What do you think is optimal nutrition for a pet?

Optimal nutrition is based upon the pet’s ancestral diet. Dogs and cats have very short digestive tracts and have not evolved to digest grains so we use grain free products. A lot of dogs and cats suffer from dermatitis and other allergy symptoms so you should really avoid feeding them beef, corn, wheat, soy and yeast. Some dogs and cats do okay with corn but others do not.

When we look at the ancestral diet of a cat or dog, we know that they most efficiently digest protein and fats, not carbohydrates. Cats and dogs were not eating any grains. They definitely weren’t farming. They definitely foraged for some vegetables and fruits, but definitely not wheat, corn, etc.

Before the modern grain-containing pet food, cats and dogs didn’t get obese, didn’t get diabetes, didn’t get thyroid disease.  Some estimate that 60% of overweight pets are because of too much grain consumption. People tell me that they don’t overfeed their pet too much cat or dog food, but overfeeding often sneaks in as too many unhealthy treats. Many pet treats found in the store contain a lot of what’s on the “avoid” list like artificial ingredients and lots of grains.

So for our store, we avoid the primary list of artificial ingredients, find products that use real meats and no by-products, and don’t use wheat or corn.

Do you recommend free-feeding?

We don’t recommend that you leave food out all the time. It’s best for your pet physiology and pancreas that they eat only twice per day. It’s also best for your pet’s sense of security that they know they will get food twice per day at a specific time. Pets don’t like to have to guard their food and worry about it all day long. If they know that at a certain time in the morning and certain time in the evening they are getting fed, its much less stressful. What a lot of pet owners who free-feed don’t notice is that most dogs and cats don’t nibble throughout the day and will actually choose on their own to only eat early in the morning and then again in the evening. Leave clean fresh water out all the time and pick it up 20 minutes before eating to preserve your pet’s healthy stomach acidity.

The raw food diet thing is probably the most controversial and debated subject in the pet food world right now. What’s your take on this?

I think the best diet you could feed your dog or cat is a well balanced raw food diet and the worst diet you could feed your pet is an imbalanced raw food diet. A lot of people try it, but the don’t do enough research to find out what the balance should be. A common mistake is for people to think that an all meat diet for their dog is healthy. Dogs will die with an all meat diet. Also, a raw food diet is not the same as feeding from the table. Dogs don’t do well with a lot of cooked foods or spices. A comprehensive well-balanced raw food diet is better than any bagged or canned food, but it’s the most challenging way to feed a pet. It also takes a lot of time.

The second best way to feed your pet is a using a frozen or dehydrated raw food diet. You don’t want to cook the frozen or dehydrated raw food, because heat destroys the raw food’s natural vitamins and enzymes making it less nutritious. I was one of the first retailers to have a frozen raw food section in my store. I used to buy hundreds of pounds of kidneys, livers and meat and make the food for my customers. Today, there are pet food makers that do this and I sell their products pre-packaged. I sell the best five frozen raw food diets. These are complete balanced diets.

The third best option is a dry kibble grain free diets. These somewhat match the balance of protein and vegetables in the form of dry food. We have the best three dry and canned grain free diets for dogs and cats. The problem with any consumer product is that there are a lot of other people trying to make grain free diets, but they don’t have the knowledge base on how to make a truly healthy and balanced diet.

What do you recommend for pet dental care?

The American Veterinary Dental Society (AVDS) came out with a study about 10 years ago that found that dry dog food is only responsible for 5% of tartar reduction. Their recommendation was to use some sort of dental cleaning chewing device. An example of this would be a natural and toxin free raw hide, raw bones, or Nylabone. Basically it would be something that would mimic your dog chewing on a stick – a dog toothbrush found in the wild. Another option is brushing their teeth from the time they are a puppy or kitten. This is a really good way to bond with your pet.

Let’s move on the subject of fleas. Is there a way to avoid poisoning our pets?

I wrote a book titled Flea Control: A Holistic & Humorous Approach. The purpose of the book was to help people understand how to control or eradicated fleas without resorting to poisoning their pets. Many of the conventional veterinary flea control methods involve using topical poisons or pesticides on your pet or in your home or yard. A conventional flea collar, Advantage (Imidacloprid), or a flea bomb are all insecticides and poisons to humans and pets. These are neurotoxins with serious side-effects that persist on your pet and in your house for weeks getting absorbed by all members of your household, humans and animals.

What are some of the signs of an adverse reaction to some of the spot-on treatments?

