Psychiatric Drugs Part II

by Nelson, Dr. Christopher's Herb Shop

In the last newsletter we talked about mental health and some of the problems with SSRI drugs. Natural protocols are available to the depressed that will not cause depression as a side effect nor damage the body. In fact, if certain systems of the body are damaged, you will almost be forced into a depression that positive thought alone can’t pull you out of. This isn’t to say that herbs alone are a cure for the harsh feelings that may come from emotional trauma, divorce or other stressful situations, but the stresses will tax the body, and natural therapies may be used to rebuild the system or manage the stress.

If you wanted to stop taking anti-depressants, don’t do it all at once. A chemical is being supplied to the body artificially, so the body stops producing it. It is important to gradually wean off of them so that the body can begin to be self sufficient. Otherwise you will do more harm than good.

Herbs are useful in a natural program when you are dealing with the physical components of depression. When a person feels suicidal, panicky, depressed or anxious you can get quicker and more permanent results with herbs if you use them in a certain way. These are some tips to consider when someone wants to use herbs while suffering from depression, anxiety or mental disorders such as schizophrenia. In such cases it is best to use the safest yet effective herbs.

In your most severe depressive disorders or mental imbalances there will be a blood sugar problem or some degree of adrenal fatigue. Symptoms will vary depending on the severity, but the major ones will be inability to stand any emotional excitement, whether good or bad, inability to handle stress, nervous breakdown, insanity, total exhaustion, feeling doomed to death, inability to digest food, etc. These are very serious situations, and you will see some diversity on how an herbalist would approach it. Kava kava root is often used as an herbal tranquilizer, which is useful when someone is depressive. Someone feeling suicidal can calm down immensely with the use of the nervine herbs, such as kava kava, valerian, skullcap, lobelia, etc. This works, but it doesn’t reach the cause of the problem. They are best used in an emergency situation to quickly calm someone down.

Fortunately, when a mental disorder becomes severe enough, the individual will find out that diet is related to their mental and emotional well being. It is not uncommon for someone with severe schizophrenia to feel like they are walking on eggshells, as far as their diet goes. This is especially true if the pancreas or adrenal glands are worn out. Such individuals may find themselves forced on a mostly plant based diet, with drastic repercussions for any dietary stresses on these glands. Excessive sugar intake of any kind (even fruits) may throw them into a suicidal state. Excessive proteins (such as meat or dairy) can have the same effect. You can feed someone well with vegetables, lentils, grains and seeds. At the same time, it is important to build the system up so that they will no longer be so fragile. Otherwise even these may be too much.

Dr. Christopher always checked the health of the bowel. If his patient was not having a bowel movement every day for every meal they ate, he used the Lower Bowel formula. Believe it or not, we have seen this calm someone down greatly within the first day. We like to use the Lower Bowel formula and Kidney formula before using the hormone herbs, because if the hormone herbs are used when the bowels or kidneys are overwhelmed, you may get rapid mood swings.

As long as the bowels and kidneys are in good shape or being worked on, we then use the hormone herbs. Most of your hormone herbs are actually liver herbs. This makes sense, because the liver breaks down the old hormones. The liver also stores the bodies main source of fuel, glycogen. Toning the liver up will also has a more permanent healing effect on the blood sugar levels. The herbs in the Liver & Gallbladder formula cleanse the liver and are hormone balancers.

Working on these three parts of the body alone can rapidly stabilize someone, provided diet is in good order. For mild to mid severity, this can be enough. If it is more severe, other systems can be worked on so that the state of mind or mood isn’t so fragile. In the next newsletter we will discuss an extended method for balancing these kinds of problems.

Find Dr. Christopher’s Herbal Formulas, single herbs, essential oils, books and more at Dr. Christopher’s Original Herb Shop: www.drchristophersherbshop.com.

NOTICE: All information in this newsletter is given out as information only and is not intended to diagnose or prescribe.

