The Gut Trains The Immune System

To truly understand preventative health, the foundation of a healthy immune system and the difference between the normal and healthy vs. hyper or overactive must be defined.  Diagnoses that indicate an overactive immune system include allergies, asthma, eczema, autoimmune disease which are many and even ADHD, depression and cancer.    Duality persists when individuals believe disease is inevitable or genetic, while others believe lifestyle changes can cure all.  Yin and Yang represent duality.  The iconic Yin/Yang emblem appears as two fish, one black, and one white.  The black fish has a white eye and the white fish, a black eye, representing a blending of the two energies.  There is no right and wrong, rather the desire to seek balance and harmony.  Good health also depends on a balance between Eastern and Western medicine and prevention requires understanding the foundation of the immune system.

Foundation of the Immune System

Since so many conditions are related to an overactive immune system it makes sense to understand how the immune system is developed and subsequently affected.  Many consider the immune system when for instance, a swollen gland in the neck appears, or a cold or other chronic condition develops.  The immune system is comprised of lymphatic tissue.  Lymphatic tissue is as pervasive through the body as the circulatory system; it is everywhere.  Immune tissue in the sinuses are called Nasal Associated Lymphatic Tissue (NALT), or in the lungs, Bronchial Associated Lymphatic Tissue (BALT).   However, it has been argued that 70%-80% of the body’s lymphatic tissue resides in the Gut and is called Gut Associated Lymphatic Tissue (GALT).  When I learned this, I wondered if the GALT were fully developed when at birth, in fact, GALT is developed in tandem with the development of the intestinal area.  If the intestinal area is disrupted or not optimally developed, the result is a hyperactive or overactive immune system.

The Intestines and the Immune System

A mature or developed intestinal wall is more selective about what can pass from the intestinal area into the blood.  What is difficult to comprehend is that the intestinal tract is actually outside of the body.  Secretions such as enzymes or gastric juices are no different than sweat meaning they are exocrine secretions.  The wall of the intestinal area is a barrier much like the skin.  Only when particles, proteins or nutrients pass from the intestinal side and into the blood are they considered ‘inside the body’.   A secretion within the blood such as insulin is called an endocrine secretion.  So once you bite an apple and swallow, it remains outside of the body until it is digested and the subsequent nutrients are absorbed into the blood stream.  When a child is born, the intestinal wall is immature.  The infant’s body is unable to fully digest complex proteins.  This is ideal for a nursing baby because immunities from mother’s milk are readily able to pass into the bloodstream as nature intended.  If a child is given foods such as whole milk, eggs or other proteins too soon, the subsequent adverse reaction is a result of a response to proteins that were not only adequately digested but also able to enter the bloodstream unimpeded resulting in an immune response.  Typically, when one gets sick, they either inhale or ingest a virus or bacteria; but why when two are exposed to the same cold virus, one gets sick and the other does not?  The answer resides in the balance and strength of the immune system.  Additionally, inhaling or ingesting a virus means contact was made either in the lungs, nasal passages, eyes or the intestinal area and all are comprised of lymphatic tissue.  The lymphatic tissue is a barrier with an arsenal of defenses to destroy pathogens before they can enter the body/blood.

Development of the GALT

The relationship between the development of the intestinal area and the immune system is a function of inoculation of bacteria.   There are 10 bacteria in the body for every cell.  However, the womb is sterile and the child in the womb is not exposed to bacteria.  At birth, baby receives its first-life or ‘maternal inoculation’.  The quality and development of this inoculation can predict a normal or hyperactive immune system later in life.  Bacteria naturally reside in the intestinal tract, hundreds of strains.   Research shows that unhealthy individuals whether suffering from asthma, ADHD, allergies, obesity, or autoimmune disease have an imbalance in healthy and unhealthy gut bacteria.

The quality of the intestinal bacteria  is what “programs” the GALT and plays a role in how the immune system will function. The healthy GALT helps desensitize the immune system.  However, with  the significant increase  in  autoimmune  disease and  allergies,  it  is  obvious  the integrity of the GALT has been damaged; therefore, the immune system becomes overly sensitive to many normally non-threatening invaders, including foods. Additionally, toxins and undigested proteins can enter the bloodstream and contribute to illness and inflammation.

You may wonder why doctors don’t talk about this. Doctors think something along the lines of, “Yes, I know if I give this medication, this antibiotic, this steroid, etc., there will be a temporary disruption in the intestinal bacteria because many medications destroy both good and bad bacteria.” Some doctors may even suggest patients take yogurt because yogurt sold in the United States contains probiotics.  Unfortunately, the notion that probiotics will cure all is naïve and oversimplified.  Additionally, most yogurts are a poor source of these good bacteria because the high amounts of sugar deactivate the probiotics or contain just a few beneficial strains. (However, I love Jaime Lee Curtis in the “Activia” ads.)   I believe that daily supplementation  with products such as Activia and probiotics can be very helpful. However, if you have health issues, you may need greater education and supplementation to restore intestinal and immune health. Doctors assume that even though there’s a temporary disruption in intestinal bacteria, once patients are off the medication, their bodies will restore themselves. So along that same line, if you cut your finger, won’t your body heal the cut in a matter of time, unless of course, you have an extreme immune challenge?

This way of thinking requires a huge assumption; to make the statement that the body will restore itself assumes the body is in balance in the first place and leads us to the million-dollar question; can the body restore itself if it is not in balance in the first place? I propose that if the body were in balance, we wouldn’t be at the doctor for chronic upper respiratory infections, sinus problems, allergies, asthma, autoimmune disease, and even ADHD and some types of depression.

In the next column I will discuss ‘first-life’, maternal inoculation and creating a strong and balanced immune state.  Join me 2/6/12 at 5:30pm EST as I conduct a Webinar that will comprise information included in the columns from 1/23/12-2/3/12.  Register at www.debiwaldeck.com or view the archived version later.

Debi Waldeck is author of Saving ‘Generation Next’, Forever Young and Vibrant and The Currency of Thought.  Find Debi at www.debiwaldeck.com, LIKE her on Facebook/debiwaldeck and follow her on Twitter/debiwaldeck. 

What is true Preventative Health?

Preventative health means understanding the ‚Language of the Body‘-understanding the source of a headache, a rash, an allergy or disease.  We find answers in pills or lotions but we are rarely educated on what the source of the problem was.  Without understanding the route cause, we cannot participate in prevention.  Good health is proactive, never reactive.  The discussion of improving the current health care system is analagous to a society who builds its homes on sand.  Day after day, homes are being damaged and destroyed from shifting sands.   A community committe comes together to develop solutions to the breakdown of the homes by asking a series of questions such as, „How to prevent windows from breaking?“ „How to prevent cracking foundations“. „How to keep doors in alignment so they can open and close more smoothly?“  Engineers, and architects come together and attempt to create plastic windows with the transparency of glass, flexible foundations are the new goal, or doors that are adjustable to accomodate the shifting floors, yet, the issue is that the homes are build on sand! 

