We humans are part of the web of life in a way that is somewhat unpleasant to consider.  We think of parasites as those things that grow on trees and use the tree's sap for fuel, like mistletoe. We know about the parasites that you can get in your gut from traveling. But we don't like to think about the millions of microbes that live in our guts, on our skin, in our noses, and unfortunately, inside every cell in our bodies.  In fact, at least of quarter of us have Staphylococcus aureus living inside our noses.  This is the microbe that is called MRSA when it has become resistant to the antibiotic methycillin.

Sometimes the things that live on and in us are actually useful.  At that point it is no longer a parasitic relationship, it is more of a synbiosis or eubiosis.  There are bugs (microbes) in our guts that help digest our food, and also that make vitamins that we need.  Mitochondria are organelles inside our cells that were probably parasites at one time, but they were so useful that we came to depend on them.  They make ATP, the cash of energy currency in the body.  We know that mitochondria were most likely independent organisms because they have their own DNA.

Relatively recently in human history, a bold man drank a potion of Helicobacter pylori bacteria, and gave himself gastric ulcers.  Before that we didn't know that particular bug had much to do with ulcer formation.  But now we know.  And most of us have at least a few of this bug in us.  In fact, pretty much all of us have a few of lots of different kinds of bugs that could be dangerous if they overgrew.

We get some microbes from our parents, and gain new ones throughout life. Babies who are born the normal way, through their mother's vagina, get their mother's vaginal flora in their mouths and swallow it.  That sets up the kind of biota that lives in their guts for life.  Usually a child's gut biota is fairly stable by age 3. A lot of our gut biota depends on what we eat.  A sugary diet sets up a whole different community than a vegetable and fiber-rich diet. You can guess at which one is better for you. A stable community in your gut is protective because it stops other kinds from getting established. People with very stable healthy populations of bugs in their guts can eat anything and never get sick from it.


Stomach acid is the other normal way that we prevent new or bad bugs from setting up house inside us.  Infants don't have much acid, so they are especially susceptible to whatever they eat.  Adults normally have such strong acid that not much survives the stomach and gets to the intestines. But if we block our stomach acid with anti-acids, we are at risk for getting the wrong kinds of bugs in our guts.


The fastest way to mess up your microbial communities is to take antibiotics. The more high powered the drugs, the more imbalanced your biota will be as a result. The more often you take antibiotics, the more the remaining community will be antibiotic resistant.  The bug that really hits hard on people who've taken a lot of antibiotics is called Clostridium difficile.  It is on the CDC's list of extremely dangerous antibiotic resistant bugs.


In naturopathic-speak we call your body the "terrain".  It is the ground upon which things grow. The list of possible infections is endless, and the number of bugs on and in you this very moment is also endless. As long as we are strong and relaxed and young enough, we don't get sick.  When we get run down and weak the microbes can get the better of us.  Stress from life events raises our cortisol and decreases our immune response, and the microbial populations start booming.  We feed them sugary junk, and don't exercise enough, and don't keep our bowel movements regular, and they start running the show.  It is possible to end up sick from the same bugs that you've been carrying around for 40 years or more.

There's new research that shows that depression, anxiety, and obesity are linked to particular sets of gut bugs.  Experiments in mice and humans have shown that taking the microbes from an anxious person's gut and putting them in a calm person will make change what we thought was their personality.  And switching gut bugs in mice can make a fat mouse skinny and vice versa.  The wrong gut bugs are linked to all kinds of diseases of the gut, from ulcerative colitis and crohn's disease to IBS.  There's a lot more information coming down the pipe about this.  Supplement companies are trying to figure out how to introduce the right microbes into people's guts to help them heal from various diseases and mental states.

There's not much you can do about the fact that you will be exposed to microbes.  No amount of antibacterial soap will protect you.  The thing that will is keeping yourself healthy and calm enough to mount a good immune response.  That way you keep the populations down to reasonable levels, where they may even help you somehow.  Oh, and garlic will help.  Garlic turns out to be the very simplest way to keep your gut biota in line.  If you can stand it, some raw garlic every day kills the baddies and keeps the goodies.  If you can't stand it, you might need some more advanced help.

Many people have this idea that naturopathic medicine is off in lala land somewhere, and that nothing about it is based on reality.  While this could be true for some practitioners, MY practice is based on what we can deduce from what we know and what we are learning.  I base my decisions on scientific findings, and not just one study, but composites of information that add to the big picture.  I advise against using unsubstantiated treatments, and against using any new pharmaceutical drug until it has been on the market at least 10 years.

Ironically, the treatments given by many conventional doctors are not based in science or even in common sense.  Sometimes a treatment idea gets broadly adopted before it has been really studied.  Once everyone thinks that is what works, they just keep doing it.  Patients demand treatments that have no evidence behind them at all.  It takes a lot of information to turn around public opinion after the people have been brainwashed by doctors.

Take chemotherapy for example.  Chemo is poison intended to kill the cancer.  In many cases chemo causes the death of a cancer-ridden patient.  Sure, there are specific cancers which respond very well to chemo, but there are many more that do not.  Doctors will sometimes give in to a patient's desire to "do anything possible" to help, even when they know that it will not help.  It is in fact easier to give people the poison they demand, than to explain to them why they won't benefit from it.

For another example, take a look at the ACIP schedule for vaccinating babies.  While I agree that vaccination is effective for preventing epidemics, there is little evidence behind the schedule.  Vaccinating a newborn for Hepatitis C is destructive, not helpful.  The schedule for vaccination is based on convenience.  Doctors stick the babies with multiple vaccines at every wellchild visit, and don't worry about possible negative effects (and lack of benefit) from that practice.  The vaccination schedule bears some research to make sure that we are building appropriate herd immunity while also not hurting anyone's baby.

