The next time you want to go ahead with any project -- whether it's designing a rocket ship, or finally getting around to repairing your favorite rocking chair -- and you start to feel those old familiar doubts, dreads, or doldrums rising up to block your way, just walk right through them. You can do it if you use new wisdom to clear the way.

One excellent way to break through these seemingly impassable inner states is to see them as being the fakes they are. This isn't to say you won't feel their punishing presence when you first dare to defy their threats. But each time you psychologically walk up to and past these inner disturbances, you'll become increasingly aware that these task-resistant thoughts and feelings are just big fakes!

You must prove to yourself that these thoughts and feelings are fakes in order to know the powers that come with such a discovery. Following is a glimpse of what you'll learn each time you take that step you're sure you can't.

Those negative states that try to stop you from taking the next step of any chosen journey are just psychological special effects. These obstacles of psychic flash-and-smoke are generated by the mind to keep you from disturbing its established levels of comfort. But special effects, regardless of the kind of "screen" upon which they're projected, have no reality outside of your temporary belief in their appearance.

The truth is that these inner-barriers are without real substance, and so must vanish the moment you pass through them. Which brings us to a great spiritual truth: on the other side of the resistance is the flow. This means that each time you call on this exercise to walk through some pocket of inner resistance, you'll find, on its other side, all the fresh energy and intelligence you'll need to go through and complete your appointed task.

Agreeing to walk into the "flames" of resistance is the only way to find real and lasting freedom from their illusory nature.

I participated in a fire walk (walking on hot coals) recently. I walked those coals three times and each time was for a different reason. I could feel layers of resistance being burned away as I listened to my inner knowing that this exercise was not about the ego achieving something, but about the body and mind and spirit talking to each other and overcoming any resistance with love and compassion.

There are many reasons why people have resistance to being their greatest selves, fear being one of the greatest.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Marianne Williamson

Look at your life and find the areas where you resist. This list is by no means exhaustive:

1. Creative pursuits

2. Diet and health plans

3. Spiritual advancement

4. Launching entrepreneurial ventures

5. Kicking an addiction or bad habit

6. Education

7. Any act of political, moral or ethical courage

8. Helping others generously without them feeling that they are a burden

9. Commitment to a romantic partner, child, or weathering a rocky relationship

10. Holding to your principles and integrity in the face of adversity

Basically, any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term growth, health, or integrity…or any act that derives from our higher selves rather than our ego selves. Any of these can elicit resistance.

Hypnotherapy is a wonderful way of discovering what the bricks of your walls are made of so you can begin to tear them down. Studying the enneagram is another wonderful tool for understanding the strategies you created as a child to get your needs met. That strategy is part of the wall that holds you back as well as gives you a false sense of protection. It is the voice of the ego that creates your own blocks of resistance.

To make an appointment for hypnotherapy of an enneagram typing interview, call Fern Life Center at: 425-391-3376.

Here’s to your health!

Are you balanced?

Comparing where you are with where you are meant to be…

In Ayurvedic medicine our birth constitution or balance is known as our prakruti. Where we are in the present moment is known as vikruti. If those two levels don’t match we are out of balance. So how can you tell where you are right now? Are you balanced or out of balance? Here are some simple observations you can make about yourself that will help you know where you need to bring your attention to achieve balance in your own life. Remember, your body doesn’t lie…

Look at your fingernails

Your fingernails should be pink with half moons in the beds and smooth. Any pitting, spotting, cracking, peeling, and ridging reflects a problem with nutrition and absorption. Clubbing (you can see a picture on the internet of this if you put the words “clubbed fingernails” into a search engine) means there isn’t enough oxygenation in the body. It is found in people with heart failure and obstructive pulmonary diseases.

The lines on your face are an outward reflection of what is going on inwardly. For example, deep lines on either side of the nose and mouth indicate poor intestinal absorption, a vertical line between the eyebrows can mean liver imbalance. A horizontal line under the lower lip can indicate fear and a double chin a weak thyroid. The horizontal lines on the forehead have specific meanings, as does each line you have on your face.

Your stools should be light brown, the shape and consistency of a banana and ought to float. Loose stools indicate a pitta imbalance and dry, hard stools alert us to vata imbalances. Kapha stools will be oily.

Your tongue is a wonderful map to the rest of your body. It should be pink, rounded and dotted with taste buds, with a saliva coating on it. Grooves on the outer edges could mean a lack of intestinal absorption of nutrients. A shaky tongue when it is extended can mean thyroid weakness. A yellow coating will indicate pitta toxicity and a white coating a kapha toxicity. A dry, cracked tongue can mean vata is out of balance. There are MANY signs on the tongue. It is good to go to a knowledgeable ayurvedic practitioner who can read your tongue and pulse to give you the full scope of what is going on with your body.

Is your energy level consistent? If you feel unusually wired, have difficulty focusing, or have uneven energy, your vata may be disturbed. If your energy feels intense, with emotions that run toward irritability, perhaps you are pitta imbalanced. If you feel heavy and sluggish, this could be a manifestation of kapha or of toxins.

Now, notice your mood. Anxious, nervous or spaced out? It sounds as if you have a vata imbalance. Angry, irritable or frustrated? Pitta may be too high. If you feel like you don’t have enough friends, love, or money and feel like you want more of something you could have a kapha imbalance.

Next, checking through your body for pain or tenderness, you might notice low back pain or achy joints, a signal that vata is imbalanced. If you feel tenderness in your upper abdomen or are experiencing heartburn, it’s time to think about pitta. Tight chest or sinus pain? Maybe kapha is disturbed.

Gum recession can be a pitta imbalance caused from tension at night and clenching or grinding the teeth. Extra tartar on the teeth could indicate a lack of intestinal absorption of key minerals, which could come from ama (or toxins) built up in the intestinal tract. Even the taste in your mouth means something: Bitter could be vata, sour taste could be pitta and sweet or salty taste in the mouth could signal kapha issues.

Considering appetite next, if you find you are skipping meals or forgetting to eat, this is another vata indication. On the other hand, if you are hungry all the time and craving sweets and starches, pitta could be the issue. And if you have a low appetite, feel a bit nauseated, don’t want breakfast and get sleepy after lunch, this is a good indication of a kapha imbalance.

Remember that an in depth pulse diagnosis and physical exam that takes into account all of the above items by a qualified ayurvedic medical provider can help you get back to the balance you want to live your optimal health. You can call 425-391-3376 and make an appointment with Keesha Ewers, ARNP to get on track today.

Here’s to your health!

The prevention of breast cancer is not simply earlier diagnosis. In our medical culture we call mammography prevention when in fact it is screening for already present disease. True prevention starts with your body’s foundation – micronutrients. This is true for any disease process; hypothyroidism, Alzheimer’s disease, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and so on.

The roles of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants in disease prevention are many – repairing cellular damage in breast tissue, preventing genetic mutations, killing pre-cancerous cells before they multiply and maintaining healthy hormonal balance. Evaluating micronutrient status on the cellular level is where true prevention occurs.

There are a couple of laboratories (we use SpectraCell and Genova) that run a micronutrient test that can tell you how well your cells resist attack from damaging free radicals. Unchecked, free radical damage is directly linked to cancer.

Unfortunately we tend to read about these vitamins and minerals and then start taking them on our own. This is not beneficial unless you KNOW how well your body is utilizing your micronutrients. I use the analogy of the refrigerator and the garbage can. What is available in your blood stream is analogous to what I might find if I came into your kitchen and saw what sorts of vegetables you had. If I assumed that those veggies were going to be eaten then I would believe what I find in a standard blood test. However, if I come back to your house in 4 days and find those very same veggies un-eaten and moldy in your trash can, I would have made incorrect assumptions. Doing a blood test AND a hair mineral analysis tells me what you have available (what is in the fridge) and what you are actually using (what is NOT in the garbage can in a week).

So what are the micronutrients that are important in disease prevention?

B VITAMINS AND BREAST TISSUE

B vitamins, especially folic acid, can prevent mutations in breast tissue which eventually become carcinogenic. They may also reduce tumors in women with existing breast cancer.

THE HORMONE – NUTRIENT CONNECTION

Minerals, vitamins, antioxidants and metabolites interact closely with hormones. Improving estrogen metabolism, which is highly dependent on the availability of specific nutrients, reduces risk of many hormone related cancers, including breast cancer. Research shows that hormone replacement therapy affects minerals such as calcium, copper, chromium, magnesium, selenium and zinc, while reducing important antioxidants like coenzyme Q10 which is needed for heart health. Adequate vitamin D and calcium levels can lower breast cancer risk by more than 70%.

Check out the chart below and see for yourself how important micro-nutrition is for your health. Remember that just one micronutrient deficiency can send the whole system out of balance.

So how can you tell what your level of actual nutrition is in your body? I get asked this question a lot. There is a blood test that can be done that examines the micro-nutrient levels in your blood stream. A hair mineral analysis will tell how much of those nutrients you are actually absorbing. These tests together can help you to chart a course to better cognitive function and a higher level of health in general.

