Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones

Is your endocrine system healthy? If you suffer from regular insomnia and other sleep issues, dull skin, depression, low energy, alopecia, a low sex drive, weight gain, puffy skin, excessive fear, anger, or ADHD, the answer is no. These are just some of the many symptoms that pretty much guarantee a sluggish endocrine system. Basically, if you’re not healthy, your endocrine system is not healthy. An unhealthy endocrine system means congested and otherwise degenerated glands are causing imbalanced hormone levels.

Endocrine Anatomy
How Hormones Work
Hypothalamus
Pituitary Gland
Anterior Pituitary
Human Growth Hormone
Posterior Pituitary Gland
Pineal
Melatonin
How to Decalcify the Pineal Gland
Thyroid
How to Heal the Thyroid
Gluten, Hashimoto’s Disease, and Leaky Gut
Parathyroid
Adrenals – Suprarenal Glands
Nutrients that Boost Adrenal Response
How to Heal Adrenal Glands
The Pancreas
Diabetes
Gonads – Reproductive Organs
Natural Remedies for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
Naturally Alleviate Menopause Symptoms
Natural Remedies for PMS
Heal the Endocrine System and Balance Hormones Step By Step

The holistic approach to ridding the body of disease is all about achieving homeostasis of the body through proper diet, elimination of toxins, and targeting specific,underlying issues through supplementation to reduce the most prevalent symptoms and aid healing. In other words, the goal is to rebuild the body’s cells. This is always the goal with achieving or retaining good health. As Raymond Francis taught us, there is only one disease, and that’s cell malfunction, which has two causes: nutrient deficiencies and toxicity. How sickness manifests itself depends on which cells are failing. If you rebuild the cells, the body works properly. For most people this can be done with diet alone.

On the other hand, sometimes a specific gland, organ, or an entire system (and it’s often a combination) within the body becomes so depleted, infected, and toxic, the body needs targeted assistance.

When the body is overwhelmed with toxins, parts of the body will become so dysfunctional that simply functioning produces more toxins than the body can properly evacuate. Picture a car engine with a blown head gasket (or the wrong gas, or whatever makes sense to you). For many people, their endocrine system, or one or more of the glands within, are so dysfunctional that autoimmune disease is just around the corner. The head gasket is about to blow.

How do you know if your endocrine system needs help? As mentioned earlier, if you’re not feeling well, your endocrine system is taxed. Even if the problem is originating within an organ or another part of the body, if you don’t feel well, your endocrine system doesn’t feel well. A look at the endocrine system will explain why.

Endocrine Anatomy 101

The endocrine system is the collection of glands and glandular organs that produce hormones to regulate metabolism, tissue function, growth and development (which includes repair), sexual function, reproduction, sleep, mood, the immune system, and more.

The glands of the endocrine secrete hormones directly into the spaces surrounding their cells where the bloodstream picks them up and circulates them throughout the body, ultimately reaching the organ or cells designed to respond to the particular hormone. Hormones, much like the nervous system, tell the body what to do, and when. The endocrine system does this through chemicals, while the nervous system does this through electrical nerve impulses.

Nerve impulses execute their effect immediately, but those effects are generally short-lived. The endocrine system takes longer. Hormones have to make their way from the gland that produces them into the bloodstream and eventually into the organ or cells where the hormones will take effect. A common way to look at the difference between the two is that the nervous system causes short-term responses, and the endocrine system is responsible for the body’s longer-term responses. The two systems are mutually interconnected.

Endocrine glands are glands of the endocrine system that secrete their hormones into the bloodstream. The major glands of the endocrine system include the pineal gland, pituitary gland, pancreas, ovaries, testes, thyroid, parathyroid, hypothalamus, and the adrenals. When most people consider detoxifying the endocrine system to balance their hormones, these are the body parts that come to mind.

The endocrine system includes a few organs that are not exclusively endocrine in function, meaning, they don’t just release hormones. The hypothalamus, ovaries, and testes are included in this list, but the liver, pancreas, stomach, small intestine, kidneys, and the placenta are all also part of the endocrine system.

The hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and pineal gland are located in the brain.
The thyroid gland is located in the anterior neck, spanning between the C5 and T1 vertebrae, with the four parathyroid glands situated behind it.
The adrenal (AKA the suprarenal) glands lie on top of the kidneys.
The pancreas, stomach, ovaries, and testes are located in and beneath the abdominal cavity.
The thymus is a gland in the chest. It contains glandular tissue and produces several hormones. But the thymus is much more closely associated with the immune system than the endocrine system.

How Hormones Work

Hormones are chemical messengers created by the body to transfer information from one set of cells to another in order to regulate the functions of different parts of the body. This includes hormones that are created only for the purpose of telling another gland to produce another hormone. (In this case, this would be only to tell a glandular organ to produce a hormone.)

The endocrine system is regulated by feedback. Take the pituitary gland for instance. A signal is sent from the hypothalamus to the pituitary gland to secrete a hormone, which signals the target gland to secrete its hormone, which we will say is T4 in this case, a hormone produced by the thyroid.

When hormones enter the bloodstream they come in contact with many cells, but our hormones can affect only a few very specific cells called target cells. These target cells contain highly specific receptors, surface glycoproteins. The geometry of the glycoprotein molecules allows only for very specific hormones to attach to the receptor in the target cell surface.

Target cells have up to 100,000 receptors for any one specific hormone. If the desired hormone molecules are lacking, the receptor sites of the individual cells will multiply to raise the level of sensitivity. When there is an excess of a hormone, the receptors for that hormone decrease, reducing the target cell’s sensitivity. Back to our pituitary example, the levels of the T5 hormone should eventually rise in the bloodstream, and this tells the pituitary gland to reduce or stop producing the hormone responsible telling the thyroid to produce T4, and that’s a feedback loop.

Of course, this is a very simplistic explanation of only one of a few ways the body reduces hormonal response. There are many different kinds of hormones, and different hormones perform very different tasks. For a better understanding of these hormones, it’s on to the hormone creators.

Hypothalamus

The hypothalamus is a part of the brain about the size of an almond, located below the thalamus, at the center for many critical bodily functions. The hypothalamus monitors the amount of salt and water in the body (by sensing the concentration of electrolytes in the blood), hormone concentrations in the blood, and the body’s temperature. It is associated with rage, aggression, hunger, and thirst. The hypothalamus creates “releasing hormones” that stimulate or inhibit the secretion of pituitary hormones. The pituitary gland used to be considered the master gland, but now we know that the pituitary is receiving its orders from the hypothalamus’s hormones.

The hypothalamus is an intermediary between the endocrine system, the nervous system, and the immune system. Its responsibility includes certain activities of the autonomic nervous system like growth, metabolism, childbirth, milk production, circadian cycles, and more. If you feel fatigued, sleepy, emotional, hungry, or thirsty, your hypothalamus is communicating with you.

Conventional doctors and holistic health practitioners agree that the hypothalamus functions pretty much problem free for most people, but, anorexia, bulimia, malnutrition, infections, inflammation, chronic insomnia, an excess of iron, excessive bleeding, head traumas, genetic disorders, tumors, radiation, and surgery can cause problems for the hypothalamus.

The hypothalamus and the pituitary gland are tightly integrated. Together they regulate all processes having to do with our primitive reactions like fight or flight, body temperature, thirst, hunger, sexual activity, and survival in general.

Hypothalamus Nutrition and Herbal Support

Healthy fats, B vitamins, vitamin E, and glandular support (desiccated animal glands) are typically used to support the hypothalamus, but eliminating inflammation is key. This gland usually responds quickly to a balanced diet.

When the brain becomes inflamed, hypothalamic cells are disrupted, which leads to disease. Research recently elucidated the effects of hypothalamic inflammation and how it can lead to diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

If the hypothalamus is failing, there are a lot of other problems within the body that need to be addressed, including the entire endocrine system as a whole, but reducing inflammation with healthy fat supplementation, the right diet, and B vitamins should be a good first step. Grounding and sunlight are also extremely beneficial and sometimes imperative for its optimal function.

Pituitary Gland

The pituitary is about the size of a pea. This gland lies in the sella turcica, known as the “Turkish saddle” at the base of the brain, behind the optic chiasm. The pituitary gland contains two functionally different body parts known as the anterior pituitary and the posterior pituitary. As far as we know, these two, while right next to each other, do not really work together.

At one time, the pituitary gland, also called the hypophysis, was thought to be the “master gland” that controlled all of the other endocrine glands. Now we know that the hypothalamus takes messages from the brain and tells the pituitary which hormones to excrete. For instance, the hypothalamus will secrete growth-hormone-releasing hormone or growth-hormone-inhibiting hormone to tell the anterios pituitary to release or stop releasing growth hormones. The hypothalamus and the pituitary are tightly integrated. Together, they regulate all processes having to do with primitive reactions, such as stress, rage, flight, body temperature, thirst, hunger, sexual activity, and survival in general.

Anterior Pituitary – Adenohypophysis

The anterior pituitary gland is controlled by negative feedback mechanisms that make up three-quarters of the pituitary gland. Once triggered by the hypothalamus, hormones are released by the anterior pituitary into the bloodstream.

For example, the hypothalamus releases hormones that tell the pituitary to release hormones that stimulate the thyroid to release hormones. These hormones enter the bloodstream to boost metabolism within the body where required. The negative feedback loop we spoke of above is how hormones in the blood communicate to the brain. When the metabolism has been successfully increased to the desired state, hormones in the blood tell the hypothalamus to tell the pituitary to stop stimulating the thyroid gland.

Principal Anterior Pituitary Hormones

Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone

TSH stimulates the thyroid gland to release thyroid hormones.

Follicle-Stimulating Hormone

FSH & LH (luteinizing hormone) are known as gonadotropins because they stimulate the gonads (testicles and ovaries). They are not necessary to sustain life, but these hormones are essential for reproduction.

Prolactin

PL stimulates milk production.

Adrenocorticotropic

ACTH stimulates the release of adrenal cortical hormones by the adrenal glands.

Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormone

MSH is a collective name for a group of peptide hormones produced by the pituitary gland, the hypothalamus, and the skin. This hormone is an anti-inflammatory hormone that gets its name because of its effect on melanocytes, skin cells that contain the black pigment, melanin. Melanocytes are responsible for moles, freckles, and suntans. Melanin helps protect our cells from DNA damage from sunlight.

Studies have recently shown that MSH can also suppress appetite. In all likelihood, MSH is also responsible for a range of other processes in the body.

Human Growth Hormone

HGH (somatotropin) stimulates growth of the body and helps regulate metabolic processes. People feel younger and the body heals much faster when there is enough (or excess) growth hormone. The most important function of HGH is to tell the liver to produce IGF-1, or insulin-like growth factor 1. IGF-1 is considered by many to be the key anti-aging hormone. Together these two hormones influence every system in your body.

Increase Your Growth Hormones Naturally

If you get a prescription, injections given twice a day by a doctor can increase your IGF-1 hormone production by 20 to 40 percent. Professional athletes and movie stars swear by growth hormone injections. They may be the untold secret to many people’s success, but there are health problems with injecting hormones into the body. One of the many problems is that the pituitary can lose its ability to produce its own GH.

Some take pills and supplements that contain growth hormones, which are available over the counter like other supplements. Users should do their due diligence before taking any product containing human growth hormones.

There are also many supplements designed to increase the body’s growth hormone production (Growth Hormone Production Nutrition). When someone is matched with the right supplements, the right formula can increase IGF-1 levels by 20 percent or more. A good alternative to HGH injections, these supplements are amino acid-based precursor formulas that contain ingredients such as glutamine, tyrosine, GABA, arginine, and lysine.

Working out can dramatically increase growth hormone prevalence. A thirty-minute aerobic session can increase IGF-1 levels by more than 100%, and a serious weight training session can increase levels by 400 to 800%. On that note, everyone should be doing squats for a multitude of reasons, including but not limited to growth hormone production!

HGH Protocol

Squats have a myriad of health benefits including an increase in growth hormone production. It’s one of the most important movements we can do for our health. Try with just a few bodyweight squats if you’re out of shape, and work your way up to being able to do 100 squats at one time without getting sore. If you can’t do squats, try lying on the floor and then standing up, then lying back down to repeat, alternating legs each time. If you’re really serious about kicking up your growth hormone production, try sprints with high-intensity-interval training and low rep Olympic barbell squats with deadlifts, rows, pull-ups, and bench presses. The more muscles involved in the action and the heavier the load, the more HGH is released.

Specific nutrition is known to increase growth hormone production under the right circumstances; these supplements are much more powerful when combined with the right exercise program.

L-arginine is an essential amino acid that can increase the release of HGH, but do not take with sugars. L-arginine should be taken only with low glycemic nutrition.
Glutamine is your body’s most abundant amino acid. Studies have shown that even modest amounts can significantly increase HGH levels.
Glycine plays a critical role in initiating normal patterns of REM sleep and has shown some promise in increasing HGH. We’re not sure if the high-quality sleep is what’s improving the hormone levels, or if there are also other factors when supplementing, but proper sleep is a critical factor in the body’s ability to regulate the circadian release of HGH.

Adequate sleep is a must! The highest concentration of HGH activity occurs when we are sleeping.

Growth hormone and testosterone production peak during sleep. You can actually get people to test pathologically low for growth hormone by waking them repeatedly during the night. I always tell people that if you want to maximize your growth hormone, get a good night’s sleep.” – University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas

Avoid high glycemic load foods, which is good advice for most anyone who’s not healthy or wants to stay healthy. Insulin inhibits HGH secretion. High glycemic foods (which are generally processed foods with refined sugars) wreak havoc with our insulin levels.

Hawthorn berries, horny goat weed, and maca are also known to aid the body with HGH production.

Anterior Pituitary Nutrition

Conditions such as acromegaly, Cushing’s syndrome, and prolactinoma occur when the pituitary gland produces too much of one or more of its hormones.

Adult growth hormone deficiency, diabetes insipidus, hypopituitarism, hypothyroidism, and hypogonadism may result from the pituitary gland producing too little of one or more of its hormones. There are many more diseases that stem from a dysfunctional pituitary gland, like acromegaly, which gave André the Giant his stature and early death.

As previously mentioned, high glycemic foods and refined foods should be avoided for healthy pituitary function, but this is true for all glandular function, and for the entire body, for that matter. It should be noted that fruits with high glycemic loads have other benefits that make moderate consumption healthful, provided the person does not have an illness that requires limited natural sugars. Adaptogens like ashwagandha, eleuthero, holy basil, maca, Panax ginseng, Rhodiola rosea, and schisandra, as well as glandulars (desiccated glands), are generally used for naturopathic healing of the pituitary. Check out Shillington’s Brain Tonic and Desiccated Pituitary.

Considerable recent research has shown that the pituitary is extremely sensitive to diet. (Someday science will recognize that this is true for every cell in the body.) If you don’t assimilate enough protein, your pituitary can’t produce enough pituitary hormones (which are made up of amino acids). The pituitary is also known to need manganese, vitamin E, vitamin A, vitamin D, and B vitamins for proper healthy function.

Posterior Pituitary Gland – Neurohypophysis

The posterior pituitary gland is slightly smaller and lighter in color than the other half of the pituitary, and it is not technically a gland, though it is a vital part of the endocrine system (and everyone still calls it a gland). This “gland” does not synthesize hormones. Instead the posterior pituitary stores and secretes two hormones, oxytocin and vasopressin, which are actually produced in the hypothalamus (master gland) and transported to the pituitary.

Diabetes insipidus is the only clinical disorder that is generally conceded by the medical community to be of neurohypophyseal origin, but more and more evidence suggests that the posterior pituitary may have functions now scarcely appreciated. Treatment for the posterior pituitary gland is lumped in with treatment for the entire endocrine system, and the nutrition recommended is the same as mentioned above for the anterior pituitary gland.

Oxytocin

OXT is a powerful hormone with a lot of responsibilities. During childbirth this hormone increases the strength of uterine contractions and stimulates the ejection of milk after delivery. Incidentally, pitocin is a synthetic form of oxytocin, used to induce labor.

Oxytocin is known as the “love hormone,” or the “bonding hormone,” because it’s said to foster maternal instincts and sexual pleasure during and after intercourse. It’s not just a sex hormone, oxytocin levels in the body increase when we hug or kiss a loved one like a spouse, parent, or child.

Oxytocin plays a role in healing as well:

As mice age, the amount of oxytocin in their blood decreases. But what does that mean for their health? Researchers injected oxytocin under the skin of elderly mice with damaged muscles and discovered the muscles healed much faster than those of mice left untreated.” – Mental Floss

We’re just beginning to find out that oxytocin radically affects many aspects of our lives. This hormone inhibits the brain’s fear center, has been shown to influence how men remember their mother’s affection toward them as children (likely true for women, too), makes it easier for us to lie, makes it easier for us to trust, has been shown to make men more loyal to their spouses, is released when we feel safe and unobserved (causing shyness and a desire for privacy), increases the pain threshold, relieves stress, helps us relax, alleviates depression, increases generosity, and generally makes us feel good.

While oxytocin is partly responsible for a man’s courage to ask a woman out, this dynamic also helps give men the loyalty to stay with their loved ones. Dads who got a dose of an oxytocin nasal spray were shown to play more closely with their infants than dads who did not get the hormone spray. Another study found that men in relationships, when given a burst of oxytocin, stay farther away from an attractive woman.

It stands to reason that oxytocin plays a key role (though certainly not the only one) in women being able to handle the strain and pain of childbirth.

Antidiuretic Hormone

ADH: (aka vasopressin, argipressin) is responsible for water concentration and blood vessel constriction. While precise control of the body’s water concentration is a function of several hormones acting on both the kidneys and vascular system, ADH is a key player in this process. Blood vessels increase re-absorption of fluids by the kidneys, which decrease urine production to improve hydration. The effect raises blood volume and blood pressure.

Not-so-fun fact: alcohol inhibits this hormone, producing the profuse urination we experience from a drinking binge, which can lead to severe dehydration.

