Allergies and Weight Loss

If you think about it, spring is actually the beginning of the new year. It is the time of life and growth and should be the time for us to set new goals and wake up from the cold cocoon of winter. Well, spring is here and so are allergies (for many of us) along with 10 pounds of bloat from too much holiday cheer and too little movement. This epidemic of allergies and weight gain can be disheartening especially when we feel it is a vicious cycle with no end in sight. The good news is, I have developed a remedy that seems to work miracles on both. I am not going to get into the physiology of it here, but the formula I have come up with, after 24 years in practice, to help with spring allergies and weight loss, is becoming known to my patients as "Dr. C's Spring Cleaning Drink" to help with Weight Loss and Allergies.

The formula for Dr. C's Spring Cleaning Drink is:

Dandelion root and apple cider vinegar.That's right, dandelion root and apple cider vinegar mixed with 6 oz of water. Have this three times a day between meals and before bedtime.

1) Dandelion: It's almost as if nature has those pesky dandelions to help us with these 2 common spring time problems. Dandelion is known to help with digestion, liver and kidney function and as a blood purifier. It is believed to get bile flowing, and the fat with it, as well as a diuretic to shed excess water weight. I believe that it can desensitize people to spring time allergens, perhaps by helping the liver.

2) Apple cider vinegar: This product has been used as a weight loss remedy for thousands of years. It may help you to feel full, or just help with digestion. Either way it seems to work. Same with allergies. I know getting alkaline is the current rage, and with good reason, but Dr. Royal Lee, who started Standard Process, the oldest vitamin company in the country, made some compelling points about acidifying the body (intelligently) to help with allergies and arthritis.

Good Brands:

You can use Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar or Heinz. Both yield ideal results.

Naturally check with your physician before starting anything new for possible side effects see here.

For dandelion root, I like to use Nature's Answers Alcohol Free and follow the instructions on how to use it 3 times a day. You can also add a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to this to make the spring cleaning drink.

When taking Apple Cider Vinegar, Brush Your Teeth Immediately

Make sure you brush your teeth immediately after drinking apple cider vinegar due to the acidity of the vinegar. If you don't want to bother with adding this to the dandelion, then just do a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar right before bed then brush your teeth with a good baking soda toothpaste like Tom's or Arm and Hammer.

This should help you to become more active and enjoy the beautiful springtime with clear eyes and nose and a leaner waist.

Stay healthy and stay positive.

Okay, you ate it. Now what?

What’s the remedy for that McDonald’s Sausage Biscuit you put down for breakfast this morning or that Big Mac you swore you wouldn’t eat last week but did it anyway? Nothing.

You could pray all you want for an antidote for this one, but I’m afraid the gods of evil grease are just too powerful to completely reverse fast food induced damage. Think about that the next time you “forget” to make yourself a healthy sandwich or “don’t have time” to prepare a fresh salad.

The simplest way to put it is like this: There is absolutely zero nutritional value in most fast foods, so you’re better off skipping lunch or finding a speedy alternative before your bad conscience materializes in the form of a little devil over your head and tempts you to spend on a Dollar Menu item to keep your growling tummy at bay during the 3 o’clock meeting.

You might choose to let your tummy growl if you only knew how badly your body was suffering internally after eating fast food. At fast food restaurants, serving sizes are bigger than they should be, filled with calories and sugar, and packed with trans-fats and partially hydrogenated oils – enough to increase the risk of heart disease, studies show. Compare serving sizes and calories of specific fast foods by clicking here. Fast food is devoid of all things nutritious and basically like a dose of poison for your body.  If you’d like to read more why fast food, even in moderation, is bad for you, click here, but I’m going to tell you about what you can do for your body during those few times you slip up.

Whenever you eat a greasy meal, your liver secretes bile, which is stored by the gall bladder. Bile is released for the purpose of breaking down lipids or fats. So one of the things you could do to help your body’s process of digestion along is to take things that’ll get your fat digesting and bile flowing.

