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"I am not the same, having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world."
-- Mary Anne Radmacher
Our long-time patients know that Dr. Connie and Dr. Marcel are seasoned travelers. Not only do they try to visit their Hawaii
retreat center every six weeks or so, they have traveled all over the world, even living in Asia for seven years. In fact, shortly after you read this, they will be returning to Spain and Southern France -- visiting Lourdes, following the footsteps of St. Teresa of Avila and exploring the art and culture of the Basque areas.
We've always known that travel begets expansiveness in consciousness -- bringing understanding and depth and dispelling attitudes and misconceptions that may arise when a person's inner and outer world is small and constricted. Dr. Connie pinpoints the travel magic in her first article in this month's newsletter as she muses about travel for personal well being. In her second article, Dr. Connie writes about travel medicine, suggesting a variety of products (the ones we travel with), most of which are available in our office.
Dr. Marcel gives an overview of the vaccination issue in general, suggesting that personal research into travel vaccine issues is crucial to making an informed decision; Jane H. provides insights on dealing with white knuckle flying and Lauren H-W. offers a yummy gluten and dairy free granola recipe.
Reports in our cancer center section include a gene test that helps moderate chemotherapy dosage, a tip how to prevent breast cancer recurrence, information on how music alleviates cancer patients' symptoms and a story on a starting connection between Roundup and skin cancer.
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| Dr. Connie treks in the Kali Gandaki gorge in the Himalayas |
Be Well.
Dr. Connie, Dr. Marcel, Dr. Brad, Dr. Sage and your health care team at Pacific Naturopathic and the
Hernandez Center for Adjunctive Cancer Care
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Dr. Connie's Musings...
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Dr. Connie with her adoptive tribe in Ghana
in the early 1970s |
Travel for Well-Being
Talking with a friend the other day about an upcoming travel plan, the friend wondered why I would want to spend my free time in the discomfort of planes, trains and unfamiliar locations. Being a person who has saved for airfares from the time I was old enough to earn, save and imagine, I admit to being caught by surprise. I was a child whose favorite books involved packing bags, traveling, and exploring exotic destinations. At 19 I was behind the then iron curtain, studying at the University of Leningrad. At 21 I was living in a remote village in Ghana and hitch hiking around West Africa. As an adult, destinations present themselves unbidden in dreams and meditations, and I am compelled to go.
For me, and for others like me, travel promotes wellbeing. I'm not speaking here of the adventures offered in the wellness travel and wellbeing travel industries spawned by our affluent society, though these travel opportunities are magnificent ways to rest, relax, rejuvenate, and bring about positive personal change. I'm talking about travel per se.
For starters, travel is an opportunity to simply stop what you are currently doing, to get away
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Dr. Connie meets a wandering sadhu at a Nepali teahouse
in the Himalayas |
from job related stress and otherwise stressful environments, and to gain a perspective. According to statistics, Americans work longer hours and take fewer vacations than other nationalities, and are one of the world's most stressed out cultures. With a good number of our patients, we find that when they simply remove themselves from their current situation, and take a long and deep breath, many chronic health issues dissipate.
Travel offers the opportunity to break out of old patterns of behavior, and try something new. In Spain, for example, the country shuts down mid day for siesta time, and neighborhoods and plazas wake up in the cool of late evenings, with dinners served starting at 8 PM. You simply cannot go about your day as you might in the American work world. Customs are different, foods are different. People who cannot eat wheat in America, happily indulge in European baguettes without suffering the same ill effects they suffered on food of the same name at home. Couch potatoes walk miles and improve their physical well being in the process.
The cultural differences offer opportunities for mental, emotional and spiritual expansion, through history, architecture, art, music, cuisine. Expanding understanding in these ways creates connection in our sadly divisive world. Confronted with the reality of friends made in heart centered traditional Muslim cultures, one cannot condemn all Muslims as radical extremists. As sense of separation is one of the greatest of all delusions, discovering that we are all one people not only promotes peace and understanding, but is fundamentally healing.
We stagnate when we batten down the hatches and opt again and again for the familiar, nonthreatening (even if often maladaptive) ways of being and doing. Our brains require varied activity and unexpected challenges for growth. We thrive emotionally, socially and spiritually when we open ourselves to new ways of perceiving and being in the world.