I have made a personal journey into and through the ineffable feeling many of us have that more medication is not the answer to restoring our health.  Through years of exploration and sometimes, desperation, I have developed a profound understanding of what I call, the Language of the Body and wrote a series called In the Beginning, there was wellness featuring three books that define the relationship between the body’s absorption and health.  Seattlebin’s column, The Foundation of Health offers education that achieves that rare balance between the comprehensive and the practical.  We are all inundated with tips, pharmaceutical ads or short articles ‘educating’ us on ‘prevention’.   Unfortunately, as we have so vigorously adopted Western medicine, we have unwisely turned from what some naysayers call, alternative medicine as if it were only for the fanatics.  Do you really think that if you were eating natural, whole and healthy foods, drinking pristine water, breathing clean air and were under no stress, that you would be sick?  Yet in seeking the American Dream, we have turned from what is natural to pursue prosperity, and in the process, we are under extreme stress, eat unnatural foods, drink water filled with chemicals and live in urban and polluted environments.  The expenses of pursuing the dream are raised health care costs and disease.  Therefore, the first step to renewed health is to clarify what it is to be well and to define true preventative health.  I am constantly amazed when people state they are in good health, yet suffer from migraines, allergies, digestive dysfunction or worse, as if the aforementioned were natural.  No, it is not natural, but unfortunately, normal today.   Natural or good health is waking with the sun, fully refreshed, having energy and enthusiasm through the day, eating until satisfied and sleeping deeply; moreover, sustaining this state until the life cycle ends.   The reason poor health has become normal is that there is no true education for prevention of disease.  

What is Prevention?

In Western medicine, healthcare service across the span of a lifetime is called the Continuum of Care (CoC).  At best, the transitions of care representing many stages of life will be smooth.  Primary preventative care is focused on the apparently healthy individual who has no evidence of disease and is geared toward preventing any  modality that my cause disease or injury.  Immunizations are the biggest method of prevention.  Many immunizations contain thimerosal which is made of approximately 49% ethylmercury.  The Center for Disease Control (CDC) says there is no harm in Thimerosal.  However, in July 1999 the Public Health Service (PHS) agencies, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and various vaccine manufacturers agreed that Thimerosal should be reduced or eliminated in vaccines as a precautionary measure. (CDC, 2008).   In 2001, Thimerosal was removed from children’s vaccinations.  However, all influenza vaccinations still contain thimerosal.  Thimerosal is a preservative that has been used since the 1930s to prevent contamination in some multi-dose vials of vaccines.  Recently, a dissertation was published that states that Thimerosal depletes the body of glutathione which is a powerful antioxidant that removes toxins from the body and  effectively reduces oxidative stress that causes a host of diseases and accelerates aging (James, et al, January, 2005).  Low glutathione levels are now evident in children who are autistic, children with ADHD, and patients with diabetes.

Secondary prevention is also aimed at individuals who do not yet have disease, but have developed risk factors for the acquisition of a certain disease.  People who develop metabolic syndrom are at risk for developing diabetes.  Diabetes has increased in the United States from 6.5% in 1994 to 17.7% in 2004.  Individuals with diabetes have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, high blood pressure and cancer.  When an individual develops high blood sugar or high blood lipids, evident in metabolic syndrome, the individual is prescribed statins, fibrates or nicotinic acid drugs.  However,if the patient were to go to the CIGNA website and inquire about elevated triglyecerides, the patient would see lifestyle and dietary recommendations as a first course of treatment.  Unfortunately with the myriad of media influences, the first course of treatment is the drug. 

The goal of tertiary disease prevention is to reduce the consequence of established disease through effective managment of the patient to reduce the progress or complications of the disease.  Interventions may include, rehabilitation after strokes, glycemic control in diabetics,  or prescribed statin drugs for the patient with high cholesterol to prevent cardiovascular disease.   There is strong evidence that, similar to thimerosal depleting the body of an extremely important antioxidant, glutathione, statin drugs also deplete the body of another powerful antioxidant, CoQ10.   CoQ10 has been found to be essential for cellular energy production as well as for the functioning of the heart muscle.  Based on mounting evidence of CoQ10 depletion from statin drugs, a petition was created in 2002 against the FDA that painstakingly sited the  lethal effects that would occur if patients who were prescribed statin drugs were not supplemented with CoQ10. The simple goal of this petition was to force the FDA to mandate on the package insert that patients taking stain drugs should also take CoQ10.  Why can a cigarette pack include a surgeon’s general warning, but a vaccination or medication, not include the benefits of supplementation to offset known side effects?  To further prove the statin drug coQ10 depletion argument, in 1989 and 1990 Merck patented the use of CoQ10 in combination with statin drugs to both prevent and treat known complications. However, Merck has neither exercised these patents nor educated physicians or patients about the necessity of taking CoQ10 along with statin drugs. One of the two Merck patents states that patients who take statin drugs without Coenzyme Q10, particularly those with a history of heart disease, are especially prone to developing complications that can have fatal consequences (Khan, Gross., Haupt, 2007).

Possible Road Blocks

There are many reasons why there is confusion around the definition of prevention and therefore, a shaky foundation for the continuum of health care in the United States.  The first is the failure to clearly define who is responsible for health car?  Is the patient responsible?  Is the healthcare system responsible?  Is the government responsible?  Until a clear statement is issued, possibly from the surgeon general, the buck will never stop here.  The second obsticle is the foundation of the principles of medicine that have always experienced duality, eastern medicine versus western medicine, allopathic medicine versus alternative medicine, right versus wrong, democrates versus republicans, us versus them.  It is always this way and Western Medicine is based on the germ theory that identifies the invading organism and attacks it.   The opposing arguement is that the organism would not ‚invade‘ if the host environment were balanced.  Additionally, western medicine chooses to suppress the immune system when for instance, antibodies attack the myelin sheath and a person is diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, yet all of our immunizations and vaccinations are about creating antibodies in the body.  Lastly, the biggest roadblock is in greed and motivation.  Healthy People 2010 was a government initiative started in 1979 by the Surgeon General with broad and ambitious goals to reduce cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and more.  None of the goals have been met yet, and our expenditure in healthcare is now over 2 Trillion. Preventative services are poorly reimbursed if at all.  The current health insurance model makes it difficult for patients to be seen unless a disease or condition is already present.  Physians have very little time for education and less dollars are spent on clinical research to support the efficacy of lifestyle and nutritional methods for improving health, or if proven, less dollars are available to promote and advertise these exciting new discoveries.  Look at the current Presidental race.  Often times, the candidate with the most money has the ability to create the most awareness whether right or wrong, whether good for the nation or not.  Americans are deeply involved with the media.