Convulsions, seizures, shaking, vomiting, drooling, and more. The problem is many people apply these flea control chemicals to their pets and usually don’t notice the connection. They just think that their dog or cat is getting sick. The CDC got so many adverse reaction reports to these flea control chemicals that now the EPA is investigating the topical spot-on flea and tick control products for safety. The EPA has made recommendations for clearer labeling.

My book educates pet owners on the life cycle of fleas and how they can stop flea reproduction not only on their dog, but also within the home and yard. There are stages of the flea life cycle in which it is much easier to eradicate fleas than other stages. Diet also plays a factor in making your pet a desirable place or host for fleas. In the book, I teach pet owners how to have natural flea control without using harsh and toxic chemicals. I teach people how to take a holistic approach by treating the cause of why fleas reproduce in homes and on pets. I like to remind pet owners that just because it says the flea control product is naturally derived; it still may harm their pet. Natural is not always safe.

Dr. Gibran Ramos completed his six year training and internship in Naturopathic and Chinese Medicine at National College of Natural Medicine. Dr. Ramos helps patients transform their lives and optimize their well-being at a private practice in Portland, Oregon.

Photo by Kevin Lallier.

Gluten sensitivity affects one third of the American population. These are people who have mild to moderate symptoms from eating the proteins found in wheat and other grains. Celiac Disease, the most extreme form of gluten sensitivity, affects 1% of the population. A recent study showed that people who are gluten sensitive and have been properly diagnosed could save 30% in their health care costs. Sadly, 99% of people with this condition are not aware of it. Understanding and treating the root cause of disease will save money in frequent trips to the doctor and unnecessary medications. It will also set you on a path to wellness.

You don’t have to have full-blown Celiac’s to have major health consequences from eating gluten. Last year, a large study showed increased death due to heart disease and cancers in people with gluten sensitivity. The numbers are shocking. For people with gluten sensitivity the risk of death was increased by 35%. For Celiacs and people with active inflammation in the gut the risk jumps to 72%. How can eating a seemingly wholesome food cause so much disease? To understand this, we need to understand how the digestive system interacts with the immune system:

Gut physiology
The intestines are where things are permitted into the bloodstream. Food, broken down into its nutrients is absorbed from the tube into the blood. This is a dangerous proposition. There could be bacteria or parasites or poisons in the things we eat. The immune system has outposts along this border and monitors the particles that are absorbed and mounts an immune response when dangerous substances are detected.

When activated, the immune system fights infections. Sometimes, an activated immune system will respond to food as if it’s a dangerous invader. Your genetics make you more or less vulnerable to certain food sensitivities. Genetics alone don’t determine whether or not you’ll be sensitive to gluten or other foods. There is often a triggering set of circumstances like an infection or nutrient deficiency that sets the immune system in motion.

Leaky gut
In the process of responding to dangerous bacteria, viruses, parasites or yeast, the immune response can destroy healthy tissue. The lining of the intestines will become red and inflamed and the barrier function is lost. Larger and larger particles are allowed into the bloodstream. Waste material can enter the bloodstream and cause symptoms all over the body: headaches, skin rashes, joint pain.

Triggering other food sensitivities
Over time, the constant activated immune response and leaky gut can cause new food sensitivities. I’ve seen it many times where people avoid what they know they’re reacting to, feel better for a short time, then start reacting to all the new foods they’re eating and their diet gets more and more restricted and the overall heath takes a downward spiral. Unless the barrier function in the digestive system is intact, healing cannot take place.

Some problems and sensitivities can resolve with the removal of the main food offender and time. For most people, though, the cause of digestive disease has not been identified and treated and they will need more thorough investigation and advanced healing protocols. It’s important to have support and an expert to help guide this process. The specifics need to be tailored to the individual.

Addressing the root cause of disease
Diseases caused by gluten sensitivity are completely curable. Some diseases like anemia and osteoporosis are obviously related to malabsorption. Some diseases like Lupus and Multiple Sclerosis involve a complex interplay of the immune system. Others involve an even more complex cascade of hormones and neurotransmitters. Gluten sensitivity is a condition that can affect any system in the body. Instead of managing and treating various conditions individually, directing efforts and resources to the root cause of the problem can allow for optimal wellness.

Safe foods:

• Buckwheat
• Rice
• Corn
• Quinoa
• Millet
• Amaranth
• Potatoes
• Gluten-free oats
• Garbanzo flour
• Tapioca
• Teff

Author and resident gluten-free living expert Dr. Misty White is in private practice in Milwaukie, Oregon at Northwest Natural Medicine. She is also an adjunct clinical faculty member, training the physicians of the future at the National College of Natural Medicine.

Chip Sammons and Allie, his 11 year old rescue.