Pineal – Conarium or Epiphysis Cerebri

The pineal gland, also known as the pineal body, epiphysis cerebri, or conarium, is an endocrine gland in the vertebrate brain about the size of a grain of rice. It is shaped like a tiny pine cone (hence its name), and it’s located in the center of the brain behind and above the pituitary gland. Mystics consider this gland to be the third eye and the connecting link between the physical and spiritual worlds, but until recently the medical community considered it vestigial (an organ that has become functionless through evolution). Now the medical community knows the pineal gland is our major source of melatonin production.

Melatonin

Since its discovery in 1958, melatonin has been studied extensively and shown to be widely beneficial to the body. The pineal gland releases melatonin with a clear circadian (daily) rhythm. The trigger for the production and release of melatonin from the pineal gland is darkness. The darker it is, the more melatonin is released. Streetlights, nightlights, and ambient lights from cell phones, TVs, computers, and other electronics disrupt melatonin output. If you’re thinking that covering the eyes will solve this, think again. It turns out that light falling on any part of the body will inhibit the hormone. While the physiological function of the pineal gland remained unknown until recently, considering this gland seems to be able to see, the “third eye” concept once again gives credence to thousands of years of ancient wisdom.

It seems most health professionals agree that melatonin levels decline as we age, but this isn’t completely accurate. A Harvard study back in 1999 proved that melatonin levels do not necessarily decline with age. Previous studies had not excluded those on medications that suppress melatonin, nor did they control for factors such as sunlight and fluoridation.

On the other hand, our own melatonin may lose some of its potency as we age. Our receptors for melatonin don’t create the same power from the dose of the hormone they receive. In other words, as we age, the effect of melatonin in our body may diminish some. We don’t know much more than that yet, but it shouldn’t surprise anyone within the natural health community that this too is much more heavily influenced by lifestyle factors than age.

Melatonin offers many other benefits other than sleep. It is one of the most powerful antioxidants produced in the body. It is both water and fat-soluble which allows this neurotransmitter to reach almost every cell in the body, and some studies suggest this hormone may improve the immune system’s health.

Nighttime melatonin levels are low in people with mood swings, depression, panic disorders, seasonal affective disorder, and many other mental health issues.

Unlike sleep medications, supplementing with melatonin does not affect rapid eye movement, REM sleep, or dreaming, but many experts suggest limiting supplementing to no more than three months straight unless recommended by a professional, as melatonin supplementation may have long-term effects on the pineal gland’s production. (Like with other glands, you use it or lose it.)

How to Decalcify and Detoxify the Pineal Gland

Calcification is the biggest problem for the pineal gland, and the main cause is suspected to be fluoride, which accumulates in the pineal gland more than any other organ, leading to the formation of phosphate crystals. There are foods and supplements that can help decalcify the pineal gland, as well as other steps you can take to help rejuvenate and restore health to the third eye.

Don’t wear sunglasses. Light reflected by the retina stimulates the pineal gland. We’re supposed to get sunlight daily, on our skin and with our eyes. Just don’t stare directly at the sun of course.

Fluoride, chlorine, lead, pesticides, synthetic calcium, artificial sweeteners, synthetic fragrances, and mercury, are well-known endocrine disruptors that can lead to pineal calcification. Eat organic produce (from small, responsible farms), and drink only clean, healthy drinking water. When drinking or cooking with tap water, use a filter that removes fluoride and chlorine. A whole house filter, or at least one for the bathtub/shower, would be advisable since we breathe a lot of fluoride and chlorine and other chemicals into our lungs when we shower with tap water, and chemicals are absorbed through the skin.

Antioxidants are a big help to the pineal gland and the endocrine system as a whole. Oregano oil is a powerful antioxidant with a host of other healthful properties that can aid a detox. Oregano oil and neem oil are said to be able to remove existing calcification within the pineal gland. Spirulina, chlorella, wheatgrass and blue-green algae are chlorophyll-rich foods that can also assist in the decalcification of the pineal gland due to strong detoxification properties and massive nutritional benefits. Raw apple cider vinegar is another natural detoxifier that can assist with decalcification of the pineal. Iodine is also imperative for strong pineal function, but supplementing with too much can cause problems as well.

Vitamin K2 is imperative for the body’s ability to properly assimilate calcium. K2 also helps remove calcification and puts that calcium to work elsewhere. Vitamin K2 deficiency is common in modern society and has been connected with a wide array of health ailments. K2 is the new D.

Boron, naturally present in beets, can also be taken in supplemental form and can help decalcify and remove fluoride from the gland. Most importantly, avoid refined, processed foods. Eat a diet with lots of organic, fresh raw produce, which will alkalinize the body and alleviate almost every other symptom of poor health.

Thyroid

The thyroid gland is located in the lower front part of the neck. Thyroid hormones are best known for regulating the body’s metabolism, which is your body’s ability to break down food and convert it to energy. It also plays a role in breathing, heart rate, central and peripheral nervous systems, muscle tone, muscle control, menstrual cycles, body temperature, cholesterol levels, bone growth, body growth rate, nervous system development, brain, reproductive functions, and more.

Thyroid hormone receptor sites are found in every cell of the body. Every single cell of our body depends on thyroid hormones. If your thyroid doesn’t operate optimally, neither will the rest of your body.

Three Thyroid Hormones

Thyroglobulin is a protein (not a hormone) that’s produced by the thyroid, synthesized from amino acids and an iodide, and stored in the follicular lumen as colloid. This protein is used only within the thyroid gland for production of thyroid hormones. T3 and T4 are the two most well-known hormones the thyroid produces, and there’s also calcitonin.

Triiodothyronine or T3

T3 affects almost every physiological process in the body. The thyroid produces about 20% of the T3 in our body. The rest is converted to T3 from T4 in our cells throughout the body.

Thyroxin or T4

T4 (AKA tetraiodothyronine) is a prohormone (a committed precursor of a hormone, usually having minimal hormonal effect by itself) that the body converts to T3, a much more active and viable hormone. T4 is synthesized from residues of the amino acid tyrosine. A normal thyroid gland produces about 80% of the body’sT4 and about 20%of the body’s T3.

Calcitonin

Calcitonin lowers blood calcium and phosphorus levels by decreasing the rate of re-absorption of these minerals to bone.

Hyperthyroidism

Hyperthyroidism occurs when the thyroid makes too much T3 or T4 (or both). This leads to elevated blood pressure, rapid heart rate, hand tremors, and many other symptoms. Graves’ disease is an autoimmune disorder that is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism. Graves’ disease causes antibodies to stimulate the thyroid to produce and secrete too much.

Other causes of hyperthyroidism can include:

Excess iodine
Thyroiditis – inflammation of the thyroid gland (causes T4 and T3 to leak out of the gland)
Benign tumors of the thyroid or pituitary gland (causes pressure, hormones leak out)
Large amounts of tetraiodothyronine taken through dietary supplements or medication
A tumor of the ovaries or testes

Hyperthyroidism can’t last forever; it’s sure to wear out a thyroid eventually, leading to hypothyroidism.

Hypothyroidism

Around 20 million Americans and about 250 million people worldwide have low thyroid function. Up to 90% of all thyroid problems are autoimmune in nature. Hashimoto’s is the most common thyroid disorder. In people with Hashimoto’s, the immune system attacks the thyroid.

List Of Hypothyroidism Symptoms

Allergic rhinitis
Asthma
Angina pectoris
Atherosclerosis
Bursitis
Conditions related to the cardiovascular system
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Carotenodermia (slight orange tinge to the skin, usually on the palms of the hands and soles of feet)
Cold extremities, intolerance to the cold
Coarse, dry, or thinning hair
Constipation
Decreased libido
Dry, rough, and/or itchy skin
Edema
Erectile dysfunction
Fallen arches
Fatigue
Fibrocystic breast changes
Fibromyalgia symptoms
Headaches
Hoarseness
Infertility
Hypercholesterolemia
Hyperhomocysteinemia
Hypertension
Itchy and/or flaky scalp
Memory loss
Mood swings, irritability
Muscle aches
Menstrual irregularities (amenorrhea, oligomenorrhea, menorrhagia)
Neck pain, stiffness, aches (especially in the back of the neck)
Knee pain (due to fallen arches)
Pallor (an unhealthy pale appearance)
Pain in the trapezoid and/or neck area
Psoriasis
Poor mental concentration
Polycystic ovary syndrome
Postpartum depression
Premenstrual syndrome
Reactive hypoglycemia
Recurrent infections
Sluggishness, tiredness
Shoulder pain
Tinnitus
Urticaria
Vasomotor rhinitis
Vertigo
Weakness
Weight gain

How to Heal the Thyroid

Learning about the endocrine system is one the best ways to understand how incredibly connected each and every part of the body is and how imperative a holistic approach to healing is to repair the body. You can’t really heal the thyroid gland without taking care of the adrenals, the pituitary – the whole endocrine system.

Fresh, raw, organic produce heals. Produce heals everything. Other than that, foods high in iodine and foods that are high in selenium are known to aid in thyroid function.

The thyroid gland requires iodine to function. Iodine taken by itself or ingested through fortified salt can be problematic. Good food sources include the usual: meat, seafood, yogurt, milk, and eggs, but there are vegan sources as well:

Blackstrap molasses
Seaweed
Himalayan sea salt
Navy beans
Cranberries

Selenium is required for the body to convert T3 into T4. Without enough selenium in the diet, the thyroid suffers. Seafood and meat are high in selenium, but there are also some vegan choices:

Vegan Food Sources of Selenium

Brazil nuts
Shiitake/white button mushrooms
Lima/pinto beans
Chia seeds
Brown rice
Seeds (sunflower, sesame, and flax)
Broccoli
Cabbage
Spinach

Supplements For Hypothyroidism

A number of vitamins and minerals are critical to thyroid health, and many herbs can help boost thyroid function as well.

B Vitamins

Vitamin B12 is found in every cell of the body. It is required for cellular metabolism and energy production, so obviously, without B12, the thyroid can’t function optimally. B12 deficiencies are very common with hypothyroidism. A lack of B12 can cause and worsen hypothyroidism. Even though most people actually consume enough vitamin B12 in their diets, a deficiency occurs in many due to an inability to absorb the nutrient in the blood. This goes back to gut health. The body cannot absorb and assimilate nutrients properly with a poorly functioning digestive system.

In addition, a poorly functioning liver radically inhibits the body’s ability to utilize B12. Unless a knowledgeable naturopath recommends it for a limited amount of time, do not take vitamin B12, or anyone B vitamin, without the entire B complex.

Vitamin D

Over a billion people worldwide do not get enough vitamin D. A recent study showed that vitamin D levels were significantly lower in people suffering from hypothyroidism than the general population. While vitamin D deficiencies and hypothyroidism do tend to take place together, a lack of vitamin D and pretty much every other disease (including cancer) coincide as well. It’s unlikely anyone’s hypothyroidism is primarily caused by a lack of vitamin D, but it’s a certainty that the body will not fully heal without enough vitamin D.

Vitamin A

We all know vitamin A is required for good vision. We also need vitamin A for the immune system, hormone synthesis, and the production of T3. Without enough vitamin A, thyroid hormone levels quickly drop.

Bromelain

Bromelain is the enzyme that makes pineapple the superfood that it is. Bromelain helps reduce inflammation.

Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha is an adaptogenic herb that has many benefits, including the ability to significantly improve liver function, and it can help stabilize cortisol levels. This helps stimulate T3 and T4 hormone synthesis.

Licorice Root

Licorice root can benefit the thyroid and adrenal glands for people who have low cortisol (adrenal fatigue).

Reishi Mushroom

Reishi mushroom is a good source of selenium, and it has a ton of other benefits including boosting the immune system.

Schisandra Chinensis

This is another adaptogenic herb that helps the thyroid and has many other health benefits.

Ginseng

There are many varieties of ginseng, all with their different strengths, but Siberian ginseng root, Brazilian ginseng root, Korean or Asian ginseng, American ginseng, and Chinese ginseng all benefit the endocrine system, and therefore the thyroid.

Selenium

Selenium is the major cofactor for the key thyroid enzyme 5’deiodinase. This enzyme converts T4 into T3 and can help normalize the thyroid hormone balance.

Zinc

A zinc deficiency has been shown to inhibit T3 production. Zinc also contributes to immune modulation, which may reduce thyroid antibody levels. Additionally, like selenium, zinc contributes to 5’deiodinase activity.

Iodine

A lack of iodine inhibits the body’s natural detoxification, leads to cancer cell growth, and causes hypothyroidism. The thyroid absorbs iodine and, in doing so, replaces other toxins it has accumulated.

It’s also important to avoid excessive iodine intake for anyone with Hashimoto’s or hyperthyroidism. As stated above, we highly recommend that any iodine consumed come from whole food sources unless otherwise recommended by a knowledgeable, competent professional.

Gluten, Hashimoto’s Disease, and Leaky Gut

When the thyroid is not functioning properly, there is a good chance the gut is hyper-permeable, or “leaky.” Many suspect leaky gut to be the main cause of Hashimoto’s. In this state where the gut is too permeable, undigested food proteins leak into the bloodstream. Human tissues have proteins and antigens very similar to those in foods, bacteria, parasites, and Candida. When the body senses these foreign molecules, it develops antibodies that attack the body, hence the name “autoimmune disease.” Gluten proteins are very similar to Candida proteins and proteins that make up the thyroid. This is probably why the immune response to gluten can last up to 6 months each time you eat it.

When healing the thyroid (or the body in any way), regardless of whether or not it’s due to Hashimoto’s, modern wheat is a bad idea for a multitude of reasons.

Important Notice About Gut Health!

If you restore gut health, in most cases, everything else will follow. Chances are you can ignore the rest of the article and just fix your gut to restore health to your entire endocrine system.

Fungal Supplement Stack – Knock Out Yeast, Candida, Mold, Fungus

The first three should be plenty for most people, but for impatient people with really prominent fungal issues and bigger budgets could use all of these:

I recommend taking the SF722, Berberine, MycoCeutics, and Microdefense with meals, and the Abzorb and Syntol separately, on an empty stomach (like in the morning and before bed). The Abzorb and the Syntol are a bit redundant, but I find good results using both if the budget can afford it. If money is really tight, just get the SF722 and put your money into your diet.

Also, for gut health, read the following:

Parathyroid

There are four parathyroid glands; they’re located two on each side of the thyroid. Although the parathyroids are attached to the thyroid gland anatomically, and the glands are connected to the thyroid, they have no related function. The parathyroid release parathormone, or PTH, or parathyroid hormone. PTH has the opposite job of calcitonin (the lessor known thyroid hormone); PTH increases levels of calcium and phosphorus in the blood. It accomplishes this by increasing the cells of the bone (osteoclasts), which reabsorb calcium. It also increases urinary re-absorption of calcium by the kidneys. In addition, it causes the kidneys to form calcitriol, a hormone made from vitamin D that increases absorption of calcium from the GI tract.

Parathyroid Adenoma

Hyperparathyroidism refers to increased PTH production, usually because of a benign tumor of one or more of the parathyroid glands (parathyroid adenoma). When PTH is excessively produced, calcium is reabsorbed back into the blood from the kidneys, bones, and stomach. This leads to a condition sometimes called “stones, bones, groans, and moans,” which refers to the classic set of hyperparathyroidism symptoms: kidney stones, osteoporosis, groans of pain due to intestinal distress, and moans due to psychosis.

Removing a parathyroid adenoma, a fairly simple, typically successful surgery, can cause an immediate return to healthy function.

Natural remedies for hyperparathyroidism generally include anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, vitamin C, desiccated glandsg, and vitamin D supplementation (extreme caution should be taken with large dosages of vitamin D when blood calcium levels are high). A holistic approach for tumors on the parathyroid will take time, but fortunately, hyperparathyroidism has a very slow progression.

Adrenals – Suprarenal Glands

Our two adrenal glands are on top of the kidneys, hence, the terms “adrenal,” as in “added” to the renal glands

The adrenal glands are composed of two entirely separate sections, the cortex and the medulla. Like the pituitary gland, the two sections of the adrenals evolved from two entirely different types of tissue.

Adrenal Medulla

The adrenal medulla evolved from the nervous system. The adrenal medulla works with the autonomic nervous system (the unconscious processes like breathing and digestion). The inner adrenal medulla has a direct connection to the brain.

Adrenal Medulla Hormones

The adrenal glands produce adrenaline (80%) and noradrenaline (20%), more commonly known among the medical establishment as epinephrine and norepinephrine. These hormones together are known as catecholamines.

The medullary hormones are not essential for life, but life without them would be difficult. Without stress, these hormones wouldn’t be necessary, but there are varying degrees of stress. The adrenal medulla hormones compensate when we stress our bodies with a simple act like standing up from a reclining or sitting position. Without these hormones, your blood pressure would drop when you stand because gravity causes your blood to pool at the feet and legs.

Adrenaline

Epinephrine, more commonly called adrenaline, can increase heart rate, contract blood vessels, dilate air passages, and get the nervous system ready for a fight or flight response. Epinephrine acts on almost every part of the body.

Noradrenaline

Norepinephrine, also known as noradrenaline, works with epinephrine and adds its own stimulus to the brain. Like adrenaline, noradrenaline responds to the fight-or-flight stimulus. Noradrenaline increases our heart rate, triggering the release of glucose from the body’s energy stores, and increasing blood flow to our muscles. Noradrenaline also affects the parts of the brain where attention and response actions are carried out. Noradrenaline is also an anti-inflammatory agent for the brain.

Adrenal Medulla Disorders

When the medulla is in trouble, so is the nervous system. Pathology of the adrenal medulla is primarily caused by neoplasm (tumors) or otherwise poor nervous system functionality, but there are many other issues that can cause too much or not enough of the two hormones. The nervous system will compensate for a lack of adrenal hormones for some time, but healing the thyroid, healing the entire adrenal gland, and if need be, healing the endocrine system as a whole, is the only way to ensure returned health to the adrenal medulla.

Adrenal Cortex

The adrenal cortex is divided into three zones and produces three main types of steroid hormones.