The continuum of healthcare should begin with education and at-home, lifestyle prevention.  The foundation of education and prevention in the United States is not build on solid ground.  Conflicts of interest abound, mixed messages are the main message and the country’s major source of education is the advertisements from the pharmaceutical companies that flood the airwaves.  To introduce yearly flu vaccinations, new chicken pox vaccinations, prevention to cervical cancer vaccinations, is as absurd as attempting to eliminate the mushrooms in the yard by spraying each mushroom with a poison.  The way to eliminate mushrooms in the yard, is have a yard with optimal pH, nutrients and removal of waste, so that the environment will not elicit the growth of the mushroom spores….. that are ALWAYS there. 

Join me in the next column to learn the foundation of health; the gut trains the immune system.

Debi Waldeck is author of Saving ‘Generation Next’, Forever Young and Vibrant and The Currency of Thought.  Find Debi at www.debiwaldeck.com, like her on Facebook/debiwaldeck and follow her on Twitter/debiwaldeck.

 

 

Introducing The Foundation of Health Column with author Debi Waldeck

SeattleBin’s best line-ups of columnists just got better with health author Debi Waldeck and The Foundation of Health tri-weekly column.  Debi Waldeck makes her debut January 23^rd, the first day of the Year of the Dragon and not by accident.  Debi was born the year of the Dragon and noticed recent images of the New Year’s commemorative stamp shows a fierce dragon, a drastic change from earlier gentler images.  Artist Chen Shaohua states the image reflects China’s newfound ‘national confidence.’  Debi Waldeck actively supports the blending of Eastern and Western Medical philosophies with less dependence on pharmaceuticals and more on personal responsibility.   However, maintaining national confidence is not just a function of economics but a vigilance to restore and maintain optimal health with minimal reliance on pharmaceutical drugs. 

Debi Waldeck is a mother, author, entrepreneur and passionate advocate for change.  After being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and given medicine, Debi became pregnant.  In her third month, she was told to abort the child with warnings of fetal deformities and other complications.   Though afraid, Debi chose to follow her own path; her son was born with complications.  The diagnosis and subsequent complications was the impetus to search for the route to autoimmune disease and reasons behind dramatic increases in childhood ailments.  Thousands of hours of research uncovered secrets to autoimmune disease, inflammatory conditions, depression and more.  However, her greatest victory was restoration of her family’s health.  Throughout 2012, Debi Waldeck will offer explosive commentary on how current lifestyle practices and pharmaceutical indulgences not only harms the present, but future generations.  Join The Foundation of Health tri-weekly column and learn how to achieve and maintain vitality, effortlessly. 

 

Before the topic of Universal Healthcare can be resolved, an agreement must be reached regarding the definition of good health.  Is good health living a life maintaining chronic illnesses with pharmaceutical drugs?   No, good health is about creating a terrain (the body) where disease does not thrive.  Good Health is first the responsibility of the individual.   Unfortunately, most individuals have no idea where to begin and what comprehensive preventative, health practices really are; they do not understand the language of their body. 

Global pharmaceutical sales more than doubled at 60%.  Though the USA is still the largest market, China is well on its way to being the 3^rd largest market.  How sad for a nation with 5,000 years of medical wisdom.   Good Health requires that the pharmaceutical industries spend more on research than advertising and marketing. In 2005, 25% of revenue was spent on marketing and 13% on research.

Good Health cannot occur when billions are spent on Direct to Consumer ads suggesting that the answer to disease is in drugs.   Where is the education? Taking personal responsibility requires learning the early red-flags and warning signs to impending disease or diagnoses.  What sank the Titanic? The answer is usually, ‘an iceberg’.  This is the wrong answer; what sank the Titanic is that many people failed to heed numerous early warnings. 

 

Debi Waldeck is author of Saving ‘Generation Next’, Forever Young and Vibrant and The Currency of Thought.  Find Debi at www.debiwaldeck.com, like her on Facebook/debiwaldeck and follow her on Twitter/debiwaldeck.

 

The UN-Commercial? Is high fructose corn syrup like any other sugar?

The commercial opens and a teenage boy is at the breakfast table eating cereal.  His brother sits down and shockingly picks up the cereal box and exclaims, ‘You’re eating High Fructose Corn Sugar…How could you!?”  His brother calmly says, ‘Hey man, its natural, made from corn…what’s the big deal?”  Another commercial shows a women walking through a meadow of growing corn while the wind gently blows through her hair and butterflies gently flutter about.  She comments that high-fructose corn sugar is natural and like all other sugars.  So what is the real scoop?  

The commercials come in retaliation to concerns that high-fructose corn syrup is unsafe.  Glycemic Index (GI) is currently in the news as it relates to obesity.   Glycemic index measures the effects of food on blood sugar levels and insulin release. Studies show that blood sugar that remains stabilized throughout the day contributes to a more lean body whereas, blood sugar levels that spike and drop multiple times throughout the day contribute to fat storage and obesity.  Glycemic load takes glycemic index to a new level in that it measures not only the GI but the amount of food eaten.  Therefore, though watermelon may have a high GI, the density of typical servings is relatively low and thus, the glycemic load is low and will not have a dramatic effect on blood sugar.

Current commercials state that HFCS is safe, primarily because the food portions contain small amounts of the HFCS.  Unfortunately, this statement may be misleading to the public.  HFCS is compared to honey or sugar and again, this is misleading.  One cup of coffee with one teaspoon of sugar may have a negligible effect on total blood sugar, but I ask you to count the servings per day that you consume that includes HFCS.   In a 1989 study studying the effects of HFCS on plasma glucose, insulin and C-peptides it was found that ‘the high glycemic index of HFCS in our study does not support the use of HFCS as a substitute for fructose.’  (Hung, 1989)  In a separate study published 2004, HFCS increases triglycerides and ‘could lead to increased caloric intake and ultimately contribute to weight gain and obesity during chronic consumption of diets high in fructose.’ (Teff, et al, 2004)

When I see ads or labels, I have learned to dig a little deeper and sometimes, consider the source.  When digging deeper at labels, I learned that the FDA states that a product can legally claim Zero Trans-Fats, provided the product has less than .5 grams of Hydrogenated Fats per serving.   Other countries have completely outlawed trans-fats and have noted a significant drop in heart disease.  A small amount of trans-fats daily can increase the risk of CVD by 53%.   This UnCommercial sadly shakes its head at commercials and labeling laws that do not reveal the entire truth.  The largest contributors to health care costs and burdens are CVD and Obesity.   If HFCS elevates triglycerides and appetite, how much is ok??  One hundred years ago, an average individual consumed five pounds of sugar per year.  Today, the average American consumes in excess of 148 pounds of sugar per year, be that glucose, sucrose, fructose, honey or HFCS.  Come on…. Limit the Sweet Stuff!