(Drs. Connie and Marcel leave on September 20 a three-week adventure to
the Basque Country of Northern Spain and Southern France. If you would like to receive their travel blog, please send an email to the office with "put me on the travel blog list" in the subject line: [email protected])
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Recommended by
Dr. Connie and Dr. Marcel...
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In this new section of our newsletter, we will describe unique health care products we offer in our new, small retail section of our clinic.
What is Collagen Protein?
You have more collagen in your body than any other type of protein. A decrease of collagen protein in our bodies over time can cause all kinds of issues, from wrinkles to weak joints. Collagen protein contains high amounts of glycine and proline, which in turn, build more connective tissue.
Benefits of Upgraded Collagen
- Fast Tissue Repair - Upgraded Collagen provides the particular proteins that ensure cohesion, elasticity and regeneration of skin, cartilage and bone.
- Greater Flexibility and Mobility - Upgraded Collagen makes the main building blocks of connective tissue more bioavailable and better absorbed into joints for greater flexibility and mobility.
- Strong Bone and Joint support - Upgraded Collagen supports strong, heavier, denser bones and contains two building blocks of cartilage that are essential for refueling after exercise and sports.
- Revitalized Skin - Upgraded Collagen promotes skin hydration, reduces the number of fine lines, prevents deeper wrinkles, and maintains the suppleness of your skin from the inside-out.
- Build Muscle - Upgraded Collagen supports muscle building by facilitating the synthesis of creatine in the body.
- Slow Aging - Upgraded Collagen replaces the necessary proteins that diminish and breakdown from aging.
- Deeper Sleep - Upgraded Collagen taken at bedtime deepens sleep, provides arginine to stimulate growth hormone release, and provides nutrients necessary to perform tissue repair while sleeping.
- Brain Function - Upgraded Collagen provides glycine, a neurotransmitter involved in motor and sensory pathways as well as ATP synthesis.
Dr. Connie and Dr. Marcel add collagen protein to their morning cup of bulletproof coffee.
Price: $40.00 for a one-pound bag
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Travel
Vaccinations:
Not as Safe
or Effective as Advertised
(a personal story)
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"I do not trust those who make the vaccines, or the apparatus behind it all to push it on us through fear."
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- Billy Corgan
Rather than just focus on travel vaccinations, I'll give a brief look at one aspect of the larger vaccination issue.
In 1977, I was running three to five miles a day and working out regularly. My overall health was glowingly superb. I was buff, happy and in love. I had met Connie a few weeks previously and we were planning our first trip together, a 3-month pilgrimage to India and Nepal that morphed into seven years working and living in Japan. Although we were health-conscious and aware,
we bought into the prevailing paradigm and considered travel vaccinations to be an essential part of modern health care. I don't remember the exact vaccines I received - I just got whatever was recommended for travel in Asia. That's when my health problems began.
Shortly after the vaccination series I began experiencing severe digestive disturbances. My digestion had always been mildly delicate, but in retrospect,
the synchronicity of the travel vaccinations and the onset of moderate to severe chronic intestinal symptoms is a glaring footnote in my personal medical history. With this connection in mind, when I became a naturopath in 1986, I began to study the efficacy and side effects of vaccinations.
 When our son (Gabriel) was born in 1988, I was seeing patients and studying with a highly respected MD pediatrician in Seattle. Despite all our reservations, when Gabriel was six months old, the pediatrician advised me to skip the P (pertussis) and get the DT (diphtheria, tetanus) vaccine. We followed his advice.
Immediately after receiving his one and only vaccination, Gabriel wound up in the hospital with a kidney infection. Synchronicity or random chance occurrence?
The concept behind vaccination is the artificial production of immunity by introducing a small amount of weakened disease virus or bacteria into the body. The immune system then wages a mini campaign against the foreign organism and develops antibodies, for future use, in the event that the vaccinated person contacts that specific organism in their environment. However,
the antibody response occurs purely as an isolated technical feat, without any other immunological response. This artificial antibody production may act by interfering with or suppressing the immune response as a whole, in much the same way radiation, chemotherapy and corticosteroids do.