In medical school, one way we learned to remember these three layers is: ‘Salt, sugar, sex… the deeper it goes, the sweeter it gets.’ Not important, but catchy.” – Precision Nutrition

Zona Glomerulosa & Mineralocorticoids

Mineralocorticoids (such as aldosterone, which makes up about 96% of the hormones in this mineralocorticoid group) produced in the zona glomerulosa help regulate blood pressure and electrolyte balance. Aldosterone controls water and electrolyte (sodium and potassium) concentration.

The mineralocorticoids act upon the kidneys, which under the direction of these hormones excrete sodium or potassium as required to maintain optimal balance. Adrenal adenomas (benign, actively secreting growths in the cortex) cause hyper-production of aldosterone, which may account for as much as 25% of patients with high blood pressure.

Zona Fasciculata & Glucocorticoids

Cortisol (also called hydrocortisone) makes up 95% of the glucocorticoids hormones produced, but there’s also corticosterone and cortisone.

What does cortisol do:

Depresses the immune system.
Anti-inflammatory by reducing immune system response.
Retards allergic overreactions, but this may slow wound healing.
Promotes the breakdown of protein (catabolism).
Promotes the conversion of triglycerides to stored fatty acids.
Promotes glucose formation (gluconeogenesis).
Promotes resistance to stress which results in higher blood pressure.

Two well-known diseases of the adrenals are Addison’s disease and Cushing’s syndrome. Addison’s disease results from acute adrenocortical insufficiency. Cushing’s syndrome is caused by excessive adrenal cortical function.

John F. Kennedy may be history’s most famous Addison’s disease patient and required regular cortisone injections to deal with stress. Since one of the side effects of cortisol injections is a “tanning” of the skin, JFK looked his best (tanned and relaxed) during times of stress — immediately after injections.” – John Barron

Full blown Addison’s disease is rare, but adrenal fatigue is extremely common. Cushing’s syndrome is rare, too.

Zona Reticularis & Androgens

Testosterone is the most well-known androgen. Androgens are masculinizing hormones. In adult males, not many of these hormones are produced in the adrenal gland. Men produce most of their androgens in the testes while women produce their androgens in the adrenal glands.

Adrenal Fatigue

Many health care professionals estimate that 80% or more American adults suffer from some level of adrenal fatigue. With our addiction to caffeine, nicotine, and other stimulants and our tendency to bathe in Wi-Fi and cellular radiation, it seems likely.

Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue Include

body aches
trouble concentrating
racing thoughts
moodiness and irritability
always feeling tired
feeling overwhelmed
hormone imbalance
cravings for sweet and salty foods

Nutrients that Boost Adrenal Response

How to Heal Adrenal Glands

Supplement with vitamin D3, a B complex that’s got extra B5, a fatty acid supplement with DHA and EPA, a good multivitamin powder, and a liquid mineral formula.

Get the diet right. No stimulants like coffee, caffeinated teas, energy drinks, tobacco, etc. In fact, no drugs period. Eat more fresh raw vegetables than anything else, and eliminate refined and processed foods like white rice, HFCS, and even that bag of organic, super healthy, ancient grain, non-GMO quinoa chips. If you didn’t make it, don’t eat it.

Make sure the body is working right in other areas that affect adrenals. The endocrine system as a whole, and especially the thyroid, kidneys, and hypothalamus, must be in decent working order to heal the adrenals all the way. If necessary, kill Candida and balance the gut. (it’s likely very necessary if you have adrenal fatigue with our toxic, sugar-laden, antibacterial crazed society, which is often the underlining cause of endocrine disorders).

Start grounding regularly, at least 15 minutes a day (more is better). Do some sun gazing while you’re at it (but do not look directly at the sun). Get out in nature a little every day or as often as possible (again, more is better). Avoid or compensate for Wi-Fi, cellular, and other EMFs (salt lamps help, grounding probably does, too). Learn to breathe properly by breathing in deeply in a manner that causes your stomach to expand when you breathe in.

If your symptoms don’t improve quickly, glandular supplementation can help (if you’re not vegan) and a few adaptation herbs can help as well.

The Pancreas

The pancreas produces enzymes for digestion (exocrine) and makes hormones (endocrine). The pancreas makes more exocrine than endocrine. Ninety-eight to ninety-nine percent of the pancreas is used for the digestive juices, but the pancreas also contains scattered groups of neuroendocrine cells called pancreatic islets, or islets of Langerhans. The pancreas is about 12 inches long and tapers to your left. It’s located in the upper abdominal cavity, towards the back, in the C curve of the duodenum.

Physiology of the endocrine pancreas — four cell types

The islet of Langerhans is comprised of four distinct types of cells, alpha, beta, delta, and gamma.

Alpha cells

Alpha cells constitute 20% of the islet’s cells. They secrete a hormone known as glucagon which is a polypeptide made up of 29 amino acids, which raise blood sugar as needed to maintain normal levels.

The pancreas releases glucagon when glucose levels in the blood fall too low. Glucagon causes the liver to convert stored glycogen into glucose, which is released into the bloodstream. High blood glucose levels stimulate the release of insulin.

Beta cells

Beta cells constitute around 80% of islet cells. They produce and secrete insulin, a small protein hormone that regulates how the cells in the body utilize glucose. Seventy-five percent of this glucose is used for brain function, while the rest is used for muscle function, red blood cell production, and fuel for every single cell in the body.

Beta cells also produce insulin-like growth factors (specifically, IGF-2), which are available in many body tissues at concentrations that far exceed insulin. IGF -2 shares the molecular structure and shape of insulin and is involved in growth.

Delta cells

Delta cells, which constitute less than 1% of pancreatic islets, secrete somatostatin, the same growth-hormone-inhibiting hormone secreted by the hypothalamus. This hormone inhibits insulin release and slows the absorption of nutrients from the GI tract.

Gamma cells (F cells)

Gamma cells also constitute less than 1% of pancreatic islets. They secrete a pancreatic polypeptide to inhibit somatostatin release.

Delta cells and Gamma cells regulate each other.

Diabetes Mellitus

As of 2015, diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. and it’s moving up, especially throughout the rest of the world. If stats took into consideration cardiovascular disease (when caused by diabetes) and kidney failure, those numbers could be considerably higher.

There are two main types of diabetes. Type I is insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and Type II is non-insulin-dependent diabetes, which used to go by the name “maturity-onset” or “adult-onset diabetes,” but with our modern diets, it’s not just adults over 40 anymore, or even just adults who are diagnosed with Type II. The third type of diabetes, gestational diabetes, is a temporary condition that occurs during pregnancy. Type I and Type II diabetics end up at essentially the same place, though they arrive there in a very different manner.

With Type I, the body can’t produce enough insulin to drive the sugar into cells where it needs to be used for energy production. With type II the body produces enough insulin (at least in the beginning), but cells become insulin resistant, so sugar stays in the blood.

Natural protocol for dealing with diabetes

Alternative methods for dealing with both types of diabetes are similar, but there are a few additional needs for anyone with type I due to the fact that it’s an autoimmune disease as well as an endocrine disease.

Metformin is the first-line medication for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, generally used to keep blood sugar levels low. Like almost every other pharmaceutical, it’s toxic and has a list of side effects. The good news is the following herbs are shown to work just as well, or even better when you consider the lack of side effects:

Gymnema sylvestre, also called “miracle fruit” (note that this is a common name for two unrelated plants), is an herb native to the tropical forests of southern and central India and Sri Lanka. Studies have shown that this plant can help maintain healthy blood sugar levels.
The prickly pear cactus, known as nopal in Mexico, offers many medicinal effects including the ability to lower blood sugar. It has been well documented by many studies, and it’s used for treating type-2 Diabetes in Mexico.

Other herbal supplementation known to stabilize blood sugar levels:

The following nutrition can help reverse insulin resistance:

You can also help to rebuild the beta cells in the pancreas to optimize insulin production with:

Remember, adrenaline suppresses the release of insulin. Some say to reduce stress, which is always a good idea, but more importantly, handle stress well without losing your temper.

Specific Additions for Type I diabetes (insulin dependent)

Since Type I diabetes is an autoimmune disease, addressing autoimmune activity makes sense. But, the following nutrition wouldn’t be a bad idea for type II diabetes or for almost any autoimmune disease.

Immunomodulators

The following can balance immune system activity and reduce inflammation.

Infection

Viruses may be a cause of Type I diabetes (and Lyme, and many other autoimmune diseases). It’s not at all the whole story (and our bodies can turn off and on viruses depending on our health and genetics, and incidentally, our genetics change with our health as well). Candida, bacterial infections, other fungi, parasites, and/or viruses are likely to be running havoc on anyone with diabetes.

Garlic (antimicrobial, many other benefits, pills are ok but best when eaten raw, crushed, see more on garlic)
Olive leaf (rare herb that leaves beneficial bacteria intact, kills bad guys)
SF722 (antimicrobial, specifically very effective antifungal
Berberine (powerful antimicrobial)

Other Nutrition

Protect organs from damage and repair damage caused by the high insulin caused by diabetes:

Blood cleaning formula, because the healthier the blood is, the healthier the body is.
Proteolytic enzymes (aka systemic enzymes) to break down protein. (Better assimilation of proteins, and helps break down virus proteins, too.)
Probiotics, because anyone who’s eaten enough sugar to get a diabetes diagnosis needs to take a good probiotic for a long time!
Coenzyme Q10 may help with blood glucose control, and it’s got a massive amount of other benefits, many of which help with diabetic issues.

Gonads – Reproductive Organs

Although the gonads are part of the endocrine system, their primary purpose is to produce gametes (semen and eggs).

The woman’s ovaries are located on both sides of the uterus below the opening of the fallopian tubes. They are oval or almond-shaped. The ovaries produce estrogen and progesterone. These two hormones affect many of the female characteristics and reproductive functions.

The male’s testes are egg-shaped organs that hang in a pouch of skin called the scrotum outside the male body. The testes produce testosterone, which affects many of the male characteristics and sperm production.

Women synthesize most of their estrogen in their ovaries and other reproductive tissues. Since men lack this female anatomy, they need to produce estrogen through a process involving an enzyme called aromatase that transforms testosterone into estradiol.

In women, testosterone is produced in various locations. One-quarter of the hormone is produced in the ovaries, a quarter is produced in the adrenal glands, and one-half is produced in the peripheral tissues from the various precursors produced in the ovaries and adrenal glands.

Testes

The testes secrete testosterone, which is necessary for proper physical development in boys. Testosterone maintains libido, muscle strength, and bone density. Disorders result from a lack of testosterone production. Here are the common causes:

Defects in the pituitary, hypothalamus, thyroid, and adrenals can affect testosterone production.
Medications can affect testosterone production.
Testes-based conditions, such as severe injury, radiation, or chemotherapy can all deplete testosterone levels.

Besides the case of an injury, if the testicles aren’t working there’s almost always a problem within the endocrine system.

Raise Your Testosterone Naturally

HITT (High-intensity interval training)
Weightlifting
Moderate intermittent fasting
Don’t smoke
Detoxify the endocrine system (if need be)
Eliminate refined foods, especially sugar
Eat healthy fats
Get enough vitamin D and zinc
Handle stress well
Sleep well
Avoid soy and alcohol
Eat nuts
Limit or eliminate coffee

Ovaries

The ovaries are a pair of ova-producing organs (that is, they produce egg cells) that maintain the health of the female reproductive system. The ovaries, like their male counterpart, the testes, are known as gonads. This simply means they are the primary reproductive organs.

In addition to their role in producing ova, the ovaries also have the distinction of being an endocrine gland because they secrete hormones—primarily estrogen and progesterone—that are vital to normal reproductive development and fertility.

Estrogen (estradiol, specifically) plays a vital role in breast development, fat distribution, and the development of the reproductive organs.

Diseases and Disorders of the Ovaries

Diseases associated with the ovaries include ovarian cysts, ovarian cancer, menstrual cycle disorders, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and osteoporosis.

Menopause is a rapid loss of estrogen production at a certain age, typically around 50; better health can delay it.

The ovaries play an immensely important role in the female reproductive system, and in the endocrine system as a whole. The hormones they secrete ensure the proper development of the female body and promote healthy fertility.

Natural Remedies for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

Avoid AGEs: Women with ovarian cysts have higher levels of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in their blood. These are cancer-causing compounds formed when glucose binds with proteins, typically caused by high-heat cooking methods with meat and sugars.

Get Enough Nutrition

Obviously, eat well, but also make sure you’re getting enough vitamin D, calcium, vitamin E, essential fatty acids, chromium, and magnesium.

Avoid Wheat

Just try it for two weeks. Today’s wheat is wreaking havoc on our bodies, and many women dealing with ovarian cysts have issues with gluten. Eliminate refined sugars as well, detoxify the gut, and take care of the endocrine system.

Supplemental

Increasing progesterone in the body, which decreases estrogen, can help as well. You can do this with a progesterone cream applied to the skin, but the following herbal remedies are a better choice than ingesting or absorbing a hormone.
Maca root (Lepidium meyenii) helps the body produce progesterone, balances the hormones, and helps balance the endocrine system as a whole.
Black Cohosh root (Actaea racemosa): helps regulate the menstrual cycle, and is really good at relieving ovarian pain.
Dong Quai root (Angelica sinensis) is a Chinese herb known to aid hormonal balance and, specifically, congestive fertility issues. Dong Quai also supports healthy circulation to the reproductive organs and promotes healthy menstruation cycles. Dong quai should not be consumed by women with fibroids or blood-clotting problems.
Milk thistle seed (Silybum marianum) supports hormonal balance through liver support.
Tribulus (Tribulus terrestris) has been shown to normalize ovulation when used prior to ovulation.
Vitex, AKA chaste tree berry, chasteberry (Vitex agnus-castus) aids in regulating hormonal balance, promotes ovulation, and improves menstrual cycle regularity.
Wild yam root (Dioscorea villosa) promotes a healthy menstrual cycle and hormonal balance and reduces ovarian pain.

Naturally Alleviate Menopause Symptoms

Menopause can be both a blessing and a curse. The right diet can usually alleviate symptoms, but the bad news for some women is that when health is restored fully, menopause may be delayed. It may be a choice between hot flashes or periods, but know that PMS symptoms dissipate as well with better health, and so does heavy menstrual bleeding.

Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa, Cimicifuga racemosa) has received considerable scientific attention for its effects on hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms.
Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) has been reported to help women with hot flashes. Studies report few side effects and no serious health problems with use.
Dong Quai (Angelica sinensis) has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat gynecologic conditions for centeries. Dong quai has blood thinning properties, and should not be consumed by anyone with fibroids or blood-clotting problems.
Evening primrose oil or black currant oil provide gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), an essential fatty acid that can influence prostaglandin synthesis and help moderate menopausal symptoms.
Ginseng (Panax ginseng or Panax quinquefolius has been shown in research to alleviate some menopausal symptoms, but it has not been found to be helpful for hot flashes.
Omega 3s with DHA and EPA, B vitamins, vitamin D, Vitamin E, Magnesium, and exercise have all been shown to alleviate hot flashes as well.

Natural Remedies for PMS

Most women deal with headaches, mood swings, bloating, and other hormonal problems that threaten their relationships, work life, and well-being every month due to PMS.

It’s not a curse. It’s not something women have to live with. Difficult monthly cycles are a sign of poor health. The healthiest women barely notice their cycle, do not feel as though emotions run away with them every month, are exceptionally regular, they do not cramp, and they spot, as opposed to a heavy bleed. Along with a healthy diet, make sure you have the basics covered, including B vitamins (get a complex with extra B6), healthy fats (with DHA and EPA) vitamin D, Vitamin E, Magnesium and exercise, along with lots of fresh, raw, organic produce every day (more vegetables than fruit). And as always, avoid stimulants, soy and refined processed foods.

PMS is also a symptom of an unhealthy gut with too much Candida. Cutting out sugar and other foods that feed yeast, and high-quality probiotics taken regularly also work wonders for many women with difficult PMS.

Also for cramps, cranberry lemonade with stevia, and Mountain Rose Herb’s pregnancy tea works amazingly well. This is also great for detoxifying the liver and kidneys, and alleviating morning sickness.

Chasteberry fruit extract (Vitex Agnus-astus) can help balance the hormones released by the pituitary gland that control your overall hormone function. Studies of over 5,000 women have found it effective. Take 100 mg twice a day of a 10:1 extract.
Wild yam (Dioscorea villosa) and cramp bark (Viburum opulus) can help regulate cycles and relieve cramps.
Dandelion root can help with liver detoxification and also works as a diuretic.
Flax seeds contain lignans that balance hormone metabolism and block some negative effects of too much estrogen. The fiber in flax seeds helps too.
Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa, Cimicifuga racemosa) has received considerable scientific attention for its effects on hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms.
Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) has isoflavones that improve estrogen detoxification.
Dong Quai (Angelica sinensis) is an antispasmodic herb that eases cramps and other symptoms of PMS. It dilates blood vessels to increase flow and helps replenish blood after the period has ended.

Some swear by progesterone creams to calm raging PMS. As previously mentioned, increasing progesterone reduces the problems associated with estrogen. Extreme care should be taken with this or similar hormone therapies.

Endocrine Abilities of the Liver, Heart, Stomach, and Kidneys

The kidneys release erythropoietin and calcitriol. Erythropoietin stimulates the red bone marrow to produce red blood cells (erythrocytes), and calcitriol is a hormone involved in regulating the amount of calcium and phosphate ions found in our blood.

The heart produces a peptide hormone called natriuretic peptide (ANP) that’s involved with regulating blood pressure and blood volume in our blood vessels.

The stomach produces many hormones, including gastrin which is involved in stimulating parietal cells in the stomach to secrete gastric acid (HCl), which increases the acidity (decreases the pH) and gets the digestive system ready to absorb and assimilate nutrition.

The liver releases thrombopoietin, which is involved in the production of platelets required for blood clotting.