 Taiwan Yi Xue Hui Za Zhi. Effects of high-fructose (90%) corn syrup on plasma glucose, insulin, and C-peptide in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and normal subjects. PMID:  2695593.  [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]    1989 Sep;88(9):883-5.

Teff, KL, Elliott, SS., Tschop, M., Kieffer, TJ., Townsend, RR., Keim, NL., D’Alessio D, Havel, PJ. (2004)  Dietary fructose reduces circulating insulin and leptin, attenuates postprandial suppression of ghrelin, and increases triglycerides in women.  Monell Chemical Senses Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104, USA.

How do I think positively-when I feel like crap?

I remember working through Tony Robbins courses in the early 90′s.  Every morning I woke-up and knew I had to say my affirmations-focus on my goals-my dreams and my desires….  Trouble was, I had no energy-no energy makes you feel depressed….’but I can think my way out of this?’  Could I?  Can we?

I was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease.  The subsequent medication threatened the life of my unborn son; I became obsessed with learning why.   Why the increase in chronic fatigue, ADHD, depression and more?  Is it all in our heads?   Here I sit 20 years and 3 books later and I realize that many of us are constantly looking for the next, best, self-help book, or the best new diet program and the next and great financial opportunity.  Unfortunately, wealth without health, health without peace-of-mind, or peace-of-mind without health or financial resources won’t get any of us very far.  The next question we ask is ‘what should I focus on first? My health-but that takes money…my peace-of-mind, ugh..that takes money and health, I know, I’ll focus on money…but I have no energy to make it happen…”  The cycle continues… do you see it?   It’s like a whirlpool sucking us under.

Why are we so tired, depressed, achy, even bored, or under stimulated?    As I walked through my own diagnosis and found our children suffering with ADHD, asthma, allergies, leg cramps, anxiety and more…. I was convinced that my own diagnosis had something to do with their health.   I began researching the reasons behind autoimmune disease and a hyperactive immune system.  I looked at the body and medicine historically… I looked at the big-picture rather than one cell or one system at a time.  I found Everything is the Same.  Principles that make our body whole, also affect our thoughts and our finances.  Wow!  I was able to focus on one thing at a time that improved many facets of my life, my relationship with my husband, our children and our check-book!

So what is the secret?  For me, it was a math formula X+Y=Z (I’ll get to that in a moment)…  I had to come to terms with where we were with our health, our finances and our relationships.   Good, bad or ugly, I had to look the issues straight in the face and say, “I see you…you are there and I am not afraid of you.”  I removed judgment of whether it was good or bad…. it simply was, now, what do I do about it?  That is the X of the formula.   Is it facing our fears?  No, it is simply acknowledging what is-without judgment.  “I weigh 300 pounds or I have accumulated $60,000 in debt or my marriage is on shaky ground.”  These are statements.  But nothing is static.  We either move toward or away from our dreams; we never sit still.  

When I removed judgment, it was as if the panic or the overwhelming emotions of having to fix it or knowing I should, need, must…fix it-were minimized.  It is, ok, now what?   The interesting thing is today, disease seems to strike like a bogey-man in the night.  We aren’t really sure why healthy people get cancer or why some children become autistic, while others don’t.  We work hard, save our money-but unfortunately, the market takes a turn and we find ourselves underwater in our home, stock values have crashed and there are lay-offs at our job….what could we have done differently?   The root to all of these questions understands the fundamental why’s behind them.   We have established thought processes defining good health, sound business decisions and so on, that may be flawed from the core.   What if good health began with natural childbirth, 6 months of exclusive nursing, no milk until one year, children being tested before entering school to gluten sensitivities, babies being tested for cellular mercury load or sIgA antibodies, before receiving a vaccine?  What if we were taught that poor, middle-class and wealthy people spend their money differently on pay-day?  That at 65 years of age, the majority of people’s largest percentage of income comes from social security.  Are children taught economics in school, balancing a checkbook, managing a home budget, techniques to recognize and minimize stress….?   What if we were taught that buying a new car with a huge car-payment with interest rates/principle ratios guaranteed being upside down in 2 years….? WHAT IF?  

Y in the equation is our perception of our experience; it is our interpretation, our private dialogue.  I realized that the X in my life was difficult…but I chose to get to the route of the issues with no judgment of good or bad or even a timeline… I was just going to do it….I would find the answers to our health problems, but again, without the panicked energy that normally accompanies these decisions.  I even knew that if I did not find the answers, I would die trying and in trying, I knew I was moving in the right direction.

Z then are our feelings…. my situation, my X did not change, but my Y, my attitude, did, therefore, my feelings, my Z, changed and I felt hopeful, encouraged, even excited.   The energy participated (I am convinced) in bringing me the answers I sought, even rapidly.  I realized a big factor in autoimmune disease.  When I applied it, we, our children became whole!    This energy, this enthusiasm caused me to see opportunities I may have missed before, but it was all happening at the same time, like a ladder, one foot up, a health mystery cleared up, next step up, a little more energy, next step up, ooohh a business opportunity, next step up, another health mystery…. and so on and so on.  There is no doubt that it is hard to think positively when you feel like crap…but I can say, that when you look the crap right in the face-accept it and decide, you are going to do something about it, your thinking does change.  Motivation does not come from me or outside, motivation comes from within and motivation to make a change comes when the pain of your current situation is greater than the pain of making a change.  Motivation comes when we have a profound WHY….  But only when we stop judging it as good or bad, and in a sense, relax into it and decide, “ok, I am here, I participated in this experience, I accept my responsibility, I forgive myself and I have decided to make a change… in so doing however, I do not say, I hate where I am and I can’t wait for… no, I am grateful for this experience and look forward to my new path knowing that in my new place, I will look back and experience even greater appreciation and abundance.”  Everything is the same-I AM…..

Why do we resist change?

