Reducing Cellular Inflammation:
“THE SECRET KILLER”
The 3 Causes of Oxidative Stress, Controlling Glucose and Insulin, and Secrets of the Nitric Oxide Cycle
TIME Magazine, February 2004, the headlines read,” THE SECRET KILLER – The surprising link between INFLAMMATION and HEART ATTACKS, and other diseases.” Back in 2004, this was breaking news. At that time, most people never made an association with inflammation and disease until headlines like this started pouring out from mainstream media. Today, I think the majority of people have heard of the association but still do not really understand the connection. If you were to ask someone about inflammation, they would still think you are referring to pain in a shoulder or knee. While this is most certainly an example of inflammation, conceptualizing how it relates to thyroid conditions or even the inability to lose weight is not something that has often not been considered. Systemic cellular inflammation is what is driving the epidemic of chronic diseases and hormone conditions that are so pervasive within our culture today. More specifically, I am referring to inflammation of the cell membrane that affects the way the cell communicates, detoxes and will ultimately change gene expression, which leads to a disease of genetic weakness. Understanding how inflammation affects the cell and how to down-regulate it is a must to get almost any condition well. The unfortunate reality is that most practitioners are not keeping up with some of the exciting new research in the area of inflammation, detox or gene expression, which would dramatically change the results they are getting in their practices. Therefore, my goal is for this article is to bring those who are reading it to a new level of understanding and, therefore, success, whether in their personal health, or their practice for the greater purpose of changing a paradigm.
If You Do Not Know the CAUSE, You Cannot Fix the PROBLEM!!!
There are many causes of cellular inflammation, however, there are 3 main contributors that always need addressed in order to down-regulate inflammation, which in turn will restore the body to health. This may sound like my original point of R1, which is to remove the source and therefore, enable the rest of the R’s to be effective with lasting results, but I feel it is important to mention this now as to its significance relating to inflammation. The unfortunate reality is that most practitioners are not educating individuals about these 3 lifesaving truths that I am going to share with you.
The Truth Most Do Not Want To Hear
The first of the 3 is one that practitioners fail to focus on because they oftentimes do not want to change this in their own lives, or perhaps they do not fully understand the significance of this change. Controlling glucose/insulin is of paramount importance for any anti-inflammation program to be effective as it is a driving force that cannot be penetrated by any supplementation protocol. Despite being on medication, 68% of all diabetics die from heart disease. This is directly due to the oxidation/inflammation from uncontrolled glucose and insulin. Even when they take medication and force their glucose to be within normal ranges, they still have episodes of extreme highs and lows with their glucose and insulin causing inflammation and, therefore, premature aging and disease. By the way, grains, not sugar, are the #1 contributor to elevated glucose. Yes, even whole grains. Did you know that 2 pieces of whole grain toast or a bowl of oatmeal raises glucose the same as a 12oz soda? This is why my Cellular Healing Diet eliminates ALL GRAINS from the diet UNTIL cellular inflammation is corrected.
The Most Controversial Truth of All
The 2nd major contributor to the cellular inflammation epidemic is “bad fats”. Once again, I do not want to belabor the point of a past teaching (in R2, Regenerating the Cell Membrane), where I discuss “good fats vs. bad fats.” However, recognizing its connection to inflammation is intended to remind and reiterate this information so as not to misplace its significance; especially considering it is counterintuitive to the message we hear today regarding fats. I wish it were as simple as just saying bad fats drive inflammation, but this is not so. It is imperative to identify them. When we look at new research about the cell membrane, it becomes clear that saturated fat and cholesterol (the 2 most “vilified” fats) are in fact, the 2 most necessary fats to regenerate the cell membrane. The irony is the fats being promoted by our “protective” government bodies for maintaining health are the real culprits. Oxidized and denatured polyunsaturated fats, which are in everything thing we eat in the form of vegetable oils, are the real bad guys. It is not that polyunsaturated fats are “bad” in and of themselves, but are very fragile and denature easily, which turns them into a bad fat. We are all familiar with the damaging effects of trans fats such as hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils, and many companies even promote their products using labels that say: “NO TRANS FATS ”, but vegetable oils have now become the bigger issue. Even most fish oil is denatured because, it too, is polyunsaturated and very fragile. Recall from R2 that many people are taking too much fish oil causing “OMEGA 3 DOMINANCE”, and not to mention, most of the fish oil is damaged and denatured, only driving inflammation even further. The simple truth is this: the opposite outcome is occurring for which was intended, by taking the fish oil in the first place. The bottom line is this; do the opposite of what the government is saying and get rid of the vegetable oils. Take an amazing supplement called VISTA by Systemic Formulas (which is the perfect balance of good fats and created by a biochemist with a brilliant mind who understands all too well what is at stake), and eat more grass-fed meat and dairy. This is another core principle of The Cellular Healing Diet.
The Hidden and Unspoken Truth
Lastly, toxins are, in my opinion, the biggest driving factor of inflammation today. I have discussed this in every R of cellular healing, so I will not get into it here but I will say this: if you do not remove the hidden sources of toxins within your body, the chronic inflammation will NEVER be resolved. How many people do you have in your practice that still have “silver amalgam fillings” in their mouth? How many people are living in moldy homes? How many of them have undiagnosed Lyme disease? And how many are still drinking tap water and surrounding themselves with the toxic onslaught of modern-day living? That the personal care products they use every morning contain, on average, 518 chemicals that are known “hormone disruptors”. Of course it is also our job to educate them on the causes of the “SECRET KILLER”. Hidden toxic sources should not be an “unspoken truth” if you truly desire to change lives. If we do not, who will?