When the endocrine system does not perform well, it can set off a chain reaction that affects all of the body’s hormone production, which can affect every gland, every organ, and obviously the entire body. While specific detoxification and healing protocols of these hormone-secreting organs are a bit out of the scope of this article. A holistic protocol that addresses the endocrine system as a whole will address hormonal activities of the heart, liver, stomach, and kidneys, and improve their entire functionality as well.

Heal the Endocrine System and Balance Hormones Step By Step

As OLM always says, it starts with diet. Supplemental therapies are much more effective with a healthy diet, and for most people, the right diet is all they need. But there are plenty of people who do not have access to healthy foods, and there are many who have such a depleted endocrine system that the body is just plain going to need a lot of help.

Eliminate and Flush Out Endocrine Disrupters and Detox the Body

Endocrine disruptors (EDs) are chemicals that mimic our own hormones. They bind hormone receptors and disrupt the body’s normal hormonal actions. Endocrine disruptors may cause a more powerful response than the natural hormone would have or a diminished response. In some cases, they cause a completely different response than its natural counterpart would have created. EDs are typically measured in parts per trillion, which is indicative of the fact that very small amounts can have a disrupting effect on us. EDs are very stable. They don’t break down quickly. This is, in large part, why they are in so many products. They also get stored in our fat cells. They tend to stick around for a long time.

How to Avoid Exposure to Endocrine Disruptors

Keep your home clean, and vacuum often.
Always avoid artificial fragrances
Avoid plastic (I know, easier said than done)
Avoid touching, breathing the air, or consuming foods or liquids that have come in contact with warm or hot plastics (make sure that a hot car is well ventilated)
Avoid canned foods
Avoid any and all BPAs and most products that replaced BPAs with other petroleum based products
Filter tap water before drinking
Get a whole house water filter (we breathe chemicals from tap water when we shower)
Avoid chemical cleaning products
Avoid conventional personal care products like makeup, shampoos, soaps, moisturizers, etc.
Avoid food sprayed with chemicals
Avoid BPA paper receipts (some receipts contain 250 to 1,000 times the amount of BPA typically found in a can of food)

As usual, eating right makes all the difference. Science is finding that people who eat well, and include copious amounts of various vegetables in their diet, have less concentration of BPAs and other EDs in their body than people exposed to similar levels who do not eat well.

Get Your Gut Right

A healthy gut expels toxins better than an unhealthy gut. A healthy gut has beneficial bacteria, which science is finding makes a big difference in the amount of EDs we retain. Specifically, there’s been some big research on probiotics:

In one study, lab rats were exposed to BPA and some of them were later given probiotics. The results found that the amount of BPA excreted through urine and bowel movement was 2.4 times greater in the rats given probiotics, and the percentage of BPA bound to the excrement was significantly greater. This equated to lower BPA concentration levels in the blood for the rats administered probiotics.

Eat Right – Always Be Detoxifying

Eat a salad every day with lots of raw vegetables and herbs, many of which help moderate estrogen and other hormone levels, and these salads will help flush out chemicals. Drink lots of water, and try cranberry lemonade with stevia to aid the body with detoxification.

Avoid and Remove Toxic Heavy Metals

Arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, and many more of these kinds of waste from industry have detrimental effects on our endocrine system.

Supplements and Foods that Remove Heavy Metals

Sleep Well

We work all day. Our body works all night to regenerate. When we don’t get enough sleep, we need adrenalin to make it through the day. This wears out the adrenal glands and eventually disrupts the entire system. Adrenaline, as common as it is, can be toxic to us after some time. Get plenty of quality, deep, regenerative sleep and don’t compensate with stimulants.

Exercise and Be Active

If sleeping well is difficult, exercise is most likely the answer. But that’s not all exercise has to offer. Breathing heavily and sweating profusely during an intense exercise program can expel a tremendous amount of toxins. Exercise also resets our hormones, balances our mood, and makes our brain work much better. While most turn to alcohol, television, and drugs during times of stress, this is when we need exercise the most. Here’s a tip: next time life gets too stressful, take a squat break. Squats release tons of hormones and will help alleviate stress and cravings for vices.

Top 10 Herbs, Vitamins, and Minerals for Better Endocrine Health

Before we get into this, know that every vitamin and mineral is important. We tend to be low in some more than others due to the way we live, but taking vitamin D won’t make up for not getting enough calcium. For that matter, taking a calcium supplement won’t make up for not getting enough calcium either, because we need to get most of our vitamins and minerals from our food. Supplements can supplement our food, but they don’t make up for a toxic diet.

B vitamins: Always use a complex unless otherwise recommended by a professional.
Fatty acids with DHA and EPA: There’s a million reasons, but the bottom line is that we need the right fats to create healthy cells. Since cells are what we are made of, healthy cells = healthy body.
Vitamin D: It’s actually a hormone.
Magnesium: Like vitamin D, Magnesium is one of those nutrients that we tend to be pretty low in, and the results from fixing the deficiency are usually pretty dramatic.
Maca root: Most often taken to improve libido, energy levels, mood, and fertility, maca does not affect the hormones directly, but it has hormone-balancing effects that help alleviate a range of stressors including fatigue, anxiety, stress, depression, and sleep issues.
Chasteberry: This herb has been used for thousands of years by women to relieve menstrual problems and it’s also used by natural health practitioners to reduce a male’s testosterone levels when need be (not recommended for most men of course).
Black cohosh: First used by native Americans, and now very popular in Europe, this herb has commonly been used to treat symptoms of menopause, PMS, painful menstruation, acne, weakened bones osteoporosis, and for starting labor in pregnant women. Black cohosh also has many positive benefits for men as well.
Saw palmetto: While the previous two are typically used by women, saw palmetto is known as a male supplement, primarily for better prostate health and to balance men’s hormones. But it’s not just for men, as it’s also useful for women with hair loss, acne, menopausal symptoms, and more. It also keeps women from producing too much testosterone but does not seem to impede normal production.
Glandulars: Glandulars are desiccated glands, typically derived from pigs, cows, or sheep. They are obviously not for vegans, but if they are an option, glandulars provide the nutrition that the glands need, obviously, since they are made up of that nutrition.

Stress

You see every professional talking about eliminating stress when you look at articles about balancing hormones. For those who like to cause stress, this is great advice. On the other hand, the idea of eliminating stress for most people is fool hearty. Accidents happen. Children go missing. People get fired. Wars happen. People die. Stress will always be around, ready and waiting to consume us. The trick is in how you handle it.

People who are dealing with a lot of stress often attempt to balance their hormones in part by avoiding stress, but the stressful situation that may have helped set off the hormonal imbalance still needs to be dealt with, and chances are, dealing with stressful situations is going to be stressful.

Handle stress better.

Breathe properly (deeply, like a singer or a martial artist). A well-trained massage therapist can help detoxify the body, and we all know how relaxing a massage can be. Grounding helps open our energy pathways, which has a tremendous effect on our glands. Spend lots of time in nature. Try yoga. Meditate. And don’t quickly make big decisions when you are stressed.

Conclusion

It takes time for the endocrine system to heal; it’s rarely a quick process. Since our endocrine system is responsible for our hormones, when our hormones aren’t working, we really aren’t ourselves. Or at least, we’re not our best. Hormones influence us so powerfully that a balanced endocrine system can be the difference between happiness and misery. When our hormones aren’t working right, we can’t think straight. We make poor decisions. We lash out. We live in fear. We excite too easily. We sleep too much or not nearly enough. Hormone balance is critical! But that’s the catch.We tend to self-sabotage when our hormones aren’t working properly. Someone who’s head isn’t working right tends to have a very hard time getting well. It often makes a long road to health even longer. And for those who are overweight, hormonal problems will continue to be an issue until well after that excess weight is lost because of how we store toxins in our fat.

Be patient. The good news is that it virtually always takes a heck of a lot less time to get well than it took to get chronically ill. And if you read this far without skipping ahead, then patience is something you obviously have!

P.S. The following is a list of supplements that could all be taken together (save the male and female formulas, obviously you’ll pick one). Not everyone will need more than a few of these to see significant results. Most importantly, nobody will notice significant results without a healthy diet. It’s imperative that the gut is taken into consideration for any holistic approach to healing. Gut health comes first, and ignoring the gut will result in a lot of problems. Be sure to check out Detox Cheap and Easy Without Fasting – Recipes Included, and Candida, Gut Flora, Allergies, and Disease, and see the Further Reading section below.

Sources:

Five Tips To Help Avoid Stretch Marks

Embarrassed by your stretch marks? Well, don’t be. Stretch marks are super common in men and women and can be found on any area of the body where rapid weight gain is experienced. Although they are nothing to feel embarrassed about, there are a few things you can do to try and avoid stretch marks and to minimize the appearance of the ones you already have.

What are Stretch Marks?

Stretch marks are purple or red marks caused by tears in the elastic layers of the skin. Genetics plays a role, but anyone can develop stretch marks if they rapidly gain weight. Stretch marks commonly occur during pregnancy and puberty. Even bodybuilders develop stretch marks when they quickly build muscle.

How To Avoid Stretch Marks

If you are predisposed to stretch marks, there are several steps you can take to try to avoid them. Although there are no guarantees, all of these tips have additional health benefits and are likely to reduce the severity of any stretch marks you do develop.

1. Keep Your Body Hydrated

Hydration is super important to keep your body optimally functioning. Proper hydration can also reduce your risk of developing stretch marks, especially during pregnancy, because it ensures optimal elasticity.

Some signs of dehydration include headaches, tiredness, dry throat or lips, and lack of concentration. Try to make sure you are drinking at least half your body weight in ounces of water as a minimum and adjust this amount depending on your activity level and climate.

2. Vitamins A & C

Maintaining a healthy diet is another way of maximizing your chances of avoiding stretch marks. Foods that contain Vitamin A and C are essential to healthy skin, so make sure you get plenty of these vitamins in your regular diet. Some great sources of Vitamin C include tomatoes, oranges, cantaloupe, and bell peppers. To get your daily dose of Vitamin A, you could include potatoes, carrots, and mangoes in your diet.

3. Essential Oil Treatments

There are several essential oils that improve skin elasticity and, therefore, can help reduce the appearance of stretch marks. Neroli oil is great for overall skin health and reducing stretch marks. It helps to regenerate skin cells and keeps your skin elastic. People with sensitive skin can also use Neroli oil because it does not irritate the skin.

Oil of mandarin oranges can also be applied on the skin to improve blood circulation and skin rejuvenation. Lavender oil is another essential oil that can help as it also promotes skin regeneration and cell activity, which reduces the risk of developing stretch marks. A blend of cold-pressed wheat germ and almond oil can also be used to prevent stretch marks. Applying these oils gently on the skin will encourage new tissue growth and improve circulation.

4. Include Gelatin In Your Diet

Gelatin increases collagen formation in the body, which improves skin elasticity and can help prevent stretch marks and reduce the appearance of stretch marks you already have. One of the best ways to get more gelatin is to consume bone broth. Bone broth is easy to make at home and has a whole host of other health benefits.

You can also add gelatin powder to juice or a smoothie to increase collagen intake, but go for an organic grass fed source whenever possible. Gelatin doesn’t just improve skin elasticity, it also helps improve insulin sensitivity while it promotes digestive health, fights free radicals, and promotes wound healing.

5. Maintaining a Healthy Diet

Although there are times in our lives when weight gain is inevitable, such as during puberty or pregnancy, preventing excess weight gain through healthy eating and exercise can limit the likelihood of stretch marks. A healthy balance of nutrients can also help to maximize the health of not only our skin but the rest of our body.

Recommended Supplements:

Lyme Disease – Holistic Protocol to Completely Rebuild the Immune System

Lyme disease is no longer an obscure malady that can only be caught in Connecticut. In 2013, the year with the latest available data, the CDC predicted an estimated 300,000 actual new cases, though only 30,000 per year were reported and confirmed. Cases have been diagnosed in all 50 states, but as of 2013, 95% of the confirmed cases came from the following states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

History of Lyme Disease
The Lyme Controversy
How to Cure Lyme Disease Naturally
Specific Lyme Disease Protocol

What Is Lyme Disease?

Lyme disease is an infection from the Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium. It is not known to be a contagious disease spread from person to person. Its only known transmission is through the bite of an infected tick. (Though there is now argument that other insects, including mosquitoes and fleas, may also be carriers, and that it may be sexually transmitted). Although symptoms can and do vary, the majority of cases adhere to the following pattern:

Phase One – 3 to 30 Days

Also called early localized infection

70-75% develop a rash. A characteristic bull’s eye rash develops, starting at the site of the tick bite. It is not itchy or painful but may be warm to the touch.
Flu-like symptoms develop: fever, chills, swollen lymph glands, headaches, muscle pain, joint pain.

Phase Two – Days to Weeks After Bite

Also called early disseminated infection

Rash spreads
Large joints may become swollen and painful
Stiff neck in some cases
Meningitis may develop
Dizziness
Heart palpitations

Phase Three – Later Months to Years

Also called late disseminated infection

Many infectious disease specialists believe that “chronic Lyme disease” does not exist, and that Lyme disease from a tick bite can be cured with a short course of antibiotics. It is possible that those who have undergone antibiotic treatments are suffering from the side effects of antibiotics, but more and more experts are coming around to the idea that Lyme disease can survive and cause long-term autoimmune symptoms when antibiotics don’t work. We all know (or at least, we all should know) that antibiotics do not always work and can cause more problems.

Arthritis symptoms – swollen, painful joints (fluid filled joints)
Neurological symptoms – numbness, tingling, shooting pains
Cognitive symptoms – brain fog, short-term memory deficits, confusion
Mood disturbance – depression
Fatigue
Abnormal heart rhythms and heart failure

Facial paralysis may also occur in this stage or stage two.

History of Lyme Disease

In the 1960s and 1970s, something was very wrong in Connecticut. In a population of 12,000 living in three contiguous towns: Old Lyme, Lyme, and East Haddam, 39 children were diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and 12 adults were diagnosed with arthritis of unknown cause.

In 1975, frustrated by the lack of answers from their medical community, two mothers became patient advocates, gathering information from residents that they passed on to the Connecticut State Department of Health and the Yale School of Medicine.

Researchers were able to identify the disease and recognize its symptoms, but it wasn’t until the early 80s that the actual cause was discovered. Willy Burgdorfer, a scientist who was studying Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, discovered the tick connection along with the bacterium, a spirochete, that caused Lyme. The bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, was named after him.

The Lyme Controversy

A quick review of current articles about Lyme reveals a great deal of frustration on the part of both patients and doctors battling the disease. First of all, there are serious problems with diagnostics. Since 25-30% of patients who have been infected with Lyme do not exhibit a rash – the first and most specific symptom is missing. Of those who present with a rash, many do not exhibit the characteristic bull’s eye rash. Blood tests to identify the bacteria produce both false negatives and false positives. Therefore an initial, correct diagnosis may be hard to come by. Lyme disease also imitates other diseases and is therefore regularly misdiagnosed as MS, fibromyalgia, arthritis, ALS, and other illnesses.

There are multiple tests for Lyme. The CDC recommends screening with the ELISA test and confirming with the Western blot test, but during the first 4-6 weeks of infection these tests are unreliable because they measure the patient’s antibody response to the infection, not the bacteria itself.

Lyme disease is notoriously difficult to diagnose using conventional tests. And there’s great variation in the presentation of the disease as well, depending on where you contracted it, and whether or not you have any other coexisting infections. There is a group of seven or eight microbes that are the most common. The worst ones are Babesia microti and the different forms of Bartonella.

It is said that an initial course of antibiotics given in stage one cures the disease most of the time, but why not all the time? Is the course of antibiotics too short? Should more be given? Should they be given long term, especially for those who have stage 3 symptoms? What if blood tests no longer show spirochetes? If the antibiotics don’t work, the patient now has to combat Lyme with a very depleted immune system.” – Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt, MD, PhD

Why Antibiotics May Not Work for Lyme Disease

Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, has a corkscrew shape that allows it to bore deep into tissues and cartilage (including the brain and nervous system), safely out of reach of most antibiotics.
Borrelia burgdorferi can give up its corkscrew shape and convert to a form that is able to live inside cells (“intracellular”) where again, antibiotics have less reach.
Borrelia burgdorferi, along with other similar microbes, can form dormant cysts that are completely resistant to antibiotics; the harder you hit it, the more resistant it becomes.
Borrelia burgdorferi is usually accompanied and aided by co-infections of other stealth microbes that also live inside cells.

Antibiotic resistance occurs at a high rate with these types of microbes. An antibiotic is one single chemical substance. Bacteria, such as Borrelia (and also its co-infections), respond slowly to antibiotics and have more time to develop resistance to the antibiotic. In other words, the longer they can hang on, the more likely they are to become completely antibiotic resistant. Using multiple antibiotics at once seems to accelerate this process and alternating antibiotics doesn’t seem to help. Resistant bacteria become even more entrenched.

Antibiotics destroy the normal flora (friendly bacteria) in the gut and skin, causing bacterial imbalance and a host of other symptoms in the body. Most importantly, use of antibiotics suppresses immune function, which may present the greatest hurdle to recovery—you cannot get well without optimal immune function.

Borrelia burgdorferi can exist in biofilms, which are protected colonies of microbes that form on a surface (such as plaque on your teeth), but what role this plays in Lyme disease is controversial. The symptom profile of Lyme disease suggests that it is not a biofilm disease and that biofilms are not a big factor in overcoming Lyme.

Doctors Treating Lyme Disease

…he is treating the patient, not the disease.

Some doctors complain that patients who have never been definitively diagnosed with the disease demand treatment for chronic Lyme disease. Other doctors contend that it is rare for a patient with Lyme disease to only suffer from one singular infection as ticks often carry and can infect us with several pathogens at once. In addition, there is not one “Lyme Disease.” There are five sub species of Borrelia burgdorferi. Of these subspecies, there are more than 100 strains in the U.S. and 300 worldwide. And many of them are now antibiotic resistant. Even the worst infections may not test positive for Borrelia burdorferi. They may not test positive until initial treatment has occurred, a situation called the Lyme Paradox.