I have always been surprised when speaking of the Forgiveness, Love, Trust triangle that some respond that the only thing that is needed is not Trust, but Faith, specifically Faith in Jesus.  After years of lecturing on autoimmune disease and self-help, many asked me to write a book.  I did not consider myself a writer and in a way, I was afraid of failing, of judgement and the process itself.  So I did what I always do, some call it prayer, some meditation, but I had grown accustomed to taking time and going to my quiet place, asking a question and then listening.  What is that voice?   Is it my inner dialogue, God, or the Universe?  Does it matter?  We are all free to give the credit to whomever we please, but it there for all of us.  We are so used to seeking everyone else’s opinion and many have never practiced this exercise.  It is time for all of us to really get to know ‘you’.    Loving oneself does not take God out of the equation.  Weren’t we told to love one another as we love ourself. How can we love others if we really do not love ourselves?  As Whitney Houston sang, ‘the greatest love of all is happening to me, I’ve found the greatest love of all inside of me.’  So if you have a question, go to your quiet place and ask it.  Take a notebook and listen and then write the answers.  You will surprise yourself. Why must you confirm your  thoughts by asking for everyone else’s opinions first?  Before I committed to completing my first three books, I asked a question.  This exercise became known as Debi’s Dialogue: 

 Why do we resist change?

As Marienne Williamson said, “we are afraid of our own power.”

Why?

Because change gives you opportunity to know yourself and people are afraid to see themselves.

Why?

Because people see themselves through the eyes of all who have come before and judged them.  People do not look at themselves through God’s eyes, if they did, they would stare all day long.

Why?

Because people do not know God.  Very few know God.

How do we know you?

You know God when you love yourself.  To know God means choosing to love yourself exactly the way you are now, male, female, black, white, yellow, red, fat, skinny, ugly, pretty…. The problem is people seek man’s approval before God’s.

Why?

Because people have no faith.  Faith is the opposite of fear. People are in fear and the circle begins again.

Ok, everyone knows that faith is not fear, we know what it isn’t so what IS faith?

Faith is knowing that when you step into the darkness of the unknown, that you will not fall, you will either find your step or you will be carried.  Faith is Trust.

What is Trust?

Trust is knowing you are loved.

But what if you have never been shown love?

It’s the Man versus God thing again.  Man must demonstrate love.  To learn trust, you must love yourself then you will know God.  Don’t worry that self love takes God out of the equation, God does not require credit as much as God desires to be demonstrated.

Forgiveness, Love, Trust-Triangle

Have you ever wondered ‘why it seems to be so easy for them….. and not for me?’   Why is it some seem to easily attract the right time, the right place or the right person?   What really is this law of attraction?   Many of us have created dream boards, goals, affirmations, or new year’s resolutions but seem to be treading water, barely moving forward.   What are we missing?  I have learned through observing two children that achieving any fantastic goal requires trust; trust in God, trust in the Universe, trust in our abilities to commit and perform, or trust in friends and resources-but trust, nonetheless. 

We have all heard of the 20/80 rule; we wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time or 20% of the people do 80% of the work.  In fact, when looking at world economics-we consistently see that a fraction of the world are true wealth creators, 20% are smart enough to jump on board with the wealth creators, 70% are those who have to ‘see it to believe it’ and often miss great opportunities, and the remainder, well it seems they never get it.  But again, why? Which percent would you prefer?

Understanding where you fall on Maslow’s heirarchy of needs (MHN)-helps clarify ‘why’ we are or are not moving forward.   MHN breaks people into five categories.  Briefly, people fall into categories based on emotional and physical needs; there are those for instance who are homeless or in the midst of a war-torn country (or concerned about the threat of a nuclear disaster, surviving a 9.0 earthquake) whose main concern is survival-eating and shelter.  Once physical needs are met, the next major focus is safety.  When people have basic needs met and feel safe, they seek company, support, friends.   When the first three phases are tended to, the fourth group seeks respect or admiration.  The fifth group are the wealth-builders.   MHN suggests that we move sequentially through these levels.  But I am not so sure. 

Many wealth creators are those who especially disregard other’s opinions and are not seeking admiration or respect; they are singularly focused on their end goal.  Again, where are we, why are we not achieving our dreams and how can we change this internal program?

The forgiveness, love, trust – triangle helps us to move to MHN fifth stage which is called self-actualization or true belief in oneself.   I have learned through observing two children that achieving any fantastic goal requires trust.  It seems so easy-yet only a fraction of the world are wealth builders or have realized self-actualization.   The reason is that Trust is a reaction.   Forgiveness and Love are actions or choices that result in Trust.  Thus, Forgiveness+Love=Trust (F+L=T).  Yes, I like math!

I saw two children, the first was taken care of by a baby-sitter.   The baby-sitter was not cruel, however, she tended to close to 20 children, so the baby girl found most of her day, sitting in a baby seat watching the bigger children play.  When she cried or complained about her dirty diaper, help came slowly.  When she was hungry and cried, either her bottle came slowly-or it was unlovelingly shoved in her mouth and propped up with a towel.  Over time, she began to lose trust in her ability to cry out and be effective-to receive assistance.   She subconsiously thought she was not loveable.  If she wasn’t loveable-then in time and as she grew, she became hard on herself-she was treating herself as she had been treated.  She then chose not to forgive herself, her shortcomings.   She lost trust, then love, then the ability to forgive….  Life was difficult for her and opportunities constantly seemed to slip through her hands.

The second child was a boy, who because of health challenges at birth, was ‘worn’ by his mother for the first two years in a papoose or back-pack.  When he cried out, his needs were immediately met.  His mother learned the difference between the cry indicating boredom, over-stimulation, hunger, pain, a wet diaper and more.  He trusted his ability to cry out and get help, he knew only love and naturally loved himself and in that, when making a mistake, easily forgave himself and moved on.  Life was easy for him and he always got what he expected.

These two babies are my children, our daughter and our son.  I may not be the smartest person on the planet, but I probably ask the most questions and am an excellent observer.    I saw our three-year old daughter hesitate and ultimately refuse to jump in my arms at the pool.  She did not trust me because she did not trust herself.  I later saw our 9 year old daughter and 6 year old son, carry chocolate bars through an apartment complex selling them for their softball teams.  Every rejection for our daughter was devestating and she went to the next door carrying that with her selling less and less bars.  Our son treated a rejection with an ‘oh well..next!’ In the end, he sold 3 times the bars.  Observing, I began to ask questions.  I found our daughter could not look in the mirror at the age of 11 and say and mean, ‘I love you.’  I had work to do!  Her teen years were especially difficult (for all of us) because she simply did not trust our guidance, questioning everyone and choosing very destructive behavior.  For a while, I thought we would lose her.

