is real.

Naturopathic medicine understands how antibiotics affect the body. Antibiotics destroy the healthy bacteria occupying the intestinal tract and other areas of the body, which play an important role in our immune system. The healthy bacteria communicate with our immune system and let our bodies know what should be attacked, and what is helpful and friendly to our bodies. Because antibiotics kill the healthy bacteria, they remove a vital link of our immune protection.
Taking probiotics (healthy flora/bacteria) is a vital part of everyday prevention, and also when taking antibiotics. Taking probiotics helps to re-establish the healthy beneficial connection with our immune system. If you are having any sort of immune challenge, taking probiotics are a valuable part of your preventative health. Antibiotics also leave us open for local and systemic yeast infections which can cause a myriad of symptoms. I’ve seen studies where 1/3 of cancer patients had some kind of harmful levels of yeast in their body. Not all cancer patients have too much yeast, however.

If you need to take antibiotics, then taking beneficial yeast, Sacchromyces boulardii, acts to protect our normal healthy flora from being destroyed.
Naturopathic medicine teaches to first do no harm. My own choice with antibiotics is I will only take them if my life is being threatened and they are the only, best option. If you are not already taking some form of probiotics, I suggest you begin now. Naturopathic doctors have known for decades the healthy benefit of using “pro”-biotics instead of “anti”-biotics.

2006-10-05T22:33:00.000-07:00

HEARTBURN And GERD

Conventional medicine knows that stress is the number one cause of heartburn and GERD (Gastroesophogeal reflux disease). This has been known in Oriental medicine for centuries. In Oriental medicine, the stomach meridian is affected by worry and anxiety. Chronic worry increases the level of acid in the stomach, thereby creating the excess acid irritation. So the first cause to look at and change is to reduce your stress, or better yet, improve the way you handle the stress you are experiencing. If you are unable to change your lifestyle, then seek out exercise and other stress reducing activities. When your body is able to relax, the parasympathetic nervous system can take over and restore your stomach acid to healthy levels.

Conventional Treatment
Antacids are the common treatment for GERD and heartburn. They raise the acid pH of the stomach to or towards alkaline thereby relieving any acid caused symptoms.

Naturopathic approach
The stomach should be very acidic at rest or a pH of 1-2. With a meal the pH should only rise to a pH of approximately 3. When heartburn is occurring, Naturopaths believe the pH is about 4-6, which means there is not enough acid in the stomach to perform digestion properly. By giving antacids, the pH most likely rises above 7 becoming alkaline. When the stomach is alkaline, it is unable to digest protein or absorb vitamins and minerals from food. Instead of antacids, Naturopaths will give herbal bitters or homeopathic remedies to correct the imbalance.

Supplements
Betaine HCl is the best remedy for low stomach acid. We tend to lose the ability to produce stomach acid as we age. Taking Betaine HCl is the quickest way to increase the amount of acid in your stomach and increase your ability to digest protein and absorb vitamins and minerals. If you have a burning sensation when taking it, it’s possible you may not need it. Come in for a visit to know for sure or to see if you may have other stomach difficulties.

Herbal remedies
The first and best remedy for low stomach acid and heartburn is drinking tea or taking an herbal extract of ginger with meals. This herb balances the production of acid in the stomach and allows the stomach to heal itself, which improves peristalsis-the action of the stomach and intestines to move food along. Another herb that not only is a bitter herb, but is also a nerve tonic is hops. Hops not only helps you digest your food, but help you digest life since it helps to calm your nerves.
Other bitter herbs that are well known are gentian, dill, chamomile, and cayenne. If pain for burning results from taking bitter herbs, consult your doctor and/or a Naturopath.

Homeopathy
The most common homeopathic remedy for ailments from overeating or eating food that disagreed with you is Nux vomica. If it’s the right remedy for you, it will work. You can find these supplements in the office, or your local health food store.

2006-10-05T22:31:00.000-07:00

MIND BODY MEDICINE

Mind-Body medicine is probably the most overlooked form of medicine, because most people don’t believe their feelings could have anything to do with their healing. For example, mental and emotional stress is not necessarily the cause of disease and pain, but it is a factor, and, using those same emotions can help to heal you. It is important to realize that you did not cause your illness. It’s also important to realize that dealing with how you handle stress in your life greatly affects 1) whether or not you contract a disease, 2) your experience of pain, and 3) your recovery.

Mind-Body medicine serves the purpose of searching for and finding an emotional component to disease and pain, and then healing or changing those emotions to more positive feelings.

In an office visit, I will take a person through a process of discovering the emotional connection of their pain or disease.

Oriental Medicine
According to Oriental Medicine, worry affects the stomach and spleen meridians. Fear affects the bladder and kidney meridians. Anger affects the liver and gall bladder meridians. Grief affects the lung and large intestine meridians, and pretense affects the heart and small intestine meridians. With this knowledge, you can use these associations to increase self-awareness and stop the cycle of damage these emotions can have on the body. It may be necessary for you to seek help in resolving those issues related to your health challenge.

Naturopathic Mind-Body Medicine
There are some exercises you can do to begin the process of healing and clearing emotions so they don’t build up in your body. A few of these methods are journaling your thoughts and emotions, meditation, walking, exercising, and talking to close friends. Your health professional also has many techniques to guide you through the process of emotional healing. I’ve personally guided many people in clearing the emotional component of their illness. I believe you’ll find that you will feel better both emotionally and physically.