Here is a short synopsis of why these nutrients are important and what function they play in the body:

ALPHA LIPOIC ACID – This nutrient protects against the neuronal injury that occurs in the presence of toxic proteins found in brain tissue of Alzheimer’s patients. Research clearly indicates that lipoic acid is a potent neuroprotective antioxidant which strengthens memory and stimulates nerve growth.

B VITAMINS – Folate, Vitamin B6 and B12 are important in methylation processes. Deficiencies in one of these vitamins can raise homocysteine levels which is linked to increased Alzheimer’s risk. Vitamin B1 protects against mitochondrial dysfunction that causes dementia. B12 improves frontal lobe functions such as language, especially in the elderly.

CARNITINE – The amino acid carnitine has potent antioxidant properties. Its role in the transport of fatty acids to the mitochondria explains its beneficial effects on fatigue, which include both physical and mental fatigue. Several trials have demonstrated a consistent improvement in memory, focus and cognition with carnitine supplementation.

CHOLINE – Another member of the B-complex, choline is the precursor molecule for the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is intimately involved in memory. Choline deficiency can induce mitochondrial dysfunction in the brain that clinically presents as cognitive impairment.

CHROMIUM – In a placebo-controlled, double-blind trial, chromium supplementation for twelve weeks enhanced cerebral function in older adults, possibly as a downstream effect of improved glucose disposal in patients with insulin resistance.

COPPER – Intracellular copper deficiency increases the formation of amyloid deposits in the brain. Specifically, copper accumulates in amyloid plaques while remaining deficient in neighboring brain cells indicating that copper deficiency is a plausible cause of Alzheimer’s.

GLUTATHIONE – This antioxidant is used up faster in brain tissue in the presence of choline deficiency.

GLUTAMINE and ASPARAGINE – Both act as neurotransmitters in the brain.

INOSITOL – A member of the B-complex of vitamins, inositol regulates cell membrane transport, thus explaining its key interaction with several hormone and regulatory functions. Research suggests it can protect against the formation of abnormally folded toxic proteins seen in Alzhiemer’s patients. Inositol treatment also has beneficial effects on depression and anxiety.

OLEIC ACID – This fatty acid found primarily in olive oil and is the precursor to oleamide, which interacts with several neurotransmitters and has demonstrated anti-depressant like properties. Oleic acid also facilitates absorption of vitamin A into cells.

SERINE – This amino acid is the major component of phosphatidylserine, an integral part of cell membranes in the brain. Phosphatidylserine increases the release of several neurotransmitters, including dopamine, serotonin, acetylcholine and epinephrine, thus improving the rate at which mental processes occur, without the hyperactivity or compulsive behavior that often occurs with drugs that stimulate a single neurotransmitter.

VITAMIN A – In the Physician’s Health Study II, vitamin A supplementation (50mg) improved cognition and verbal memory in men. Short term (1 year) effects of cognitive function were not seen, but significant benefit occurred in those on long-term treatment (18 years.)

VITAMIN C – Next to adrenal glands, nerve endings contain the highest levels of vitamin C in the body. High intakes of vitamin C are associated with lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

VITAMIN E – In addition to anti-oxidative properties, vitamin E reduces death to cells in the hippocampus and protects brain from glutamate toxicity. High dietary intake of vitamin E may lower Alzheimer’s risk.

ZINC – Low functional status of zinc is linked to negative alterations of the immune-inflammatory system, which can cause depression, impair learning and memory and a reduce neurogenesis. Zinc also regulates synaptic plasticity.

Even if you live out of state, call us at Fern Life Center (425) 391-3376 and we will send you a kit to have this important testing done. Keesha can do phone consultations to go over your results with you and plan out how to optimize your health using micronutrient testing.

Here’s to your health!

More than 14 million people in North America have the chronic skin condition known as rosacea. Women, fair-skinned people between the ages of 30 and 60 are more likely to be affected. I see this a lot in women who have a long history of adrenal overload and gut flora imbalances.

Many patients use topical over-the-counter (OTC) agents to treat the symptoms of rosacea, either as an alternative to traditional prescriptions or to complement their prescription regimen. Increasingly, many of these OTC preparations contain herbs. Current estimates report that consumers in the US spend more than 21 billion dollars on alternative medicine and the use of herbal remedies saw an unprecedented 380% increase between 1990 and 1997.

The signs and symptoms of rosacea include:

• Areas of redness on your face
• Small red bumps or pustules on your nose, cheeks, forehead, and/or chin
• Small blood vessels on your nose and/or cheeks (called telangiectasia)
• Tendency to flush or blush

Rosacea may also result in a red, bulbous nose, called rhinophyma, or a burning or gritty sensation in your eyes, called ocular rosacea.

Treatment of Rosacea

Rosacea cannot be treated with one intervention alone because it is caused by several issues. In ayurvedic terminology rosacea is a pitta imbalance, which means an inflammatory disorder that is residing in the skin layer of the body. If the root problems are not addressed, this imbalance travels to other parts of the body, causing inflammation on a deeper level.

Conventional treatments for rosacea include avoiding triggers that worsen rosacea symptoms and medications (that pack a side effect profile that livers don’t like). Laser therapy may be suggested to reduce flushing and the appearance of blood vessels. The following are some of the most frequently used natural treatments for rosacea.