In my quiet moments, I created a dream-board solely for our daughter’s outcome.  When my son and husband tried to ‘trash-talk’ our daughter, I would put up my hand, stop them and go to my office and focus on her dream-board and contemplate.  Here is where I rewound her lack of trust in us and everyone (defiance, unteachable) her lack of forgiveness of herself (self-critical), her lack of love for herself (self-destructive) and I had an epiphone!

Trust is the product of Love and Forgiveness.   Forgiveness comes first, Love comes next and Trust is the end-result.   With much love, I explained to our daughter the difference in the first few years of her and her brother’s life.  I explained how he naturally then trusted, and she did not and how her lack of trust was participating in her experience.  I told her that she was the lucky one, because now that she understands the why, she could change this experience and understand what it is like to be on both sides.   Finally, I told her the most exciting news!  Forgiveness and Love are choices-action items.  Once she made that decision, working on it daily, until it were habit, trust would come.  In the beginning, she would forget that it was as easy as a choice, so I reminded her.

I showed her my dream-board I had made for her and about her.   I did many things that I speak about in my third book, The Currency of Thought, however, I will illustrate the final result with an experience we had 2 days ago.  My husband, I and our daughter went to the St. Michel winery for a tour and wine-tasting.  It was our first time, our daughter is now 24.   It is a beautiful campus and while appreciating the natural splendor, a large male peacock sauntered up, with his head down and tail-feathers folded, pecking at the grass.  We stood there  and discussed how we wished he would open his feathers, and in an instant, a male duck dive-bombed the peacock, landed and the two began circling.   Of course, the peacock responded by becoming large with his tail feathers beautifully displayed.  He put on a wonderful show as we took pictures.  As if prompted, when we were done, the duck flew away and the peacock resumed his eating, tail feathers down.  I exclaimed, ‘wow, that was wonderful!’ and my daughter said, ‘you’re welcome.’  

Oh my gosh, she has moved to the place where she trusts God or the Universe or however she defines it, to answer her desires.  She has realized self-actualization.  The fraction of the world that achieves their truest desires (they need not be wealth builders or system changers), just THEIR truest desires….. forgive, love and trust themselves.   For some, it comes naturally, but for most of us, it is a choice.

ADHD, ASTHMA, ALLERGIES-AUTOIMMUNE? What they have in common…

Many of you know that I have written saving ‘generation next’ which chronicles my own diagnosis with an autoimmune disease, subsequent medications, pregnancy and those dreaded words…’you must abort your baby…”    Many times, the greatest truths are the simplest and often, trial and tribulation only reveal who we really are.  My experience caused me to seek out answers to one question, ‘why do I have an autoimmune disease?’  The answers I were given made no sense to me.   If we blame disease on genetics alone then how do we explain the fourfold increase in chronic childhood disease, 60% obesity rate, and increases in all autoimmune disease?

We then look at the environment or external issues-such as looking at vaccines and autism, however, those arguments are often dismissed because the results are not duplicated.   Yes some children who received a vaccine, develop autism shortly after.  But others do not.  So we the people are left frightened and confused.  We look at disease like the boogeyman in the night.  I learned that if you are asking a question and getting the wrong answer…then ask a new question.

What is different in the child who is diagnosed with ADHD, autism, allergies and more?  Why do two women enter their 40′s and one is diagnosed with MS and the other is not?    If you go back and look at each individual historically, you will find common denominators.  For instance, look at the child with asthma, allergies, ADHD….   were they born C-section or vaginally, were they nursed exclusively for 6 months, when were they given their first milk, what was the mother’s health history, when were they given their first antibiotic?  No ask-why does this matter?

Here is the jewel:   the way we are birthed, the way we are fed during the first two years of life, exposures to medications impact the bacteria in the intestinal tract.  So what?  Well, this bacteria isn’t just about acidophilus in yogurt or digestive regularity, this bacteria actually impacts the immune system.   When the intestinal area is not in balance, the body tends towards a hyperactive immune state.   Are there symptoms?  Not really unless you understand that colic was a symptom or migraines or PMS…..

In Forever Young and Vibrant (my second book) I outline these early red flags and warning signs.  What sank the Titanic?  No-not an iceberg, rather it was many people failing to see the warning signs.   One doctor recently told me my research was outdated, that autoimmune disease was about an immune system that is not regulating itself.   Maybe, but whether what I am saying is old or new information-it is not widely known.   Too bad, since it is relatively easy to correct.

For instance, you have a baby and worry that it is not getting enough milk, so you turn to formula.  The formula lacks many essentials found in breast milk, specifically L-Glutamine and Oligosaccharides.  Breast milk is 1/3 fat, 1/3 protein and 1/3 Oligosaccharides.  Oligosaccharides have only recently been added to few ‘special needs’ formulas and though the name means ‘simple sugars’ they do not act like sugar but rather like fiber, fermenting and feeding the ‘good bacteria’ we now know as probiotics.  So, they are known as a prebiotic.  If the intestinal area is like a barren lawn then birthing the baby through the birth canal is the first opportunity for the newborn to receive its maternal inoculation or what I call ‘first life.’  Mom’s intestinal track ecology is eerily the same as her intestinal tract, so baby gets what momma’s got-no better, no worse.  So we have in essence, spread seed on the barren lawn.   The journey through the birth canal-inoculates the baby with bacteria from mom.  Now the bacteria must be developed.  So how do we til the soil (prepare the intestinal wall), fertilize the grass (feed the probiotics), how do we nurture this intestinal ecology?   Breast milk is loaded with L-Glutamine which is like tilling the soil and Oligosaccharides that act as fertilizer to the grass seed (bacteria baby received during birth-bifidobacteria or probiotics).    Introducing formula without Oligosaccharides, rice cereal or milk too soon is like throwing weeds and mushrooms on the barren soil.  Ooops!

More importantly, the Oligosaccharides do something very special regarding the immune system.   We are aware that autoimmune disease occurs when an antibody internally chooses to attack us and MS, Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis and many more diseases are the result.  But what occurs is some protein is seen as foreign in the body and an antibody is created to forever attack this foreign protein.  A mistake is made and the antibody attacks some part of us-hence, autoimmune disease.  Whether the protein was a virus or food particle does not change the mistake.  For instance, in PANDAS, (Pediatric Associated Neurological Disease Associated with Strep-resulting in Tics, Tourettes, ADHD, OCD and more)…  an antibody is created that  meant to attack strep but turns and attacks the brain.