The rain is coming down hard as I drive up to the humble storefront of Holistic Pet Center in Oregon City. Chip Sammons greets me and takes me to his office. His desk is wedged between shelves of veterinary, nutrition, dog, cat, biology, animal physiology and anatomy books, and stacks of file folders containing what I soon find out are thousands of articles of research studies on pet health. On the wall are pictures of his family and himself with many different dogs and cats. This man loves pets.

How did you become a pet food expert?

I had a Boxer 40 years ago who died of cancer at only 4 years of age. I felt that part of the death of this dog was my fault and I wondered if I could have done anything differently, like fed the dog differently. The veterinarian said, “No, and all foods are about the same.”

At this time, I didn’t know much about dog food, but his answer just didn’t seem right to me. This drove me to research the pet food industry. What I found out, horrified me. I found out it was legal to use certain ingredients including the bodies of cats and dogs who had died of cancer. These were called the 4D meats or the dead, dying, diseased and disabled meats of animals and pets that had been euthanized.

Is this practice of using the 4D meats still legal?

It is still legal to use meats from euthanized animals who were sick and/or dying in pet food! The first big news investigative exposé was the 1990 two part article by San Francisco Chronicle staff writer John Eckhouse. He was the first journalist to make the word renderers better known. In his article Mr. Eckhouse explains how millions of dead cats and dogs are sent to rendering plants every year to be processed into pet food and cosmetics. Even though the pet food companies were, as they claimed, “recycling,” the rendering process involves using harsh carcinogenic or cancer causing chemicals to breakdown the nutrients that make their way back into pet foods. Chemicals that persist from the rendering process include creosote, phenol and euthanizing agents like pentobarbital, and pesticides from flea collars.

Photo by muahace_dc.

What would be the ingredients to avoid when you’re looking at pet food labels?

It‘s a very similar to what you look for on food you’re buying for your family.

• Artificial preservatives
• Artificial colors
• Artificial flavors
• Nitrates
• By-products
• Sugars

These are the ingredients that cause cancer in pets. I was concerned with what could cause cancer.  I never intended to open a pet store, but in 1988, I opened Holistic Pet Center as a place people could buy quality and healthy pet food. My dream was to make a store in which people could purchase and thing and not make a bad decision. The exclusion list was the absolute criteria for anything I carried in my store. All products are safe and not cancer causing. Even twenty-two years later, I still use the same criteria for the products in my store. It’s a simple concept, but a very good way to ensure health and quality.

What is natural flavoring?

Natural is a tricky word because it doesn’t have a definition. Natural flavoring can mean almost anything. Sometimes it means natural and sometimes it doesn’t. I know what it means because I talk to the individual manufactures.

What are some of the signs and symptoms pet owners can look for if they are suspecting a food intolerance or allergy?

Some signs of a possible food related problem are redness on the belly, licking the feet, hot spots at the base of the tail, eye discharge, scratching on the chin, or “my dog/cat is constantly itching or scratching.” Another common phrase I hear is, “My dog has continual ear problems,” or I often have people ask, “Do you have something for my dogs ears?” My first question for pet owners who’s pets have these symptoms is, “What kind of food are you feeding them?”  Our experience is that when you get a pet on a more hypoallergenic formula that the problematic allergic symptom natural goes away.

Why are grains used in pet food?

When Ralston-Purina first made pet food and cereal, they used extruders. Extruders are long machines that compact the food, dehydrate it, and sometimes even bake or cook it, so that by the end of the line out pops kibble or cereal flakes. The only way to make the kibble stick together and not crumble into dust was to use some glue food substance. In the case of kibble and cereal flakes, gluten from certain grains was used in 1954 to produce the first dry dog and cat food. It took almost forty years for the first no grain dry pet food to come out in 1993.

What is ash content on a pet food label? Why is this listed on pet food?

Ash is not an added ingredient. Ash is literally what you would end up with if you burned the food. If the pet food has more by-products, there will be more ash. You want to look for the lower the ash content, the better. In fact if you are considering a good quality pet food, you shouldn’t have to look at ash, because it will have a low ash content. In other words, there will be very little by-products.

What are by-products?

By-products are anything other than meat. By-products include, according to the AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials), beaks, feathers, hair, hides, hooves, feet, eyes, bones, etc.

Photo by Hamed Saber.

Are organ meats considered by-products?

Yes. This is where my expertise for evaluating pet food products comes in handy. I actually have visited almost all the pet food manufacturer facilities to see what exactly the put in their food. Organ meats are considered by-products, but the ancestral diets of cats and dogs did include organs. In fact many scavengers and predators prefer organs for the nutrient density. Organ meats are great.