•          Food allergies or sensitivities are ALWAYS a problem for patients with rosacea. Doing the ALCAT food allergy test is a fast way of determining what those sensitivities are. ($475 out of pocket if your insurance won’t cover it)
•         Gut microflora imbalance is another issue that is always present. A comprehensive stool analysis is a quick way of finding out just what bugs are living in your intestinal tract.($285 out of pocket if your insurance won’t cover it)
•          Inflammation can be checked using standard insurance covered blood tests like a sed rate, HS CRP, and autoimmune markers.
•         Any skin cream prescribed or sold to you must be made only from ingredients you can eat! Remember anything put on the skin will absorb into the body.
•          Ayurvedic facials use only all natural ingredients and are designed to bring pitta down.
•          An Ayurvedic consultation for pitta reduction.
•          Chrysanthellum Indicum Cream: A cream containing an extract of the herb Chrysanthellum indicum has been explored for the treatment of rosacea. Compounds in the extract appear to strengthen capillaries. A large study involving 246 people with rosacea examined the safety and effectiveness of a cream containing one percent Chrysanthellum indicum extract (applied twice a day) or placebo. After 12 weeks, the Chrysanthellum indicum cream significantly improved rosacea symptoms, including facial redness, compared to placebo. Adverse reactions were mild and did not differ compared with the placebo group.
•          Green Tea Cream: One small study, presented as an abstract at the 2005 American Academy of Dermatology annual meeting, found evidence that a green tea cream may help people with rosacea. The study involved 60 women aged 25 to 50 years. All had red bumps and pustules, 20 had redness, and 17 had visible blood vessels. Half of the women applied the green tea cream containing 2% polyphenone twice a day and the other half applied the placebo cream.
•          Green tea is a known anti-inflammatory. Using it internally is going to enhance any of the effects of external use. Make sure the green tea you choose is organic and non-caffeine. Herbasway makes a green tea extract with stevia in it that is quite delicious.
•          Niacinamide Cream: Niacinamide, a form of vitamin B3, has been used topically for rosacea. It is thought to improve the skin barrier, improve the skin’s moisture level, and reduce inflammation. One study looked at a niacinamide-containing facial moisturizer (applied twice daily) or a placebo moisturizer in 50 people with rosacea. After four weeks, the niacinamide-containing moisturizer was found to improve the skin barrier. Niacinamide taken orally has also been explored for rosacea.
•          Licorice: Another topical treatment used for rosacea is the herb licorice. One study examined the effect of a topical licorice skin regimen in 62 people with mild to moderate facial redness. There was significant improvement in redness at the four and eight week assessments.
•          Digestive Enzymes: Some people with rosacea have indigestion, especially after eating fatty foods. One study found a deficiency of the pancreatic enzyme lipase, an enzyme that helps to digest fat. When the rosacea patients in the study were given pancreatic enzyme supplements with meals, their symptoms of indigestion and rosacea both improved.
•          Colon Hydrotherapy: A healthy digestive tract will reduce rosacea. CHT is one of the fastest ways of reorganizing your gut microflora. Weekly sessions for a month will get you on your way to clear skin.
•         B Vitamins: Inadequate riboflavin, caused by insufficient dietary intake or poor absorption in the digestive tract, may be associated with rosacea. One study found that Demodex folliculorum mites, which are normally found on the skin but more in larger numbers on the skin of rosacea patients, are more likely to affect the skin of animals in riboflavin deficiency. An increased number of mites may cause blockage of the pores from inflammation or may allow for the growth of bacteria on the skin.
•          Azelaic Acid Cream: Azelaic acid cream is derived from wheat, rye and barley. It appears to have antimicrobial action that slows the growth of skin bacteria and appears to be effective at reducing skin redness and papules and pustules associated with rosacea. One study conducted by the University of British Columbia found that azelaic acid 20 percent cream was as effective as topical metronidazole 0.75 percent cream in reducing the number of papules and pustules on the skin. Azelaic acid also appeared to be slightly more effective at reducing redness. In addition, overall improvement was rated by physicians as higher with azelaic acid. Both creams, however, showed equal improvement in the symptoms of dryness, burning, telangiectasia and itching. The most common side effect of the azelaic acid cream was stinging on application, but the patients still had a better overall impression of azelaic acid than the metronidazole cream. Besides stinging, side effects of azelaic acid may include lightening of darkened areas of skin, although the skin does not appear to lighten beyond its normal color.
•          Apple Cider Vinegar: Apple cider vinegar taken orally is used as a home remedy for rosacea. It is thought to stimulate the release of digestive enzymes and help normalize the bacterial balance in the intestines. Consult a health practitioner before trying apple cider vinegar. Apple cider vinegar is available in liquid and tablet form.
•          Other Natural Treatments for Rosacea
  •    Aloe, Burdock, Chamomile, Betaine hydrochoride, Red clover, Rose hips, Selenium, Zinc
  •          Feverfew: One of the primary active components of feverfew, parthenolide, inhibits serotonin release from platelets. Feverfew inhibits 5-lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase, resulting in a reduction in human blood platelet aggregation. In a recent study by Martin and associates, 45 days of treatment with 1% feverfew PFE (parthenolide-free extract) – Aveeno Daily Moisturizer Ultracalming, improved mild inflammatory acne by inhibiting the release of inflammatory markers from activated lymphocytes and reducing neutrophil chemotaxis. It is these immunomodulating properties that suggest feverfew PFE[TM] may be a useful treatment for rosacea.
  •          Green Tea: The green tea derivatives epicatechin, epigallocatechin, epicatechin-3-gallate, and epigallocatechin-3-gallate possess well-documented anticarcinogenic properties and anti-inflammatory and antioxidant capabilities. (15) These properties are especially useful for patients with rosacea as inherent sun sensitivity is a hallmark of the disease. The photoprotective properties of green tea may lessen reactivity to ultraviolet light, thereby reducing the signs and symptoms of rosacea. Moreover, green tea extract has been shown to reduce the disruption of the skin barrier often seen in patients with the disease.
  •          Oatmeal: First, oatmeal is a potent antipruritic. The moisturizing properties of colloidal oatmeal alleviate itch due to dry skin. These properties, in turn, promote protection of barrier function, which is often impaired in rosacea patients. Oatmeal also works as a skin protectant and enhancer of barrier function as the proteins and polysaccharides bind to skin to provide a protective barrier, while proteins buffer both acids and bases.
  •          Lavender: studies in animal models confirm the traditional use of Lavandula angustifolia for the treatment of painful and inflammatory conditions (including gastrointestinal disorders, migraines, and generalized pain).
  •          Chamomile: The active constituents of chamomile include the terpenoids (bisoprolol, matricin, chamazulene) and flavonoids (apigenin, luteolin). Studies have documented the anti-inflammatory and soothing effects of creams containing chamomile in patients with various inflammatory dermatoses. Chamomile is used in a variety of cosmetic products and as soothing compresses.
  •          Tea Tree Oil: In recent years it has become increasingly popular as an antimicrobial agent and has also been demonstrated to possess anti-inflammatory properties. Tea tree oil should be used with caution, however, as it has been associated with a wide variety of side effects including allergic contact dermatitis, systemic contact dermatitis, erythema, and systemic hypersensitivity reactions as well as conditions such as linear immunoglobulin A disease.
  •          Camphor Oil: Recently, camphor oil has been evaluated for its efficacy in treating the demodicoses that are frequently comorbid with rosacea. In a study by Morsy, marked reduction in the infestation density were noted following application of diluted camphor oil at concentrations of 20% to 25%. Caution is warranted with the use of camphor oil, however, as it is a known skin irritant.
  •          Vitamin C raises immunity, promotes healing, and strengthens connective tissue. Bioflavonoids are anti-inflammatory and help to strengthen blood vessels, and work with vitamin C. Take 500 milligrams of vitamin C with bioflavonoids three times a day.
  •          Zinc also helps to heal the skin. Take 25 milligrams twice a day, with meals and with 1 milligram of copper.
  •          Flaxseed oil supplies essential fatty acids that help to reduce inflamma tion. Take 1,000 milligrams or 1 teaspoon three times a day
  •          Acidophilus and bifidus help to restore "friendly" bacteria. If you are taking antibiotics, take either of these supplements as directed by the manufacturer.
  •          Cat's-claw extract helps to reduce food sensitivities by reestablishing a healthy intestinal environment. Take 500 milligrams three times a day.
    Caution: Do not take this herb if you are pregnant, nursing, or on blood thinners, or if you are an organ transplant recipients.
  •          Gotu kola extract promotes healing of the skin. Take 100 milligrams three times a day.
  •          Grapeseed extract is an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, and helps in collagen formation. Take 50 milligrams three times a day.

Here’s to your health and healthy skin!

Lead investigator Dr Paul Michael Lavigne, of Tufts Medical Center in Boston, presented these findings, which are based on new data from the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) offspring cohort, at the American College of Cardiology's 61st Annual Scientific Session in Chicago on Sunday.

Western medicine has believed that statin drugs lower the risk of heart disease (something that is not true as high cholesterol does NOT increase the risk of heart disease unless there is inflammation present also). Studies of these drugs have suggested there could be a link between low levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and cancer risk.

This new investigation by Lavigne and colleagues, is the first to try to look at the relationship between low LDL-C and cancer risk over a long time in patients with no history of using cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Lavigne said in a statement that they wanted to "take those medications out of the equation", and just study the link between cancer and low LDL-C in people who had never taken statins or other cholesterol-lowering drugs.

For their matched case control study, Lavigne and colleagues compared 201 participants with cancer and 402 controls who were cancer free.

Cancer cases and controls were matched by age, gender, tobacco use, blood pressure, body mass index, diabetes, and other factors.

Neither the participants with cancer nor the controls had any history of taking cholesterol-lowering medication.

The researchers assessed the trend of low LDL-C for an extended period of time prior to cancer diagnosis, using data taken at four points over an average of 18.7 years prior to diagnosis.

The results showed that LDL cholesterol levels were lower in the participants with cancer than their matched controls at each of the data points.

Compared to cancer-free participants, the trend of low LDL-C in those who developed cancer was consistent throughout the period of study.

The results were the same when the researchers took into account levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL, or "good") cholesterol.

The study hypothesizes that there may be a third factor that wasn’t studied in this research at play here (how about the much proven inflammation?). So for now all that researchers are sure of is there is a link between cancer and low LDL-C, and it exists for a long time before cancer diagnosis.

So what is cholesterol and what does it do?

Cholesterol is not really the villain portrayed in the pharmaceutical ads. It is actually a vital substance needed in every cell of the body as it is the chemical precursor from which the body produces bile acids, vitamin D3, male and female sex hormones, and adrenal hormones. Cholesterol is needed to construct the important membranes which surround cells.

The body is able to manufacture cholesterol but cannot destroy it. Cholesterol is removed from the body combined with bile acids and this is one reason that high fiber diets help keep cholesterol levels in check. Because cholesterol is such a vital nutrient in the body, it will make cholesterol whether there is any cholesterol in the diet or not. By removing all cholesterol from the diet, the blood cholesterol will only fall by about 20% to 25%.

The 2004 call for the "aggressive and increased use of statin medication to treat high blood cholesterol values" would not be alarming if there would actually be many lives saved by these new recommendations. The disturbing part of this information is that there is little credible scientific information to support these changes and there is a large amount of valid scientific information suggesting that many persons taking statin drugs are suffering serious even fatal side effects.

Two years ago Dr. Julian Whitaker proposed to the FDA that the package insert supplied with a statin drug contain information that statin drugs decrease the levels of the critical nutrient CoQ 10 in patients. He wisely suggested that all patients taking statin drugs should also be taking 100 to 200 mg. of CoQ 10 daily to avoid complications (heart failure, muscle breakdown with potentially fatal kidney failure, muscle weakness, peripheral neuritis, transient global amnesia etc.) The FDA ignored Dr. Whitaker's suggestion because admitting that there was a danger from statin drugs, even if true, might hurt the sales of statin drugs.

Cholesterol Is Not A Major Cause Of Arterial Disease

Several factors appear to be of greater importance than cholesterol in causing arterial disease. Among these are deposition of toxic metals in the lining endothelium of arteries, Vitamin C deficiency, excessive amounts of lipoprotein (a), inflammation in arteries, excessive clotting of blood, homocysteine elevation and unhealthy foods.

An important study by Dr. Harlan Krumholz revealed that people with low cholesterol levels over the age of 70 died twice as often from heart attacks as older people with high cholesterol values. Most studies in old people have shown that cholesterol is not a risk factor for coronary artery disease. Approximately 90 % of cardiovascular disease is seen in persons over 60 years of age. Almost all studies have shown that high cholesterol is not a risk factor for women. This leaves cholesterol as a risk factor for less than 5 % of those persons dying of a heart attack.