Dr. Richard Horowitz, of Hyde Park, New York, is one of the most sought after Lyme specialists. He states that at least half of his patients are infected with babesiosis. Rather than a bacteria, babesiosis is a microscopic parasite that infects red blood cells. Since most of his patients present with multiple infections and an overwhelmed immune system, he focuses on strengthening the immune system, knowing that he is treating the patient, not the disease.

Patients who are not lucky enough to see a doctor as knowledgeable as Dr. Horowitz often get caught in the crossfire that occurs when doctors are faced with limited understanding of a pathogen, a complicated infectious process, and a treatment modality that does not work the same for every patient. Stories abound of doctors accusing Lyme sufferers of being hypochondriacs or malingerers when they are experiencing very real, debilitating, painful symptoms.

On top of all of this, spiders, mosquitoes, fleas, and mites may also be spreading the same or similar bacterial infections.

How to Cure Lyme Disease Naturally

The bacteria that cause Lyme can be found in the skin, heart, joints, and nervous system. On top of that, Lyme disease specialists are finding that what we call Lyme disease may be caused by several different infectious organisms and may even be caused by a combination of different infectious pathogens. Some speculate that Lyme disease is an infection from the bacteria along with an overabundance of fungi (like Candida) or a parasite.

Everyone plays host to countless viruses, infectious bacteria, fungi, toxins, and cancer cells in their body. Many may be carrying Lyme, along with or many other scary diseases, and not know it.

Those with stronger immune systems often pass on infections they didn’t even know they have to others with weakened immunity. Currently, specialists are saying Lyme cannot be passed from person to person. Some are challenging this belief, especially in regards to sexual transmission. Regardless, those infected can carry the disease for years without knowing it.

The good news is that a holistic approach to fixing the body’s immune system and ridding it of infectious agents can cure almost any disease. The approach to Lyme should be similar to the approach to curing HIV, fibromyalgia, chronic strep, lupus, Chlamydia, and many other diseases. The first step is to heal the gut, balance the gut flora, and rebuild the immune system.

Your Gut and Your immune System

Chronic infection is an underlying factor in most chronic illnesses. Our sugar-laden diet, GMO foods that kill beneficial bacteria, antibiotics, other antibacterial products, and many of the chemicals in our food supply deplete our beneficial bacteria, which wreaks havoc on our immune systems. This sets the stage for systemic, chronic fungal infections and parasites to multiply, permeate the gut, enter the body’s bloodstream, and spread infection throughout the body.

The immune system is only as healthy as the gut.

Conventional doctors are very bad at finding and diagnosing parasitical and fungal infections that cannot easily be seen on the surface of the body. The average person is dealing with Candida overgrowth at the very least (the most common fungal infection in our bodies) due to the aforementioned modern diet and lifestyle.

Obviously, to treat a difficult bacterial infection such as Lyme (or whatever combination of bacteria, viruses, and parasites causing Lyme symptoms) the immune system needs to be as strong as possible. The immune system is only as healthy as the gut. The body’s intestinal tract mirrors the body’s health and dictates the power of the immune system. Step one is to balance the gut flora and eliminate most of the harmful pathogens in the body.

Diet

A healthy diet relies on a foundation of on raw, fresh, organic (when possible), whole foods and herbs. Salads are one of the best ways to do this. Not your typical iceberg lettuce salads with a few carrots shreds and some ranch dressing, but a salad with a wide variety of at least 10 different vegetables along with fresh garlic, turmeric, ginger, unrefined sea salt, and healthy fats. It is the best way to get a wide array of the best nutrients that will repair the gut and rebuild the body’s immune system. Don’t underestimate this; a large salad every day, done right, will do more for the body than any supplement regimen, and when followed long enough, the right diet with these kinds of daily salads can completely heal the body from disease, in most cases. But the right supplement protocol can radically speed things up and is often necessary for the very ill.

A perfect diet would not be complete without lots of clean drinking water. For detoxification, cranberry stevia lemonade is very good for rejuvenating the kidneys, cleaning the liver, purifying blood, and flushing out the whole system. For most people, a gallon a day will yield remarkable results, but for smaller people, or those who have rare conditions that make this dangerous, use common sense and don’t ever drink too much water (or any fluid). And for everyone else, a gallon of cranberry lemonade every day will have amazing benefits, second only to salads and cutting out other junk food, but again, use common sense. Drinking that much water in a very short period of time can kill people, believe it or not.

Supplements

When healing the gut, you want to kill fungi and parasites, balance the bacteria, and begin healing the intestinal walls. Undecylenic acid is the best supplement on the market for killing Candida and other fungal pathogens. Wormwood, barberry root, black walnut hull, cape aloe leaf, and garlic are all very powerful, broad-spectrum antimicrobials that kill the bad guys and help reset the balance of gut flora. Many of these also have other healing benefits on the digestive system. Garlic, bentonite clay, and activated charcoal are all powerful toxin removers with a host of other benefits.

A high quality probiotic designed to make it past stomach acid will help restore the balance of the body’s naturally occurring beneficial bacteria by crowding out, and competing with and even feeding off of the harmful flora. The bacteria from these supplements don’t last very long (regardless of what the manufactures tell you), but the idea is that your body’s natural bacteria can proliferate once the probiotics do their job. This is why a prebiotic diet is so important, and raw, fresh, organically grown produce provides the best prebiotics.

Don’t underestimate the power of beneficial bacteria for a properly working, strong immune system. Your beneficial bacteria play a major role in our immune system.

The appendix is a safe house for good bacteria. The body releases these bacteria when the body needs it. If you don’t have an appendix, it behooves you to take probiotics every day for the rest of your life. But take them at the right time. If you take probiotics at the same time you take antimicrobial supplements, the antimicrobials will kill the probiotic bacteria.

When doing a supplement protocol that employs antimicrobials, take the probiotics at night, just before bed, a few hours after taking other supplements that can harm the bacteria. Take the other antimicrobial supplements throughout the day. Or how ever you can work it out to give the probiotics ample time to do their thing before you kill them with antimicrobials.

How to Kill Lyme

Since the bacteria that cause Lyme can be so difficult to kill, a multifaceted approach should be taken with supplements. As mentioned, anyone suffering from Lyme disease is bound to have other issues depleting their immune system as well. The severity of Lyme symptoms will correlate with the overall toxicity in the body. Toxin elimination (which includes toxins released from the Lyme bacteria itself, and all other toxins) is imperative, along with building a healthy gut.

Common Co-Infections Must Be Addressed

Dr. Klinghardt (if you suffer from any disease, check out his research as well) states that common co-infections include, “roundworms, tapeworms, threadworms, toxoplasmosis, giardia and amoebas, clostridia, the herpes virus family, parvovirus B 19, active measles (in the small intestine), leptospirosis, chronic strep infections and their mutations, Babesia, Brucella, Ehrlichiosis, Bartonella, mycoplasma, Rickettsia, Bartonella, and a few others.”

As mentioned previously, fungi including molds, Candida, and other yeast are always part of the picture, and other toxicity issues such as heavy metal contamination are typically a heavy burden on a Lyme infected host as well.

A holistic Lyme protocol has a healthy diet as the foundation, focusing on vegetables, herbs, and whole foods, with the elimination of processed and refined foods, especially those with toxic chemicals added to them. When the diet is dialed in, the supplements have much more effectiveness, and the body is able to purge toxins more easily, and the immune system is radically stronger. Diet is key, and with almost all diseases, the right diet will prevent the disease in the first place, and can usually cure the disease given enough time. But, with today’s toxic loads, supplements are often needed, and even when diet could do the job on its own, again, supplements will radically speed up the process.

Specific Lyme Disease Protocol

This protocol will flush toxins and alleviate the body’s toxic load, replenish nutrition and ensure your body can absorb and assimilate nutrients, strengthen the immune system, and kill pathogens that cause us harm. It will work to rid the body of any infection, including viruses, but the protocol does emphasis effectiveness against difficult bacterial infection, molds and fungal infections, and parasites.

This means that this protocol will be extremely effective against bacterial infections such as syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and any ailments caused by fungal infections as well.

If a known viral co-infection exists, this protocol is strong enough to eliminate viruses, but you could do so faster by adding St. John’s Wort, Pau d’Arco, colloidal silver, zinc, olive leaf extract, and systemic enzymes. Personally, if it were me, I would just up the systemic enzyme dosage with the following protocol to combat viruses.

Step One – Lyme Disease Diet

It’s time to tighten the diet. Dial it in. Get strict. This doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy food; it means it’s time to learn to enjoy salads! Make a salad every day, using at least ten different vegetables and at least five different herbs and spices. Variety is key, and be sure to mix it up, but always include garlic, turmeric, pepper, healthy fats like avocado, flax, and coconut oil, and get organic, fresh (recently picked from the ground, not frozen or canned) vegetables whenever possible.

Fruit is great to consume with this diet, but every time fruit is eaten, SF722 or another powerful fungal fighter needs to be taken with it.

Juicing is a common problem for us health nuts. Sweet juice is a refined sugar, even fresh squeezed organic orange juice. Beets, carrots, and all fruits (save lemon, lime, granny smith apple, and cranberry), feed fungal infections, bacteria, and promote viruses. Juicing is fine, when done right. Juice regularly, but instead of those sweet juices, try ginger and turmeric shots (see the golden milk recipe below). On the other hand, you’re not likely to have much room for juicing because you will be drinking a lot of cranberry, stevia lemonade.

Every day, make a gallon of cranberry lemonade sweetened with stevia, and a very large salad (at least 6 cups). Obviously your size should be taken into consideration, don’t kill yourself trying to drink a gallon a day if you only weigh 80 pounds, but for most people a gallon of water a day will do them a world of good.

Absolutely no alcohol is allowed on this diet save what little bit is in some of the recommended tinctures.

Recipe links for recipes that don’t feed infection

80% Raw Food Diet (My salad recipe, the best salad you’ve ever had.)
How To Optimize Curcumin Absorption – With Golden Milk Tea Recipe
Inexpensive, Easy Detox – The One Gallon Challenge
Powerfully Healing Raspberry Cream Smoothie Recipe (This recipe calls for pineapple, a very sugary fruit that can be problematic for some. Take 5-10 SF722 with this smoothie to safeguard against fungal growth.)

Other Foods

Beans and rice (when made right, soak and sprout beans, soak rice), quinoa, amaranth, eggs, homemade nut milks (only if nuts are sprouted first, and cashews and pasteurized almonds will not sprout), and organic free-range meats are all okay on this diet.

Review:

Eat a big, diverse salad every day (fresh, organic whenever possible, never GMO foods).
Consume fresh fruits and vegetables throughout the day.
Gallon of cranberry, stevia lemonade with cayenne to taste.
Turmeric and ginger juicing regularly, daily is best.
No processed, refined, foods. No pasta, no breads, no cereals, no white rice.
Prepare your own foods – this is not the time to be going out to eat.
No chemically laden foods, fake foods, GMO foods, or even “healthy” junk foods (such as organic chips, organic cereals).

Step Two – Reset the Gut to Heal the Body

Read the article,Best Supplements To Kill Candida and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Fungal Infections. I know, you’re just getting to the meat of this 5,000+ word article, and I’m asking you to read another beast of an article, but you’ve got Lyme! A supposedly incurable disease means you have plenty of research to do. If you have Lyme, your real problem is a a leaky gut full of fungus that’s overwhelming the immune system.

The aforementioned diet will go a long way to heal the gut, and given time, will typically heal the gut on its own, especially in cases where the body is not dealing with a heavy load or a systemic infection. Since we’re dealing with a systemic infection, the supplements below are highly recommended.

Do not underestimate the importance of this step. This is, in fact, more important than the proceeding steps that specifically address viruses. In fact, most people that find themselves with disease only make it through this step and then feel so much better that they tend to stop the protocol. This is probably fine if you spend the rest of your life eating extremely well, which you should do regardless, but even when the body feels better than it has since you can remember, that doesn’t mean the infection is gone. It means the infection(s) is at bay, but ready to bounce back at the first chance.

The following are supplements that will clean out the gut, help detoxify the body, remove parasites, fungi, and begin the removal of heavy metals and other contaminates.

SF722 is the best supplement I know of for taking care of any kind of fungi (yeast, mold, Candida). You can take a lot of it at once. I’ve taken up to 30 at once with no side effects. For someone with obvious signs of Candida overgrowth I recommend people take 30 a day for the first few days, and then cut back to 10 a day for a few weeks. For cases where someone is unsure of a Candida infection, take 10 a day for a few days and cut back to 5 a day thereafter. Take this supplement whenever consuming foods that may feed Candida (like sweeter fruits such as pineapple), and always have this supplement on hand.

SF722 is very powerful against fungal infections, but it does kill some other bad guys as well, which means it can kill some good guys too, so I recommend taking it with other antimicrobial supplements throughout the day, and replenish beneficial bacteria every night with a probiotic like FloraMend.

Whatever probiotic you choose, be sure it is designed to make it past the stomach acid. Stomach acid kills most of the beneficial bacteria in fermented vegetables and cheaply made probiotic supplements. Bio-K (we don’t have this one at our sister site, Green Lifestyle Market, but most health food stores carry it) is an example of a bacteria specifically designed to make it through stomach acid.

FloraMend is a probiotic with a capsule designed to pass through stomach acid and release in the more alkaline environment of the gut. The benefit of FloraMend it that it stores easily and is tolerant to fairly extreme weather temperatures (up to 110 F). The benefit of Bio-K is that you can add it to your smoothies, feed it to young children and infants, and use it to strengthen the probiotic nature of other yogurts for a treat every now and then (but occasional treats should come after the body burden is substantially lessened, and the host is feeling much better).

Shillington’s products should be taken exactly as directed. His Intestinal Detox has activated charcoal, but I recommend getting more of it on this protocol than the intestinal detox would give by itself, so I added an additional supplement of just the charcoal. I recommend 5-10 a day depending on the body’s burden.

The following supplement regimen should be done for 1-2 weeks, depending on the severity of the flora-imbalance. If most symptoms do not significantly decrease, tighten up the diet and consider adding some more SF722 to the daily protocol.

Shillington’s Intestinal Cleanse – Kills parasites, heals the intestinal walls, sets up a hospitable home for healthy flora.
Formula SF722 – Undecenoic acid, kills Candida and other fungal functions.
Floramend-Prime – A strong probiotic designed to pass through the stomach acid and into the intestinal tract.
MicroDefense – Pure Encapsulations
Shillington’s Intestinal Detox – This is necessary only for those with seriously damaged intestines, anyone who has recently been vaccinated, or those looking to do a thorough detox. Pulls out heavy metals, positively charged protozoa, and other toxins.
Activated Charcoal – Activated Charcoal is highly porous, negatively charged, and attracts and adsorbs unwanted substances, carrying them out of the digestive tract.
Blood Detox Formula (tincture) & Blood Detox Tea – This is an absolutely amazing formula for cleaning out the blood, keeping things detoxifying and moving well, and assisting the elimination organs such as the kidneys and liver. I consider this formula to be essential for any detox. Clean blood makes for a clean body. You can use one or the other, but the combination of the tea and tincture is even more powerful. Do not take this formula for more than two weeks, practice two weeks on and one week off. Tip: the instructions on the bottle say to take externally, but it is designed to be taken orally.

Step Three – Kill Lyme, and any other infection

Foundational supplements should be taken for months and could be taken indefinitely. They provide the body with a foundation of the minerals and vitamins and other nutrients needed so that, along with the right diet, the body remains at peak performance, able to fend off new invaders and rid itself of any current infection and toxins.

For those on a tight budget, looking for a stopping point, I recommend completing the first phase of the protocol (above) and then always having on hand the activated charcoal and the SF722. If affordable, add the Total Nutrition Formula and the Fish oil as well, and take every day for a year. A lack of nutrition or an abundance of toxins at any time before the Lyme bacteria is completely eliminated will likely result in resurgence of infection along with renewed symptoms. For most people, a very strict diet and just a few supplements (after balancing the gut flora as previously advised) will eventually rid the body of any and all Lyme.

Foundational Supplements

Total Nutrition Formula – This is actual food, perfectly balanced to provide a nice foundation of the most important vitamins and many other essential nutrients. You can also make your own, see below.
Liquid Light – The most common minerals Lyme patients tend to be low on include copper, magnesium, manganese and iron. Liquid Light has these and many other minerals the body needs. It’s one of the best mineral supplements on the market.
Activated Charcoal – For the same reason mentioned above, this will just continue to pull out toxins as your body heals and fights infection.
SF722 – Always keep it on hand. With today’s modern diets and lifestyle, Candida and other fungal infections are an extremely common problem.
Systemic Enzymes – These enzymes are designed to pass through the stomach acid and release in the intestinal tract (like the aforementioned FloraMend). While this is one of the least important supplements for specifically killing bacteria, it is a powerful antiviral supplement with an incredible array of other benefits and detoxification capabilities. For more information on this, check out our Vaccine Detox article.
Floramend-Prime – For those without an appendix. If you don’t have your appendix then you should be taking a probiotic for the rest of your life.
Fish oil with D – Vitamin D is a common vitamin to be low on, even for those eating the healthiest of diets, and the fats are extremely important for building healthy cell structure so that the body’s cells are less susceptible to infection and toxin damage from infectious organisms. For vegans, there are separate vitamin D and fat supplements.

Anti-microbial and Immune Boosting Supplements

The previous list of “foundational supplements” can be taken indefinitely for better health and vitality. They are in fact the supplements that my family, my dog, and I take regularly. This next group of supplements should be taken for two weeks at a time, and then halted for one week. When the body is functioning well, these supplements will eliminate unwanted pathogens, but they also kill our good micro flora, too. Some of the supplements lose their effectiveness after a couple of weeks, and it’s a good idea, after two weeks of these supplements, to build up beneficial bacteria in the body.

