The Conference You Should Consider Attending...It Could Change Your Life

I (Yvonne) was fortunate enough to attend the 17th Annual Wise Traditions Conference of The Weston A. Price Foundation November 11-14, 2016 in Montgomery Alabama (beautiful old downtown) and also gladly shared this experience with awesome driver/music coordinator/fellow attendee/beautiful human being, Jennifer!  If I may speak for both of us, we had a blast. 

For those of you who are not familiar with the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF), it was founded to disseminate the research of nutrition pioneer Dr. Weston Price, whose studies of isolated non-industrialized peoples established the parameters of human health and determined the optimum characteristics of human diets. Dr. Price’s research demonstrated that humans achieve perfect physical form and perfect health generation after generation only when they consume nutrient-dense whole foods and the vital fat-soluble activators found exclusively in animal fats. 

The Foundation is dedicated to restoring nutrient-dense foods to the human diet through education, research and activism. It supports a number of movements that contribute to this objective including accurate nutrition instruction, organic and biodynamic farming, pasture-feeding of livestock, community-supported farms, honest and informative labeling, prepared parenting and nurturing therapies. Specific goals include establishment of universal access to clean, certified raw milk and a ban on the use of soy formula for infants.

Each year the WAPF organizes the Wise Traditions Conference. The intention is that the  conference will provide health seekers with the knowledge and tools they need to achieve robust health at any age.  The conference is open to anyone who is interested. Families are encouraged to attend. 

So, back to my conference experience. If you can imagine for a moment how relaxed and at home we felt in the company of so many others that think and feel the way we do about health, nutrition, sustainable farming, safe dentistry, freedom of food choice … well the list goes on and on.  But that is the point, to know that we are not alone in our idea of the best possible solution to today’s morass of illness and imbalance.  

As always, the conference presenters were wonderful, informative, very experienced in their fields and gave us so many new things to think about.  We should find real comfort in the fact that some of the world’s best doctors are looking at our current health issues with a different idea of prevention and treatment than our current non-functioning paradigm. Like Dr. Stephanie Seneff, PhD , who is focusing her very comprehensive skills on the role of toxic chemicals and micronutrient deficiencies in health with special emphasis on the herbicide Round-Up.  She has a very different, well-grounded and researched idea about the Zika virus and its cause.   

 Speaking of different, we ran in to one of our favorite contributors to the Wise Traditions publication, Dr. Tom Cowan and his beautiful and fascinating idea of what causes heart attacks.  Just as an example of the mind blowing concepts we were introduced to at this conference, Dr. Cowan started his lecture with the statement, “the heart is not a pump”.  Wow!

I always attend at least one presentation by Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) founder and president, Sally Fallon-Morell, who presents like she is sitting in your living room chatting about a better recipe for roast.  She is one of my living heroes and to be in her presence was an honor!  

I met a new hero, Alan Phillips, J.D., who gave up a successful singing/songwriting career to become the only lawyer, that we are aware of, in the U.S. who represents people specifically for vaccine exemption in every forum (school, work, daycare, military, immigration, etc.).  You can download his e-book at vaccinerights.com.  

Another conference favorite, Dr. Louisa Williams, MS, DC, ND, has spent her career helping people navigate health issues related to dental work and stressing the importance of clean-up after the toxins are removed.  She agrees with us regarding the use of thermography and cavitat to help identify areas of concern, it was nice to have that confirmed.   

Dr. Chris Masterjohn, PhD spoke about the role of fats in our health is another regular contributor to Wise Traditions publication and wonderful to see him in person.  

There was a very exciting lecture from Dr. Tetyana Obukhanych, PhD on how the immune system works with emphasis on its natural function and how to naturally support and enhance it with specifics on how so many of the things we do today reduce our immune systems efficiency.   

The information presented by the speakers was not trite or dogamtic. It was researched, clinically applied and well understood because they are so passionate about what they believe and practice.