Artificial immunization is in direct opposition to the way the body was designed to handle foreign invasions.
Vaccinations may also have longer-term effects. During the past 50 years, there has been an unprecedented increase in the number of opportunistic infections, including HIV, CMV, HPV, EBV, toxic shock syndrome, candidiasis, chronic fatigue syndrome, herpes, Lyme and others. During this same period, there has been unrelenting pressure from public health officials in the United States toward universal vaccination.
Is there a connection between immune system breakdown and vaccinations, or are the statistics merely coincidental?
So the big question is, do vaccinations work? Well... one more personal story. After our son was hospitalized after his only vaccination, we decided that we would not subject him to further vaccinations; rather, we would make sure his immune system was vibrant and responsive. Remember that he did not receive the P (pertussis) vaccine. At the time, we were practicing in a small town in Vermont. A whooping cough epidemic engulfed the town and half the town's kids - vaccinated or not - contracted the illness.
Interestingly, the children who were vaccinated with P were a lot sicker than the unvaccinated kids. Gabriel contracted the disease, but his normal pattern was not affected. We did keep him home from school, but he ran around playing (and coughing) with his usual energy and enthusiasm.
If you are thinking about getting vaccinations for travel, the best advice I can give is to
avoid buying in to the mainstream pressure and do your research. Informed decisions are generally good decisions.
For more on Dr. Marcel's work click
HERE.
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Patients often ask what preventive and maintenance medicine they should carry with them when traveling out of the country. The list is a little different for developed and developing countries, and depends on planned activities (whether roughing it or staying in upscale digs; whether traveling in rural and remote areas or in major metropolitan areas).
It goes without saying that prescriptive medications should accompany you on your travels. With regards to generic daily vitamins and minerals not specific to particular conditions, it's ok to pare down or take a break for several weeks.
Emphasize rather the travel specific items such as these
items which Drs. Connie and Marcel stock in our travel medicine kit (and in our pharmacy here at Pacific Naturopathic):
*Probiotic Pearls. We favor this probiotic for traveling. The pearls are enteric coated (and deliver helpful bacterial intact all the way down to the large intestines); they do not require refrigeration; and they come conveniently packaged in a blister pack (and thus do not melt and stick together in humid climates). Take one cap daily, away from food as a preventive. Take one twice daily, away from food, if experiencing intestinal distress.
*Charcoal Capsules. Charcoal is used worldwide to absorb G.I toxins.
When food seems questionable, it's ok to take one cap with each meal. If G.I. issues occur, take one capsule twice daily between meals, away from any medications or nutrients. These caps will turn your stool black, which is not a problem, but could be scary if you didn't know that would happen.
*Grapefruit seed extract and/or liquid colloidal silver. Both of these products are great antimicrobials. Liquid grapefruit seed extract can be added to water to wash suspect produce, and (if you can tolerate the exceptional bitterness) taken orally as well. Most often, people chose the capsule form of the extract, at 1-2 twice daily to treat infections.
*With NutraSilver colloidal silver, add 1 drop to any drink not from a sealed bottle or can, or any drink containing ice. Add 1 drop to the water into which you dip your toothbrush before brushing. In acute situations, start with 10 drops three times daily, under the tongue.
*ProBoost is a thymic protein product which supports the immune system and rallies defenses, whether for a bacterial, viral, or allergic issue. Dissolve one packet under the tongue twice daily if something seems to be coming on. If acute, dissolve one packet under the tongue three times daily.
*RxEme Cream is an essential oil based ointment that is fabulous for all manner of skin rashes and itching... anything from burns to hemorrhoids to insect bites.
*Rescue Remedy can help with travel anxiety. (Pre trip training in EFT is even better.)
*Essential oil hand sanitizer wipes (not in our clinic) are made by EO and are wonderful, both for antibacterial value, and for calming (as they are made with lavender oil).
In addition to these items, we do take several more conventional items.
*Dramamine is a must for those prone to car sickness. (And yes, we know there are natural remedies ranging from wrist bands to essential oils to ginger capsules. If those work for you, by all means take them. If not, Dramamine can save your trip.)