High cholesterol values protect against infection. In a review of 19 studies involving 68,000 people, low cholesterol values revealed an increased risk for dying from lung and gastrointestinal diseases. Both lung and G.I. diseases are often related to infections. This information was confirmed by a 15 year study of 100,000 healthy people in the San Francisco area. People entering this study with low cholesterol values were more often admitted to hospitals because of infectious diseases. Patients with a history of a sexually transmitted disease or liver disease were twice as likely to develop HIV infection over 7 to 8 year follow up if they had a low cholesterol value when entering the study.

Patients with severe heart failure have high levels of endotoxins and cytokines in their blood. Endotoxins are toxic substances derived from gram negative bacteria. Cytokines are hormones secreted from white blood cells responding to an inflammatory process in the body. A medical team in Germany learned that the strongest predictor for death in a patient with heart failure was the concentration of cytokines in the blood. They felt that bacteria in the gut found it easier to penetrate tissues when the pressure in abdominal veins was elevated by heart failure. Endotoxins were highest in patients with edema and endotoxin levels fell significantly when heart failure improved with therapy. Patients with heart failure whose immune function is unable to respond to bacterial antigens had a higher mortality than patients who still responded to bacterial antigens. In addition the mortality was higher in those patients who had the lowest cholesterol, LDL, and triglyceride values. The risk of dying in a group of 1000 patients with heart failure followed for 5 years was 62 % in patients whose cholesterol was below 129 mg/dl, whereas patients whose cholesterol was over 223 mg./dl had only one half this risk of death.

When arteries are examined visually, by xrays or ultrasound there has never been any correlation between changes in cholesterol values and the extent of arteriosclerosis.

Why Metal Deposition In Artery Linings (Endothelium) Is So Important

After more than 30 years of use intravenous chelation therapy (EDTA) has become an accepted form of therapy because it has been found to be an effective, safe relatively inexpensive way to reverse occluded arteries to the heart, brain, kidneys and extremities. Chelation is known to have powerful anti-oxidant effects but this may not afford a complete explanation for the benefits observed.

An important new concept about chelation relates to the inner lining of blood vessels (endothelium). This lining tissue generates the powerful arterial vessel dilator nitric oxide. The endothelium also produces prostacyclin which decreases the clotting of blood and also causes dilating of arteries. A third important endothelial product is heparin, a potent substance that helps prevent clots from forming. Excessive deposition of heavy metals in the endothelium diminishes the endothelium's ability to produce nitric oxide, prostacyclin, and heparin. Chelation may restore the body's ability to create these important substances by removing these metals (iron, cadmium, lead, mercury) from the endothelial lining. Additionally removal of excess iron can decrease the risk of subsequent heart attacks. By improving blood circulation, chelation may benefit patients with angina pectoris, claudication, impotence, macular degeneration, glaucoma, pancreatitis, gout, rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, dementia, multiple sclerosis, and cancer.

Oral chelation obviously will not be as fast as intravenous chelation but slower removal of metals is easier and safer on the body and the risks of intravenous therapy are avoided. Doing chelation orally is simpler and less expensive than the intravenous approach.

Lead poisons enzyme systems in the body. The bones of modern man contain 1000 times more lead than the bones of men living 400 years ago. It takes 7 to 20 years for the body to completely replace the tissue in bone. Since bone is the primary storage area for lead there is clearly no necessity in most patients for rapid chelation by intravenous therapy. Nearly all health problems (learning disorders, cancer, heart disease, infections, AHHD, autism, hypertension etc.) are made worse by the high levels of lead found in our bodies. Lead is an important cause for hypertension and removal of lead from patients with hypertension often permits blood pressure values to return to normal. Recent studies have implicated lead in the genesis of cataracts. The EDTA present in chelating solutions binds lead so it can be excreted by the kidneys.

Oral and intravenous chelation are complex so therapy ideally should be guided by a practitioner experienced in chelation. At times the metals simply move from one site in the body to another instead of leaving the body. There is no doubt that removing metals from the endothelial membranes improves oxygenation and nutrient entry into cells resulting in improved health. Because of the toxic metal, chemical, herbicide and pesticide exposure we all are exposed to I think everyone should consider taking an oral chelation product and remain on it permanently. Many leaders in the natural health field are already doing so.

Vitamin C Deficiency

The late Dr. Linus Pauling and his associates were convinced that the arteriosclerotic plaque is formed because of a deficiency of Vitamin C. In their explanation of arteriosclerosis the structural protein (collagen) of arteries is lacking due to Vitamin C deficiency. This causes the body to supply lipoprotein (a) to these weak areas in an attempt to patch the weakness. This substance lipoprtotein (a) is very sticky and when it deposits onto an injured artery surfaces it seizes platelets, calcium, fibrin and cholesterol from the blood which causes a deposit (plaque) that narrows the opening in the artery. These narrowed openings can proceed to clot over (heart attack, stroke, or gangrene), produce symptoms (angina, leg pain with exertion, brain symptoms from lack of adequate blood flow) and small pieces of fibrin clot may break off the plaque and are thrown to arteries more distant again producing strokes, heart attack and gangrene.

Human beings and guinea pigs are unable to manufacture Vitamin C. Depriving guinea pigs of vitamin C leads to the production of arteriosclerotic lesions similar to human arteriosclerosis. No plaque forms in control guinea pigs getting Vitamin C. Dr. Kilmer. McCulley has shown that guinea pigs depleted of Vitamin C get high blood levels of homocysteine whereas the control guinea pigs have normal homocysteine values.

All this evidence makes a strong argument that lack of vitamin C plays a role in causing arteriosclerosis and that taking large quantities of vitamin C along with lysine should help narrowed arteries open back up. Large dosages of vitamin C are safe but may cause loose stools.

Another aspect of Vitamin C therapy that has considerable importance is the widely acknowledged role that Vitamin C has in healing infections (polio, HIV etc.) The healing of infections might also be a reason for favorable response of arteries to high doses of Vitamin C therapy as infections are becoming recognized as a probable cause for arteriosclerosis.

High Levels Of Lipoprotein (a) Cause Accelerated Arteriosclerosis

Elevation of blood levels of Lipoprotein (a) is considered one of the best predictors of impending trouble with heart disease. Lipoprotein (a) is a substance found in the blood that has a "sticky" character. It has a strong tendency to attach to sites of artery damage. This permits a clumping together with platelets, calcium, cholesterol and fibrin derived from circulating blood at this location decreasing the size of the artery. Free flow of blood past this site is obstructed which may produce symptoms (angina, brain ischemic symptoms and muscle ischemic symptoms i.e. claudication) or actual occlusion of an artery (stroke, heart attack, gangrene).

The amino acid N-Acetyl Cysteine has been found to be the most effective agent to lower lipoprotein (a) levels in the blood. With NAC therapy lipoprotein (a) levels may decrease by up to 70 %. Obtaining lipoprotein (a) values during health evaluations is a wise idea. Patients with elevated levels of lipoptotein (a) should take N-acetyl cysteine 500 mg. twice daily.

Arteriosclerosis Caused By Elevated Homocysteine And Its Correction

Methionine from red meat, milk and milk products is converted in the body into homocysteine. When the body's stores of B6 (pyridoxine), folic acid and B12 fail to bring this homocysteine down to normal values there is a three times greater risk of heart attack in males than in males with normal homocysteine values.

Homocysteine stops the production of the valuable vasodilating nitric acid, causes blood to thicken, and facilitates the oxidation of LDL cholesterol, thus setting the stage for an atherosclerotic plaque and blood clots to form. As more patients are studied it has become evident that elevated levels of homocysteine are a common cause for arteriosclerosis (at least 40 % of patients). If you have artery problems, measuring homocysteine in the blood will frequently provide clear evidence that homocysteine is causing the problem, not cholesterol.

Folic acid (800 mcg with each meal) and 1000 mcg of B 12 daily are standard treatment for elevated homocysteine. B6 (pyridoxine) reduces HC by a different method than folic acid. The dose of B6 should be 100 to 200 mg. daily.

Inflammatory Conditions In the Body Predispose To Artery Damage

Inflammation in the body is strongly associated with the development of occlusion in arteries. For this reason blood tests that measure inflammatory reactions (sedimentation rate, C reactive protein) have been found to be of great value in detecting persons who are at higher risk of developing heart attacks and strokes.

Bacteria and viruses from inflammatory conditions in the body (gingivitis) and acute infections (cytomegalovirus, Chlamydia pneumonia (TWAR bacteria), Coxsackie, herpes, etc. appear to be responsible for 25 % of heart attacks and a similar percentage of strokes. Discovering and treating inflammatory conditions like gingivitis may permit patients to avoid vascular occlusions.

Foods Cause Arteriosclerosis

The proper diet for patients with angina and heart attacks to follow has been a source of controversy. The two parts of the world that have the lowest incidence of arteriosclerotic heart disease are the island of Crete and the Japanese island of Yokohama. People in both these places eat a diet that is high in linolenic acid, an essential fatty acid. The Cretans get their linolenic acid from walnuts and the Japanese islanders are getting their linolenic acid from non-genetically modified soybeans and canola oil (rapeseed oil).