As you can see we had a profound experience in Alabama and walked the halls with our living heroes and heroines, the guys on the front line of our fight for common sense and a return to natural health and well being.

On a lighter note, the food was to die for!  The breakfast and lunch menus were the same healthy, home cooked traditional foods that they are teaching the world to appreciate.  Grass fed meats, tons of veggies (some cooked-some raw), Sauerkraut, buckets of butter, fermented grain products made from freshly ground whole flour, kombucha and broth to drink.  The sponsors were some of our existing vendors (Green Pastures, EPIC and Bio-Kult Probiotics) plus some new ones that we are excited about looking into for the possible health benefits to our clients.

Speaking of food, we encourage everyone to support the Farm to Consumers Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF) because they advocate for and defend the farmers growing and distributing nourishing traditional foods like raw milk, raw butter and pastured eggs. The FTCLDF protects the rights of farmers and consumers to engage in direct commerce; it protects the rights of farmers to sell the products of the farm and the rights of consumers to access the foods of their choice from the source of their choice. FTCLDF is a true grassroots organization and receives no government funding and little or no corporate funding.

On a personal note, we walked the same streets as the freedom marchers from the 1960’s that ended in front of the state capitol.  I was proud to be there. It felt like we were there fighting for our freedom again in Montgomery Alabama by showing our support for the people that fight the battle every day for food grown consciously, the right to distribute that food, our right to purchase that food and our inherent right to choose what is best for our bodies.

My takeaway from all of this?  I walked the halls with my living heroes/heroines including the farmers that were there against all odds and strange laws about whether they should be able to sell their beautiful food and whether we should be able to buy it. They are fighting every day for the right to grow food properly and share it with the world.   There are folks out there just like you and me working to make this a better, safer, healthier place to be and that gave me much comfort. And, you can ask Jennifer, much JOY!  

One last thing, you would love to become a member of the Weston A. Price Foundation. As a member you receive its Wise Traditions publication quarterly with articles and information that are truly well-informed and researched covering areas of concern for everyone’s health and well being for a mere $40.00/year!  Support the people helping us to be well and stay well, fight for your food rights…rockin on with our bad selves.

Yvonne is correct! We did have a blast at the Wise Traditions Conference. This is the first one I (Jennifer) have attended. Just reading the list of speakers incited irrepressible giddiness. It was like reading a list of rock stars, but these rockers are advocating, researching and educating about nourishing foods, working with the body to obtain health and working to keep everyone's right to freedom of choice.

Over the 3 days of the conference, 42 speakers presented. Each day we had to make the choice of which talks to attend. It was tough to decide. Thankfully, I had a partner. Usually Yvonne and I would go to separate talks and then share what each of us had learned. It was a double whammy of fantastic learning.

Some of the presentations I attended were Ferments! with Celeste Long Acre, Gardening for Nutrient Dense Vegetables with Alvin & Calvin Bey, Vaccine Politics & Your Legal Rights with Alan Phillips, The Adrenal Heart Connection with Dr. Tom Cowan, Fermenting Drinks with Hannah Crum and Your Family's Dental Health with Dr. Lorie Miller Stevens, RDG, DMD, MAGD, AIAOMT.

At each lecture I learned something new or had my ideas of what is possible expanded. I learned things like carbon dioxide in the body is necessary for certain gene expressions therefore learning to breath to allow for more CO2 is important, that a scary amount of scientific published findings are false and how extruding grains (which is how most cereal is made) warps it and makes it almost indigestible.

But the one thing that was consistent and really stood out with every speaker I heard was that each one spoke with heart. It was obvious they truly care about helping people get and be healthy. Their desire to educate as many people as possible so that everyone’s life can be better was palpable. 

One of the more subtle, (and delicious) learnings took place at each meal. Lunch and dinner were included with the conference and like Yvonne said, the food was to die for. Each meal was prepared within the WAPF guidelines. I experienced soaked/fermented oats with cultured butter (the importance of eating a fat with a grain), fermented vegetables (a probiotic with each meal), drinking broth, kombucha and fluoride free water. Each meal had vegetables, a meat (grass fed, pasture raised) and something fermented. Seeing the guidelines in action made it easier for me to plan my meals at home.