*The topical antibiotic cream Polysporin is useful for cuts and scrapes, but can also be used in the eyes in case of eye infections. (The package insert says not, but pediatricians have made use of this remedy for years.)
*Imodium can be a lifesaver when one is confronted with diarrhea on long bus rides on curvy mountain roads in ancient buses with no bathrooms.
These preventive and first aid measures help keep you healthy while traveling and decrease needless doctor visits such that you can better enjoy your time away.
****
Find out more about Dr. Connie's work
HERE.
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IV Therapy for Travel at
Pacific Naturopathic
Would you willingly place yourself in a dry as a bone room with recirculated air filled with viruses, bacteria and fungi and pathogens on every surface? Only when flying do people willingly accept this situation. It is not unusual for travelers to arrive at their destinations only to come down with an infection of some kind. At Pacific Naturopathic, we offer an extremely effective way of preventing air travelers from succumbing to airplane borne illnesses.
Several of our frequent flyer patients have discovered that an immune system booster IV prepares them to fend off the myriad assaults they encounter on commercial airline flights. We recommend that they come in for the IV the day before their flight and the day after they return from their travels.
A powerful, yet gentle blend of minerals and vitamins is topped off by a dose of liver-craving glutathione. The total effect is a hydrating immune system stimulation that provides extra protection for as long as four days. The IV takes about 45 minutes to administer and has no negative side effects. By the way, this formula is also recommended for extra protection during influenza outbreaks. As an extra bonus, the immune system IV may increase your energy, banish brain fog and calm your nerves.
Interested? Contact the office to schedule or for more information.
Please phone 650-917-1121 for more information.
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Elijah Free: Herbalist, Shaman, Healer at Pacific Naturopathic
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Elijah Free has been an associate at Pacific Naturopathic s
ince January of 2000.
He specializes in working with both mechanical and metabolic pain.
and view his videos on Ending Fibromyalgia and Ending PTSD-One Veteran's Answer.
And to find out more of Elijah's work with his 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization to end PTSD in war veterans, (Elijah is a veteran and paramedic of the Viet Nam conflict) Bring Our Vets All the Way Home, please go to www.bringourvetsallthewayhome.org
To schedule an appointment with Elijah,
please phone 650-917-1121.
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No More White Knuckle Flights
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I'm sure everyone reading this knows someone (or IS that someone) who has an irrational fear of flying. You can try to rationalize with them about the fact that it is far more dangerous to drive a car than take a plane flight but that will do nothing to calm them. From the moment they book the tickets until landing there are many cues that build on the terror. And God forbid if there is turbulence! That's when the white knuckle assumes a permanent grip until after landing.
I realize that most of you don't know about EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) yet but there is nothing that I've ever heard of that works better and quicker for fear of flying.
EFT or Tapping is a simple routine that involves tapping on acupuncture points while saying out loud the negative triggers that are bothering you. The routine is easy to learn and, quite frankly, it works to calm you for just about anything.
When I teach EFT to someone with fear of flying we rehearse the tapping points from the reservation until boarding the plane and even for turbulence.
The thoughts and feelings that cause the greatest distress are easy to detect while tapping. Some people are afraid of the ride to the airport, then boarding, others takeoff and landing, and of course, turbulence.
I had a client who slipped into fear as soon as she smelled the cabin interior. These particulars are called "aspects" and when they come up it's your subconscious making the needy areas known.
With EFT a release of anxiety is felt as these triggers are disarmed one by one. As you feel the anxiety ease you move on to the next trigger and tap on that.
It is also good to tap in the airport (maybe in a restroom stall) or just hold the points before boarding and takeoff.
I had a client who volunteered to drive a friend to the airport without knowing that she was terrified of flying. As they got closer to the airport her friend got increasingly agitated and she had to confess her fear. My client parked her car at the airport, and took the time to teach her tapping through her fear. Her friend could not believe how easy it was to release the fear and had a good flight.
Of course, everyone is different and some might need professional EFT instruction to deal with the fear. But what remains the same is that fear of flying is one of the easiest phobias to clear by using EFT.