A lot of the good companies use organ meats in their by-products. The problem is the FDA does not allow the differentiation between by-products from animal parts like beaks and feathers, and by-products from organ meats. This lack of a clear by-product definition is a result of the FDA not allowing any one company the ability to claim something that other companies could not claim. Organ meats cost a lot more than chicken beaks. If a company lists kidney and liver on the front of the package, their ingredient list has to list it as by-products.

What other things should pet owners look for on labels?

So just to recap:

• Nothing from the primary list like the artificial colors, preservatives, and flavors;
• No by-products
• No sugar. In fact cats don’t even have a sugar or sweetness receptor. Sugar can be listed as sugar, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose.
• No nitrates. Nitrates were actually banned by the FDA in the 1950s but the FDA never enforced the ban in pet and human food.  We all know that and it has been shown that nitrates cause cancer. The meat industry said that it would cause a major nutritional deficiency because people would not buy meats if they were grey. Nitrates are used to keep meat red in the grocery store. Also, the meat industry argued that if meat were not kept artificially red, truly decaying grey meat would not be easily discernible and many more people would get sick and die.

Look for part 2 next week as Chip and I discuss the controversial raw food diet, natural flea control, and dental care for your canine’s canines.

Dr. Gibran Ramos completed his six year training and internship in Naturopathic and Chinese Medicine at National College of Natural Medicine. Dr. Ramos helps patients transform their lives and optimize their well-being at a private practice in Portland, Oregon.

Photo by I woz ere.

Dr. Heather Zwickey has a Ph.D. in Immunology and Microbiology from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. She completed a post doctorate fellowship at Yale’s School of Medicine and currently serves as Director of Research at Helfgott Research Institute, Dean of Research at National College of Natural Medicine, and co-founder of a physician level vaccine educational service,  Vaccine Consult. We discussed vaccines, adjuvants (the additives in vaccines to induce an immune response) and the controversial Wakefield study.

WW: What is the most common question you hear from parents?

Is it healthy to give our newborns and infants so many shots? When parents look at the current CDC vaccination schedule, they notice that there are between four to eight shots at every single well-baby visit – at 2, 4, 6, 12, 18, and sometimes 24 months. That is 42 shots by the time they are three to four years old. Vaccine manufacturers are starting to reduce the number of shots by including more vaccines into a single shot. The multiple vaccine combinations are shown to induce an effective immune response, but the safety is still unstudied and unknown. The safety studies will not be complete until the vaccine is licensed and actually given to a large number of children. If these multiple vaccine combinations are found to be unsafe, they are then recalled. There is no way to test the safety ahead of time.

WW: Is there an alternative to the current CDC vaccination schedule?

Usually the alternative is breast feeding. If a parent is breastfeeding, they can often avoid many of the vaccines that are currently recommended.

WW: When a mother is breast feeding, which vaccines are still necessary?

This is where individualized medicine is needed. Every single patient has different risk factors that need to be considered when a parent is making an informed medical decision. If it were me, I would still vaccinate against polio because of the possible permanent neurological effects. A different vaccination that may or may not be needed is pertussis. Pertussis was much more deadly in the 1950s, but with the advent of antibiotics, it is much less deadly. Even with modern day anti-biotic treatment of pertussis, it is important for parents to ask themselves if they are okay with staying up late into the night with a child who could have whooping cough so bad that they are red to blue during six minute coughing fits and throwing up. Certainly there are pertussis outbreaks in certain communities. Whether pertussis is a vaccine required for a child, the decision must be, like all other vaccines, discussed with your physician. Ultimately parents must ask themselves, can they live with the permanent consequences of their decisions.

WW: Let’s talk about the Wakefield study.

In the 1980s, Andrew Wakefield did a large study on kids that have autism. He was looking for potential causes that were related to vaccination. On a side note, one of the public misconceptions is that there was mercury or thimerosol in the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine. There has never been mercury/thimerosol in the MMR vaccine. An observation was made that children developed autism around the time they received the MMR vaccine and so a responsible ingredient in the MMR vaccine was sought. Dr. Wakefield collected blood and stool samples from children to research any possible immunological response that could be attributed to the MMR vaccinations. Dr. Wakefield found antibodies to measles and may have found some live measles virus in some of autistic children in his study.

WW: The study (finding that vaccination causes autism) was dismissed by the Lancet Journal. Why?