One of the reasons this phase of the protocol is so good at eliminating bacteria, even the hard to kill kind, is that we’re attacking it with a wide array of natural chemicals. Many protocols call for three or four different supplements that are known to kill bacterial infections, but do so in the same way with the same chemicals. For instance, Oregon grape, coptis chinensis, and goldenseal are sometimes recommended in the same protocol to kill bacteria, but they use the same naturally occurring chemical called berberine to do so. This regimen utilizes supplements with very different chemical compounds to attack the infection in different ways.

Mushroom Complex – This mushroom formula called MycoPhyto Complex uses a mix of six different medicinal mushrooms to improve and maintain the immune system. The phytochemicals in these mushrooms limit the spread of tumors and infections on a microbial level, strengthening the body’s defense system.
Oil of Oregano – The beneficial effect of oil of oregano resonates in several of the body’s systems. It’s a powerful antioxidant and a powerful anti-microbial.
Berberine – This is the alkaloid known to kill bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites that is present in a number of plants including barberry, tree turmeric, Oregon grape, goldenseal, and goldthread.
Liposomal Vitamin C – This vitamin C is highly bio-available, and will strengthen the immune system and provide a host of other benefits.
Colloidal Silver – Most are familiar with its antimicrobial properties. I’ve never found it to be as effective as other compounds, but combined with other supplements, colloidal silver makes it nearly impossible for infection to flourish.
Olive Leaf Extract – This is one that can be taken indefinitely. Olive leaf extract is one of those rare supplements that supports the immune system and kills the infections without harming beneficial microflora.
Shillington’s Echinacea Plus – Minimize the severity and duration of a current illness and enhance your immune system – a great addition for anyone detoxifying and looking to keep their immune system strong while the onslaught of toxins works through the elimination organs.

DIY - Click to see some of Shillington's recipes

Conclusion

The whole protocol above is overkill. It’s expensive, and it’s more than enough for most. On the other hand, if you have the money and want to knock out chronic disease fast, there’s no better protocol, and all of the recommended supplements have immense benefits to the body for a multitude of reasons. If not, try getting through the first two phases, and then maybe choose just one or two of the supplements for the third phase.

EMF’s should also be limited, and grounding, or Earthing should be done as much as possible. Himalayan salt lamps can be very beneficial for those suffering from Lyme.

Be sure to get enough sleep, and make sure the water you’re drinking is clean, beneficial water.

There are new approaches for diagnosing Lyme in development. They look promising, but you do not have to wait for a proper diagnosis to heal your body and feel vibrant and healthy again. It really doesn’t matter if it’s Lyme or anything else. Healing the body is about restoring the immune system, reducing toxins, and feeding the body right.

Sources:

Joint Pain – What Causes it? How to Stop it Naturally

If we hyperextend or twist a joint, we know exactly what caused the pain. But there are times when joint pain sneaks up on us and we have no idea what started it, much less how to stop it. Before you pop a pill or two, or regularly fill a prescription for the rest of your life, why not discover the cause, rather than just treat the symptoms? If you heal the body, you end the pain.

Joint Pain

Joint pain has many presentations and symptoms. The joint may be weak, stiff, locked, or exhibit a limited range of motion. It may be warm, tender, and swollen. The skin surrounding the joint may be red. Pain may be present at all times or only when the joint is moved. The pain may be restricted to one joint or affect multiple joints; it may migrate from one to another. Pain and other symptoms may be acute or chronic. Joint pain may be the only symptom of disease or it may be one of many.

An injury or other ailment may affect one or multiple structures inside or outside of the joint: the tendons, ligaments, cartilage, bursae (fluid filled sacks or cavities that help cushion the joint), the synovial membrane (lining of the joint that secretes fluid to help lubricate the joint), or the bone itself.

What is arthritis?

Arthritis is pain and inflammation of a joint. While some sources say there are around 100 causes of joint pain, Arthritis Care states there are around 200 causes, which fit into three classifications:

Inflammatory Arthritis – such as rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, gout
Non-inflammatory Arthritis – such as osteoarthritis, scoliosis, torn ligaments
Connective Tissue Disease – such as lupus, sclerosis, Sjogren’s syndrome

Joint Injury

A joint injury is not always caused by a bruise or sprain. Repetitive stress injuries from sports, hobbies, work or an injury caused by a workstation that is not ergonomically correct can cause joint pain. For instance, a desk that may be too high or a chair may be too low causing undue stress and strain on joints. Old, sagging mattresses that do not properly support the body for a third of our daily life can also contribute to joint injury and pain.

Viruses, Bacteria, and Candida Can Cause Joint Pain

Viral illnesses that can cause joint pain include (but are not limited to) hand, foot and mouth disease; hepatitis B and C; HIV, human parvovirus; mumps; rubella; influenza; polio; pericarditis; and encephalitis.

Bacterial infections that can cause joint pain include (but are not limited to) staph, strep, gonorrhea, chlamydia, tuberculosis, and Lyme’s disease.

Candida overgrowth (or any other kind of fungus), can infect the body in ways that are similar to a virus or bacteria and can cause auto-immune symptoms, including joint pain.

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis. It is classified as non-inflammatory and is characterized by deterioration of cartilage. This type of joint pain is more severe after rest.

Autoimmune Diseases That Cause Joint Pain

Autoimmune diseases that cause joint pain include (but are not limited to) polymyalgia rheumatica, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, systemic lupus erythematosus, type I diabetes, celiac sprue disease, pernicious anemia, vitiligo, scleroderma, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease, Hashimoto’s disease, Addison’s disease, Graves’ disease, reactive arthritis, and Sjögren’s syndrome. Candida overgrowth is typically at the root of autoimmune disease.

Natural Treatment for Chronic Arthritic Conditions

Naturopathic medicine and natural treatments focus on healing through nutrition, detoxification, exercise, and appropriate herbal remedies when indicated. Natural treatment begins with diet.

Diet

First and foremost, our bodies require nutrition that is abundant in fresh, whole, organic foods. The most nutrient dense foods are produce. The healthiest diet consists of 80% (or more) fresh, whole, organic produce – more vegetables than fruits. We also must include healthy fats in our diet.

While filling the body with the most nutrient dense foods, we must avoid adding toxins to the body and we must be vigilant about removing toxins from the body that we cannot help but accumulate from our polluted environment.

To avoid adding toxins and other damaging substances to our bodies, we must eliminate artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives; MSG; trans fats; GMOs, high fructose corn syrup, and all other processed sugars. We also must minimize caffeine intake.

In other words, we need to eat real food – not processed foods.

Detox

If we are eating right, we are detoxing our bodies through the food we eat. Green leafy vegetables, along with other produce high in fiber, help to balance the microbiome in the gut, reducing bad bacteria and increasing good bacteria. Garlic, cilantro, cruciferous vegetables, spirulina, and chlorella all help chelate heavy metals and other toxins and remove them from the body.

By eating the right diet, we are helping our bodies detox on a daily basis. It is still a good idea to go through a good, healthy detox regimen twice a year if you are exposed to a heavy toxic load (generally anyone living and urban lifestyle).

Exercise

Yes, exercise is vital. Not only is exercise needed for bone density and muscle strength, our immune system requires movement to do its job. The lymphatic system is a circulatory system that is dependent on body movement to push fluids through the body. Walk, run, dance, jump rope, swim, do yoga – whatever you can do to get moving. Mix it up and have fun.

Next Steps to End Joint Pain

When the body receives the proper nutrition, detoxification, and exercise, it will begin to heal. But we can help the process with supplements and targeted foods.

Anyone familiar with natural healing is aware of leaky gut syndrome. Antibiotics and a poor diet start the deterioration of the gut. Gluten and Candida continue the destruction and imbalance. When a leaky gut allows foreign particles direct access to the bloodstream, allergies and autoimmune disorders result. In order to stop joint pain, you must heal your gut.

“I have noticed a pattern that many women who suffer from joint pain also have digestive issues. Ongoing digestive imbalances in the GI system (such as leaky gut, dysbiosis and inflammatory bowel disease) have long been associated with allergens and chronic inflammation.” Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP

While the general belief system is that autoimmune diseases are the result of the immune system running amuck and attacking healthy tissue, the leaky gut connection and systemic Candida suggest a different scenario – that the immune system is attacking foreign particles that have escaped the gut. One thing is for certain; many people who suffer from autoimmune disease report a decrease or a complete resolution in joint pain and other symptoms after healing their gut and following a healthy diet that eliminates gluten, milk, known allergies, and sugar.

An increase in omega 3 fatty acids is also crucial. Flaxseed oil or Udo’s 3.6.9. with DHT oil are both great sources of omega 3 fatty acids. Use either on salads or cooked vegetables. Check out Johanna Budwig’s anti-inflammatory recipe. (See suggested reading).

Hypothyroidism

Hypothyroidism is another common cause of arthritis, frequently associated with pain in the wrist, shoulder, elbow, neck, knee, and hip. Hypothyroidism also causes pain in the arches and triggers headaches, including migraines. Again, it seems that health begins in the gut as hypothyroidism often follows leaky gut syndrome, gluten sensitivity, and Candida overgrowth. Healing the gut and the thyroid can resolve pain in the joints and connective tissues.

Conclusion

Joint pain and disease is not a necessary part of aging. It is a sign that your body is crying out for you to make changes in your life – especially in your diet. Pay attention. Give your body what it needs. It will repay you with years of pain-free living.

Recommended Supplements:

AR-Encap – Thorne Research (joint support, facilitates normal inflammatory response)
Boswellia – Pure Encapsulations (promotes healthy joint, connective tissue, pain releif)
Arctic Omega-D – Nordic Naturals (omega 3s and Vitamin D)
Systemic Enzymes – (Removes waste, unwanted proteins, promotes long-term healing)
Curcumin 500 – Pure Encapsulations (Supports the body’s natural inflammatory response,musculoskeletal and cell function)
Shillington’s Deep Tissue Repair Oil (powerful topical relief for stiff muscles and ligaments, inflamed tissue, and conditions like arthritis and lumbago)

Further Reading:

Sources:

How To Detoxify and Heal From Vaccinations – For Adults and Children

Detoxing from vaccines is a process without a definite timeline. Think of it as an ongoing journey. Toxin accumulation, especially heavy metals like mercury, can take a long time to remove from the body. Vaccine toxins can be cumulative, building up with each vaccination, adding to the toxin load we acquire from the enormous amount of environmental toxins we encounter every day.

If you’ve been vaccinated and suffer from serious vaccination damage, you’re best off living a lifestyle that promotes detoxification for the rest of your life. The truth is, you may never be able to dispel all of the toxins that have caused the damage. Living the healthiest possible lifestyle may be your only way to live symptom-free. But then again, to one degree or another, this is true for everyone.

Ingredients That Need To Be Detoxified and Why
What Damage Is Caused By Vaccines
Pre-Vaccine – Maximize the Safety of Vaccinations
Vaccine Detoxification Protocol(s) For Adults
Detoxification For Children
Enzyme Supplementation For Vaccine Damage
Recommended Supplements

Clearing the vaccine injury with naturopathic and homeopathic remedies is an option. The time between the beginning of the protocol and full recovery is dependent on the severity of the damage, the length of time the damage has been severe, and the amount of suppressive therapy that was administered (pharmaceuticals). All pharmaceuticals will need to be flushed from the body, and the damage they caused must be healed as well.

While some can often recover from a vaccine injury in a matter of weeks or months, detoxifying and repairing the body can take years if the damage is severe (brain damage) or the protocol and diet are not strictly followed, (for example, children who refuse to eat raw vegetables.)

Ingredients That Need To Be Detoxified and Why

Ingredients and derived-from ingredients include, thimerosal (yes, there are plenty of vaccines that still contain mercury), aluminum (some say it’s even worse than thimerosal), MSG, GMOs, and human DNA, Every single vaccine is toxic, and many ingredients are known carcinogens or neurotoxins. Vaccines are toxic by nature; the vaccine is designed to excite the immune system. In fact, every single ingredient in vaccines is toxic in one way or another.

Consider that the preservatives are designed to kill or prevent the growth of microorganisms. That’s what preservatives do. But vaccines need to do this while preserving the antigen. So we’ve got an antigen, which of course is toxic to the body, and we have a preservative, which is generally very heavy and very toxic that is designed to kill organisms, and we have ingredients designed to cause damage so that the immune system is aroused. It doesn’t take a scientist to understand how damaging this can be to the body, especially when repeated over and over.

An individual’s reaction to a vaccine is often similar to how the body would react to the natural disease

Some of the damage is due to the sheer accumulation of toxins, some of the damage is due to the immune response, some of the damage is due to dumb luck of where the toxins settle within the body. It should be noted that these toxins can shift at any time, which is why vaccine injuries can occur days, weeks, and even years after the actual vaccination.

A person who would willingly administer or receive an immunization is a person who does not fully understand the importance of microbes in our biology, how the immune system and natural selection works, and how toxins affect biology.

We’ve got formaldehyde (a probable human carcinogen), mercury (a neurotoxin and the second most toxic substance known to man), aluminum (a known neurotoxin, 75% of which is retained in a newborn and up to 40% in an adult, stored in the kidneys, spleen, liver, heart, brain, lymph nodes, and muscle), cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (a hazardous substance), MSG (a neurotoxin), 2-Phenoxyethoanol (a hazardous toxin), and polysorbate 80 (a toxin associated with serious adverse effects including death), and this list is not complete.

Many of these toxins are synergistically toxic, for instance thimerosal’s toxicity is multiplied by the presence of aluminum, and some antibiotics. You can have harmful reactions with your immunizations from past vaccines.

Even if each and every vaccine were to be proven safe and effective despite its toxic ingredients, no one knows how much damage is done by combining multiple vaccines.

What Damage Is Caused By Vaccines

An individual’s reaction to a vaccine is often similar to how the body would react to the natural disease. In most cases, those most susceptible to vaccine damage are those with a compromised immune system – the same individuals who would suffer the most damage from the natural disease if they contracted it.

Generally, the healthier the individual is prior to the shot, the less severe the reaction. The directions in the package insert (package inserts that provide medical directions to the doctors and information for the patients) specifically say not to vaccinate a sick child. Vaccinating sick children and adults dramatically increases the risk of an adverse reaction.

Minor vaccine damage typically includes fevers, ear infections, sinus infections, diarrhea, and other similar symptoms. This is the body’s attempt to discharge the vaccine matter. Often these reactions are suppressed with antibiotics and other drugs. When antibiotics are given, the gut becomes diseased with fungi and antibiotic resistant pathogenic microbes. Vaccine ingredients alone can still cause diseased intestines due to their powerful antimicrobial nature.

…if you think vaccines are “perfectly safe” or “healthy” you do not understand health…

Many vaccine ingredients linger in the body, especially the viruses. Vaccines are cocktails of preservatives, pathogens, and adjuvants. Adjuvants are intended to stimulate your immune response to the vaccine-introduced pathogens, and they do stimulate your immune system successfully, but they destroy tissues in the process. Mercury and aluminum are used as adjuvants and preservatives, so this is a case where the treatment for the disease (the vaccine) can be worse than the disease.

It should be easy to understand now why the majority of vaccine toxins will have to be expelled from the body before the body can quit reacting to the disease the vaccine was intended to protect against.

Vaccine ingredients can also cause severe allergic reactions to certain proteins that have been injected into the body, creating an immediate allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) or a food sensitivity like a peanut or egg allergy. The body will not stop reacting to the allergens until the body has expelled the vaccine ingredients and has been returned to full health.

Vaccines severely distort the balance of minerals in the body, which causes vitamin and other nutrient imbalances as well. This leads to a weakened endocrine system, which causes hormonal imbalances and poor brain function, along with fatigue. Eventually, if the gut is not healed, the body will deteriorate into an autoimmune state. (Sometimes this happens very quickly and other times very slowly.) Almost all disease is based on inflammation. Vaccines are designed to cause an immune response, which causes inflammation. Until the vaccine ingredients are expelled from the body, the body is in a constant inflammatory state. It’s no wonder multiple sclerosis, cancer, fibromyalgia, lupus, diabetes, and so many other autoimmune diseases can be tied back to vaccinations.

Understanding basic biology, how cells function, and what just a few of the vaccine ingredients do (as proven by science), one can only conclude that vaccines are toxic to the body. Again, if you think vaccines are “perfectly safe” or “healthy” you do not understand health, and consequently it will be much more difficult to get well.

Other common vaccine damage symptoms include, but are not limited to, anaphylaxis, fever, convulsions, coughs that do not resolve, cramps, decomposition of the blood, developmental delays, degenerative conditions, acne, ADD, ADHD, food allergies, seasonal and environmental allergies, Asperger’s, asthma, autism, cavities, colds and flus (often times ongoing), confusion and disorientation, digestive problems, diphtheria, ear infections, eczema, emaciation, epilepsy, eruptions, head banging, behavioral problems, cancer, headaches, hepatitis, hives, inability to eat various foods, inability to focus, insomnia, learning disorders, liver and kidney problems, measles, neurological deficits, polio, repetitive illnesses, meningitis, multiple sclerosis, neuralgias, restlessness, rheumatic conditions, septicemia, shingles, shock, SIDS, skin eruptions, sleeping all the time, sleeplessness, tendency to get sick, tics, violent outbursts, and warts.

The reason vaccines cause damage and the body can react with so many different diseases and ailments is that vaccines aggravate the immune system and the vaccine toxins build up; they do not easily dissipate.

Pre-Vaccine – Maximize the Safety of Vaccinations

If a vaccination is being forced on you, do not agree to pay for it and do not sign any kind of release or consent form. If you are about to choose to vaccinate or you feel the risks are better than the consequences (loss of job, CPS, vaccine mandate laws), you can minimize the risk by detoxifying the body of heavy metals, strengthening the immune system, and ensuring the gut flora is balanced and healthy. This can all be done by starting the detox protocol a couple of weeks before the vaccine is to be administered.

On the day of the vaccination, take an ice pack with you. Apply it to the injection site immediately after receiving the shot to lessen the immune response.