I ran across this post about statins today.  Many people take statins. Statins are drugs that stop your body from making its own cholesterol.  There is no evidence to support the use of statins for preventing heart attacks, and they may actually increase the risk of heart attacks in women.  They're also linked to the formation of cataracts, crippling muscle pain, dementia, fatigue, diabetes and erectile dysfunction.  Doctors give statins when they want to lower someone's cholesterol and don't think they can get that person to change their diet and lifestyle.  The evidence says that diet and lifestyle are FAR more effective for adjusting blood lipids than statins are.

Oh and last but not least in my list of conventional medical madness is the idea that eating cholesterol makes the body's cholesterol go up.  For 20+ years the medical establishment has been teaching that if you eat too much eggs and bacon, you will have high cholesterol.  The truth is that your body MAKES cholesterol from pasta and bread.  Your body makes cholesterol because it NEEDS cholesterol.  Cholesterol is not evil.  If your cholesterol is too low, you are sick.  People get high cholesterol from being sedentary and eating too many carbs, not from having an egg breakfast and a full and active day.

Just because something is widely accepted as the state of medicine does not mean that it is the best we can do.  We can do better.  The status quo is for dead people.  Living people have the capacity to keep learning and trying new things.  I urge you to question everything that you think you know about healthcare and health. Many things that have been accepted for a long time are about to be turned on their heads.

Every year the Environmental Working Group tests fruit and vegetables from grocery stores and comes up with their list of the most pesticide-contaminated foods.  This year's list is almost entirely food that I personally eat, so I am very glad that we are growing a lot of them in our home garden.  The spinach overwintered and came up on its own!  But for the foods that are on the list, which we don't grow, I plan to buy organic.  I would recommend that you do, too.  Only by voting with our dollars can we change the market.  Without further ado, the dirty dozen:

1. Apples (99% of apples tested were contaminated)
2. Strawberries (these are bad because it goes in the pores and you can't wash or soak it off)
3. Grapes (one grape tested positive for 15 different pesticides)
4. Celery
5. Peaches
6. Spinach
7. Bell Peppers
8. Nectarines
9. Cucumbers
10. Potatoes
11. Cherry Tomatoes
12. Hot Peppers (looks like they lumped a lot of kinds of peppers together)

If you ever make your own burger patties, you might notice that sometimes the beef is rather wetter than you'd like it to be.  Maybe you put bread crumbs in there.  That's what my mother did.  But I suggest that you throw in a few handfuls of oats.  Yas'm.  The oats suck up the extra fluids from the burger meat and help it all glom together.  AND they add fiber to help the meat residue move through your intestine, and lower your cholesterol.  If you eat burgers, this is a very easy way to make them healthier.

(Let's not even discuss pink slime, OK?  It grosses me out.) 

May is the month designated by ILADS to increase awareness about Lyme Disease.  Infections are on the rise, or at least, lots more people are being diagnosed now than ever before.  More infected ticks are being found too.

I have studied under two doctors who specialize in Lyme (Dr's Newman and Ambrose, see bottom for links).  I haven't been tested, but I would not be surprised to discover that I too carry the spirochete that causes it.  The fact of the matter is that lots of people have this parasite, but most of us don't have symptoms until we get run down or toxic, or otherwise challenged healthwise.  The unfortunate thing about having an assortment of parasites on board is that you feel fine until you don't, and then you go downhill quickly.

Lyme is caused by Borrelia burgdorferii, which is a very small bacterium in a spiral shape, ie. a spirochete.  Spirochetes are sneaky.  They don't get inside our cells like Chlamydia does, instead they have an assortment of defensive mechanisms that make it hard for our immune systems to detect and eradicate them.  They make slime barriers around themselves.  They shrink back into little hard cysts.  Once established in our tissues they are just about impossible to get rid of completely, even with intensive treatment.  A person who has this parasite needs to keep themselves healthy enough that the parasite doesn't cause them trouble.  And this is where naturopathic medicine comes in.

In naturopathic medicine, we may attempt to eradicate a disease-causing agent, but we are also interested in increasing the host's health so that such bugs are kept in check by our own bodies.  The disease-destroying treatments that are used for Lyme---either longterm antibiotics, or longterm antimicrobial herbs---are not enough.  If you have lyme, or if you think you have lyme, the best thing in the world you can do is get ahold of your diet and lifestyle.  It's easy to say, and oh so hard to do.  Believe me, I know.  But to start with, eliminate, or at least reduce, sugar and refined grains in your diet.  Eat a wide range of fresh organic vegetables.  Exercise daily.  Manage or avoid stress.  These basics, if actually employed and not just talked about, may have more effect than all the doxycycline and cat's claw in the world.  

Still, if you are struggling with severe symptoms, don't waste time, get help NOW.  And if you just got a tick bite, get help NOW, because at the beginning of an infection the spirochete CAN be eliminated.  Last but not least, if you have a way to do so, avoid getting deer ticks on you.  I don't mean that you should not go in the woods, but be aware about ticks, and avoid deer tick bites.  Learn when tick season is in your area.  Prevention is better than treatment 10 times out of ten.

Look it up:
International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society http://www.ilads.org/ 
Dr Satya Ambrose http://www.starfireclinic.com/#!about-us
Dr Daniel Newman http://www.rising-health.com/portland-or-holistic