There were a few problems with the study. The sample size was really small (at 12 autistic children). Also, Dr. Wakefield was paid by the parents of the kids to do the study. Although this was a blatant conflict of interest, this phenomenon is common in scientific research and even more so in medicine. Almost every new drug being studied is being paid for by a pharmaceutical company. It is rare to have purely independently funded scientific research. Regardless of Dr. Wakefield’s conflict of interest, he had a poorly designed cross-sectional study in a very specific group of autistic kids without a control group (who didn’t get the MMR vaccine). Another poor design aspect was that the evidence in blood and/or stool of an “adverse” reaction to the MMR vaccine is the same immune response you get in all children whether autistic or not.

WW: At the time of Dr. Wakefield’s study, was it known that there were measurable immune responses to vaccines in blood and/or stool?

Yes, they did know that an immune response could be measured through titers [a quantifiable concentration of immunoglobulins], but the medical community did not know, and they were surprised, that the immune response could be sustained at such an elevated level over one year after the MMR vaccination.

WW: What is the most common myth that “alternative” medicine practitioners hold and what does the actual science show?

Benedict Lust has this wonderful quote which he says, and I am paraphrasing here, “Who ever is so foolish as to put the putrid pus of another organism in their blood is crazy and they’re just going to get sick.” I think that there are a few things that stand out from teaching hundreds of alternative medicine students. First, it’s a downplaying of germ theory. Alternative medicine emphasizes the concept that disease is not from infectious agents, but that most disease is a result from an imbalance in your body’s overall health. I totally understand the belief that if you have a strong immune system, and are exposed to an infectious agent, you will not get sick. I would say that there are actually some very infectious diseases that if exposed to, no matter how strong or in balance you are, you will get sick and even have long term or permanent consequences.

The other misconception I see is that a homeopathic vaccination is going to give you a measurable titer or immune response to a microbe. I have not ever seen raw or even statistically analyzed results showing a homeopathically induced immune response. I am told that this data exists, but I have never seen this personally. When I do see these results, I will be cautiously excited, but I will also want to see if the results are scientifically reproducible. To me, an immunologist, the idea that you can give no antigen and get a response is not within my conception of probability. There are homeopathic studies out there that show symptom modulation suggesting an immune response is occurring, but quantifiable data has never been recorded.

WW: What is the most common myth that conventional medicine practitioners hold and what is does the actual science show?

Most medical doctors think that the current CDC vaccination schedule is used because it is somehow more healthy for the child. Actually, the whole schedule is set up based upon well-baby visits and convenience for the parents and doctors. The CDC vaccination schedule is not based upon optimal health of the child.

WW: What would be the ideal vaccination schedule?

Of course it should be based upon each individual child’s situation, but assuming that a parent is breast feeding and being health conscious, an optimal vaccination schedule would start between nine to twelve months. It definitely would not start at birth and be every two months. The argument made by most medical doctors is that the CDC schedule is from birth onwards because this is when these microbes are the most dangerous. If you are breast feeding and the child is in a low risk environment, most infectious microbes are not that dangerous.

WW: So how much breast milk is adequate to protect an infant from infections?

HZ: Research to answer that question is in process. They are looking at women who don’t produce milk and have to use supplementary milk from other mothers. A small study out of Sweden seems to show that any amount of breast milk is enough.

WW: When are adjuvants important?

Adjuvants are important in vaccines that are only protein and/or polysaccharide parts of bacteria or viruses. An example of this would be the Hib or DTaP vaccine. Adjuvants are not in “live” vaccines like the MMR, polio, or the influenza vaccine. One of the new adjuvants is a chemical called MF59 that is found in some makeup and beauty products. In Japan, MF59 it has been outlawed as it is a known carcinogen in laboratory tests. MF59 was used in some of the H1N1 flu vaccines and the hope was that it would be a good widespread test of MF59 safety. Since the vaccine came out after many people had already become infected with H1N1, MF59 never really got tested well in the general public.

GR: Often times bacterial vaccines are grown on a substrate that contains egg or other foods. Do you think there is a connection between adjuvants, manufacturing residuals and allergies?

HZ: There may be a connection between allergies and vaccinations not because of the adjuvants or manufacturing residuals, but because of the timing of the vaccinations. In an infant, a TH2 [allergy] response is much more likely than a TH1 response to a vaccination. The TH1 response is an immune response seen in a mature immune system. I also think that the timing of food introduction is very important in
determining food allergies.

Dr. Gibran Ramos completed his six year training and internship in Naturopathic and Chinese Medicine at National College of Natural Medicine. Dr. Ramos helps patients transform their lives and optimize their well-being at a private practice in Portland, Oregon.

Photo by auntjojo.

Many of my patients have good diets and pride themselves on eating healthy, but are unaware that something they are eating might be causing seemingly unrelated symptoms. We all know about food allergies, right? Like your cousin who is allergic to peanuts, or a friend of a friend that breaks out into a rash if she eats shellfish. But what about the more subtle food sensitivities that may not be as obvious and generally go undiagnosed?