Psychiatric Drugs Part I

by Nelson, Dr. Christopher's Herb Shop

Today we live in an age of new medicines. Oddly enough, the most dominant forms of health care, the use of synthetic drugs and psychiatry, are both newborns in the field of medicine. Drugs have been around for less than 100 years. The use of psychiatry as it is now practiced is also pretty new.

It wouldn't be fair to say that mental disorders are something new, although many more people seem to be considered mentally impaired than in times past. Depression, anxiety and other diseases are receiving more attention now. The psychiatric drugs used to treat these conditions are what I consider to have some of the more horrifying side effects, yet they are so commonplace.

This is a topic I tend to get more emotional on. Partly because of the hell the patient goes through, partly because it epitomizes the corruption of the medical establishment in my eyes, and partly because the treatments are crippling. But the part that bothers me the most is that much of the disease is caused by the treatment itself, the damage is catastrophic, and worst of all, the natural protocol is quite simple and effective, making all the horror unnecessary in the first place. So we will have a special two part newsletter discussing how we can bring joy into the lives of those suffering from severe mental disturbances, while avoided the chemical rape of their minds.

That might have all sounded a little to harsh. But it isn't much different from what some of the former higher ups in the pharmaceutical industry had to say. I'll be sure to quote them and let you get it from the horse's mouth.

Let us go back to the recent origins of our psychiatric medications. Sigmund Freud is considered the father of modern psychiatry, and his work made Sweden the forerunner in psychiatric care. During his time, there were really only two widely used drugs- amalgamated mercury compounds and the addictive opium tincture. Some other drugs were later developed, but the need for better psychiatric drugs was still apparent.This little fact became very important when Elli Lily and Co. began to develop a revolutionary drug.

From the beginning, this drug was intended to primarily generate massive profits. That's not such a bad thing, but that was the reasoning for what then followed. Most people do not know that this drug, which is now known as Prozac®, was first intended as a weight loss supplement.(1) The market for weight loss is huge in America, and most health stores have enough supplements to prove it. But that was not good enough for Elli Lily and Co, because only fat people would need Prozac®. Then the idea came to use it for mood. Everybody feels sad now and then. If sadness were a disease, then everyone would need it!

Because it would be marketed as a psychiatric drug, if it got approval from Sweden for the treatment of mental disease, it would pass the strictest standards for a psychiatric drug and could be used worldwide with a glowing rating. And rightly so. The Swedish have relentless standards for psychiatric care and earn their place as No. 1 in the world for the approach they take, if that's the route you want to go.

That turned out to be the biggest obstacle though. Prozac® had a major problem. Perfectly happy people would take it and either become incredibly violent or commit suicide in the clinical trials. Sure, a nasty side effect can happen to one in a million people who take a drug, but it was happening much too often. Furthermore, it was causing depression.(2) None of that looks good for an antidepressant. Particularly when stable people with no history of depression violently murder their spouses then hang themselves.(3)

This was when trying to approve Prozac® in Germany in 1984 it was denied (back when it was called Fluoxetine). A German employee of Lilly and Co. provided this synopsis to his bosses:

"The clinical symptoms of depressive disorder used by Lilly were invalid because it did not correspond to any scientific standard. Furthermore, Fluoxetine was completely unsuitable for the treatment of depression, if you looked at the benefits and risks of the active ingredient. The German Federal Health office found almost no use, whatsoever. Instead they found more and more frequent side effects, some of which were particularly serious: among others, that patients without depression obviously became depressive after taking the drug.”

So how was it finally approved? More clinical studies or a change in the way it was made? No. It was up to a now former pharmaceutical representative named John Virapen to get Sweden's approval. In his autobiography documenting his work in the pharmaceutical industry, Side Effects: Death, Mr. Virapen explains how Prozac® was approved as a drug.