Why would this happen?  A protein is hundreds of amino acids long and there are 20 different amino acids.  Try remembering the combination of a lock that is 200 numbers long and one of 20 numbers…..Oh my!   Now think back to your high school locker combination.  Three numbers and one of 30 numbers, R4, L16, R32.  Interestingly, antibodies act kind of the same way.  Rather than remember the entire combination of the new foreign protein (let’s say strep), the body looks for a small sequence of amino acids on the strep  protein  and remembers just the sequence of 5 or so amino acids (a shorter combination lock).   Unfortunately, that combination of amino acids-though yes is part of the sequence of a strep protein, is also a sequence of a brain protein, or the myelin sheath…

So how do Oligosaccharides help?  Ok, ask yourself-how are we exposed to any virus?  We either breath it in or ingest it?  Hmmm…  so we are looking at the lungs, nasal passages and the gut.    Here is the tricky part.  Think of the lungs, nasal passages and intestinal tract as outside the body.  HUH?  Yes, outside.  Think of the inside of the body as the blood.  Agghhhh…. so we breath.  the breath of air that is now in our lungs is not yet inside of us until the oxygen is transferred to the blood.  Oxygen is exposed to the capillaries in the lungs and then transfers to the blood.  We eat an apple, we swallow, it is in the mouth, the stomach, the intestines (still outside the body!) It enters the body once it is digested and passes into the blood.   Get it?

Now, the Oligosaccharides in a healthy person are abundant and line all mucus membranes and they have a special cousin.  When Oligosaccharides are abundant so is a very special antibody called S-IgA.   But this antibody is not in the blood, it is outside the body lining the mucus membrane.  The S-IgA acts differently.  It is not looking to remember a combination on a lock when it sees strep or undigested food proteins, it simply cloaks, degrades and destroys the protein BEFORE it is ever seen by the internal immune system…. in the blood.  Wouldn’t it make sense then that by restoring intestinal ecology and hence, Oligosaccharides and SiGa…that we have in essence created ‘bouncers’ or ‘guards’ that protect foreign invaders from entering the body (the blood) and triggering hyperactivity of the immune system?

Made sense to me, so I applied these principles to myself and our children.  Our son who had numerous diagnosis became 100% well and want on to receive a Congressional Appointment to West Point, our daughter who was terribly lactose intolerant and suffered terribly from sinus and other problems, can have Dairy products with no problems.  (In an upcoming post, I will share how the change in intestinal ecology also changes intestinal pH which when in imbalance can lead to lactose intolerance, gluten challenges, stomach acid problems and so much more.)   I began speaking to this and people asked, ‘where is your book…there is so much information…”  So I set out to write-In the beginning…there was wellness.  When I was done, it was over 1000 pages and not being Harry Potter, I figured most would not pick it up to read.  So, I recently released my series, In the beginning…there was wellness, featuring three books.

If you are interested, go to www.debiwaldeck.com and purchase saving ‘generation next’, Forever Young and Vibrant and The Currency of Thought and check back as we chat about lactose intolerance, gluten challenges, inflammation and intestinal pH.

Cassandra Effect or is it Normalcy Bias?

Remember the movie where the teen had premonitions of the plane going down?  He got off with a few ‘believers’ and everyone else died. The movie did not have a happy ending as the premise was that it was preordained they all should have died…….   Not quite the Cassandra Effect (CE) but the CE occurs when one feels they know of an impending disaster or looming event.  The worst part is they also feel they can do nothing to stop it or that no one will believe them or act differently.  The term Cassandra Effect comes from Greek mythology where the god Apollo gave the gift of prophecy to Cassandra in return, he wanted her love.  When she declined-she was condemned to hold the prophetic gift but to no avail, as no one would believe her – hence, the Cassandra Effect.

On the flip side of Cassandra’s challenge is one of human-nature or Normalcy Bias where people just find it hard to believe that something that has not happened before (in their lifetime) can happen to them.  It may be a natural defense mechanism for peace and harmony….until the dreaded event happens.  I truly believe this is why so many suffer in times of natural or financial disasters.   I have suffered the Cassandra Effect since 1990….11 long years.   I predicted the dramatic rise in autism, drug prescriptions for everything including ADHD..the numbing and dumbing of our children to baby boomers being prescribed 1-5-10-20 drugs, and financial upheaval.   But what is one person to do…that voice in the wilderness?   No one wants to hear about bad things happening, let’s just talk about the top 11 on American Idol or figure out who the Bachelor is going to choose…this time.

But there are two pressing issues..I don’t know which is worst, our current Economic or Health care situation?  First:  Our Economic situation:   Currently the American dollar holds the status of the World’s Reserve Currency, meaning every country accepts the dollar and we can purchase all imports with our dollar whereas other countries must convert their currency first to the World Reserve Currency or the country that is importing, currency.  Unfortunately, this has allowed the U.S. to borrow, bail-out, allow us to borrow, borrow, borrow and increase our debt where the size of the country’s interest payments alone match the entire cost to run the country.  We answered back and simply printed more dollars.  I am not a financial analyst and leave that to Stansberry & Associates and others, but simple analysis indicates the dollar will lose its long held status as the World’s Reserve Currency and when that happens, the dollar, your home and our assets will be worthless or highly devalued.   These analysts have told us for ten years to buy gold, silver, put money in off-shore accounts, buy land and more.  But no one does it.  What we do instead is let out mouth water over that large, beautiful new home that required no money down and an interest only payment…why? We justify it because it is in a nice school district.  We then see that shiny new SUV and figure that $40,000 is not too much when insuring the safety and entertainment of our children (how many come with DVD players in the head-rests?)  No worries, its just $500/month and $180 in full-coverage insurance….  I could go on and on, but we, the people are in debt, seriously and the little we invested or attempted to save has dwindled.   I am livid when I see the TV Ad of the nerd- child hiding and embarassed to get into his mom’s old Volvo when cool-kid looks in pity at the nerd while he drives off in a shiny SUV with his private DVD player and headset… my God-what a message!

Now, let’s look at my passion-health care, especially the health of our future generation.  The train wreck I saw coming 10 years ago resulted from my own diagnosis with an autoimmune disease and the resulting medication.  When I became pregnant, no one knew at the time of the complications the medicine would cause in an unborn child…but it did.  That was October 1989.  Everything I was told just didn’t make sense.  Drugs, drugs and more drugs but when I asked why I had the condition in the first place…it was a mystery or genetic.  Genes-the failsafe answer to all of our health problems, yet there has been a 1000% increase in autism, 4-fold increase in chronic childhood illness and now, 60% of the population is overweight/obese… and so are our kids.  These changes have happened in just the past 3 decades and cannot be blamed on genetics alone.  But who cares?  I wrote three books, the first addresses the why’s to the dramatic increases in disease with practical information for prevention.  The second highlights little-red-flags and warning signs that trouble is coming in our body…..puffy hands in the morning…may mean high blood pressure down the road?  Really?    The third book deals with the economics of thought as it relates to our finances or challenging the normalcy bias.