Food allergies and food sensitivities are not the same thing.

• A food allergy is an immediate reaction where the offending food causes the IgE immune cells to respond immediately causing urticaria (hives), anaphylactic shock (an emergency situation where the windpipe closes), rhinitis (runny nose) and stomach problems.

• A food sensitivity is a delayed reaction where the offending food causes IgG immune cells to react and may take up to 3-7 days for your body to feel the effects.

When your immune system reacts to a food sensitivity, it creates a whole cascade of immune responses and inflammation in the body and can result in the following symptoms. This is by no means an exhaustive list, just the most common.

• migraine headache
• neurological disturbances
• eczema
• acne
• arthritis
• chronic inflammation
• joint pain
• systemic lupus erythematosus
• inflammatory bowel disease
• gall bladder disease
• asthma
• irritable bowel syndrome
• childhood hyperactivity
• behavioral disturbances in children
• sinus congestion
• indigestion
• intestinal gas
• diarrhea/constipation
• general fatigue.

How to test for food sensitivities
There are many ways to test for food sensitivities and everyone has different tests that they favor. I’ve listed the 3 which I use and feel are the best ways to identify a food sensitivity. Talk to your Naturopathic Doctor or health care practitioner to get guidance with the following techniques.

• Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test. The ELISA is the most popular (conventional) blood test to detect food sensitivities, and is considered safe, economical, and highly sensitive.  It uses an enzyme bonding process to detect antibody levels measuring IgE, IgG, IgG4 and IgA antibodies, and so identifies both food allergies and food sensitivities. Basically at the end of the day you get a nice handout showing the majority of foods and how strongly your body reacts to them on a graded scale. It’s visual, clear and easy to follow.
• EAV (vega testing). This electro-acupuncture diagnostic method out of Germany uses a galvanometer designed to measure the skin’s electrical activity at designated acupuncture points in response to specific foods. This technique purports to measure both general allergic pathology and specific food sensitivity.  In order for this technique to gain wider acceptance, more research and clinical trials will have to be conducted, and a scientifically satisfactory explanation of its mode of operation will have to be developed.
• Elimination/challenge diet. The most low tech solution and probably my favorite. The elimination and challenge diet is designed to omit suspected food intolerance’s and irritants from the diet for 7 to 14 days.  Once this is done, it is possible to introduce certain suspected food irritants or intolerances one at a time back into the diet, while checking for adverse reactions.  Ideally, the diet should be set up so that foods in the same family are not repeated within a 3-day period.

I promised my long distance patients some guidelines of how to go through an elimination diet. So, download the elimination diet handout and tape it to your fridge; have your last supper then go for it! Patients, definitely email me if you have any questions or need help getting through it.

Dr. Nishant Rao is a co-founder of WellWire.com. He is a well-traveled naturopathic doctor and new father, practicing an integrative approach to create wellness in and around Los Angeles. Become a patient or discover his practice.

Photo by Steve and Jemma Copley.

Want to be the calmest, brightest, happiest guest at your holiday parties this year? You don’t need a pill. Read this round-up and find out how our authors handle the stress of the season.

Christine Dionese L.Ac. on the truth about shopping: Ever look around the house and wonder, where did all this stuff come from? You’re on to something. Will giving your girlfriend a designer handbag actually make her happier? Probably not. Forget the Fendi and surprise her with a homemade Italian dinner instead! Or a trip to Italy where they’re made, if you have the budget for it. Cool studies show that folks who spend their savings on activities rather than stuff remain happier longer and report feeling more alive. This holiday season, ditch the stress of shopping for all that stuff and experience real life with your loved ones.

• The family. Bringing the whole family together for a night of ice-skating, snowboarding, or winter camping. Don’t forget to pack the hot chocolate and marshmallows!
• The significant other. Have some quality time to spare? Plan a holiday adventure for memories that never fade. If your budget is small or you only have a few days to get away then book a night or two at a local hotel with a pool!
• The parents. Gift them with dance lessons. Keep them fit while turning the tango!
• The siblings. Enroll your brothers and sisters in a cooking class for the new year. What better time to engage in learning how to cook new healthy meals while sharing the time with your siblings.
• Strangers. Help make other people happy this season by volunteering some of your time. Orphans and the elderly find themselves particularly lonely this time of year. Get the kids out to play in the snow, or offer to take a group of elderly folks Christmas caroling and to see a play. The few hours you spend will put a smile on everyone’s face for weeks to come and make you feel good too.
• Your best friend. He, or she, is probably stressing out about the holidays so splurge on a massage and yoga lesson for you and your bff to do together. Amidst all of the holiday chaos you can retreat with your pal, take the time to relax, revitalize, and catch up. Don’t wait until the gift exchange day, give now.

