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If you spend even a minute online or in front of a TV, you will likely see an ad for the new Harry Potter movie opening today. My 12 year old son saw it last night and gave it a big thumbs up. How he was able to see it in the theaters before it opened will remain a secret from Hogwarts. Considering the theme of magic and the dark turmoil that comes from the misuse of power there is a very real correlation between Harry, Hogwarts, and Health.

Health…my dear readers, is not magical, but it is influenced by the dark arts. The dark arts of greed, money, power and control. If you are not guiding your ship of health and going with the flow the powers-at-be will influence you.

Food companies exert almost as much power and influence over the government as the pharmaceutical companies. Real food can not be manufactured, it is grown or raised, but not manufactured.

Cheaper, faster, and more profitable is the name of the game, when it comes to packaged food. Unfortunately, it is comes at a tremendous cost to your health. The more vitamins that are processed out, the longer the shelf life, and the shorter your life.

Since, winter is fast approaching, I thought I’d give you a cod liver oil example. This is one of my favorite supplements for the winter. The two main vitamins in CLO are wildly important for your health.

1. Vitamin A …Is just as important as vitamin C for your immune system.
2. Vitamin D …Is all important for bone health and most other systems as well.

Real vitamins A and D are only found in animals except vitamin D can be made by your skin when it’s out in the sun, hence, the winter time need. As you wear more clothes, and spend more time inside you can slowly become low in D. This is one of my 3 three secrets to winter time health. I am taking cod liver oil now. But, like so many things, quality matters.

Most cod liver oils on the market are made fast and cheap. The problem with something like cod liver oil is that it is a very fragile oil. If it is not processed nicely it becomes rancid and bad for you. The best one is fermented and made by Green Pastures, but most patients didn’t like the fermented flavor, so that brings us to #2 …Carlson’s.  It is a good company, with a mind for a higher quality. They seem to represent a good balance of quality and price. Green pastures represents great quality and very high prices.

So for those of you who have been ordering Carlson’s I am ordering this week.  If you want to order the Green Pastures I’ll help you with that individually.  A large bottle of Carlsons is $41 and a small bottle of Green Pastures is about $50.

Since this order is not related to Standard Process it is much easier and cheaper to order as a group. If you want to add a bottle to the order just send me an email this weekend or call 612-BE-GREAT.

Fun Fast Fat Facts
The Four F’s of Survival.
For those of you who aren’t Biology majors.
Most people need more fat in their diets.

I get this question almost every week so I thought I’d make it easier for you to use and see. I will put a list here first then explain more at the end.

Good Fats:
These are the easiest to obtain and use
1. Butter
2. Lard
3. Extra Virgin Olive oil (Not “Pure”)
4. Coconut oil
5. Cod Liver oil (not for cooking)
6. Flax oil (just don’t cook with it)
7. RAW milk or cream (Not pasteurized)

If you have these go ahead and use them
8. Beef, chicken, goose or duck fat
9. Palm oil, sesame oils
10. Flax oil (just don’t cook with it)

Bad Fats:
Unless you are fond of cancer, heart disease, or immune system problems don’t use these oils.
1. Any “hydrogenated oil” (margarines, shortenings, etc.)
2. Any “vegetable” oil
3. Soy oil
4. Corn oil
5. Safflower oil
6. Cottonseed oil
7. Especially Canola oil
8. Sunflower oil

So what’s the difference?

The first list is a list of natural occurring fats that have been around forever and used by every healthy population that ever existed before ours. You might be thinking that there are some pretty natural things on the “Bad” list. It’s true, if you drive around Minnesota or Iowa you will find lots of corn and soybeans. Yes, they are natural but they have other properties that make them undesirable.

The 3 main problems with the “Bad” list:
They are either
1. Heavily processed (that nasty hydrogenation)
2. Man-made (canola)
3. Or high in omega-6 fatty acids. (all of them)

Omega 6 fatty acids promote pain and inflammation. All of the patients I see don’t really need any more of that. The three easiest ways to control pain are taking omega 3 fatty acids, chiropractic adjustments, and water.