Researchers in France followed 605 patients after a first heart attack, with one half receiving the American Heart Association Diet (low cholesterol) and the other half receiving the Cretan Diet (lots of whole grains, roots, and green vegetables, fish, daily fruit, chicken and olive oil). The study was terminated at 27 months and all patients were switched to the Cretan diet because of dramatic benefits from this diet.

Linolenic acid is found mainly in seeds (flax, hemp, soybean, walnut, pumpkin). It is easily destroyed by light, air, and heat. By the end of 27 months, the blood linolenic acid levels in the French patients had reached the same range as those seen in Crete. Notice that all foods consumed in the Cretan diet will spoil (no processed food).

The processed food diet consumed by 90 % of Americans certainly contributes to promoting arteriosclerosis. The U.S. soil has been seriously depleted of nutrients with important minerals lacking. Selenium is no longer found in much of the U.S. soil. This mineral has dramatic effects in lowering the incidence of cancer when 200 mcg. is consumed daily.

Highly significant deterioration in the health of U.S. citizens was brought about by the introduction of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium NPK chemical fertilizer which has promoted the development of chronic degenerative diseases. This use of chemical fertilizer instead of manure caused the protein content of vegetables to drop. Additionally farmers no longer can afford to replace the vital soil minerals. This has led to steadily decreasing deficiencies in the mineral content of food grown from U.S. soil. Humans lacking the trace minerals from food have failure of proper enzyme function. The trace minerals (zinc, chromium, manganese, vanadium, selenium etc) are vital to normal enzyme performance in the body. Many soil samples lack some or most of these minerals and the quantity of minerals in U.S. soil has been steadily declining since the introduction of NPK fertilizer.

Numerous foods have been genetically modified which subjects the consumer to a myriad of unnecessary dangerous problems. No testing for safety could be done on GMO foods because these GMO foods were likely to increase the incidence of cancer and degenerative diseases like arteriosclerosis. Powerful agribusiness forces wanted GMO foods released.

Ninety percent of U.S. families are using synthetic chemical oils to cook food. These are dangerous transfats that the body has a hard time processing. Use of this synthetic food causes massive production of free radicals and leads to the development of Type 2 diabetes, arteriosclerosis and cancer.

The substances Americans think they use in cooking (corn, safflower, canola, sunflower, and soy oils) are actually chemicals compounds manufactured at high temperatures using harsh chemicals that completely remove all nutrient value from food. These chemical oils will not spoil, have no nutritional value and are very hard for the body to process and eliminate. Prolonged usage of these synthetic chemical oils leads to arteriosclerosis, Type 2 diabetes and cancer. These synthetic oils are a major factor in the deteriorating health of the American people.

The nutrients, vitamins, minerals and fiber have been largely removed from white bread, white flour, and white rice. Non organic food consumed by most people has heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, chemicals and estrogenic hormones. A simple remedy would be to eat only organic food that spoils.

Increased Clotting Can Produce Heart Attacks and Strokes

An increased tendency of blood to clot can have a major influence in causing vascular occlusions in people with narrowed arteries. Among the conditions which make blood clot easier are fibrinogen excess, increase in number of platelets, abnormal platelet function, lipoprotein [a] excess, high blood lipids values and infections. Males living in Kampala, Kenya in 1960 were found to have the same degree of arteriosclerosis in their heart arteries as those living in St. Louis, Missouri. However, an autopsy study of 2237 males in St. Louis and 827 males in Kampala revealed only one well healed heart attack in the Ugandan males whereas in the black and white males in St. Louis one quarter of the deaths were caused by heart attacks. There was extensive clotting in the arteries in St. Louis males and nearly none in Kampala males. The population of Uganda at that time were grain vegetarians existing on corn and millet. Millet contains a protease inhibitor that prevents blood from clotting which may explain the lack of blood clots in the arteriosclerotic arteries of the Ugandan males.

Dr. Kilmer McCully, who discerned the importance of homocysteine in producing -arteriosclerosis, believes that B6 (pyridoxine) has unique anti-oxidant properties that cause the human body to be protected from damage from sugar loaded diets by blocking the infectious problems usually caused by excess sugar. Studies have shown that individuals consuming Western diets are more depleted of B6 than other vitamins. Fats, which constitute 30 to 40 % of the calories in the Western diet, are lacking in water soluble B vitamins. Additionally, foods grown in soils fertilized for decades by NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium) fertilizer (USA) are low in micronutrients including B6 even if grown organically. In addition to both these problems Vitamin B6 is fragile so much of the B6 found in western food is lost in food processing, storage, transport and cooking.

To compound this problem sugar intake depletes B6 from the body. The air we inhale, our food and medicines are full of substances that destroy B6 in our bodies and thus increase our need for it. Stress, which is high and rising, depletes the body of B6 as does the new sources of electromagnetic radiation according to Dr. Robert Becker.

The simple taking of B6 (Pyridoxine) in doses of 100 mg or more daily decreased the incidence of heart attacks by 70 % in two large medical practices. Additionally, B6 decreases the incidence of cancer even in people who continue to smoke.

The Ireland Boston Brothers Heart Study compared the health of a brother eating Irish food with a brother who had immigrated to the U.S. At that time the Irish brothers were eating approximately 1 ½ pounds of butter weekly and had oatmeal daily for breakfast. The brother living in the U.S. was eating the standard low cholesterol and saturated fat and high polyunsaturated fat diet consumed by most Americans. Many were surprised by the results which showed that there were far more heart attacks in the U.S. brothers that those in Ireland. The protease inhibitor found in oatmeal appeared to be protecting the Irish brothers from heart attacks while the synthetic low saturated fat diet in the U.S. was proving to be dangerous.

Among the health conditions related to therapy with statin drugs are:

Congestive Heart Failure: The decrease in CoQ 10 blood levels caused by statin therapy diminishes the energy output of heart muscle cells leading to congestive heart failure. A mysterious rise in the incidence of heart failure has been noted in the U.S. in recent years which may well relate to the continually increasing use of statin drugs

Muscle Weakness: Weakness of muscles when taking statin drugs probably relates to decreased muscle cell energy production caused by diminished levels of CoO Q 10. When severe this muscle weakness may progress to a state where muscle soreness and pain appears. In this state the muscle cells break up releasing muscle protein and enzymes into the blood. If the muscle damage is extensive kidney failure (myoglobulinuria) and severe acidosis due to lactic acid production may occur (often a fatal problem).

Hyperinsulinemia: Rise in fasting insulin values by 13 % is seen after statin therapy is started. This is undesirable because high levels of insulin increase the construction of arteriosclerotic plaques over time. Also high insulin values accelerate the rate of development of both diabetes and aging.

Anti-Oxidant Blood Levels Decrease: Alpha Tocopherol and Beta Carotene levels in the blood fall by up to 22 % in patients taking statin drugs. Decreasing one's anti-oxidant stores in the blood is obviously undesirable as this means that our ability to remove free radicals will be impaired.

Peripheral Neuritis: The cause for peripheral neuritis is often obscure. The incidence of peripheral neuritis is 15 times greater in persons taking statin drugs than in control subjects. This could also relate to deficiency of CoQ 10.

Transient Global Amnesia ( TGA): This interesting neurologic disorder causes patients to have a total loss of memory for several hours. During these episodes the person does not know who he or she is, does not know what they are doing and often has a complete loss of memory about their past history. Recently it has been discovered that many persons taking statin drugs have experienced TGA and that there are thousands of persons with memory dysfunction, extreme forgetfulness, incapacitating confusion and profound disorientation for every person who has an episode of TGA. The relationship of these memory problems to usage of statin drugs is nearly completely unknown in the medical community. Stopping the statin drug leads to recovery which may take several months.

Liver Injury: Abnormal results of liver function tests are common in persons taking statin drugs. Severe abnormalities are uncommon and the abnormal liver function disappears when statin therapy is stopped. The package insert gives guidelines for the levels where abnormal liver tests should cause therapy to be terminated.

Stroke: risk goes up when cholesterol values are lowered below 140 mg. Dr. Gilbert Gordon suggests keeping cholesterol values near 220 mg to preserve the natural antioxidant benefits of cholesterol for the body.

Possibly of greater importance several early studies of the results of statin therapy suggested that there might be an increased risk of developing cancers and lymphomas in persons taking statin drugs. These studies were ignored and aggressive marketing of statins began. Such adverse results could easily take more than 10 years of statin usage to become manifest and the rapidly increasing rates of cancer might tend to obscure cancers being caused by statin therapy. Certainly some of this increase in cancer incidence could be due to the rapidly increasing statin drug usage. Knowing that CoQ 10 is a fine therapy for cancer suggests that lowering the levels of CoQ 10 with statin drugs might increase the risk of cancer. All persons using statin drugs should be taking 100 to 200 mg. of CoQ 10 daily which could probably prevent some of these adverse effects.