Amy Chitwood L.Ac on food allergies at a potluck: It may be the most magical time of the year but trust me, eating foods that make you feel bad are not going to make you feel better this month! So it’s very important to recognize that if you have food allergies or sensitivities, you shouldn’t make exceptions during the holidays. If your symptoms of IBS, congestion, or headaches return because you ate cheesecake or had that glass of wine, you’ll only feel more stressed.

• Ask! Rule number one is to always ask what is in food or how it was prepared. Dairy and gluten can hide in so many places!
• Bring! If you cook your own food and drinks and bring them to share with the group, you’ll know exactly what’s in your food and you’ll be a great guest. Elena’s pantry has some really amazing gluten-free desserts to bring to the table. I like to bring gluten-free pie and rolls to Thanksgiving–my whole family loves them!
• Restrain! If you are certain that eggnog doesn’t have dairy and those gooey cookies are gluten-free, then by all means, dig in! But if not, it’s safest to assume that there is something in them that may wreak havoc in your body. Be good and follow your usual dietary restrictions, your body will reward you.

Karla Mercado on planning simple get togethers with friends: If you’re in college or returning to your childhood home, then you know that this is the season for homecomings and everyone’s stacking up on reunion party invites. Perhaps you’re about to throw a party yourself? To avoid party stress, I suggest you keep it simple.

• Forget the plates. Serve food guests can carry around with your bare hands or a cloth napkin. They don’t have to be frou frou! Think of great homemade sandwiches, homemade pizza, or simple sliced veggies and fruit. Bonus: you won’t have to do dishes.
• One pot drinks. Avoid the unwanted calories and toxins of alcohol by serving hot apple cider infused with aromatic spices. You can set up a pot on the stove with a ladle and have your guests help themselves.
• Prepare, then sit down. Don’t run around making sure everyone has what they need. Suddenly you’ll realize people are leaving, your party is over, and you didn’t have the chance to really connect with your friends. Find a friend you hold dear and sit down together. Talk! That friend looking for more pizza, he’ll find it.

Dr. Igor Schwartzman on forgetting about consumerism-oriented traditions: I often get an unsettling feeling during this time of the year because my patients and the people around me all seem so overwhelmed. The holidays tend to bring out anxiety over what we think we should be doing (spending money, wrapping gifts, cooking particular dishes). These uncontrolled bursts of energy all lead to one place: stress. I think the true essence of the holidays is family and celebration, rather than consumerism. My family doesn’t share gifts. Instead we have small traditions and rituals that we create each year to celebrate our time together. The focus is all about getting back to the basics. Try this:

• Create a festive, nourishing meal together. Have fun! Give every single person a simple task.
• Walk through the woods or park and collect the gifts of nature to use as decorations around the house.
• Engage in family arts and crafts or a parlor game that results in a group story or poem.
• Retreat away from home, a house on the beach, or a winter-cabin.
• Plant a tree. Instead of cutting down a tree, plant a sapling in your garden. Over the years, you can watch it grow together. Simple, but rewarding.

Dr. Gibran Ramos on looking inwards: Cultivation is a Chinese cultural practice that I use to get through the cold darkness and stress of the holiday season. As the days start shortening, the weather gets cold and the mad holiday buying sprees start. From Chinese culture, we can discover the true gifts of the holiday season. For them, this is the season of introspection and reflection. Nature is an analogy and teacher that we can reference as a “how-to” manual for our lives and our health. When you go inwards, you discover the brilliance of your internal spirit, or shen. If you really take the time to reflect, when you get together with your family or friends, you’ll shine from the inside out! If you have a hard time sitting quietly by yourself, try writing a journal entry, or a long email, about what you’ve enjoyed, learned, cared for, or accomplished.

• Slow down.
• Look inwards.
• Meditate on the past year.