Lets explore the good fats.

This is the credits for a medical book I have from 1944. Here is something to ponder, there are 12 pages dedicated to Rheumatic fever and one page and one page only dedicated to a “coronary thrombus”. That’s it. Not once does it ever mention cholesteol, fats, or any other of the nonsense we are bombarded with. Why because heart attacks weren’t the main cause of death back then. If you go back even further to the 1920’s or before there is almost no mention of heart attacks.

What I found fascinating as a chiropractor is the book actually puts more emphasis on the nervous system control of the heart as a cause of problems than on heart attacks. Interestingly enough a medical doctor back in the 1920’s did over 200 autopsies and everyone of the ones who died of a heart attack had a rotting nerve going back to a curve in the spine. Chiropractic has always been more than a way to control pain and joint damage. It is a way to stay healthier, naturally.

Here is a good quote from the book “There is always a certain proportion of such people in any population. They are frequently classified as having real heart disease or as having thyroid disease, or tuberculosis, or as simply being neurotic.”…”When these symptoms are present, rest, recreation, exercise increased gradually and carefully, and attention, to the general health should restore the patient to normal.”

Notice that it didn’t say jack these suckers up on medications and they had some heart drugs back then as well. Also note that they should return to normal. As Bruce West would say, not to become a cardiac invalid. That being said, people are much more unhealthy now than before so there is some important emergency and short term use for medications.

I hate to be the logical one but if we stop and think. “Thinking” doesn’t factor into much in the way of health anymore. What did people eat primarily until about the 1950’s? Eggs, bacon, steak, RAW milk, veggies, butter. People ate food from animals and the earth and heart disease was almost non-existent. HMMM. Now people are told to eat 6-11 servings of processed grains a day and heart disease and cancer are uncontrollable. People are told to stay away from the very foods that got us here. I guess this is our way of population control.

One more added note about “good fats”. They should be from good sources. The animal fats should come from hormone and antibiotic free animals. Grass-fed would also be best. Also organic would make a significant difference for any of the fats.

Some bonus material on fats
1. Fats slow down the absorption of carbohydrates, thus making then good for diabetics and basically everyone else eating the food pyramid.

2. Fats are the backbone of your hormones. No fats, No hormones

3. Fats are needed for mineral absorption on the guts.

4. Fats help you absorb vitamins A,D,E, and K

5. Saturated Fats are stable to cook with unlike vegetable oils

6. Artery clogs are actually only 26% saturated fats the rest being unsaturated.

7. If you are still concerned about cholesterol you really, really need to read “The Cholesterol Myth”

Last month we covered the ins and outs of calcium and I had to leave you hanging about vitamin D. You ALWAYS hear, “You need calcium with D.”

Vitamin D does help you absorb calcium. The U.S. Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition Board cited literature showing 800 I.U. per day is necessary to reduce the risk of hip fracture.

D is the easiest vitamin to get too much of. What if you get too much? Long-term Vitamin D toxicity usually shows up as kidney stones, artery calcification and yes, even bone loss.

I Want You To Learn Something,

Not 1 Doctor in 1000 Knows.

****Vitamin A protects against D toxicity

It also helps protect against calcifications and bone loss. For example: It helps prevent kidney stones but can’t reverse them.

**Vitamins A & D increase bone mineralization a better when combined.

A study about the role fatty acids play in building the bone mineral density of young men found that concentrations of omega-3 fats were associated with positive bone mineral densities.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition March 2007; 85(3): 803-807

All this means– A good quality cod liver oil is far superior than just your Vitamin D in a calcium supplement. Cod liver oil naturally has vitamins A +D, Omega 3’s and DHA. Once again, doing things the way nature intended is always correct. Remember vitamin D by itself could make your health worse.