He first called the doctors testing it in Sweden and asked them to approve the drug. He said that they started laughing and said that it didn't work. After some digging, Varapen found out who would ultimately make the decision on whether or not it would be approved. He had a meeting with this individual and asked him what it would take to get Prozac® approved. "Moneys is always useful." was the reply. So after bribing this official with a mere $20,000, the drug was approved.(4)

So this is the foundation of the most common form of treatment for mental disorder in our country. My argument against Prozac® isn't so much the 1 in 4 who will feel suicidal, becoming dangerous to themselves or a group of other people, or that it turns people into zombies, that negative press is buried, or even that it isn't as effective as a natural protocol. My opinion is that it shouldn't be used because from the very beginning it was pronounced inneffective by the experts testing it. It is used now because it is cheap to produce, is sold with astronomical markup, and fraudulently approved with bribery and inflated test statistics.

So maybe you might ask yourself whether or not you want your kid, someone you love or even some person you don't even know using this drug or one of its duplicates. If you want to use a drug to 'cure' your depression, it's probably worth your time to get John Virapen's book and thoughtfully read it, and then make an informed choice. If you feel uncomfortable taking the conventional medical route, maybe something in the next newsletter will appeal to you.

1. Side Effects: Death [Pg: 74]

2. arznei-telegramm I/2005

3. (David Healy is a well known psychiatrist and expert on Prozac® who had knowledge of it’s test data. In 1999 he said it would be realistic for 250,000 out of 1,000,000 have tried to commit suicide as a result of taking Prozac.

3. Side Effects: Death [Pg: 93]

Find Dr. Christopher’s Herbal Formulas, single herbs, essential oils, books and more at Dr. Christopher’s Original Herb Shop: www.drchristophersherbshop.com.

NOTICE: All information in this newsletter is given out as information only and is not intended to diagnose or prescribe.

Edema

by Nelson, Dr. Christopher's Herb Shop

This seems to be a common complaint today. Edema (or dropsy) is a condition where fluid is not eliminated but is stored in the soft tissues or cavities of the body. Often the ankles or abdomen will swell. Usually edema is diagnosed along with kidney disfunction. This makes sense, because if the urinary tract becomes compromised it will become difficult to eliminate fluids. Usually a diuretic drug is prescribed in such cases.

Of course we ask ourselves "Why is the body doing this?". Too much salt can aggravate this condition. Wearing out the kidneys with soda also does no good. It can be a side effect of diabetes.

Dr. Christopher taught "Diet is the key to eliminating the cause. Meats, pastries, salt, etc., should be avoided. Eat fruits (grapes and coconut especially), sprouts, leafy and green vegetables, (do not mix fruits and vegetables). Use vapor baths and diaphoretics to open the pores, stimulants to increase and regulate circulation, diuretics for kidneys, and be sure to treat the whole digestive system with tonics. Also rub the body with vinegar and cold water and be sure to keep the bowels cleaned." [SNH p.19]

We have found that working on the kidneys can be very helpful, and sometimes the kidney herbs have offered enough support that nothing else was needed. This has not always been the case, though. Usually we look at three particular areas of the body to make the best use of the herbs.

The first is to tone up the kidneys. Oddly enough, one of herbal medicine's strongest points are its diuretics. I have been surprised, because usually a drug will have a much stronger action than an herb. Yet a mediocre herbal diuretic (such as dandelion) is still more powerful than the drugs on the market now. Maybe that will change, but it still gives you an idea of how well they work.

A diuretic will cause the body to eliminate water through the urinary tract. This especially useful when there is scanty urine. The strongest herbal diuretics we use are juniper and parsley. David Christopher recalls one time when a woman had been diagnosed with kidney failure, and was told that she would die in six hours. She was so swollen with water her entire body was like a balloon. In the hospital, David asked if she had been given a diuretic. The doctors told him 'Of course she has!'. They would not let her have any herbs orally, but had no problem if a fomentation was used. So the herbalists assembled made parsley root fomentations and covered her whole body with them. Soon her pores opened up, and little springs of water came out through the skin. The water was voided and she was saved.

I was surprised when the Kidney formula (which has juniper and parsley in it) wasn't helping at all with some cases of edema while others told me wonderful things like "I can see my ankles again!". I came to learn that if the kidney herbs didn't offer any improvement after 1-2 months, there where two other factors to investigate.