The availability of natural substances like food (flax oil) to lower cholesterol and fish oil to lower triglycerides suggests that these natural products might be able to safely replace the more expensive and somewhat dangerous statin drugs. Many physicians are not aware of the necessity for patients taking statin drugs (Mevacor, Lipitor, Lescol, Zocor, Pravachol, etc.) to take regular doses of Co Q10 (at least 100 mg. to 200 mg. daily). If you take statins be sure you get CoQ 10.

Dr. Robert E. Svoboda, B.A.M.S., is the first Westerner to have completed a full education in an Indian Ayurvedic medical college. His love of travel and the exotic first took him to India, away from a planned future of becoming a Western physician, where he then lived for more than a decade. Dr. Svoboda has also mastered the esoteric and complicated elements of astrology (Jyotish), as have many Ayurvedic physicians, and he is conversant in Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and Sanskrit. Author of 11 books on Ayurveda, he is also known in India as one of the world’s foremost experts in Ayurveda. For a complete list of his works and upcoming speaking engagements visit http://www.drsvoboda.com.

The topic of my presentation this morning is Ayurveda: An Alternative or Complementary Medicine? I am not sure, however, that this is the right question to ask. I think we must first ask several other questions before we can answer this one.

Question One: Does modern medicine need alternatives and complements? The answer, I believe, is yes. Modern medicine responds admirably to crises which require quick, intensive, invasive intervention, and deals far less effectively with slowly progressing degenerative diseases The Journal of the American Medical Association recently reported that nearly half the people in the United States suffer from at least one chronic illness, and that together these illnesses account for three-fourths of all medical expenses in our country.[1] In this climate of change in the West which is now calling into question many of the assumptions which we once accepted unthinkingly an awareness is growing that our paradigm is shifting. A system’s paradigm is its pattern, the archetype which structures each of its products.

Crisis medicine promotes a crisis-based lifestyle. An imbalance that begins in one location can surface elsewhere, since all facets of the organism communicate with each other; physical imbalances can thus be generated from disturbances of the mind or the life-force, mental disorders can be due to physical derangements, and so on. Imbalanced individuals tend to perturb their surroundings, and a polluted habitat will pollute its inhabitants. Ayurvedists who survey today’s world find the human creature destroying its environment and itself everywhere they look, and are not surprised to discover the gargantuan imbalances thus created emerging as rampant disease.

The inability of crisis-based medicine to deal with these crises has led to the present situation in the West in which many alternative paradigms compete for the acceptance of scientists and public alike. Last week I spoke at a conference on organ transplantation organized by Howard University. While I was there I attended a lecture by Dr. James Gordon, Professor at the Georgetown University School of Medicine and first Chair of the Advisory council of the OAM at the NIH. During the course of his talk Dr. Gordon mentioned that 2 out of every 3 people who consult with M.D.s in this country are also doing something extra: herbs, supplements, chiropractic, whatever. 2 out of 3 is a decisive majority. Is it possible that our health care system is changing faster than our ability and willingness to perceive and describe it? Do all the people who are being served by the system still accept the fundamental premises that make up the system? It would appear that the majority wants change.

Question Two: Is Ayurveda a worthy alternative? This answer is also, in my opinion, yes. This “superstition” has already contributed much to modern medicine, including the drug reserpine, which is extracted from a plant (Rauwolfia serpentina) that is still used today in India to safely control hypertension. More recently it has provided the cholesterol-controlling gugulipid (from Commiphora mukul), which apparently binds cholesterol in GI tract and has been reported to be as good as Lopid at lowering blood cholesterol levels.

Ayurveda has also given us plastic surgery. During the nineteenth century the Germans translated from the 2000-year-old treatise of the Ayurvedic author Sushruta the details of an operation for repair of damaged noses and ears. This operation, which appears in modern textbooks of surgery as the pedicle graft, led to the development of plastic surgery as an independent specialty. Today Sushruta is regarded by plastic surgeons around the world as the father of their craft.

Ideally, all Ayurvedic treatment is carefully tailored to the individual. Though it concentrates first on making simple changes of diet and behavior, for simple alterations are sometimes sufficient to produce big results, Ayurveda does not hesitate to use surgery, shock therapy, and other intensive treatments when mild interventions fail to produce results.

Ayurveda’s materia medica and therapeutic techniques have much more yet to contribute. I maintain, however, that Ayurveda’s most valuable contributions will be made to the new theory that medicine is trying to grow. These contributions will be derived from Ayurveda’s way of seeing the world, its darshana, a vision which will facilitate medicine’s ability to teach people not just how to avoid disease but how to proactively develop and maintain a healthy “state.” Modern medicine defines health as the absence of disease, Ayurveda focuses on health as a positive condition that is independent of disease, an active state of being that can be promoted by appropriate behavior. When you can upgrade your health you may find diseases disappearing without ever having been directly addressed. The same Ayurvedic principles that are used to correct yourself when you are out of balance can be used to preserve your balance once it is corrected.

Question Three: Can modern mechanical medicine adequately perceive, describe, understand and implement Ayurveda? I rather doubt this. Many similarities already do exist between the standpoints from which Ayurveda and modern medicine survey the world. Both believe in technological progress; on its part Ayurveda has absorbed therapeutic innovations from many sources within and without India over its history. Empiricism too is fundamental to both; the Ayurvedic author Sushruta declares, “A learned physician must never try to examine on grounds of pure logic the efficacy of a medicine, which is known by direct observation as having by nature a specific medical action.” Both agree that an allopathic approach to disease is ordinarily efficient, and both thus usually treat conditions with their opposites: fever is countered with temperature-lowering measures, obesity with reduction in caloric intake, and so on.

In spite of this Ayurveda does not yet have a sterling reputation among physicians of Western medicine; in fact, one recently called it in print “a superstition of ancient times.” But then this is because the majority of modern physicians do not know what to look for when they look at Ayurveda. Western materialist science presupposes that the way to eschew ambiguity in science is to distance ourselves from the things that we measure. This posture achieves precision by denying a place in Western experimental philosophy to any phenomena that are not externally measurable, and discourages Western medicine from accepting, or even grasping, that which cannot be explained phenomenologically.

The Ayurvedic system maintains that all phenomena however ambiguous are worthy of investigation if they influence embodied life. It encourages the free application of both rationality and intuition to scrutinize all states of being, internal and external. Over thousands of years the sages who moulded Ayurveda studied how embodied life is affected by what we do and how we do it in all of life’s arenas, including diet, exercise, vocation, avocation, and personal relationships. Though most of their experiments were performed internally these were no less rigorous and systematic than those that scientists perform in external laboratories. Nor were they less logical; Ayurveda is a different “language” from modern medicine, and its logic is a fuzzier sort of logic (in the non-pejorative, cybernetic sense of “fuzzy logic”).

Their inner explorations led these savants to conclude that consciousness is omnipresent in the universe, and in fact pre-existed the cosmos. This premise is fundamental to Ayurveda: that consciousness is omnipresent in the universe, and pre-existed the cosmos. Everything in the universe that is not pure unconditional consciousness is a form of matter, and the material universe and all that is within it evolved from and continues to evolve because of that consciousness. Consciousness expresses itself in and through everything that exists, its expression varying with the density of the matter that contains it. Everything with which an organism comes in contact interacts with its matter and its consciousness, however minimally; consequently, all living organisms are innately interdependent.

This is the gulf that truly parts Ayurveda from materialist science, which teaches that consciousness evolved from matter. No conclusions drawn by reasoning from one of these two competing and mutually exclusive postulates can be expected to prove or disprove the “validity” of the other postulate. The “consciousness” model, however, continues to gain ground as scientific evidence of consciousness’s ability to influence matter, at least in the form of observers affecting their observations, continues to accumulate.

Ayurveda’s approach is more alchemical. The alchemical paradigm holds that that reality is paradoxical. This means that a thing is closely related to its opposite, as we see today in love-hate relationships and the like. The approach of Chinese medicine is similar. India and China have always appreciated life’s innate ambiguities. Carl Jung wrote, “The Chinese have never failed to recognize the paradoxes and the polarity inherent in what is alive. The opposites always balanced one another-a sign of high culture. One-sidedness, though it lends momentum, is a mark of barbarism.”[2] While Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine try to mirror this ambiguity in their processes, materialist science abhors ambiguity.

Ambiguity has not always been anathema to science. John Maynard Keynes discovered in 1936 that Isaac Newton had been obsessed with alchemy and had mentioned it in early editions of his books. He eventually decided that he would have to repress this side of himself if he wanted to get ahead in the world of that time, and so purged all references to alchemy from later editions of his works.

Newton’s early form of “political correctness” reflects the sad truth that even modern medical science, research and practice alike, is structured in large measure through political means. Modern medicine itself succeeded in gaining a paramount position in our country with substantial help from political sources; consider for example the generally successful attempts at the end of the nineteenth century to outlaw homeopathy at a time when in many parts of the country homeopathy was more popular than allopathy. This is merely the most recent incarnation of a generalized ancient trend to support orthodoxy at the expense of innovation. Galileo’s fate and the witch-burnings were two other European examples, but no culture (including India’s) is spared this sort of thing entirely.