Vaccine Detoxification Protocol(s) For Adults

The first step is to eat right. Eating the right kind of foods promotes constant, proper, gentle, healthy detoxification. We also recommend supplements from Green Lifestyle Market. For Shillington’s products, we give recipes so that you can make these products yourself (check the bottom of this article). If you’re choosing to use a product from another brand for the purpose of use in this protocol, make sure the ingredients are clean and potent! There’s a lot of junk out there, so shop carefully.

Some of our favorite brands include Shillington’s Organic Solutions, Wise Woman Herbals, Gaia Herbs, Thorne, Progressive Labs, Pure Encapsulations, Douglas Labs, Standard Process, Allergy Research Group, and Professional Complementary Health Formulas. Green Lifestyle Market sells most of these brands, but not all. With Shillington’s products, we also give the recipe whenever possible so you can make the tinctures, teas, and other formulas yourself.

This is not a specific protocol, and natural medicine does not have to be an exact science. Some people will see more benefit from one aspect of the program than another. But it’s important to get the diet right. Don’t eat crap and expect to get well. It does not work that way. For detoxing and for healing, the diet is far more important than the supplements. In fact, most people who suffer from a vaccine injury could heal fully with only the diet and lemonade recipe and no supplementation though it would take longer, and will vary depending on the severity of the injury. And while supplementation without diet can reduce and even reverse some symptoms, it takes much longer, and the person will not get to a place of vitality and well-being.

Eat to Detoxify

Fruits and vegetables all have some form of detoxification properties. The only problem with fruit is its high sugar content. When someone’s gut is damaged, sugar can promote Candida overgrowth. So, if Candida symptoms exist, fruit should be severely limited and eaten with anti-fungal supplements.

Vegetables should be varied and plentiful. Eat a large salad every day with lots of different vegetables. Try introducing new vegetables and fresh herbs into your salads each shopping trip. Food has synergistic properties, and this is especially true for vegetables (and fruits that are known as vegetables, too).

A healthy diet consists of a minimum of 80% raw fresh produce with many more vegetables than fruits. Add herbs into your cooking like garlic, oregano, cinnamon, turmeric, and other spices and herbs with amazing health benefits. Try to find the whole herbs, like turmeric and ginger root and cinnamon bark, as opposed to the powdered versions. Your food will taste much better, and your body will feel the difference, too. Cilantro (coriander), garlic, and parsley are well known for their ability to chelate metals and they have many benefits including huge immune system boosting properties.

Eliminate refined foods, smoking, (including marijuana), and limit or eliminate anything else that can introduce heavy metals and other toxins to your body. This, unfortunately, can include rice and many kinds of fish. These are normally fine foods for health, but they are too often contaminated with heavy metals. If you do eat rice or fish, do your research and find the brands that have been proven clean (arsenic in rice) and the fish with the lowest contamination (mercury). Avoid root vegetables and herbs that are not grown in clean soil. This means choosing organic vegetables and avoiding all vegetables grown in China! The majority of garlic sold in the U.S. is grown in China and it is often highly toxic.

Eat lots of vegetables rich in sulfur compounds like, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, broccoli, onions, shallots, garlic, and leeks.

A Gallon a Day

Here’s what you’ll need for cranberry lemonade:

Glass gallon jar
14 cups (almost a gallon) of safe, clean, spring water or distilled water
1 cup of organic cranberry juice, not from concentrate
3 organic fresh lemons – juice them
A citrus juicer
Liquid stevia – to taste
Liquid cayenne – to taste

Most people should drink a gallon a day. Some people cannot due to health issues or due to their smaller size, but regardless, you can drink a lot of it, and it will help flush and cleanse the whole body. There are many benefits to this recipe, but make sure you use healthy, organic ingredients and safe, clean drinking water.

Balance and Heal the Intestinal Tract

Maintain one bowel movement for each meal or at least two to three movements per day. If this is difficult, Shillington’s Intestinal Cleanse, or a product of similar formula with high-quality ingredients should be taken. Bowel movements, for most people, will come with ease shortly after adopting the aforementioned diet high in produce. Anyone who has trouble eliminating after a few days on this diet or who has any digestive issues, Candida overgrowth symptoms, or any likelihood of “leaky gut” will also benefit from Shillington’s Intestinal Cleanse.

Links for all recommended products, where to buy and how to make, and for more information for those with specific ailments, are also listed below the article.

If bowel movements did not come easily, especially for anyone who eats raw produce and other fiber rich foods, hypothyroidism may be a problem. It is very common for mercury to affect the thyroid. If your thyroid function is fine, the next likely reason for difficult bowel movements with a proper diet is a magnesium deficiency. (This deficiency is likely to correct itself with a proper diet.)

Wellness does not happen without balanced intestinal flora. Taking a probiotic and supplementation known to kill Candida and other yeast (SF722), can balance the flora. The intestinal cleanse also balances and kills Candida and other parasites. Any probiotic should be formulated or encapsulated to pass through stomach acid alive.

Get as much rest and sleep as your body needs. During detoxification, many people need more than the typically recommended 8 hours of sleep.

Other Recommended Detoxifying Supplements

The proper diet is by far the most important aspect of health, healing, and detoxification. In cases where damage is severe or you really just want to boost or speed up the process, supplements can help you detoxify. Supplements are not, and never will be, a substitute for the right diet. They are a supplementation to the right diet and nothing more. In fact, they don’t work well with a poor diet.

Niacin, charcoal, vitamin C, spirulina, chlorella, diatomaceous earth, edible earth clays, and beneficial fats and other nutrients and herbs can radically accelerate the detoxification process when they accompany a healthy diet.

Flushing with Niacin.

Niacin, otherwise known as B3, is a very inexpensive way to boost the efficacy of a detox. You want the flush kind, not the “no flush.” Doctors usually recommend starting with 100 mg, but up to 5,000 a day has been used for serious drug detoxification and other urgent detox needs (such as chemical poisoning).

Don’t take niacin for too long. Taking any one single B vitamin for a long time causes an imbalance or deficiency of other B vitamins. Long term, high dose use of B3 can also damage the liver.

Take it in the morning. In 30 to 45 minutes when it kicks in, exercise or do the sauna. Try some hot tea. Drink lots of fluids (like the cranberry lemonade) and sweat out the toxins. Niacin won’t do you much good if you aren’t flushing out the junk while you do it. It’s powerful. You’ll be itchy, hot, and flushed red all over. Most people without seriously damaged livers can easily handle 500 mg for a few days. The effects last about an hour.

Perhaps 15 – 25 mg would keep first timers from screaming bloody murder, and allow for a more gentle, beneficial experience.

A word about the process might also be appropriate, as in the patients where I worked for seven years did not appear to have a clue about how to best utilize this vitamin as a cleanse. (Take a small amount to start, if no effects, i.e., the flush, observed, up the dose by the same increments, until it occurs. Then stay at that dose until no more effects felt, followed by upping the dose until next flush. Maintain until no more effect, then up the third time, repeating this process. Three times through should then be put on hold for weeks to a month or two depending upon health status, before starting again.) Hopefully, a side note or a foot note, will save beginners that pain and frustration from overdosing the first time around, i.e., a simple word of strong caution. This note of concern is from one who has used this cleanse for many decades, as well as assisting others through the process.” – Richard

Detox With Food Grade Activated Charcoal

Food grade activated charcoal is derived from burning pure, untainted organic substances such as coconuts or certain woods without using toxic chemicals in the process. Charcoal forms a chemical bond with heavy metals and many other toxins and is easily flushed from the body.

The action of activated charcoal involves adsorption, not absorption of toxins. Adsorption is the electrical attraction of toxins and heavy metals, but not beneficial nutrients, to the surfaces of the fine charcoal particles. This is more of a chelation process. The charcoal itself is not absorbed into the body, so the toxins attached to the charcoal particles exit via the bowels. Don’t be surprised by black stools.” – Natural Society

For vitamin C, spirulina, and chlorella, Dr. Shillington has developed a nutrition formula. It contains clean, high-quality spirulina and chlorella along with highly bioavailable vitamin C in its best forms – ground rose hips and citrus. Check out the recipe here or see the link below. If you choose another multi-nutritional supplement, we highly recommend using a brand that is a nutrition powder made of ground, pure, nutritionally complete food with the enzymes still intact. The chlorella and spirulina are not only amazing superfoods that chelate and detoxify the body, they are both highly bio-available proteins, and they have a synergistic effect with the other ingredients. Do make sure any chlorella or spirulina is from a trustworthy source. These ingredients, when coming from cheap sources, are known to have contaminants.

Dr. Shillington also makes an intestinal detox, which contains psyllium, flax, pectin, bentonite clay, and charcoal.

Epsom Salts, Clay Baths, and Hot & Cold Hydrotherapy

Epsom salts and clay baths help to pull toxins from the body while they cleanse the skin and unclog pores to allow more toxins to flow out. Hot and cold hydrotherapy increases blood flow throughout the body. Hot water pushes and increased blood flow to the skin’s surface while cold water drives the blood deep to the core.

Alternating hot and cold water brings fresh blood with oxygen and nutrients to the organs and glands and carries away toxins and pathogens. Dr. Shillington suggests starting with water as hot as you can stand for a minimum of two minutes. Then turn off the hot water for two minutes of cold—the colder the better. Alternate back and forth for a total of 20 minutes, ending with cold.

Detoxification For Children

Obviously, the proper diet and supplementation can be tricky for younger children. Smoothies are a great way to sneak in super-foods and supplements like the nutrition formula, turmeric, ginger, and small amounts of Shillington’s adult supplements. Shillington also offers a children’s intestinal cleanse made with Fig syrup, prune syrup, senna leaf, ginger root, fennel seed, wild cherry, orange peel, turkey rhubarb root, and cascara sagrada bark in maple syrup. For children with rashes or any other sign of Candida, this formula should be taken with a strong probiotic. For children who won’t take capsules, try Bio-K. They are little yogurts available at Whole Foods and other health-oriented stores. Don’t get just any yogurt you see; most yogurts will do more harm than good. Bio-K is a specifically designed bacteria formulated to pass through the stomach acid alive and well.

CHILDREN’S DOSAGES – THE 150 RULE

Doc Shillington recommends the following rule for determining dosages for children:

“Most of the time, herbal remedies that are used for adults can also be used for children. I personally have only 1 (one) formula that is designed specifically for kids and that is my Intestinal Kleanse for Kids. The only reason for this is that my regular Intestinal Cleanse Formula is in a capsule and has some very strong Habanero Cayenne in it. It is simply too large and hot a dose for a small child. Besides, trying to get a capsule down a 6-month-old is next to impossible. But, all the rest of my formulas can be given to children using the following guidelines for dosages given.”

This 150 Rule is very simple. Place the amount of your child’s weight over 150 and reduce it down to it lowest fraction. Here are some examples followed by a general weight / dose chart.

Let’s say a child’s weight = 50 pounds. Put the 50 over 150 as in 50/150 and you’ll see this reduces down to 5/15 or 1/3.

Click to show all of children's dosage recommendations.

If money is tight, and you can only purchase one product for a child who will be, or has been vaccinated, probiotics are that one thing. A balanced gut is imperative. When breastfeeding, be absolutely sure to include lots of garlic, turmeric, ginger, avocado, and coconut oil in your diet, along with a good powdered nutrition formula.

How to Reverse Vaccine Damage

In addition to the protocol above, the endocrine system (thyroid, adrenals, etc.) and the gut microbes must be addressed for any kind of serious illness, whether it’s vaccine damage or any autoimmune issue. Strong, high-quality probiotics should be taken every day until all symptoms are alleviated. Gluten, casein, GMOs, MSG, artificial ingredients, and other toxins including ingredients from commercial cosmetics and body care products must be completely avoided. (BTW, there’s a specific protocol down below with specific recommendations for you if you don’t want to go clicking on all these individual links.)

Must Read: How to Avoid GMOs in 2018 – And Everything Else You Should Know About Genetic Engineering

Turbocharge the immune system with echinacea, oil of oregano, high dosages of highly bioavailable vitamin C, and enzymes. Our top two recommendations for vitamin C are Total Nutrition Formula and liposomal vitamin C. Echinacea of high quality creates a “fuzzy” feeling on the tongue. These supplements are especially beneficial for antioxidant support and immune support, perfect for anyone prone to infection and dealing with detoxification burdens. Cayenne, garlic, goldenseal root, and burdock seed and root, are all powerful blood purifiers. Clean blood equals a stronger immune system.

Make sure fats are balanced and the body has enough vitamin D. This is essential for healing and for building a strong immune system, as well as enabling the body to properly assimilate other nutrients.

In many cases, improvements will not be seen until the gut and the thyroid are healed. A strict diet is essential. With vaccine damage and a leaky gut, progress can quickly reverse if one strays from the diet. The body that is already reacting to foreign invaders and damage from toxins damage doesn’t need to battle a new slew of Candida, other foreign proteins, and other toxins entering the bloodstream through a leaky gut.

B Vitamins and Magnesium for Autism

Dr. Gaby reports the following information regarding vitamin B6 and magnesium.

In several studies, 10–15 supplementation with vitamin B6, alone or in combination with magnesium, was beneficial for autistic patients. Improvements included increased alertness, better communication and social interactions, higher intelligence quotient (IQ), fewer emotional outbursts, and less self-mutilation. Most studies used large doses of pyridoxine (30 mg/kg of body weight per day, to a maximum of 1 g/day in some studies; 75–3,000 mg/day in other studies). However, one study reported positive results using a relatively low dose of pyridoxine (0.6 mg/kg/day) in combination with magnesium. When magnesium was used, the dosage range was 6–15 mg/kg/day. The combination of vitamin B6 and magnesium appeared to be more effective than either nutrient alone. In a small number of patients whose initial favorable response to pyridoxine wore off, improvement was again seen when the patients were switched to pyridoxal phosphate (the biologically active form of vitamin B6). While the mechanism of action of vitamin B6 and magnesium is not known, these nutrients are thought to work in part by modulating dopamine metabolism.” – Gaby, Alan R., MD. Nutritional Medicine

Enzyme Supplementation For Vaccine Damage, Autism, and Any Other Disease

An enzyme is a large protein molecule that is found in all living things, from food to humans to cats and dogs. Enzymes control the speed of chemical reactions in your body. They are responsible for the chemical process that converts food into microscopic particles or nutrients that create your tissues and organs, your hair, skin, and nails. Without enzymes, no metabolic activity will occur. Some enzymes, like the ones in your gut, break down large molecules into smaller ones. Others, like the enzymes that make DNA, use small molecules to build up large complex ones. Enzymes also help cells communicate with each other, keeping cell growth, life and death, under control. Enzymes are essential to life.

Digestive enzymes break down food. Plant enzymes break down food in the pre-digestive phase of digestion before stomach acid inactivates them. Metabolic enzymes, also known as systemic enzymes, break down foreign proteins and fibrin and clean your blood of impurities. Consider the ramifications of this. Fibrin builds up when the body is damaged. It’s an important part of the healing process. Enzymes eliminate this scar tissue. Enzymes also eliminate viruses.

When a virus contacts a human cell, its external coating connects to the cell and the virus becomes able to contact DNA. This connection to DNA permits the virus to reproduce in a rapid manner. Proteolytic enzymes consume the exterior coating of a virus, rendering the virus permanently inert. They also break up circulating immune complexes in the blood. They enhance the elasticity of erythrocytes and reduce aggregation of blood platelets, increasing blood fluidity and its circulation in tissues. Enzymes are what take out the garbage, and they are the tools to rebuild the body. But the body can only produce so many.

When the body quits producing proteolytic or protein digesting enzymes responsible for controlling fibrin levels in the body system, the body dies within 24 hours. The more enzymes we supplement the body with and get in our diets, the longer we live. It’s that simple. Heart attack, stroke, somewhere, somehow, the body will cease to function.” – Dr. Tim Kelly

Enzymes are the fountain of youth if ever there was one. Aging appears to begin between the ages of 27 and 35 when the production of enzymes that dissolve protein begins to diminish. Scars stick around longer and remain more prominent. Aches and pains take longer to fade, injuries become slower to heal, and our body just doesn’t seem to recover like it once did because it doesn’t. We do damage to our body simply by being alive, and the more damage we do, the more enzymes we need to repair the damage.

Everybody can use more enzymes. We cannot get an optimal amount in our food unless we grow most of our own food with best practices to produce the most nutrient dense crops. Even then, we could still use more. Our body produces enzymes, but only a finite amount. The more foods we consume that are void of enzymes, the more we use up our finite supply.

Enzyme supplements fall under two categories: digestive and systemic. Digestive enzymes are taken with food to help digestion. There are also enzymes in raw foods that make it easier to absorb and properly assimilate nutrition.

Systemic enzymes (pancreatic enzymes, proteolytic enzymes, metabolic enzymes) are a bit more complicated. Getting enzymes from the digestive tract into the bloodstream isn’t easy. Enzymes released in the stomach will help digest food but will not survive the stomach acid. This is why systemic enzymes are typically offered in an acid-resistant capsule. The capsule is designed to release in the more alkaline environment of the intestinal tract. As long as the enzymes are taken on an empty stomach, the results have been shown to be spectacular.

Systemic enzymes have been used to treat problems and successfully eliminate ailments ranging from physical injuries, arthritis, heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, autism, herpes, HIV, (seems to work against any virus) fibromyalgia, asthma, and so much more. Most of the research has been published in non-English language journals. This systemic use of oral enzyme supplementation is just beginning to take off in the United States.

There are no reported side effects with systemic enzymes. Massive doses do not cause any problems or side effects, unlike high doses of pharmaceutical drugs or extremely high doses of supplements and herbs. The initial dosage, which is often one potent enzyme pill taken three times daily, 45 minutes before or 45 minutes after a meal, can be raised by three tablets daily every few days until the desired therapeutic response develops. A person given more than 3700 enzyme tablets in one day experienced diarrhea, but this was attributed to the capsules, not the content. The only side-effects from the enzymes themselves will be reduced inflammation and reduction of damaged and decaying cells, fibrin, viruses, and other proteins that have been introduced from a leaky gut or the body’s own mutated proteins (which happens under stress).