The second is the health of the bowel. Dr. Christopher considered someone regular if they ate three meals a day and had three bowel movements a day. Otherwise the rest of the body had to pick up the slack, and the kidneys are one of the first. The kidneys receive so much focus with this disease while the rest of the digestive system is ignored, yet it can play a critical role. We have had some make better improvement using the Lower Bowel formula when the Kidney formula wasn't enough.

The third would be the health of the endochrine system. This would include the pineal gland, pituitary gland, thyroid, thymus, pancreas and adrenal glands. We have found that if someone has adrenal failure or a chronic problem with one of these glands, that they may plateau in their progress, sometimes not making any with the kidney herbs. Naturally a protocol would have to be followed for the endocrine problem before a permanent improvement could be expected.

Some may wonder if water should be drunk when dealing with this problem. We feel that the kidneys need water to function and a reasonable amount should be used. Other people I have consulted with have shared cases where the edema was reversed by gradually drinking more water. Half ones body weight in fluid ounces is a good rule of thumb to go by.

Find Dr. Christopher’s Herbal Formulas, single herbs, essential oils, books and more at Dr. Christopher’s Original Herb Shop: www.drchristophersherbshop.com.

NOTICE: All information in this newsletter is given out as information only and is not intended to diagnose or prescribe.

Smoking

by Nelson, Dr. Christopher's Herb Shop

Smoking

One common property of medicinal herbs is that they have multiple healing properties. So you can find yourself using one herb for many different ailments. But occasionally you’ll find one single herb that provides support for all the major aspects of a particular problem. I can think of no greater example than the herb lobelia as an aid to smokers.

Last week we had a fellow call us. He was about to leave his house, and saw six capsules on his countertop that he believed be goldenseal. He took them and left. After a while, he realized he forgot something and started back. He then felt nauseas, and like he wanted to die. Shortly after, he felt he was surely going to die. He then coughed, hacked, and began expectorating ‘a pile of black mucus.’. He said he was breathing like he was a kid again. He then learned that they were lobelia capsules. He figured this happened because he had been a smoker when he was younger.

This kind of situation happens when lobelia is taken in large doses when the lungs are in an extremely congested state. For a while lobelia was considered a poisonous herb by the FDA because it acted as an emetic. In that time (much like what we’ve seen with the herbs sassafras and comfrey) one chemical was taken out of lobelia (lobeline) and injected into animals until it killed them. Since lobelia is not just one chemical, it was eventually allowed back on the market. It would take several pounds of the herb injected into the blood to cause the toxic reaction these animals received. Furthermore, since someone vomits after eating a tablespoon of the stuff, it seems to have an excellent safety mechanism built in place.

Fortunately this only happens when lobelia is used in large doses, and someone wanting to clean the lungs gently can do so with lobelia. 1-2 capsules or ¼ - ½ a teaspoon of the herb would be a regular adult dose. People vary in sensitivity to this herb, but most should have no problem with these amounts. Lobelia is an expectorant herb, so it will push waste matter out of the lungs. It contains a chemical that resembles nicotine, but is not addictive. This can help satisfy the craving in a nicotine addiction. Further, many people use cigarettes to help calm down. Lobelia is one of the best nervine herbs there is. It will quite the nerves effectively and even help rebuild them! It is potent enough to use as a mild painkiller, massaged over cuts or scrapes or taken internally. It seems to me to be so well fitted to a smoking problem that there is little else that would be needed herbally.

In a small dosage, lobelia prevents vomiting. In large doses, it acts as an emetic. Dr. Christopher both saw and taught that asthma could be cleared overnight, provided lobelia was used during an asthma attack. This was the point at which the body was trying hardest to clear the lungs and would be most responsive. He would give them a cup of peppermint tea (mostly to settle the stomach so there wouldn’t be pains in the upcoming cleansing) and ½ a teaspoon of lobelia tincture. Every half hour he would give another dose. He said he never went over three ½ teaspoons. Then the person would vomit, and then cough up cups of tar and mucus from the lungs for 2-4 hours. This kind of dramatic healing crisis will only happen when there is an asthma attack or a respiratory emergency. Otherwise what could be done in a day will take a few months with smaller doses.