The Theory That Changed My Life
The last 10 years has brought volumes of new research in the area of inflammation. There is one area of research that changed me, my health and my pursuit of knowledge forever. In R3, I spoke of an inflammation cycle called the NO/ONOO Cycle. It is the brilliant work of a biochemist named Martin Pall. Pall, in his vast research of cellular inflammation and his NO/ONOO Cycle theory, has given us an answer for so many unexplainable illnesses. Suffering with my own unexplainable illness, this became a theory that changed my life. After I got most of my life back I faced perhaps the most troubling part of my illness; “multiple chemical sensitivity” (MCS). MCS is considered by most to be unexplainable, but Pall’s theory gives a true etiology. MCS lies within the wake of so many chronic illnesses today and ruins lives. Most of these poor individuals go misunderstood and are told it is all their head; I can assure you FIRST HAND, it is not.
Detox Was Not Enough
At this point, most of you understand why reducing inflammation is one of the 5R’s. However, the information about this new type of inflammation, which is driven by the NO/ONOO Cycle, led me to my final piece of the puzzle. Even after I emptied my bucket (removing my toxic load), I was still plagued by bizarre symptoms that seemed to appear out of nowhere. I think it was more frustrating because I would go days, weeks and sometimes even months without symptoms only to revisit symptoms that I had had in my worst times. As a matter of fact, I recall saying many times to my wife, in my periodic states of desperation (even though random and infrequent by comparison), that I could not go back there. What I was most afraid of when I had overcome so much was revisiting the hell of my unexplainable illness that I thought I was delivered from. I simply couldn’t understand, nor figure out, why these periodic episodes would come and go and leave me in such a frazzled state. At one point I realized that these episodes were not so random and I actually began to realize that they followed exposures to certain chemicals. It took time, but I began to isolate what those chemicals were and the various feelings or symptoms that they brought about. In fact, this is a good place for me to perhaps bring to your attention something I have found in many other people and not just myself; that a variety of chemicals that are sniffed either intentionally or unintentionally can bring about symptoms that are not random and need to be acknowledged. It may be the whiff of a diesel truck, or perhaps a woman’s (or man’s) fragrance on the street or in the office. I have even had first-hand experience with women staying sick and unwilling to admit that they were their own source of exacerbation. It’s very difficult at times to remove the source when it’s all around you and in your daily life. That still does not change that removing the obvious exacerbating sources is step one. I removed the sources I knew were affecting me, but there were just too many other exposures that would send me reeling backwards. I just couldn’t go on like this. Especially when people think you’re just nuts and at times you think that perhaps you are. Some years of living this reality myself left me searching for answers and this is when God allowed me to stumble upon Palls work.
The How To
After studying Pall’s, work as well as others, I began utilizing certain nutrients and antioxidants for the purpose of stopping the vicious cycle of inflammation (NO/ONOO Cycle). As I explained in R3, the NO/ONOO Cycle is a positive feedback that perpetuates inflammation within the cell. In this complicated cycle, chronic inflammation, driven by toxins, infections or stress of any type, stimulates certain nasty free radicals that can feed back into the perpetuating cycle that literally feeds itself. I was using several different supplements and individual nutrients that I had researched to stop the vicious cycle. It worked! I began to be a non-fearing, and almost excited, fully functional part society again. It’s important to point out that just detox alone is not enough once the vicious cycle unleashes its fury of cellular inflammation. The toxins must come out, but the cycle must also be stopped to bring one back to a life of normal.
Taking a handful, or sometimes bagful, of supplements can get old and costly. With the insightful work of Shayne Morris, who I spoke of above and in many of my other writings, as well as some elements from my own research, we developed a product with Systemic Formulas called EPIC. If I only had this product when I was getting well it would have saved me years and money, not to mention the frustration of the search for answers. EPIC is the perfect combination of ingredients that down regulates the NO/ONOO Cycle in one bottle. It has impacted so many lives with no surprise to me. Anything that stems from so much pain and suffering is bound to change lives and EPIC has. The testimonies abound from a multitude of unexplainable illnesses as well as others.
The New Frontier
Research in the last 5 years has led to another exciting frontier in inflammation and its role in chronic disease. I have made mention of this frontier in some of the past “R’s”, it’s called epigenetics . Changing gene expression is the core of epigenetics and the key to getting chronic inflammation-driven diseases well. I am going to discuss this in detail in R5R5 (Reestablishing Methylation) so I will not go in depth here, but it’s important to understand that inflammation can change gene expression for the worse. What I mean to say is that we all have genes that predispose us to certain conditions, but these genes need to be turned on to actually express the disease. Inflammation in the cell can trigger one or more of these genes of susceptibility. I believe that unless you understand how to change this gene expression, you will not get most conditions well today. Certain antioxidants play a very important role in down-regulating inflammation in the cells that affect the DNA, and therefore, gene expression. Dr. Morris, with a great base of knowledge as well as even further understanding of the particulars in the area of epigenetics, created a product called ROX. When you study the research of certain antioxidants and how they affect gene expression, you will realize ROX is a product that is years ahead of its time. This product has become a key component of the 5R products needed to impact the epidemic of inflammation, autoimmune diseases and hormone conditions that are plaguing this country.
The next “5R” training will bring to light this new area in science that you cannot do without if you truly desire to impact the epidemic of degenerative diseases that are showing up in your office.