How we structure a thing determines to great extent its reality. “As Gregory Bateson has rightly remarked, Newton did not discover gravity; he invented it.” How we structure our reality determines what might be “alternative or complementary” to it, and the key to structuring what we believe to be real usually boils down to the amount of repetition and intensity that is brought to it. If you call something a duck long enough and loudly enough many people will eventually become convinced that it is a duck, whether or not it actually quacks. The more that the medical establishment calls chiropractic or homeopathy or Ayurveda “alternative or complementary” the more that is what they will become: secondary to, adjunct to, assistant to modern medicine.

All medical systems are models, approximations of reality. The modern fixed and unchangeable view of medical reality has meant that until very recently few scientists were prepared to accept that the mind

and the body can and do influence one another in measurable ways. Many of the problems that we have today stem from the fact that our reality system officially denies that the mind participates in the creation, preservation and destruction of our physical reality. Denying the mind its influence does not prevent that influence; it only prevents us from perceiving it. Modern medicine assumes that the reality we can perceive with our senses is the only reality there is, and that we can observe portions of this reality as non-participating observers. But this act of mechanically constructing a separate, rationally ordered reality for ourselves is itself an active participation in that reality from which we are trying to separate ourselves.

This totalitarian rationality, which by denying participation with our reality implicitly denies everything that is irrational about us, has created and is creating enormous difficulties for us humans and for our world. The most important of our irrational influences exist in the vast terrain of the unconscious mind, but modern science, by promoting the idea that rational knowledge is the whole of knowing, has cut itself off from the 90% of the iceberg of consciousness that is outside the control of the conscious mind. Now the mass of this iceberg is reacting against that neglect, counterattacking with epidemics of psychological and psychosomatic disease.

To be worthy of possessing alternatives or complements a system should accurately reflect and describe the reality that is embodied life to a substantial degree in a systematic and logical way. Modern medical science, which is currently in the throes of a revolution that will dramatically affect both its vision of the nature of medicine and the way that medicine is practiced, may not qualify as such a system.

Question Four: How can we understand Ayurveda? The Ayurvedic model takes the approach advocated by Michael Polyani, who in his classic book Personal Knowledge showed that (even though most scientists like to claim otherwise) science is a craft. Whether it involves the growing of crystals or the reading of X-rays, a scientist becomes proficient at his science not by strictly following the dictates of some unambiguous rule book but by immersing himself in the slow trial-and-error process of discerning patterns and learning to follow those patterns. We have to do the same thing with our health; we must learn to improve it like we learn any other craft.

This process happens to be very natural to us humans. It is in fact innate to us, for this is how the brain learns as well. The brain is too parsimonious to assign one memory to one neuron. Instead, it organizes its neurons into neural networks. Any sensory stimulus that enters one of these networks activates each of the neurons to a different degree. The more highly activated neurons signal strongly and the weakly activated ones less strongly, the members of the network continuing to share information until a pattern develops. Many types of patterns arise and are held in the same net.

One of Ayurveda’s basic theses is that similar patterns appear at all levels of a living organism’s existence, both in its internal interplay and in the interplay between it and its environment. Each pattern affects us whether we are aware of it or not. Taste is one example of the many patterns in our daily lives than cannot be easily quantified. You can express your blood pressure in mm of Hg, but how do you measure taste? Most of us find it natural to believe that that well-cooked food tastes better than poorly-cooked food, even though there is no way to externally verify this internal perception. Ayurveda suggests that the self-evident good or bad taste of food has more than a trivial effect on the organism that consumes it. Ayurveda asserts that the internal reality of something as outwardly ephemeral as a taste pattern is in fact very real to the tasting organism. Evidence that supports this conjecture has also begun to accumulate in Western science (e.g. in studies on the ways in which the taste of fat or sugar in the mouth can influence physiology even before they are metabolized).

Taste is only one of the many patterns that characterize our bodies and minds. Another is prana, the force of life, which the Chinese call chi and the Japanese ki. We can describe prana as the energy that inspires life to persist within a particular living being. Students of yoga, Tai Chi and the martial arts who learn to identify and circulate this force within themselves discover that prana is as easily measured with their own internal instruments as it is difficult to measure with external gadgets. The pattern that these practitioners call prana is as real to them as the patterns that neural networks of taste produce when they sample a mango. Whatever their external reality, patterns are very real to the organism in which they occur.

Athletes around the world are now studying the life force as they learn that cultivating a healthy pranic pattern facilitates the type of body-mind cohesion that allows one to shine out on the playing field. Athletic training is basically a matter of breaking down old physical and mental patterns and building up new ones. Each living body hosts a wide variety of strongly-held metabolic patterns which influence its ability to build up new patterns. Ayurveda classifies each these many metabolic patterns into one of three classes. Each of these classes forms a metapattern, a pattern which actively reproduces itself whenever it is given the opportunity to do so. These three metapatterns are the Three Doshas, the body’s so-called “humors.” They are called doshas (“mistakes,” in Sanskrit) because when they are deranged they induce the organism to go off balance, in predictable ways. Students of Ayurveda work with the reality of life from the dosha perspective because of its practical utility in everyday practice. The dosha approach allows associations to be detected between seemingly unconnected causative pathways and manifested symptoms.

Ayurveda defines health as balance and ill health as imbalance, in all aspects of existence but particularly in the context of the Three Doshas. When they are balanced the Three Doshas ensure that the organism functions well. Disease-causing imbalance patterns may result whenever an organism fails to adapt properly to a change in its internal or external environment. The need to adapt is universal, but the ways in which people adapt differ from person to person. Though many of these adaptation patterns are learned behavior others are innate properties of the organism itself. Everyone has physical, psychological, pranic, and emotional strengths and weaknesses; taken together these form a set of “reaction prints” which are as characteristic of their owners as are fingerprints or footprints. The aggregate of these innate properties forms the individual’s “nature” or “personal constitution” (in Sanskrit, prakriti), a temperament which profoundly influences predisposition to health, general and specific sensitivity to illness, and responsiveness to various forms of therapy.

The Ayurvedic approach to healing concentrates first on making simple changes of diet and behavior, for simple alterations are sometimes sufficient to produce big results. Ayurveda escalates into surgery and other intensively invasive therapies only when mild interventions fail to produce results. Modern researchers continue to rediscover truths that Ayurvedic researchers learned many centuries ago.

For example, since 1935 modern science has known that when mice and rats are fed a very low calorie diet (30 – 50% of their normal intake) in the laboratory they live about 30% longer than do well-fed rodents, so long as they receive sufficient nutrition. Though the mechanism of this effect remains in doubt (it may be due to decreased production of free radicals) the effect itself is clear.

Americans not only eat too much food, too much of that food is fat. Dr. Dean Ornish has shown how a judicious program of exercise and dietary change can not only control but in some cases reverse the course of obstructive coronary artery disease.

Recall that the two most common diagnoses requiring transplantation in African-Americans are hypertension and diabetes. High blood pressure afflicts one-third of all Americans in their 50′s, half of those in their 60′s, and more than two-thirds of those over 70. But hypertension is not inevitable; it is a disease of civilization. Preindustrial people rarely get increases in blood pressure as they age, whether they live in China, Africa, Alaska, or the Amazon, mainly because they do not eat processed foods.

Dr. Paul Whelton of Tulane University’s School of Public Health has spent the past decade tracking 15,000 indigenous Yi people in southwest China. As long as they eat a traditional diet-rice, a little meat, and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables-almost none of them suffer from hypertension. But when they migrate to nearby towns their blood pressure starts to rise with age.[3]

Our ancestors subsisted mainly on fresh plant foods for about seven million years, and anyone who lives on such a diet ingests about ten times more potassium than sodium. “Civilized” people consume far more sodium; for instance, while a four-ounce tomato contains 9 mg. sodium four ounces of bottled tomato sauce has nearly 700 mg. Modern humans are the only mammals that consume more sodium than potassium, and we are the only ones that suffer from hypertension. Dietary changes can reduce blood pressure as markedly as drug treatment, and in as little as two months. In a study known as DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) researchers at several institutions put volunteers on one of three diets. Normotensives who ate a low-fat menu including ten daily servings of fresh fruits and vegetables plus two servings of calcium-rich dairy products reduced their systolic and diastolic readings by 5.5 mm and 3.0 mm respectively. Hypertensives had reductions of twice that magnitude. Potassium supplements can bring a similar but less dramatic effect, but consuming fresh, unrefined plants provides you the bonus of phytochemicals which combat cancers and boost immunity.[4]

Dietary change is potentiated by exercise, which in judicious amounts can help everyone, even the frail. Dr. Maria Fiatarone of Tufts University recently got ten chronically-ill nursing home residents to lift weights three times a week for two months. At the end of this period their average walking speed had nearly tripled, and their balance improved by half. Two went so far as to throw away their canes.[5]

A positive attitude is also a big plus in regaining and preserving health. Most people who live to be a hundred maintain through their lives a social network of support, keep their minds active, manage stress well, and never give up. It has been said that “patients suffer illnesses and physicians diagnose and treat diseases.” The two may have little in common. For example, in a seven-year study of 3,500 older people who were asked to evaluate their own health, those who rated their health as poor were three times as likely to die as were those who believed their health to be good. However, those who were clinically in poor health but who rated themselves as being healthy were less likely to die than those who believed themselves to be unwell.[6]

We are what we eat, what we do, and what we think. Observers can affect their observations; Larry Dossey, M.D. comments: “It appears that double-blind studies can sometimes be steered in directions that correspond to the thoughts and attitudes of the experimenters. This might shed light on why skeptical experimenters appear unable to replicate the findings of believers, and why “true believers” seem more able to produce positive results. The validity of decades of experimental findings in medical research would need to be reevaluated if it is proved that the mind can “shove the data around.”[7]

Ayurveda seeks to find positive ways for each of us to “shove our data around.”