Cayenne pepper is also useful for cutting the mucus in the lungs. So would fenugreek, though I consider it less effective. Vitamin C supplements are also commonly used to help. Dr. Christopher used a formula containing wild oats, lobelia, cayenne and rose hips. The rose hips contain vitamin C. This formula is still made today, and is called the Smoke Out formula. In any case, lobelia works well by itself.

Find Dr. Christopher’s Herbal Formulas, single herbs, essential oils, books and more at Dr. Christopher’s Original Herb Shop: www.drchristophersherbshop.com.

NOTICE: All information in this newsletter is given out as information only and is not intended to diagnose or prescribe.

Probiotics & Enzymes

by Nelson, www.DrChristophersHerbShop.com

Enzymes, probiotics and multivitamins are common things you'll see in any health food store today. People continue to get them because they work and they feel better with them. That's interesting: you have over 400 different types of flora in the intestines, and supplementing with a mere 8 or 9 strains makes a difference in health. They must be really important!

So it’s probably a good idea to be aware of how to make your own probiotics and enzymes. This can be easily accomplished through fermentation. Fermenting food will create the enzymes, probiotics, B vitamins and other nutrition on a massive scale. There is one particular aspect about fermented food I would like to discuss, which are the antioxidant qualities.

After the atomic bomb was dropped over Hiroshima, the nuclear radiation alone was destroying lives. There were some people who did much better than the others with the radiation sickness. The common thread was that these individuals ate red miso. The director of St. Francis Hospital in Nagasaki, Dr. Shinichiro Akizuki, was so impressed with it that he said: "I believe that miso belongs to the highest class of medicines, those which help prevent disease and strengthen the body through continued usage." Massaging miso over radiation burns became a traditional therapy. And it isn't just miso. It's all fermented food. In the U.S we have had doctors look at the abilities of nutritional yeast (a fermented food) to detox radiation.

We get exposed to a lot of interesting stuff nowadays, from air pollution to chemotherapy. Eating something that can handle radiation poisoning will help you feel better about the air you breathe. Being able to have such an accessible, potent remedy at hand allows us to live free in a polluted world. I can't think of a simpler fermented food than rejuvelac, the sour elixer discovered by Anne Wigmore.

Rejuvelac is made simply by fermenting grains in water for 2 or more days. Variations of this bubbly, cloudy drink can also be made with beans, seeds or nuts, with a different taste for each. It will also make the enzymes specifically for what you're fermenting. For instance, the enzyme amylase is made when wheat is fermented. This makes sense, because the wheat is starchy, and that is the enzyme used to break down starch. Other foods break down with different enzymes. So if you have a hard time digesting garbanzo beans, fermenting them and drinking the liquid will give you the enzymes used to digest them.

A simple recipe would be to fill a jar 1/3 of the way with wheat sprouts, then the rest with water. Cover the jar with a breathable cloth or paper towel, and let it sit for 2 days. After that, drain the liquid off, and drink or refrigerate it. The longer you let it ferment, the more potent it will get. The strongest I've let it ferment was for nine days. I think anything past that would be both unpalatable and hazardous. It does have an odd taste. The closest I could come to describe it would be lemon juice. It does enhance the flavor of other foods, surprisingly. Nut cheeses and the like taste much better made with the sour beverage.

I have done many different kinds of fasts. The most energetic I have ever felt on any of them was with rejuvelac, which doesn't even have maple syrup in it to give you a sugar boost.

The truth is you could really ferment anything safe and organic, and get antioxidants, B vitamins and friendly flora. If you had to, you could ferment the grass on your lawn. From the best days to nuclear fallout, we will always have a simple, potent tonic at hand.