While walking around and attending the lectures it began to dawn on me that like Yvonne, Lois and myself, there are people all around the country who believe and make their voice heard about the importance of chemical and genetically modified free foods.  About the right to choose clean, nutritious foods, to choose natural health care, freedom to decide what is best for our bodies regardless if the government thinks it is or not.  Sometimes it does feel like we are a candle in a hurricane. But at the conference I saw there are many candles. Shine on!

Wish you had been to the the conference? Purchase the recordings and it can almost be like you were.

Breast Health Awareness

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but we need to make sure that every month is dedicated to Breast Health. 

Cancer awareness, breast cancer prevention, screening and breast care are good things to pay attention to.  Here is About Your Health's contribution to this critical aspect of women's and men's health.

We are all aware of the of the importance of early diagnosis and treatment for breast cancer; after all female breast cancer does represent 14% of ALL new cancers in the US, but is now the most common type of cancer in the US for 2016, even more than lung cancer.  Although it is the most common type of cancer by diagnosis, due to treatment available, breast cancer will be the third most common cause of death from cancer, just behind lung and colorectal cancers.

Let’s not forget the men in this country. For the men, in 2016, 2600 new breast cancer cases will be diagnosed((1:1000), and 440 will die from breast cancer.

 So, where did Breast Cancer Awareness come from? How did it get started?   Thinkbeforeyoupink.org  and  Breast Cancer Action has a very good history of this.  Here is an excerpt of how it all began.

"In the early 90's,  68-year-old Charlotte Haley, the granddaughter, sister, and mother of women who had battled breast cancer, started a grassroots effort to 'wake up' legislators and America about the need for cancer prevention. She created a peach colored ribbon that she attached to postcards asserting 'The National Cancer Institute’s annual budget is $1.8 billion, only 5 percent goes for cancer prevention. Help us wake up legislators and America by wearing this ribbon.' Her ribbons were a call to action: a demand for prevention of this disease and greater accountability."

Then Self magazine & Estee Lauder called Charlotte.

Self magazine asked if they could use her ribbon in their second annual "Breast Cancer Awareness" issue.  Self's marketing executive and Estee Lauder's VP saw the potential of a ribbon branded to breast cancer. But Charlotte told them she wouldn't work with them; they were too corporate and commercial for her. The two companies determined that legally they could use her idea without her permission if they changed the color of the ribbon. And the pink ribbon was born. 

“There is a value to awareness, but awareness of what, and to what end?” asks Barbara Brenner, activist and executive director of Breast Cancer Action (BCA) in San Francisco. “We need changes in the direction the research is going, we need access to care—beyond mammograms—we need to know what is causing the disease, and we need a cure. The pink ribbon is not indicative of any of that.”

 So what is causing the disease? What do we need to be aware of in order to help prevent cancers, including breast cancer and maintain breast health? There are usually a combination of contributing factors. Each person is different, but they tend to include environmental exposures, dental health, emotional issues, food and lifestyle choices. 

Below I will highlight just few of the factors related to Breast Health. 

Environmental Exposure (things we eat, breathe, apply topically):  Dr. Joseph Mercola, nationally recognized physician, author, lecturer, researcher, and the list goes on and on, gives an updated list of contaminants in our environment that we all need to be aware of.  27 different carcinogens that do not fit into the chemical categories listed below are also considered high priority. These chemicals include certain ones found in pesticides, consumer products, and food.

Two examples of the latter are methyl eugenol, which is used in processed food as a natural and artificial flavoring, and nitrosamines in smoked meats. The researchers also list obesity and medical radiation as preventable risk factors, the latter of which would include unnecessary mammograms.

According to Mercola.com, the following are just some of the High Priority Chemicals to Avoid for Breast Cancer Prevention.