Here are three things that’ll help:

1. Ginger 2. Dandelion 3. Beet leaves

You may also want to incorporate some “good” oils into your diet such as olive oil, flaxseed oil and fish oil. All of these oils will help the bile flow and aid the process of digestion. Most of these are available in pill form if you don’t like how they taste, however, not all vitamins are created equal. I would recommend Standard Process Tuna Omega Oil and Black Currant Seed Oil. These are only available through your doctor (you may contact us to help you find a doctor in your area). The ideal type of olive oil is extra virgin first cold-pressed and stored in a dark container to prevent oxidation. Colavita is an example of a high quality olive oil.

Now that you’ve done this, remember to EXERCISE later that day or the next day. At least 30-minutes of aerobic exercise is needed to metabolize the fat.

Want to learn more about how to offset life’s little indiscretions like this one? Want to know how to healthily neutralize the burden of drinking too much coffee and eating pizza? You can have all these answers and much more for only $6.95 all in my pocket-sized book called “Antidotes for Indiscretions.”

What’s better than the gift of health for family and friends? And doctors, I offer the option to buy these books in bulk if you’d like to sell them in your office with your own personalized labels attached.

Learn more by clicking here or sending questions to CharlesSeminars@gmail.com.

Every Back has a Front Attached to it

Sometimes, a back problem may really be a front problem. On the front of every human body lies the ileocecal valve. Let’s call it ICV for short. This little valve is what separates the small intestine from the large intestine. Its function is to prevent food in the large intestine (meant for evacuation) from refluxing back into the small intestine.

But what if this trusty gatekeeper failed to do its job?

If it did, our body would have a landslide of toxins to deal with, and the results wouldn’t be very pretty. Think excruciating low back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, inflamed pelvic organs, PMS, bowel changes, dark circles under the eyes. Not enough to make you cringe? Tack on ovarian pain, prostate problems, dizziness, fatigue, severe sinus issues and headaches. I’ll bet that’s enough to ruin your day.

Let’s back up a second, though. How can a little food leaking back into the small intestines cause so many catastrophes? Well, the fact of the matter is that once food enters the large intestines, it’s meant to go nowhere else but OUT. And if it doesn’t, then toxins will build. Such toxicity can cause the body to react by trying to dilute the dangerous wastes by sending fluid to the different areas. And the accumulation of this fluid can lead the above mentioned malfunctions and symptoms.

So how do we keep our ICV working properly on our own?

1) We keep our abdominal muscles strong. Sadly, most abdominal exercises cause more harm than good. I am testing an abdominal exercise I developed to help with low back and ICV problems. I plan on making this available when I am totally satisfied with the results.

2) Having around 20-30 grams of fiber per day helps too. Fiber can be found in foods like salads, fruits, vegetables, bran or high quality fiber products like Whole Food Fiber from Standard Process (available from your doctor) or Psyllium Whole Husks from Yerba Prima (available at your local health food store). Too much or too little can disrupt the valve.

3) Proper walking after meals helps also. If you do not know how to walk properly find an Alexander Technique Practitioner in your area or go to http://www.alexandertech.org/.

Please note: Only a doctor trained to address the ICV can tell you if there is a problem and correct it. Proper treatment of the valve can help with a myriad of conditions as the valve may be the underlying cause of many “overlying” and seemingly random health problems.

For example: trying to help someone with sinus problems without correcting the ICV disturbance is like trying to clear a clogged sink by taking a cup and bailing out the water. The problem is not the sink. It is the plumbing below.

Before anything else, your doctor should examine the ICV and then continue. This goes for severe low back pain, ovarian pain and headaches that have resisted prior treatments and medications.

It was once suggested to me by a doctor that it is impossible to correct an internal organ by external manual pressure. I thought for a moment and seriously asked, "Then how do you explain CPR?" I mean if you can bring someone back to life by compression on the chest then massaging the intestines to help with low back pain or headaches seems pretty believable.

To Your Continued Good Health and Success,

Dr. Eugene Charles

If you think you may have an ICV problem contact charlesinstituteinfo@mac.com or www.icak.com and we will send you the names of doctors in your area who are skilled in Applied Kinesiology.

Doctors, if you would like to learn more about helping your patients with possible ICV problems you can order Session 8 of Applied Kinesiology in Clinical Practice at http://www.charlesseminars.com/producs.html. Workshop Leaders may be available in your area for hands on training.