Nutrients

by Nelson, www.DrChristophersHerbShop.com

In the last newsletter we discussed some nutrients to focus on to have a balanced diet. This week we will continue to discuss some more nutrients and common pitfalls.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D does not show up in any significant amounts in plants. One of the best plant sources would be watercress, but you would have to eat a truckload to get one day’s worth. It is still possible for the body to manufacture it from the sun. This would be the only vegan way to obtain this nutrient. Otherwise it needs to come from an animal source, such as eggs, liver, fish, etc. Unless you enjoy sunbathing in winter as much as the people from Sweden do, it may be in your best interest to get this nutrient from either supplementing or eating animal products in the winter.

It is difficult to overdose on vitamin D. It used to be given in mega-doses in hospitals to help with arthritis (150,000-200,000 I.U). It is at these levels that side effects are documented. We disagree that 400 I.U a day is adequate for ideal function. Getting 2,000 I.U a day or more will help with proper immune system function, mood, bowel health, bone health, etc.

Calcium and Iron

These nutrients are very abundant in most whole foods, but it can still be a problem for vegans. It is found in almost every dark green vegetable, nuts, seeds and many fruits. So why would it be a problem? Well, just because you eat vegan doesn't mean you eat healthy. It amuses us when someone who eats the standard American diet lets us know that they cut out all the dairy and meat and got horribly sick from it. But then they tell you they were eating mostly potato chips, soda and all kinds of refined food.

If you eat a diet that will put you in a personal famine, you will do better with dairy and meat, because those foods are ideal when a famine is going on. Vegans who aren't full of calcium and iron usually either aren't eating fresh, whole foods, or aren't absorbing well (we will discuss this pitfall soon).

Most of the illnesses you see vegans and vegetarians with occur during the transitional phase of the diet. Fruits are a common staple at this point, because they taste sweet and are energizing. Grains or lentils also are quite filling, so a lot of these are usually eaten. But if they are not balanced out with greens, then you start to run into problems.

Anemia

One common problem if the Mucus-less diet is not balanced would be anemia. As long as B-12 is obtained somehow (see the last newsletter), and B-6 and iron are obtained through good, wholesome foods this should not be a problem. If there is still anemia after the nutrition is provided, you might look for a potential absorption problem, or bacterial yeast or parasite stealing the nutrition.

Hypoglycemia/Anxiety/Panic Attacks

This is one of the most common pitfalls if the Mucus-less diet is not balanced. The people who have this problem of low blood sugar are usually very active, and faithful- eating no meat or dairy, and often even eat whole foods. These people really try to keep all the rules, yet they are always dragging. Some are incredibly nervous and anxious. In bad cases they get panic attacks. In really serious cases, insanity can be an actual issue.

It was not more than a month ago when I visited a close friend. She eats a very clean, mostly raw diet. After I asked her how she was feeling, she told me she was fine except for the anxiety and panic attacks. She then talked a bit about herbs and asked me my advice. After a bit of digging, it became clear she was busy and living off of large amounts of fruit, and not getting enough greens to compensate for it.

Under these conditions, a panic attack can be induced by eating the protein or sugar rich foods. The good news is that you can get the panic attacks to stop pretty quickly (sometimes immediately) by working on the pancreas. Either cedar berries or Dr. Christopher's Pancreas formula can get excellent results. This will be much more permanent than using any of the nerve herbs. But if the diet doesn't have big, green salads every day the tiredness may stick around. Fruits and fruit juices are much milder to the pancreas than the refined junk we often see, so people will initially feel good eating large amounts of them. After a while, it will start to be taxing. Nuts and seeds also are high protein, and will wear on the pancreas and adrenals if there aren't enough green vegetables in the diet. Sprouts are the best greens to quickly build up in this situation.

In order to keep fruits, lentils, nuts and seeds in moderation, the bulk of the diet must come from dark green vegetables. The greens are where the most important nutrition comes from, and prevent the other foods from becoming acid forming. Seeds, fruits and grains will be excellent calorie sources, are filling and will build strength if used properly. But when someone is eating only plants, green food takes priority.