Flame retardants: Flame retardant products, polyester resins, plastic polymers, and rigid polyurethane foams.

Acrylamide: Diet (especially starchy foods, such as French fries, cooked at high temperatures), tobacco smoke, and polyacrylamide gels in consumer products, such as diapers.

Aromatic amines: Polyurethane, pesticides, Azo dyes, and many other products

Benzene: Gasoline (riding in a car, pumping gasoline, and storing gasoline in a basement or attached garage), tobacco smoke, adhesive removers, paints, sealants, finishers, and engine fuel and oils.

Halogenated organic solvents: Dry cleaning, hair spray propellant, soil fumigants, food processing, gasoline additives, and paint and spot removers.

Perfluorooctanoic acid PFOA: Non-stick and stain-resistant coatings on rugs, furniture, clothes and cookware; fire-fighting applications, cosmetics, lubricants, paints, and adhesives.

For the full list click here. Awareness is key.

A very good, simplified tutorial on the influence of the environment and your epigenetics/genetics can be found at the University of Utah's Epigenetics page - believe me it is worth spending some time on this site.

 Dental Health: Your teeth can also influence disease in the body. Did you know that each tooth has a connection to an organ? Several cutting edge clinics treating cancer patients begin with cleaning up dental work.

Emotional Health: "According to an article written for "The Truth About Cancer", trauma is the emotional response someone has to an extremely negative event. In-the-moment responses to such events (often called “shock”), such as racing pulse, dizziness, confusion, numbness, disorientation, and distraction, are a normal part of our system’s “fight or flight" response.

"When emotional trauma goes unhealed, the body system is in a constant state of heightened stress. Numerous studies have connected stress with lower immune function and higher incidences of disease in general. A recent report, however, analyzed the findings of close to a hundred other studies that showed how the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) can actually encourage metastasis when it is chronically activated."

"The SNS is the primary system involved in the chemical changes that occur during “fight or flight.” In acute situations, the SNS becomes active. As soon as a traumatizing event has passed, however, the body goes back to homeostasis within about an hour. Under chronic stress, the SNS is “turned on” virtually all the time. In this state, adrenaline and noradrenaline stimulating mechanisms within it will alter genetic code.

This genetic alteration can lead to a number of pro-cancer processes:

• Activation of inflammatory responses
• The inhibiting of immune responses
• Inhibition of programmed cancer cell death
• The reduction in the cytotoxic function of Natural killer cells
• The inhibiting of DNA repair
• Stimulation of cancer cell angiogenesis"

Specific things to be aware of as a woman: For women, all your female health products affect you overall.  Think about things that create hormone imbalances and products you use topically and internally.  This includes various lotions, perfumes, make-up, body wash, lip  balms, oral hygiene products, deodorants,shampoo, sunscreen, dryer sheets and detergents. Products used day after day. Exposures day after day. 

How about tampons and pads? Today, the feminine hygiene aisle is full of healthier options to the traditional tampon and pads. There are now tampons made with organic materials,  reusable cloth pads and menstrual cups. 

Here are some options:

Pads -  Look for organic cotton panty liners and pads made without rayon, plastics or similar synthetic materials. Also, stick to brands that specifically advertise being free of petroleum-based ingredients and polyethylene. Stay away from scented or fragranced versions, as the phthalates that make up the scent may disrupt normal hormonal balances in the body.

Tampons -  Make it a point to purchase tampons made only from 100 percent organically produced cotton. Organic tampons are usually free of pesticides, petroleum-based chemicals and other additives. And as always, scents and fragrances are a no-no.

Menstrual cups - We know it may sound weird, but seeing as the average woman throws away 300 pounds of feminine hygiene products in her lifetime, a reusable menstrual cup is the best way to be environmentally friendly and keep your body safe from chemicals. Worn internally like a tampon, these bell-shaped cups collect your, ahem, flow and should be removed and emptied two to three times a day.