Please check out Bennie Naude's website in which he demos several aspects that people have about fear of flying.
http://www.deepliving.com/resources/overcome-the-fear-of-flying/
Oh, by the way, many people have also used EFT for jet lag...tapping to have their biological clocks adjust. I haven't tried it yet but plan to on my next trip.
The point is, there is no reason to restrict travel or suffer through it.
Learning to tap provides you with a tool that will allow you to enjoy your flight from beginning to end.
It makes sense, doesn't it, to go from white knuckles to blue skies...nothing but blue skies.
Jane sees clients at Pacific Naturopathic
on Thursdays.
Schedule an appointment with Jane Hernandez, CCHT, by phoning 510-676-1460,
or by email at [email protected]
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For more information about Jane and her work
click here.
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Medical Humor:
A Break From
"Matters of Consequence"
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Lauren's Recipes:
Delicious GF and DF Granola
Lauren Hoover-West
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A healthy and tasty granola that you can customize to your own taste! Enjoy with almond or coconut milk or coconut"yogurt" for breakfast! This will keep you going until lunch!
Yields: approximately 9 cups
Ingredients:
4 cups organic rolled oats (not quick cooking) + ½ cup oat bran or soaked buckwheat
2 cups nuts or seeds*, chopped (walnuts, pecans, almonds, macadamia)
1 ¼ cup shredded coconut, optional
½ cup orange or lemon olive oil or avocado oil or grapeseed oil, coconut oil tigernut oil or nut oil (macadamia, walnut, pecan, pistachio)*
1/3 cup real maple syrup or honey or coconut palm sugar, optional leave out for sugar-free
2 teaspoons gluten-free vanilla extract or lemon extract
Zest of 1 organic lemon or organic orange
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, optional
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, optional
1 ¼ cup organic dried fruit (cherries, cranberries, blueberries, apricots, raisins, dates, pineapple etc...)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Measure out dried fruit and set aside.
- Measure all dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir well.
- Measure out all wet ingredients into a small bowl and whisk until well combined.
- Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and mix until all liquid is well distributed and absorbed.
- Pour onto baking sheet and bake on the middle rack of the oven for 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven and stir in the dried fruit (fruit will burn if you cook it the entire time).
- Return the granola to the oven and continue to bake for approximately 10-15 more minutes or until golden brown. Be careful and keep a close eye as it burns quickly.
- Place baking sheet on a cooling rack and cool completely. Store in an airtight jar/container or plastic zip bag at room temperature. I love to keep this at my office for that much needed quick meal!
Please be creative with the flavors and customize it to your own taste. Here are some ideas:
-- I use all raw organic nuts and seeds and all organic fruit/grains
-- Walnuts and dried cranberries or dates with orange zest, walnut oil or orange olive oil
-- Pecans and dried apricots with orange zest, lemon olive oil or grapeseed oil
-- Pecans and dried cherries with lemon zest, orange olive oil
-- Pistachios and dried blueberries with lemon zest, avocado oil or lemon olive oil
-- Macadamias, dried pineapple, coconut, orange zest, macadamia oil
*Do not heat flax or chia seeds as they go rancid after 5 days of being heated! Store in the freezer. You can bake with them, and then keep food in freezer. Best to sprinkle it on top of your granola at the time you are going to enjoy it.
*For a low fat version: avoid nuts, nut oils and coconut. Remember it is not fat that causes weight gain! It is carbs and starches! Our skin, body and brain need healthy oils to function properly. You may want to rotate and have lots of variety of healthful oils. Keep all nut and seed oil up to 6 months in the refrigerator, all other oils keep in a dark cool place for up to one year after opening. If it smells funny, it is probably rancid-throw it away! I keep nuts and seeds in the freezer too. All oils have different temperatures they may be cooked at, "smoke point", and above that they go from being free-radical scavengers to being free-radical cancer causing oil!!! Do not let your oil smoke when you cook with it despite what any Chef says on TV! This Chef is telling you the truth!
Happy, Healthy Cooking & Eating, Lauren
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Lauren has appeared and cooked on ABC Live in Chicago and Sacramento. She has cooked for 4 United States Presidents and a United States Senator.
Lauren Hoover-West was classically trained at The California Culinary Academy, now the Cordon Bleu. She is a Chef/Educator/Consultant specializing in food allergies and health issues since 2002, including Gluten sensitivity, Celiac's Disease, Diabetes, Autism, Autoimmune diseases and inflammatory conditions.