2006-03-06T16:33:00.000-08:00

Constitutional Hydrotherapy (CH):
The applications of hot and cold water as a therapy is as old as mankind. During the 1800's in Europe the utilization of water, fresh air and proper nutrition became known as the Nature Cure movement, which then evolved into modern Naturopathic Medicine. The lineage of modern vitalistic healers began in Austria with Priessnitz who treated thousands of people using hydrotherapy. His healing systems were then brought to America and used by people like: Kellogg (BattleCreek Michigan and cereal mogal), Father Kniepp, Dr.Carroll and Dr. Harold Dick ND of Spokane. Dr. Dick treated colds to cancer successfully in his clinic with CH.

Research: A research project that looked at the effects of CH on chronic illness. In this study, was recruited anyone that had a chronic illness. The participants were asked not to change any other area of their life (diet, exercise, supplements) and received 3 treatments a week for 6 weeks. Before they began, the study recorded blood levels (red blood cell count, chemistry, cholesterol), blood pressure, body temperatures and a complete subjective health assessment. After the treatments these tests were run again and the results were incredible. On the subjective assessment everyone noted improved energy and mental clarity, many reported better sleep and improved mood. The blood work was the most remarkable, one woman with diabetes dropped her cholesterol 30 points, triglycerides by 45, and LDL cholesterol by 30 points (again without changing her dietor exercise routine). One person with chronic constipation began having normal bowel movements. Another with hypothyroidism was able to raise her basal body temperature 1.5 degrees. What was amazing about the outcomes, was that everyone's condition improved regardless of how chronic or severe.

What exactly is the treatment?
A person is wrapped in sheets and wool blankets while lying on their back. Then gentle electrical stimulation is applied to the solar plexus and the mid-back to increase circulation. Hot packs alternating with cold packs are applied directly to the front and back of the torso. The treatment lasts 40-50 minutes and most people report a deep sense of relaxation during and after the treatment.

Why is it so effective?
The success of CH lies in it's ability to move blood, lymph, reset the nervous system, and remove toxins thereby facilitating the body's ability to heal itself. We all have the ability to heal ourselves and maintain wellness, but for numerous reasons these innate abilities become diminished. The improved circulation of the internal organs and removal of waste and delivery of nutrients allows for regeneration and healing on the cellular level of all the organs. What problems can be helped with CH? All problems! We can't claim that we can cure everything, but there is no illness, that I am awareof, that can't be improved with the application of CH. Those with pacemakers will not be able to utilize the electrotherapy, but can still benefit from hydrotherapy.

Special Offer: We are happy to announce Constitutional Hydrotherapy is now offered at my office! Schedule for a treatment package by 11/30/06 and receive 10% off.

Yours In Health,
Dr. David Hogg
drdavid@naturally4health.com
www.naturally4health.com

2005-10-27T16:35:00.000-07:00

Are you well enough to be sick? If not, then you should be.
Are you scared of the bird flu?
When was the last time you had the flu?
Yes, that is right, I said the flu. When was the last time? 1 year? 2 years? 5 or 10 years? If it has been 5 years or more since you were ill, then you are not well enough to be sick. What does this mean? Almost all cancer patients have not been sick in years. Read on.

I believe viruses exist to stimulate our immune system to help us become healthier. When we become ill with a virus, our immune system responds with all kinds of wonderful immune reactions for our body to then create its own antibodies against the virus. It also creates a fever that kills viruses from attacking the cells of our body and making us ill.

When I hear many cancer patients say, "I have not been sick in years," it tells me their immune system has become maladapted to being exposed to viruses and other microorganisms. Unfortunately, they sound proud of the fact they have not been sick in years. When I hear anyone say this that is not a patient of mine, I worry for them. Because their immune system clearly is not functioning. Usually, they also do not have allergies and/or can eat whatever foods they please. Becoming ill is a bad thing in this conventional medical society. But once in a while, it is the absolute best thing that can happen to you. Becoming ill with the flu annually is not a bad thing. No one likes to be sick. However, conventional medicine has sold us on the idea that any disease or symptom is bad and then has drugs to mask or suppress those symptoms of illness.

The best response to have is once in a while, annually or biannually, to come down with the flu and develop a fever. Naturopath's believe the body's ablility to produce a fever shows the immune system is working and healthy. If the body cannot produce a fever, then the immune system is not working which is where our body becomes suceptible to autoimmune diseases and cancer.

Our immune system has different response levels, immediate, delayed, hypersensitive, and finally, maladaptive. Maladaptive is where you do not want to be. You want to be in healthy.

How can you become well enough to be sick?
The best and quickest way is to receive constitutional hydrotherapy (CH) treatments. The second best way is to eat a healthy diet. Diet is the foundation yet is a slow process. CH stimulates your immune system in such a powerful way. CH raises your vitality to the point where if you have anything in your body that needs to be released, you will become well enough to have a runny nose or even become ill with the flu.

Another way to become well enough to be sick is to avoid fever suppressing drugs, decongestant medications, pain relievers, and antibiotics if at all possible. Suppressing fever allows the virus to stay in your body longer than if you were able to produce a fever. If you are able to produce a fever, it means you are well enough to be sick which means your immune system is healthy enough to fight the virus. CH treatments induce a fever from the outside with the external application of heat. This is how CH helps to make you well enough to be sick.

For any questions, feel free to email drdavid@naturally4health.com
In Health,
Dr David Hogg, ND
www.naturally4health.com