Cloth Pads -  Instead of throwing away your pad after each use, cloth pads are meant to be washed and worn again. Since they’re typically made from organic cotton (and without any chemicals/additives), they’re one of the most natural options on the market! 

New and innovative products coming in to the market all of the time. Have you tried Thinx underwear? These period panties are period proof underwear that keeps you dry.

Another part of breast health includes "breast screening”. The recommendations for specific screenings get changed at intervals, so be aware of the trends. But one trend that never goes out of fashion is knowing your own breast, what they look like & how they feel, at every phase of your cycle. Even after your cycle ends.

Self breast exams are a must for all women and men of all ages.  Instructions for the self breast exam can be found here. You can also add a lymph self massage with essential oils to add another breast health enhancing technique. We like Healthy Girls Breast Oil. If you subscribe to their newsletter,  you will receive instructions on how to do a lymphatic self massage.

Thermography can be a useful adjunct to good breast health awareness and is totally safe at any age. Got implants? Safe.  Had breast surgery? Safe. Don’t want radiation? Safe. Not “old” enough for the recommendation mammograms? Got ya’ covered. The American College of Clinical Thermology is a great resource for more thermography information and to locate a thermography technician in your area.

Know your breasts! What they feel like, what they look like and your own individual thermal fingerprint.

Education is your biggest advantage for your health. And it is readily available to you. Pursue by yourself or make it a group effort with some friends. Call us or come by the store and check out our comprehensive health services.

Just do it: maintain and support Breast Health.

How To Take What Is Rightfully Yours - Good Health - And Take It To the Limit

At About Your Health we encourage people to take what is rightfully theirs- good health- and take it to the limit. 

What do we mean by "taking your good health to the limit?"

We mean take your health back into your hands. We mean educate yourself. We mean be proactive in your health. Your reward? Health that supports your life rather than hinders it.

Educate yourself. This is your body. Not all bodies are the same and what works for one may not work for another. Consider yourself lucky to live in this age with so much information available with a couple taps of a button. Doctors aren’t the only ones who know how the body works. You wouldn’t expect the mechanic at the car dealership to be the only one to know how a car operates and how to fix it.  Consider this, on average doctors only receive approx. 19 to 24 hours of nutrition education in medical school. Nutrition is the very foundation of our bodies. What you feed your body directly affects the quality of cells produced and functions of the body.

Take your good health back into your hands and be proactive. In addition to educating yourself, this means being responsible for your choices. To consciously make decisions that take you a step, skip or a cartwheel closer to better health. One of the biggest things to influence your health, from top to bottom, inside and out, is your food. Now this can be a bit tricky because what some of us think of as food, really isn’t. Real food doesn’t come in a box. Real food is rarely found in a drive thru. Real food doesn’t come along with chemicals (unless it’s a GMO, that’s for another post) or neurotoxins. Real food means fresh vegetables, meats raised without hormones, antibiotics and hopefully grass fed, pastured eggs, raw dairy, fermented foods & fermented dairy. Think of what your great-grandparents might have eaten.

There are a lot of diets (defined as the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats – not starving yourself) out there. You have to find the one that works best for you and your body.

Here are some diet suggestions that use real foods:  

• Paleo, Weston A. Price Nutritional Guidelines, 
• Vegetarian (a true vegetarian diet, not one that relies heavily on grains and meat like products)
• Mediterranean.
• There are also numerous therapeutic diets for people needing to turn their health around pronto like GAPS, The Wahl’s Protocol & Dr. Amy Myers Auto Immune Solution.

It is truly amazing how people can drastically improve their health just by changing what  they put into their mouth.

Remember the body is always trying to balance itself. Your choices either take you closer to optimal health or away from it. 

Good news is, the choice is yours. Bad news, the choice for good health is yours and it is your responsibility and opportunity to take it to the limit.

We are always available by appointment to discuss how you can bring your body into balance and enjoy the benefits that come with a body in good health. Call any time: 803-798-8687.