Lauren has created a revolutionary way to cook delicious food that is gluten-free, dairy-free, low glycemic index, or sugar-free, and very healthy while tasting just as good as traditional food so, everyone can enjoy it.
 Lauren does not believe in using weird ingredients, so you will learn to use readily available food, and she will introduce you to items you may not have noticed before. She will help you replace all your pantry items with gluten-free, dairy-free, low glycemic alternatives!
She is the author of "No Wheat No Dairy No Problem"
cookbook and blog site. She has over 20 years of cooking and teaching experience at La Folie(Michelin star), Fairmont, Hyatt Resorts, Bally's, Marriott, New Leaf Market, Sur la Table etc... Lauren is the owner of Lauren's Kitchen, a customized meal service. She also earned a Bachelors of Science in Psychology at St. Mary's College. To contact Lauren or for more information go to her blog site.
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Breast Thermography at
Pacific Naturopathic
- thermograms and lymphatic congestion -
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Lymphatic congestion is one variable that can elevate a risk rating on a breast thermography report. Lymphatic congestion may be a result of wearing an underwire bra, of inflammation, of stagnation in general. We address lymphatic congestion with lymphatic breast massage, with homeopathic drainage remedies designed to promote lymphatic flow, with botanical blood and lymphatic cleansers, with anti inflammatory herbs.
Often we see thermal risk ratings improve with just 3 months of treatment for lymphatic congestion. The value of comparative breast thermograpy is apparent when a targeted therapeutic regime either does or does not change the thermal risk rating. With no change, it is time to change the protocol.
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Read more about
breast
thermography
at
Pacific Naturopathic
here.
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Pacific Naturopathic Hawaii:
Healing in Paradise
Check Future Openings
(then click on "Calendar")
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| The sunset view from your deck at Pacific Naturopathic Hawaii |
Spend time on the Big Island of Hawaii at Pacific Naturopathic Retreat Center. The environment itself is therapeutic and healing.
Travel to Hawaii is a gentle and easy route to rest, relaxation, rejuvenation and new experiences. Guests at the Retreat Center often choose to stay on the property, roaming and nibbling on the familiar and unfamiliar fruits, oogling at the wild pigs and turkeys, relaxing on the deck, studying the star studded sky.
Just minutes away, in Honokaa town, guests can take in local hula performances, participate in festivals, wander the farmer's markets. Just down the road in the opposite direction is the magnificent Waipio Valley, home of the ancient Hawaiian royalty, and said to be a doorway to supenatural realities. Towards the coast, guests pass through Waimea, a Hawaiian cowboy (paniolo) town as they head for white sand beaches and water adventures.
At Pacific Naturopathic Hawaii, there are abundant opportunities for contact with locals, for ecotourism, for adventure tourism, for all manner of new experiences. And all just a plane ride away from the Bay Area. We recommend Alaska Airlines direct flights from San Jose, San Francisco, or Oakland to Kona.
Are you feeling wired, tired, stressed? Check our RETREAT CALENDAR and see if there is an opening for you.
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Isn't it time you treated yourself to a magical experience?
Come, enjoy, rejuvenate and reinvent yourself.
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The Hernandez Center for Adjunctive Cancer Care
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News and Commentary on Cancer Topics
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What We Offer
at the
Hernandez Center
for Adjunctive Cancer Care
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Our cancer patients often ask us to give them an estimate of the effectiveness of therapy at the Hernandez Center for Adjunctive Cancer Care. We respond that
our entire focus is on helping our patients stay healthy, upbeat and positive.
The truth is that the botanical and nutritional therapies we offer
(including
intravenous vitamin C), although 'adjunctive' in nature, have powerful documented actions in decreasing inflammation, reducing tumor load and attacking cancer stem cells.
Our mind/body approaches are focused on transformation of experience. And our bodywork approaches helpreduce muscular pain, resolve lymph drainage problems and relieve stress.
The hope we offer is not that of a miraculous cure,
although we are definitely open to miracles,
but the hope of a life lived to the fullest in dignity
and understanding, for however long that may be.
