it's what's on the inside that counts

We have over 100,000,000,000,000 bacteria living in our bodies. That's 10 times the amount of cells we have. A heavy majority of this organisms live in our digestive tract. Add this to the fact that 70% of our total body's immune system resides in the digestive tract. This means the presence and types of organisms inside of us play a gigantic role in our health. 

Recent reports tell us as much:

-Researchers in Germany have been able to classify humans into 3 groups based on the families of bacteria  they have inside their guts. This could be end up being more impactful that blood type, as different sets of bacterial colonies may be able to predict health or how someone would interact with certain foods or therapies. Reference

- Multiple studies have shown that kids who eat "dirt" have lower rates of allergies and asthma

There is loads of evidence connecting auto-immune disease (an overstimulation of the immune system to the point that it attacks certain body parts) and specific organisms 

- In general: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/14235
- Crohn's and Ankylosing Spodylitis connected to Klebsiella pneumoniae (Reference)
- Toxoplasma (a parasite) may contribute to the pathogenesis of auto-immune disease (Reference) 
- Citrobacter overgrowth is connected to rheumatoid arthritis (Reference)
- Chlamydia presence may contribute to Multiple sclerosis (Reference) 

Medscape, a conventional and well-respected medical resource has a great article on Bacterial Overgrowth and its treatment.

So, with all of this data and knowledge, why are we still treating medical issues like auto-immune disease with suppressive, band-aid-like therapies? For one, we don't have any good hospital-based testing for this overgrowth. We also don't have a sales representatives heralding the necessity of bacterial balance to the physicians of America.

An essential step in understanding your health and how to get it back and the health of the digestive system. Keeping your bacterial environment working for you and not against you is essential. Start today by respecting those 100 trillion little guys:

1. Eat whole foods

2. Moderate sugar and all sweeteners to the occasional use of pure maple syrup or honey

3. Do something to help manage stress daily 

4. Take a probiotic daily. Shoot for something with a variety of species at 20 billion colonies daily

5. Eat cultured foods

6. Avoid antibiotics unless it prevents hospitalization

If following the steps above does not change your health or impact what you're suffering from, have your bacterial enviroment evaluated. At GladdMD, we've used the Diagnostechs digestive panel with great success in guiding specific therapies. Once you can identify what organism may be driving the imbalance, specific antimicrobial therapies (prescription and/or herbals) are used to suppress them along with building up the good bugs with appopropriately dosed probiotics. Our most recent success was a young girl with major auto-immune disease and inflammation. In the image below, her inflammation markers (Sed rate, CRP and Ultrasensitive CRP) drop significantly (most recent tests to the left) after treating her bacterial overgrowth, loading with probiotics and eliminating gluten and dairy (proteins that irritate the immune system when the guts' broken down). I expect her HLA-B27 marker, a marker for ankylosing spondylitis to become negative soon.

Don't suffer from auto-immune disease or digestive issues? What about weight issues? Recent studies show that mice that are specifically bred to be slim get obese when human Enterobacter form an obese man's intestines is introduced into them. (Reference) 

Upcoming Event! Surviving the System

Surviving the System

Film, Food and Living Panel Discussion! Bring your friends and join us for a fun and educational evening. We will be showing the film Escape Fire, a documentary on America's current healthcare system. Following the film, you'll enjoy delicious appetizers and drinks from several local businesses. We'll conclude the evening with a panel discussion from several healthcare experts and talk about ways we as consumers can survive the system.

When: Tuesday, December 4th at 6:00 pm

Where: The Cinema Center 437 East Berry Street Fort Wayne, IN 46802

Cost: $20/person 

Hurry! Space is limited.

ABOUT THE FILM:

The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare tackles one of the most pressing issues of our time: how can we save our badly broken healthcare system?

American healthcare costs are rising so rapidly that they could reach $4.2 trillion annually, roughly 20% of our gross domestic product, within ten years. We spend $300 billion a year on pharmaceutical drugs––almost as much as the rest of the world combined. We pay more, yet our health outcomes are worse. About 65% of Americans are overweight and almost 75% of healthcare costs are spent on preventable diseases that are the major causes of disability and death in our society.

WE PAY MORE, YET OUR HEALTH OUTCOMES ARE WORSE.

It’s not surprising that healthcare tops many Americans' concerns and is at the center of a political firestorm in our nation's Capitol. But the current battle over cost and access does not ultimately address the root of the problem: we have a disease-care system, not a healthcare system.

Escape Fire examines the powerful forces maintaining the status quo, a medical industry designed for quick fixes rather than prevention, for profit-driven care rather than patient-driven care. After decades of resistance, a movement to bring innovative high-touch, low-cost methods of prevention and healing into our high-tech, costly system is finally gaining ground. This film follows dramatic human stories as well as leaders fighting to transform healthcare at the highest levels of medicine, industry, government, and even the US military. Escape Fire is about finding a way out. It's about saving the health of a nation.

Sell Tickets through Eventbrite

the healthcare system still doesn't "get it"

I have been doing this for 5 years and have just about seen it all, but this week I am COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED with stories of conventional medicine overtreating every symptom and abnormality with a prescription or a surgery. And the new healthcare system is going to allow more Americans access to care? That is a BAD thing as far as I'm concerned.

It's as if doctors are now in the business of customer service and freely give out a prescription or surgery to give immediate relief. The problem is they are wrong for two reasons:

1. These quick and/or aggressive fixes rarely improve the root reason for the concern in question
2. For the most part, the patient wants "care". That means they want to hear they are going to be fine, or that what is happening is normal and will resolve. They don't just want a pill to make it go away or some fancy-named diagnosis (exception: lots of patients still in appropriately want antibiotics for illnesses that do not need them).

Instead, patients are sent on aggressive and side-effect laden wild goose chases with surgeries, CT scans and other procedures that put them at risk and increase their worry that something really bad is happening for a symptom that will go away in time or improve with some simple lifestyle change.

My best advice (beside coming in to visit with one of our practitioners ;) is to wait it out. Whatever it is, wait it out. Now, on rare occasion there are signs and symptoms that are present that demand attention, no doubt. But always err on the side of taking care of yourself: get more sleep, breathe deeply, eat whole foods, laugh. If things worsen instead of stay the same or improve, go find someone you trust. Don't have a physician you trust, go find one. I have to believe that some still exist. Just tell them you want their care, respect and opinion, not a pill.

Have a story of when time healed. Please share...

fermented vegetables

I am not exactly sure what took us so long to try and ferment our vegetables ourselves. Doing this is one way to ensure daily probiotic intake for you and your family.

When in Seattle last month, we had pickled peppers that tasting amazing. Crunchy, lightly salty and fresh was a whole new experience.

So we found a recipe at Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen and tried it. The result was fabulous. The kids at the cabbage, cauliflower and carrots we did with dill until their plates were spotless. I used them on my eggs the next morning.

So like all good nutrition finds, we taking it up a notch. Our own pickles and adding chili pepper to another batch. The perfect solution to a great harvest from your garden or Farmer's Market. Enjoy.

Have you fermented veggies? Please share your story in the comments section.