What Are Oxalates? Oxalates are organic acids (which means they are compounds that contain hydrogen and can lose a proton). They’re naturally found in some foods, and they are formed as byproducts of metabolic processes in the body, as well as byproducts of fungal metabolism. Oxalates by themselves are generally [...]
Biochemistry 101 Protein, one of the three types of macronutrients (the other two being carbohydrates and fat) is made up of twenty building blocks called amino acids. Two of those amino acids contain the atom sulfur in their structures: methionine and cysteine. A thiol is a compound containing a sulfur [...]
The incidence of autism even as recently as 2004 was one in 166. Now it’s as common as one in 68, according to the CDC. What’s going on here? The Interleukin-6 Connection The first piece of the puzzle was this article, which shows that when a pregnant mom gets a [...]
How Teeth Stay Healthy There are four layers to your tooth, listed from outer to inner: enamel (hardest and most mineralized), dentin (a protective, also mineralized layer), pulp (containing blood vessels and nerves), and cementum (covering the roots—also mineralized). Just like any other part of your body, teeth are living [...]
Immunology 101 Mast cells are a type of white blood cell that resides in connective tissue, containing small granules (small little packets) of compounds that play a role in immunity. The most well known is histamine, but others include leukotrienes (which also play a role in allergies), serotonin, ATP (your [...]
I wrote here on the general naturopathic approach to treating migraines. As a rule, migraine predisposition tends to boil down to one of four things, or a combination of the following: food allergies, estrogen dominance, a backed-up liver, and/or cervical vertebral rotation or structural problems. But what of those migraines [...]
The Ketogenic Diet isn’t just the latest fad diet—it’s actually been around since 1924, when it was developed by Mayo Clinic Dr Russell Wilder. Originally it was developed for the treatment of epilepsy—and I’ll get into my theory of why this works in a bit. What the Ketogenic Diet Is [...]
Charged particles are critical for your physiology: all of the cells in your body do their work based on the gradient, or separation, of positive and negative charges (kind of like a battery). This is how your heart receives the messages to pump; it’s how your nerves transmit information; it’s [...]
Naturopaths who have been practicing for decades tell me that things have changed. It used to be that fairly simple interventions would “move the needle,” as it were, for most people: clean food, fresh air, sunlight, stress management. That is still the case for the genetically blessed. But for those [...]
I wrote here that I don’t run micronutrient analyses very often, because most cases don’t actually require this. Usually a healthy, whole foods-based diet and a good multivitamin will cover most of the body’s micronutrient requirements. This is true… but the operative word is usually. Chemically Sensitive Patients One exception [...]