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Gene test can reduce chemo use among breast-cancer patients,
study says
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Doctors have long known that many early-stage breast cancer patients who undergo chemotherapy don't actually need it to prevent recurrence of the disease after surgery. But they haven't known exactly which patients might safely skip the toxic treatment.
A European study published August 24, 2016, in the New England Journal of Medicine sheds new light on the issue, concluding that many such patients might be able to avoid chemo.
The key factor: Nearly half of the patients considered at high risk for recurrence might actually be low risk based on genetic factors, researchers found.
The study involved almost 6,700 patients with localized breast cancer that hadn't spread beyond three lymph nodes. Of those, about half were considered high risk based on clinical measures such as tumor size and patient age. Typically, all would have considered chemotherapy as part of their treatment.
But a 70-gene test called MammaPrint found that about 1,500 of that group were low risk based on genomic factors. They were considered "discordant" -- high-risk patients based on clinical factors, but low risk based on gene-test results.
The 1,500 women then were randomly assigned to two groups, with one getting chemo and one not getting it. After five years, the survival rates of the groups were similar -- just 1.5 percentage points higher for the women who'd received chemo. The survival rate for the non-chemo group was close to 95 percent.
Given those findings, the researchers say, about 46 percent of women with breast cancer who are classified as high risk based on clinical factors might not need chemo.
Source: Washington Post, August 25, 2016
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Good news on preventing
breast cancer recurrence
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A recent Natural Medicine Journal article offers thought provoking news on reducing breast cancer recurrence. Written by Jacob Schor ND, FABNO, the article is entitled
"Nightly Fasting Improves Breast Cancer Prognosis". The article is based on retrospective analysis, as well as correlating data from animal studies.
Intermittent fasting has been in the news in recent months. Lengthening the hours between dinner and breakfast is one form of intermittent fasting, and is touted for efficacy in weight loss protocols. As discussed in this article, intermittent fasting may also have life saving benefits.
Fasting for less that 13 hours per night was associated both with a trend toward higher risk of breast cancer mortality and with a 36% increase in the risk of breast cancer recurrence over fasting 13 or more hours per night.
Other findings note that
longer nighttime fasting results in lower hemoglobin A1c levels, lower insulin levels, less disruption in circadian rhythms. C reactive protein levels (a measure of inflammation) are also significantly lower if fewer than 30% of caloric intake is taken after 5 PM at night, in the context of longer night time fasting.
As Dr. Schorr says, this elegant and simple lifestyle intervention may provide a major benefit to breast cancer patients.
A light dinner at 6 PM and breakfast at 7:30 or 8 AM would do the trick.
While this study only discusses risk of breast cancer recurrence, one might reasonably extrapolate this data, and think about longer nighttime fasting in other cancers which share features with breast cancer... prostate cancer, endometrial cancer, colon cancer.
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Music demonstrated to alleviate cancer patients' symptoms
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We've all heard of laughter being the best medicine, but what about music?
A systematic review published by the Cochrane Library found that there is significant evidence that
music interventions help alleviate symptoms of anxiety, pain and fatigue in cancer patients, while also boosting their quality of life.
Led by Joke Bradt, PhD, associate professor in Drexel University's College of Nursing and Health Professions, a team looked into studies that examined the impact of music therapy (a personalized music experience offered by trained music therapists) and music medicine (listening to pre-recorded music provided by a doctor or nurse) on psychological and physical outcomes in people with cancer.
"We found that music therapy interventions specifically help improve patients' quality of life," explained Bradt. "These are important findings as these outcomes play an important role in patients' overall well-being."
Overall, one of the most impactful findings was that
music interventions of all kinds resulted in a moderate-to-strong effect in reducing patients' anxiety.
When it came to pain reduction, the researchers found a large treatment benefit;
for fatigue, a small-to-moderate treatment effect was found.
Small reductions in heart and respiratory rates, as well as lowered blood pressure, were also linked to music interventions.
"The results of single studies suggest that
music listening may reduce the need for anesthetics and analgesics, as well as decreased recovery time and duration of hospitalization, but more research is needed for these outcomes," according to Bradt and her co-authors.