Dr. Carrie Jones on stress-free travel: Flying to Grandma’s house or braving the highway? Either way, I find that travel can be incredibly stressful if I’m not prepared. Here are my tips for a successful journey:

• Know before you go. With all the changes in the airline industry, make sure you’re aware of bag restrictions and costs associated with checking bags. Many airlines offer online check-in which can save you time at the airport.  In the car, print directions ahead of time or set your GPS unit ahead of time. Fill the gas tank, check your oil and tire pressure a few days before.
• Pack snacks. Airport food is overpriced and unhealthy. Most airlines don’t have a food option anymore which means long flights and short layovers can lead to hungry people. Snacks in the car means less stop time and healthier choices.
• Bring entertainment. Make sure you have books, magazines, music, games, and whatever else you need to ensure you and your family can pass the time without boredom or temper tantrums.
• Know your arrangements. Maybe you slept on the floor or on the couch last time and you were short a pillow or wished for more blankets. Plan accordingly! Pack extra comforts so you are able to sleep. Consider bringing ear plugs and an eye mask if you’re a light sleeper.

Have your own tips? Share below!

Photo by burningquestion.

If you’ve got a case of seasonal allergies, the last thing you probably want to do is explore nature and workout outside. But it’s beautiful outside! So join Dr. Kassam and learn how to alleviate those symptoms and make exercising with allergies a less agonizing experience.

Dr. Natasha Kassam is dedicated to facilitating the healing and wellbeing of her patients. Her passion is cardiovasular and pulmonary medicine. She practices at Bloom Natural Healthcare in NE Portland Oregon and is the host of askdrkassam.com.

Photo by ev0luti0nary.

Spring has sprung, and with it, seasonal allergies. Need some help easing the sneezing? Dr. Kassam shares helpful tips for how you can decrease the severity of your symptoms.

Dr. Natasha Kassam is dedicated to facilitating the healing and wellbeing of her patients. Her passion is cardiovasular and pulmonary medicine. She practices at Bloom Natural Healthcare in NE Portland Oregon and is the host of askdrkassam.com.

Photo by adjustafresh.

Here are some useful websites to find out the pollen and mold count for the United States and Europe (if anyone has maps for other regions, please send them to me).  Let’s do a quick round up of the top 10 easy to obtain over the counter natural products which are  effective against the fire and brimstone symptoms of nature’s freshest season.

I used to suffer from debilitating seasonal allergies which were 100% resolved with acupuncture (heres the wonderful lady who helped me) and homeopathy.  The following over the counter products will help tame the reactive immune system and will often be needed on a continual basis during allergy season.

1. Quercetin – Antioxidant with antihistamine and anti-inflammatory properties found primarily in apples & onions.  Difficult to absorb, so usually combined with bromelain.
2. Bromelain – Proteolytic enzyme found in pineapples, useful for reducing the sinus inflammation accompanying allergies (take on an empty stomach).
3. Vitamin C - Everyone’s favorite everyday natural anti-histamine.
4. Stinging Nettles – Plant with anti-histamine properties.
5. Food sensitivities - Eliminate common food allergens during allergy season to reduce your total inflammation;  wheat, dairy, corn, soy, citrus, peanuts, tomatoes and potatoes.
6. Netti pot - Cleanse out pollen allergens from your sinus cavity with saline. (how to video posted under my videos – bottom right column of the blog)
7. Fish oil – Powerful anti-inflammatory omega 3 fatty acids.
8. Air purifier – You spend SO much time indoors, and a lot of that sleeping.  At the least get one for the bedroom.  Make sure it has a HEPA filter, a little more expensive but worth it to reduce the amount of allergenic pollen floating around
9. Probiotics - Almost 70% of your immune system resides in your gut.  The correct bacterial balance will help to normalize your immune system and the subsequent immune reaction.
10. Homeopathy – safe, fast relief. Here are the most commonly used remedies and when to use them.  Look for a 6C or 30C dose.

• Allium Cepa – lots of watery discharge from the eyes with burning discharge from the nose.
• Arsenicum album – obstructed nose with burning watery discharge.  Tendency to effect the right side.  
• Euphrasia – extremely irritated eyes, with burning discharge from the eyes.
• Natrum muriaticum – whitish ‘egg white’ discharge, worse in the open air.
• Nux vomica- lots of sneezing and discharge, especially in the morning.
• Pulsatilla – terrible itching and tearing of the eyes, watery discharge which does not burn.

Simple tips you can use every day:

• Change into fresh cloths when you come inside.  Pollen tends to stick to your clothing.
• Eat whole fruits high in Vitamin C:  Guava, currant, orange, lemon, grapefruit, peach, kiwi, papaya, strawberry.
• Vacuum everyday. Eliminate floor rugs and throws during this time.
• Keep windows closed.
• Change sheets frequently.
• Drink plenty of water.

For a long term holistic solution:

• Find a Naturopathic Doctor
• Find an Acupuncturist

Dr. Nishant Rao is a co-founder of WellWire.com. He is a well-traveled naturopathic doctor and new father, practicing an integrative approach to create wellness in and around Los Angeles. Become a patient or discover his practice.