I wake this morning and the Cassandra Effect is tugging terribly at me.  Probably worse is the guilt.  Many closest to me would not listen or take action, so what did I do…. I kept talking about it but did I really live by it?   Thankfully, in one area I did, that was the health of our children and mine.  But for a while, financially, things seemed ok….the normalcy effect.   It took a while for reality to sink in but finally it did….. that’s ok, I buy gold for me and my children, my children naturally understand how to eat a low-glycemic diet, how to supplement, how to exercise and enjoy it, how to set goals and plans of action, how to save, plan and buy without getting into debt….  Maybe it is ok- I am saving ‘generation next’…. Sad thing is, it’s just MY future generation.

Savvy publicist tell me to come up with SASSY SOUND BITES and 140 Character tweets, I try, but in the meantime, as a nation, we are becoming sicker, fatter and poorer.  Sorry folks, the answer doesn’t come in a pill and certainly not in a 140 character tweet…there is much information to dissect and digest.    I met with a girl yesterday, newly diagnosed with aggressive MS.  The medication suggested has a 1 in 500 chance of causing brain damage based on her personal history, so she has opted to try natural approaches for at least 6 months or until her next MRI.  I explained my research around the ‘why’s’ to autoimmune disease and she said, ‘That is too much, just tell me what to do and I will do it…”    Sure, we all do it for a while, but unless we understand the real WHY to what we are doing, we never stick it out…… we jump on the next band-wagon, and the next…..  I hope people will slow down a bit and take time to understand their body and finances….  I can’t see much peace of mind when we are sick and poor……

This is another reason to join me on May 5^th at my book release:

Event info

Congressman Waxman Slips Obscure Anti-Supplement Measure into Wall St. “Reform” Bill Passed by the House; Please Take Action to Prevent Same Thing Happening in the Senate!

The American public is becoming fed up with “sneak” provisions tacked onto largely unrelated bills that are likely to pass. A glaring recent example was tacking onto the Healthcare bill a complete change to student loans. Often the “sneak” provision is so buried that hardly anyone is aware of it.

The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 (H.R. 4173), recently passed in the House of Representatives, includes language going far beyond finance inserted by Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA). This language could be used for an end run around the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), the legislation that governs dietary supplement regulation by the FDA.

The Senate is expected to vote on its finance “reform” bill as early as this weekend. We need your help to ensure that it is not amended to include a similar provision going far beyond finance that could be used against supplements.

Congressman Waxman is well known as an opponent of the dietary supplement industry. This is somewhat ironic: his district includes Hollywood and presumably many of his closest supporters are health store shoppers and supplement users. Most of these people simply don’t know what Waxman is doing in this area.

This powerful Congressman, chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee (which includes health as a subcommittee), would appear to want supplements regulated like drugs, a step that would effectively eliminate them. He is determined and has stated: “One enduring truth about Washington is that no issue is ever settled for good.”

ANH-USA has been on alert to see how Waxman would use his committee chairmanship to strike at DSHEA. He is very clever and we knew a covert attack was a possibility.

A direct attack on supplements would take the form of an amendment to DSHEA, since that legislation governs FDA regulation of supplements. In this case, Waxman has left DSHEA alone, and has instead inserted language in the Wall St. “reform” bill that gives the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) important new powers that could be used to circumvent key supplement protections in DSHEA. TAKE ACTION

To see how this would work, let’s see how the FTC operates today. Its chief mission is to combat commercial fraud. It has full authority to pursue companies making fraudulent claims. But the FTC can’t go beyond that, can’t set other regulatory requirements, without advance approval of Congress. The FTC once had this regulatory “rule-making” authority. It lost it in the 1980’s because Congress thought the Agency was abusing it.

At the present time, if the FTC moves against a dietary supplement company for false or misleading advertising, the FTC typically requires the company, as part of a consent decree agreed to by both parties, to back up its claims by undertaking at least two random controlled human trials. This is done on a case-by-case basis and is legal because the targeted company has agreed to it.

If the FTC had general rulemaking authority, which Waxman’s language reinstates, the Agency would be expected to create a new legal requirement for all supplement companies. Such companies would have to perform at least two of these human studies before making any claims for their products.

Why should we care whether supplement companies are required to perform two random controlled human trials for each product? Because such trials take a long time and would be beyond the financial means of most supplement companies. Even if the companies could find the money, the FTC could require more and more costly versions of these studies, or more of these studies. At each stage, fewer supplements would be available, and those available would cost more and more, until they became as costly as drugs.

Supplements are not drugs. In most cases, drugs are non-natural and therefore patentable substances. Why patentable? Because no company will spend a billion dollars on studies and FDA approval trials without the monopoly provided by the patent. To insist that supplements be treated like drugs is really to sound the death knell for the supplement industry, something that drug companies would be delighted to see, because they know that supplements are their chief potential competition, are often more effective than drugs, are often less toxic, and are always much less expensive.

Supplements are already regulated by the FDA under DSHEA. If the Waxman provision is included in the final Wall St “reform” bill, the FTC will gain the power to override the limited protections for supplements that already exist under DSHEA. The FDA would still have to respect DSHEA, but the FTC would not be so constrained.

Five unelected FTC commissioners would issue binding regulations in a wide range of areas, including the regulation of dietary supplements. And companies that did not comply with the new FTC rules could effectively be put out of business.

According to renowned constitutional attorney Jonathan Emord, “The provision removing the ban on FTC rulemaking without Congressional preapproval contained in H.R. 4173 invites the very same irresponsible over-regulation of the commercial marketplace that led Congress to enact the ban in the 1980s. FTC has no shortage of power to regulate deceptive advertising; this bill gives it far more discretionary power than it needs, inviting greater abuse and mischief from an agency that suffers virtually no check on its discretion.”

The bottom line is that FTC would be given power to regulate areas they don’t understand, and their first order of business would likely be to regulate supplements, an area far outside their area of expertise.

The Senate Wall St “reform” bill, the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 (S. 3217), doesn’t contain the Waxman provision yet. But we know that Senator Rockefeller (D-WV) may offer an amendment including Waxman’s language. Please help us stop this. Please take action now to help us maintain access to low cost, high quality supplements. Tell your senators not to support any amendments that give FTC unchecked power to over-regulate areas they don’t understand, including dietary supplements