"
We hope that the findings of this review will encourage health care providers in medical settings to seriously consider the use of music therapy in the psychosocial care of people with cancer," Bradt said.
Source: Joke Bradt, Cheryl Dileo, Lucanne Magill, Aaron Teague. Music interventions for improving psychological and physical outcomes in cancer patients. Cochrane Library, August 2016 DOI:
Interested in finding out more about the adjunctive cancer treatment at the
Please phone us for an appointment at:
650-917-1121
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Glyphosate (Roundup)exposure causes sunlight to result in aggressive, deadly skin cancers
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As the majority of Americans long for
genetically modified foods
to be
labeled
, some scientists must wonder if that label would need to include a skull and crossbones for GM foods
sprayed with glyphosate
. New science reveals that the vast majority of genetically modified crops (sprayed with glyphosate herbicide) are increasing consumers' risk of developing aggressive, deadly skin cancers.
Over 80 percent of genetically modified crops are engineered specifically to withstand the deadly effects of glyphosate herbicide. It's this chemical (sprayed all over GM crops) that scientists are now linking to cutaneous melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer. The risk of skin cancer is worsened with compounding exposure to fungicides mancozeb and maneb.
The delusional conclusion that sun alone causes skin cancer is being debunked.
For far too long, we have been taught to avoid the sunlight because sun exposure has been associated with the recent, modern day explosion of skin cancer. Now scientists are beginning to understand what is really disrupting our natural relationship with the sun. While it remains important to monitor our sun exposure, the real problem with skin cancer lies in our exposure to chemicals that suppress our immune systems.
Glyphosate, for example, destroys the microbial profile of the human gut. In turn,
antioxidant levels
within the human body are hindered, and the capability of the immune system is weakened from the inside-out. How can the skin cells be protected from the inside, if chemicals like glyphosate are blocking the body's ability to assimilate and utilize key nutrients that are needed to ward off cancer?
Glyphosate and two fungicides increase skin cancer risk, because of their immune system suppressing properties.
The new study, published in the Journal of Occupational Environmental Medicine
, found that glyphosate herbicide and two fungicides - mancozeb or maneb - were increasing the incidence of cutaneous melanoma during occupational sun exposure. The risk of
skin cancer
increased even more when exposure to both the herbicide and the fungicides occurred during occupational sun exposure.
What the scientists are documenting here is an ever-increasing suppression of the human immune system through exposure to agrochemicals. The studies were conducted in Italy and Brazil, and included detailed history of participants' pesticide exposure. All possible confounding factors were controlled for as well. The study gives more backing to the World Health Organization's current conclusions that
glyphosate
is a probable carcinogen. Now scientists must also examine how fungicides mancozeb or maneb contribute to the overall suppression of the human immune system.
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| Update on cell phones and cancer... |
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A thank you to Nelda Warren who gave us the links to two products that help protect us from cell phone radiation...
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Other I.V. Therapies Offered at Pacific Naturopathic and the Hernandez Center
--I.V. therapy is not just for cancer patients--
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Many people have already heard about intravenous vitamin C as a complementary cancer therapy to help stimulate the immune system as well as being directly cytotoxic to cancer cells. This is the most common therapy we use at the Hernandez Center for our cancer patients.
But intravenous therapy is not just for cancer patients. More than half of our IV patients come for various "cocktails" to help them ward off infections and optimize their health. We offer a number of individualized versions of the famous "Myers Cocktail." Read about the Myers Cocktail HERE
Other cocktails we offer promote brain health, assist the liver in its detoxification efforts, relieve the symptoms of chronic fatigue, help reduce stress, bring rapid relief from sinusitis, colds and flus, address immune system disorders, slow the progression of macular degeneration, reduce chronic pain and fibromyalgia and many other conditions.
Check out our new web site at www.IntravenousTherapies.com
For more information or to set up an appointment, please contact us at the Hernandez Center at (650) 917-1121. A lot more information can be found at www.IntravenousTherapies.com
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Pacific Naturopathic
and
The Hernandez Center
for Adjunctive Cancer Care
2570 W. El Camino Real, Suite 111
Mountain View, CA 94040
650-917-1121 (v) * 650-917-1127 (f)
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