Oxalic Acid

This is something I have mixed data on, so it will be up to the individual to see what feels best. Spinach, chard and cabbage all have high content of oxalic acid, which does some pretty wonderful things. In excess, it is thought by some to prevent the body from getting rid of calcium, causing it to build up as kidney stones or in the joints. I have noticed a common pattern with vegans who have kidney stones. So far, each of the last five cases or so have been eating copious amounts of spinach every day, on a very clean diet. A while back I was wondering why I woke up in screaming pain in the kidneys for a few months. This was helped with the Kidney formula and hydrangea, but it didn't go away until I stopped eating cabbage daily.

However, I do think it is fair to point out that some studies indicate that although oxalic acid can do this, that it is not possible to ingest it in amounts that would cause problems.

Weight Loss Supplements

by Nelson - Dr. Christopher's Herb Shop

Earlier this week in the Herb Shop we got a question about weight loss and what supplements to use for it. Weight loss is the number one topic in the wellness industry, so this shouldn't be very surprising. But our herbalists don't often use many supplements when someone wants to lose weight.

Whenever these products are endorsed, you always hear "I lost weight when I used this supplement with diet and exercise." The truth is a lot of these people could be saying "I lost weight with diet and exercise". One reason that we don't often use a lot of supplements with weight loss is that we are already using diet with most of our programs. Weight loss is often a side effect of the dietary programs we have people follow for things like arthritis.

We often work with the Mucus-less diet. We are also fond of Dr. Fuhrman's Eat to Live diet. The reason we like these for weight loss is that the weight is lost at a healthy pace, it nourishes the individual and it stays off. Some people will have short term success with some of the fad diets out there. I consider the HCG diet to be one of these. This diet involves taking a hormone while eating only 500 calories a day for two weeks. I know people who have lost a lot of weight on this program and were much more comfortable with how they looked. I met some friends of mine who had happily finished this program some months ago. I asked them how they felt. They told me that their weight was starting to go up again, so they were thinking of doing the program again.

These are my three chief complaints about diets like these: 1) If you only eat 500 calories a day, you will lose weight with or without the supplement. 2) The weight will come back when the individual returns to old eating habits, and the diet is not healthy for long term use. 3) The weight is lost at an unhealthy rate. The individual starves on the diet. Then months later the program needs to be repeated. When did anorexia become a doctor sponsored method for weight loss?

When weight is lost too rapidly in this manner, it strains the pancreas and upsets the blood sugar levels. If this is repeated enough, the adrenals will be so shot that you won't lose weight even if you starve yourself. This is one of the few times we think supplementing is necessary. If the thyroid or endocrine system is shot, you can exercise heavily, eat healthy and never lose weight. We have seen this. Under these circumstances, we have used the Thyroid Maintenance formula or Adrenal formula. Some lucky individuals with a low thyroid only need kelp (this only works when it is low). Usually after 2 months the individual can then lose weight if they stay on a good diet. We consider a healthy rate of weight loss to be 20 pounds the first month, and 10 pounds every month after.

Dr. Christopher did have a formula designed to assist the body with weight loss. Assist is the key word. You aren't likely to lose weight just by taking it. Dr. Christopher looked at weight loss as a massive cleanse. Sure, he put herbs in there to boost the metabolism (Brigham tea is where the drug ephedra was derived from), but it’s mostly herbs for the bowels, urinary tract, liver and bloodstream.

We are happy to hear from one person who has followed the mucus-less diet to gain greater health. This individual, Greg Wood, has successfully lost over 100 pounds and overcome many health related challenges with the mucus-less diet. You might be interested in seeing his blog here: (http://woodstrongliving.blogspot.com/).

But the mucus-less diet can be unbalanced, even keeping all the rules Dr. Christopher outlined. Next week we will discuss some common health complaints on an unbalanced plant-based diet, and the solutions for them.