By examining metapatterns in an organism it can help that organism’s owner decide what kind of food, exercise, meditation, and other healthful habits will be health-promotive to the greatest degree. When it is too late for prevention early detection becomes the key. In all cases, removal of the causative factors is the first step: the patient’s diet, lifestyle, and way of thinking all must change. Thereafter, one must carefully consider all the factors affecting the case, including the patient’s constitution and age, the season of the year, and most importantly the strength of the patient versus the strength of the disease. When therapeutic intervention is called for we generally focus on plant materials, at least initially. In choosing herbs for a patient we focus primarily on the pattern that the disease has generated rather than the specific symptom alone.

Question Five: “How necessary, desirable or useful is it that Ayurveda be described in and bound by terms provided by another model?” Our answer to this question might be, “Scientifically, not much. Politically, quite a bit.” Two essential steps on the path to good health are to establish a healthy relationship between yourself and your environment and to enhance and maintain that relationship with your every choice and action. Promoting Ayurveda’s health in North America in the current environment requires that it develop some sort of relationship with its environment, of which a major portion is modern medicine. The danger is that this will not be a mutually healthy relationship but will instead be one in which Ayurveda will be “commodified” and “mainstreamed” into the current disease-care system.

Conclusion: Ayurveda could be an alternative to modern medicine now except for the facts that the medical establishment in this country is not yet ready for it. Ayurveda is not yet ready either, for there is a dramatic scarcity of qualified Ayurvedic physicians. Now, therefore, it will have to act as a complementary medicine before it can become alternative.

It would be better it would be to first reestablish other modes of thinking and doing science, and create a new model of reality that is a culture of the alternative and complementary. This new model could do much worse than to model itself on the ancient model which continues to serve us so well: Ayurveda.

Here are some alarming statistics:

Between the years of 1992-2002 the numbers of kids with peanut allergies doubled.

1 out of 87 kids has a peanut allergy.

The hospital admissions for peanut allergies went up 265% in one year.

So what is a food allergy? Your body sees food as a foreign invader and mounts an immune response to drive it out. This causes disease over the long term and inflammation in the short term.

In the 1990s new proteins were engineered and introduced into our food supply to drive up profitability without the public’s consent or even informing the public.

It started with milk, which is the most common and frequent food allergy we have according to the Wall Street Journal and CNN. In 1994 farmers engineered a synthetic protein that they gave to cows, which caused the cows to get sick, which caused the farmers to give them antibiotics and steroids. Rather than the EPA saying “we should look at this mounting number of human illnesses being caused by engineered milk” they said, “it hasn’t been PROVEN dangerous so we will allow it”.

In 1994 when the citizens of Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan and ALL of the countries in the European Union were asked if they wanted this same dairy model and synthetic protein introduced to THEIR dairy sources they answered with a resounding NO!

This protein has been found to stimulate the hormones that cause breast cancer, colon cancer, and prostate cancer in humans. The United States now has the highest incidence of these diseases than any country on the planet! In fact, if you move to the U.S. from any of the countries listed above, you have increased your risk of getting these cancers by four times in the first year. The American Cancer Society has found that 9 out of every 10 breast cancers in women are environmentally caused, NOT GENETIC.

Soy was the next engineering project. Scientists made it so that soy will only respond to 1 insecticide…naturally manufactured by Monsanto. All of this is to drive profitability up. Soy is now one of the top 5 food allergens in the U.S.

Corn was next. In fact corn was engineered so brilliantly that it is now classified as a pesticide rather than a food by the EPA and agricultural industry. Look at your food labels and just notice how often dairy, soy and corn are listed as food additives to processed foods of all kinds. It’s hard to find one that doesn’t have them if you are pulling your food from a bottle, box or package of any kind.

The U.S. spends more money on health care than any other country in the world. Sixteen percent of our GDP goes toward managing disease. In fact that means that companies like Starbucks spend more money on health care costs than they do on buying coffee.

We are managing disease rather than preventing it in this country. Please make your dollar count and buy organic and local. Every person makes a difference.

I get a lot of email from my patients and try to answer them within 24 hours. I like hearing what they have to say, clarifying questions from them, and adapting my plan of care to where they are on their paths. However, this particular email came in this week and got me thinking about health care and the general state of affairs right now with insurance companies. This particular patient has been seeing me for a long time and has gone through the evolution of Fern Life Center as I have grown and learned and integrated my education. The question she asks here deserves a very thoughtful answer and I chose to answer it in blog format and on the radio because people need to know what is at stake in the current political debate over health care reform.

Question from a lovely woman we will name Linda (name changed):

I've been reading the Perfect Gene Diet, slowly, and find it all very interesting.  I want to really think it through before I take the gene test because of the longer term possible ramifications of gene testing.  But as I read Pamela's book, the thing that struck me most was her emphasis on the mind-body connection.  It reminded me of why I first chose to come to your office and see you.  I had been to so many different doctors and specialists because of the bruising and fatigue and other health issues and was darn sure that the answers didn't lie in my physical body alone. Our first few sessions were so incredibly helpful as you recommended the HeartMath Solution and the E-M Wave and talked about how the spirit and mind and body were connected.   However, somewhere very soon after Panchakarma our visits changed, though it took me a while to put my finger on it.  It became very focused on testing and supplementing and trying to gain my health and healing by looking at my body and levels and fixing those physical problems alone.  I remember that after Pancha Karma there was supposed to be a counseling type session or sessions to work through things that came up in it spiritually.  But we didn't really have those.  Since then I've felt like our relationship has been more of a traditional medical relationship and I feel in a way that I'm chasing symptoms physically without guidance in the spiritual/mind/body component.

I have this nagging feeling that you made a decision to close off that part of the healing work that you do for some reason.  Perhaps because of insurance or billing issues?  Or another reason?  I would love to hear your thoughts on this.  Because I have this inkling that true healing and health cannot be created in my body without me including my thoughts and spirit in the process and I need guidance with that.  I can understand if you can't bill that type of healing work to Regence.  I would like to know if that is the reason, and then talk about possible solutions.  Can we have that aspect billed separately so that I can pay out-of-pocket?  I'd have to know about it ahead and set aside the financial resources to support that, but I think that type of work is a really important part of why I came to you in the first place and would like to at least dialogue about why we aren't involved in that together and how we can begin to shift that.  Unless of course you are simply shifting away from that with me for some other reason.

Please let me know.  I appreciate the work you do and really desire to grow in health, which I know is more than just physical.

In answer to your question:

Dear Linda,

You are right on several counts in your email. We were audited by Regence Insurance company shortly after you had Pancha Karma and had to pay them back over $10,000, which almost put us out of business. I received a letter from Regence that said I did not write enough prescriptions for the health care problems I saw in my clinic and they would not pay for more than 10 minute visits and billed me back for the hour long visits I had spent helping one client cure his diabetes, another client get free of his autoimmune disease, another client figure out why her skin was perpetually broken out in hives, another client regain the use of her bowels, and more. There was no possible way to treat these issues with medication or supplements alone and all of these people needed help to understand the mind-body-spirit-environment connection that was creating the problems they had. Most of them embarked on the “post Pancha Karma” program you referenced in your email and found themselves taking responsibility for their own health care and lifestyle choices. There was no way to respond to this letter from Regence about the OUTCOMES these patients had as a result of long counseling office visits except through an attorney, which of course we could not afford. So we paid this huge bill off over a period of months and then had to re-examine how we did things.

I decided to create more classes that people could enroll in and teach the concepts I had once taught in office visits instead in a group class setting at the Fern Life Center yurt. So now the “post Pancha Karma” program is taught in the Reiki, Tantra, and Connecting to Your Angels and Developing your Own Intuition classes that are now offered periodically throughout the year.

In addition, I went back to “school” and am in a 3-year internship program for Heart Centered Clinical Hypnotherapy and am certified with the state as a therapist. I am also finishing my certification for the Enneagram this year and have been using this amazing tool in the clinic for 3 years now. All of these tools are re-packaged in language that is more acceptable to insurance audits than Ayurveda was. However, it IS Ayurveda!

I appreciate you letting me know that you miss the emotional/spiritual work that is so necessary for healing. I assure you, it is still at Fern Life Center. Yes, we can weave it into office visits still. And thank you for taking the time to ask. Hopefully this clarifies what is going on with our broken healthcare system.

Many blessings,

Keesha