Enzyme supplementation is not a quick fix, but over time, they do produce amazing results. Consider systemic enzyme supplementation for repairing the damage done to the body from vaccines, infections, toxins, or anything that would cause any damage. Enzymes can help the body to reverse its age. What is age if not accumulated damage?

Keep Doing It

As I mentioned above, most people with any health ailments are perfectly capable of restoring their health to a much better place through diet alone. This includes vaccine damage. If you’ve had a vaccine, you have been damaged by the vaccine. The question is to what degree and whether the body already compensated or healed from it.

The benefit of concentrated herbal and supplemental therapy is their ability to speed up the healing and detoxification process. But most of these protocols do very little for most people when their diet is not right. The worse the diet is, the more supplements are going to be needed to compensate, up to the point at which the diet is so bad that supplements, at best, are merely slowing the decay of the body.

For those who are very sick and cannot function well enough to eat a well-balanced diet, a supplement protocol may be the difference between life and death, or at least, a miserable life and getting well.

These processes must not be hindered by medication aimed at suppressing the symptoms. While it may not be wise to stop taking medications under certain circumstances, the best one can hope for with even the most radical detox and nutrition overhaul program (such as this) is a body that works better. But to actually be healthy, one cannot continue consuming high levels of toxins such as pharmaceuticals.

Some of the above therapies will not apply, and many together may be overkill for the average person just looking to detox on a budget. But take your pick and pull what works for you. Or if you’re particularly ill, do your best to understand the whole process, and incorporate as much as you can that works for your budget and your health. Regardless of the ailment, this protocol can heal almost everyone if practiced long enough. Vaccines damage us from many different angles, and a holistic approach to healing is critical to reverse the damage.

Multiple injuries from vaccinations require each injury or disease to take its own time to heal and be cleared from the system. As the immune system becomes more in balance, it will be able to clear toxicity. Allergic symptoms will diminish and cognitive function will increase as the vaccine ingredients that the body is reacting too are expelled. Be sure to see the further reading below for more information.

Don’t let the supplement list below scare you. Most people can fully detoxify and recover from vaccines with the right diet and very little if any extra nutritional support if given enough time. This is especially true from people who were healthy to begin with. If you need to detox from vaccines on a tight budget, check this nutrition formula recipe and see these recipes here as well.

If you’re overwhelmed or want to pick a few more of the best supplements for your issues, or if money is tight, I recommend just taking SF722 and Abzorb. And put the rest of your energy on diet. Eating right is paramount, and when it comes to healing, supplements are not very effective for very long without a proper diet. If you suffer from any autoimmune health issues, vaccine-related or not, be sure to check out How To Heal Your Gut. Anyone who suffers from chronic illness is dealing with an abundance of Candida, and the body will not get well until the gut is balanced.

Diet is critical – even more important than the supplements. See the diet articles below. Eat a diverse large salad every day. Recipes are included below.

Recommended Supplements:

Formula SF722 – Thorne (kills all fungal – nearly everyone needs this)
Abzorb (A probiotic and a systemic enzyme when taken on an empty stomach, helps digest when taken with food)
Shillington’s Intestinal Cleanse (Kills parasites, Candida, and cleans intestinal tract, makes deification easier)
Shillington’s Intestinal Detox (Bentonite clay, flax, pectin, charcoal, and more to detox and eliminate bulk and heavy metals, can slow down deification)
Total Nutrition Formula (Detoxifies, chelates, protein, and it’s a multivitamin/mineral)
Shillington’s Blood Detox
FloraMend – Thorne (Probiotic, passes through stomach acid)
Mother Earth Organic Root Cider – Barrier Island Organics
Vitamin B6 Complex
Shillington’s Intestinal Kleanse for Kids
Oil of oregano – Gaia Herbs (Antimicrobial support, antioxidants)
Shillington’s Echinacea+ (Immune system support)
Berberine – Thorne

Diet:

Candida and Inflammation

Inflammation is a natural, healthy response to cellular damage or a natural, healthy immune response to a perceived threat. The idea that inflammation can persist without serving a purpose is a misnomer that allows the cause of disease to go unchecked and ignored.

When any part of the body is inflamed, it is either damaged and healing or damaged and deteriorating. Forget the idea that inflammation is “wrong” or “unnecessary” or that it can even get out of control. It’s not inflammation that is “out of control.” Inflammation is what brings the disease fighting cells and the extra nutrition needed to heal damage to the site. Without inflammation, we wouldn’t heal.

What causes damage? Damage, in this case, is cell trauma. Cells malfunction due to trauma caused by an external force or from internal trauma caused by toxicity of some kind and (or) a lack of nutrition.

It’s important to note that while nutritional deficiencies are one of the main causes of cell malfunction, diet is not always to blame. Sometimes the problem is a lack of ability to absorb and assimilate nutrition due to damage from toxic foods. For example, many people consume plenty of nutrition while they also ingest way too much sugar.

Candida Causes Inflammation

Inflammation is not the root of disease; Candida is typically the root of disease.

An overgrowth of Candida causes an imbalanced gut that cannot digest and assimilate nutrition well, and Candida burrows into the gut lining, penetrating the gut wall to allow proteins, sugars, infectious microbes, and other particles into the bloodstream.

Candida Albicans is a very opportunistic parasite. It can normally live in our intestinal tract in harmony with bacteria. “Normally,” in this case, indicates the natural way, but in today’s society, a balanced gut is far from the norm. An imbalance in the gut almost always leads to a massive overgrowth of Candida, which is very good at tearing through the intestinal walls to flood the whole body, opening the door to other infectious agents that should not escape the gut, causing infection and inflammation everywhere.

Candida and other infections microbes cause inflammation by being properly perceived in the body as an infectious agent (when an immune response is activated) and also due to the toxins they release throughout their lifecycle.

Fungal infections and other parasitical infections cause massive amounts of toxic substances to overwhelm the body, causing cellular damage everywhere. Infection also feeds off of dead and decaying cells, and infection leads to more dead and decaying cells. It’s the epitome of a vicious cycle.

Check out For more on gut health, check out Candida and Leaky Gut and What Causes Chronic Inflammation. Mercury fillings are also a source of chronic pain, and a cause of excess Candida.

Recommended Supplements:

Shillington’s Intestinal Cleanse Formula
FloraMend Prime Probiotic – Thorne Research
Formula SF722 – Thorne Research (kills Candida and other fungi)
Boswellia – Pure Encapsulations (reduces inflammation and relieves pain)
Curcumin 500 with Bioperine® – Pure Encapsulations (A powerful formula for inflammation and many other ailments)
Arctic Cod Liver Oil with Vitamin D – Nordic Naturals
Organic Vegan EFA Liquid (vegan-friendly fats, but not necessary if doing cod liver oil)
Vitalzym Systemic Enzymes – World Nutrition (system enzymes eliminate fibrous, damaged tissue and foreign proteins)
AR-Encap – Thorne Research (joint support formula)
American Ginseng – Gaia Herbs (for inflammation, but juicing your own organic ginger is better)

Sources:

What Causes Chronic Inflammation, and How To Stop It For Good

Almost all diseases or ailments stem from inflammation. This is why inflammation is thought to be the root of disease, but it’s not. This distinction makes sense when you consider the causes of inflammation.

When any part of the body is inflamed, it is either damaged and healing or damaged and deteriorating. Forget the idea that inflammation is “wrong” or “unnecessary” or that it can even get out of control. It’s not inflammation that is “out of control.” Inflammation is what brings the disease-fighting cells and the extra nutrition needed to heal damage to the site. Without inflammation, we wouldn’t heal.

Candida Causes Inflammation
Foods That Cause Inflammation
Inflammation and Free Radicals
Specific Nutrient Deficiencies Known To Cause Inflammation
How Excess Weight Causes Chronic Inflammation

Candida Causes Inflammation

Inflammation is not the root of disease; Candida is typically the root of disease.

Candida and other infectious microbes cause inflammation by being properly perceived in the body as an infectious agent (when an immune response is activated) and also due to the toxins they release throughout their lifecycle.

Related: Best Supplements To Kill Candida and Everything Else You Ever Wanted To Know About Fungal Infections

Foods That Cause Inflammation

Candida flourishes when there is not enough beneficial bacteria in the gut. Candida can survive toxic substances more easily than bacteria. Candida spores are almost indestructible. When alcohol is consumed, beneficial bacteria are killed as soon as alcohol enters the gut. Candida bounces back to take over the intestinal tract, and soon invades the whole body when the gut becomes “leaky”. Toxic foods either kill beneficial bacteria due to their toxicity, or they feed Candida and other infectious microbes, which then outnumber the beneficial bacteria.

Foods that feed Candida cause inflammation by feeding Candida, but these and many other foods cause inflammation in other ways, too. Some foods have natural, and naturally beneficial inflammatory properties, like many omega 6 fats. But these fats are not “bad,” they promote the healing process.

Refined Carbohydrates

Sugars feed Candida and almost all other well-known infectious microbes as well. Almost everyone has too much sugar in their diet. In nature, sugar is harder to get. Fruit is seasonal, and in areas where people eat lots of fruits all day, their diets also included strong anti-microbial foods to keep the gut flora in check. Take papaya, for instance, which is high enough in sugar that it could lead to a gut imbalance (especially for those who don’t have the healthiest gut to begin with) if it is eaten too often. In areas of the world were people eat a lot of papaya, they also eat a lot of papaya leaves and seeds, which, among other benefits, have anti-fungal properties that offset the sugars of the fruit.

When healing the gut, it’s important to cut out sweets, including fruit juices (even fresh, slow pressed), honey (even raw), agave, brown rice syrup, and all other sweeteners with the exception of stevia.

Acid Forming Foods (Generally Refined Foods)

When fiber is removed from foods, many of the minerals that alkalinize the body and the beneficial fats are also removed.

It’s imperative to cut out all other refined carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, other refined flours, and any processed starches. They feed Candida as well, but they also are inflammatory and acidic by nature, having lost their anti-inflammatory fatty profile and alkalinity due to the processing that removed fiber. For instance, the brown part of the rice contains the fiber and anti-inflammatory properties.

GMOs and Pesticide Laden Conventional Foods

Pesticides and herbicides are designed to kill pests and microbes, and they do this in our gut as well. GMO foods that are designed to kill the “pest” or the microbe that would otherwise infect the crop will kill the good microbes in the gut, too. Candida will bounce back, along with other infectious microbes, because the gut becomes inhospitable to our naturally beneficial flora as the toxic food keeps coming in.

Factory Farmed Animal Products

Factory farmed animals are raised on genetically modified grains that are already on the inflammatory side of the spectrum, even without being genetically modified. For instance corn, wheat, oats, hay, and certain grasses are inflammatory, especially when they are not balanced with a wider variety of natural foods within the diet.

A cow, for instance, would normally eat many different kinds of grasses and other plants growing from the ground. Now, beef comes from cows that are typically feed toxic grains that they would not normally eat and lots of antibiotics. Even grass fed cows (especially from larger scale farms) are typically only given access to a very limited diet with only one or a few kinds of grasses. This lack of diversity does not meet their nutritional needs for optimum health.

Dairy has the same issues, plus pasteurization and homogenization destroy many nutrients in milk and makes proper digestion more difficult. Homogenization also changes the protein molecules.

If we were making bread the way we did a very long time ago…

Wheat, Bread, Gluten

If we were making bread the way we did a very long time ago, we would be using probiotic and yeast cultures to fully break down the gluten proteins before they are ingested. The flours would be processed by hand and not refined (no nutrition removed). The sugars added to make the bread would be much less refined, and the bacteria would go to work on the sugars like it does with yogurt, leaving an end product many beneficial properties.

Today, due to hybridization, there is a new kind of gluten molecule that we ingest. This gluten molecule in our wheat is more inflammatory than previous varieties. It’s not the only gluten molecule in bread, but it’s prominent, and it’s not found in ancient wheat strands.

Today’s bread is made from wheat sprayed with Round-Up and other chemicals that is then refined and processed with most of the nutrients stripped before being fortified with toxic manufactured vitamins and minerals that the body cannot properly assimilate. Then sugar is added along with other chemical ingredients like preservatives and colorings. The end result is a bread far removed from the kind of food the Bible mentions.

“Bad” Fats

Omega 6s are not all inflammatory fats or “bad” fats. Omega 6s are just as important as omega 3s. Healthy, naturally occurring “inflammatory” omega 6s, in balance with omega 3s, and 9s, help the body properly respond to injury, and consequently, to heal. An imbalance of fats causes an inflammatory response for many different reasons, including but not limited to, the natural inflammatory properties found in some fats.

On the other hand, there are “bad” fats. No, they’re not saturated fats. Most informed people know by now that coconut and avocado and plenty of other fats have tremendous healing properties and do not naturally contribute to obesity. The bad fats are commercial, highly processed fats, rancid fats, trans fats, and otherwise unnatural fats. These fats cause inflammation and contribute to every autoimmune disease.

Other Toxic Ingredients

Soy lecithin, casein, and protein isolates generally have heavy omega 6 profiles and are also very acidifying.

Excitotoxins like MSG, aspartate, and glutamates, excite nerves, damaging the nervous system.

In cells, glutamate and aspartate can be synthesized from each other. The two main food additives that are sources for excitotoxins are MSG (monosodium glutamate) and aspartame (NutraSweet). High levels of glutamate and aspartate are found naturally in protein rich foods, including very high levels in wheat gluten, and milk casein. While these amino acids are necessary for normal brain function, excess amounts of them create a wide range of bodily damage.” – Dr. Amy A. Yasko

We could go on and on about artificial sweeteners, artificial colors, artificial flavors, preservatives, and other food additives, but the body needs whole foods to heal, not processed foods with ingredient labels.

Inflammation and Free Radicals

Inflammation causes free radicals, which damage cells and cause more inflammation.

You can picture free radicals as red-hot particles bouncing around inside a cell burning anything they come into contact with such as your DNA, cell membranes and proteins in the cytoplasm. – Evergreen Nutrition

Free radicals are created by our natural everyday functions, and they play many important roles, including the elimination of the weakest cells in the adjacent area (like infectious microbes). But too much inflammation means way too many free radicals that are overwhelming the body, impeding healing.

Specific Nutrient Deficiencies Known To Cause Inflammation

Any nutrient deficiency can cause inflammation one way or another. Two common nutrition deficiencies well known to directly cause inflammation include:

Vitamin D deficiency

Vitamin D deficiency is linked to depression, pain, increased overall inflammation, an ineffective immune system, inflammatory bowel disease, many different autoimmune diseases, many forms of cancer, and so much more.

Vitamin B deficiencies (especially B6 and B12)

Vitamin B deficiencies can cause, exacerbate, and also be the result of inflammation. When the body’s digestive system isn’t healthy, B vitamin assimilation becomes more difficult, and extra B vitamins often give some almost immediate relief to those suffering from inflammation. This is especially important for anyone dealing with an abundance of stress.

How Excess Weight Causes Inflammation

Most studies that point to obesity as a cause of inflammation rely on the problems associated with obesity to show correlation to inflammation. This is problematic because the cause of the inflammation is not obesity. Inflammation is due to causal factors that leads to obesity. While a fatty liver can lead to inflammation, it’s not obesity that makes a liver fat; it’s a poor diet that makes the entire body overweight.

That said, carrying a lot of fat on the body is stressful to the body, which leads to damage, which requires repair and causes inflammation. But there are some interesting studies showing a direct cause.

We did not know fat cells could instigate the inflammatory response. That’s because for a very long time we thought these cells did little else besides store and release energy. But what we have learned is that adipocytes don’t just rely on local resident immune cells for protection… – A Mechanism by Which Fat Causes Chronic Inflammation

Chronic Anxiety

This is another chicken and egg scenario. Inflammation of the body causes a tremendous amount of stress, both physical and emotional. Chronic pain is stressful! On the other hand, chronic anxiety will leave the body in an inflammatory state as well. The two feed off of each other.

When intense anxiety has been a part of someone’s life for more than a few days, anxiety causes depleted levels of certain nutrients, like B vitamins, which are needed to get over anxiety. A deficiency in B vitamins also leads to anxiety.

Chronic anxiety eventually causes numerous nutritional imbalances, and the whole endocrine system begins to function poorly. Anyone who has been dealing with any kind of chronic stress needs to nourish and heal the thyroid, the adrenals, and the gut before inflammation will subside.

Conclusion

Whole foods, foods that have no need for an ingredients list, heal the body. There are lots of conditions that cause allergic reactions, sensitivities, or other inflammatory responses from otherwise healthy foods. For instance, someone with severe hypothyroidism may worsen with the consumption of cruciferous vegetables. The problem with eliminating whole, healthy foods in the diet is that the nutrient deficiencies that are at the cause of the problem get worse. Remove all unhealthy foods from the diet. Temporarily remove some healthier foods if you must, but add them back in as soon as you are able.

For those who are forced to breathe toxic air regularly, or live under power lines, or have other environmental issues that cause inflammation, it takes much longer to heal the body if the environmental toxins are not removed. For most people, it is doable. The body can handle a very heavy toxic load if the gut is balanced and the diet is good. Also, be sure to read How To Heal Your Gut if you’re suffering from chronic inflammation.

Recommended Supplements:

Shillington’s Intestinal Cleanse Formula
FloraMend Prime Probiotic – Thorne Research
Formula SF722 – Thorne Research (kills Candida and other fungi)
Boswellia – Pure Encapsulations (reduces inflammation and relieves pain)
Curcumin 500 with Bioperine® – Pure Encapsulations (A powerful formula for inflammation and many other ailments)
Arctic Cod Liver Oil with Vitamin D – Nordic Naturals
Organic Vegan EFA Liquid (vegan-friendly fats, but not necessary if doing cod liver oil)
Fibrenza Systemic Enzymes – (systemic enzymes eliminate fibrous, damaged tissue and foreign proteins)
AR-Encap – Thorne Research (joint support formula)
American Ginseng – Gaia Herbs (for inflammation, but juicing your own organic ginger is better)

Holistic Guide to Healing the Endocrine System and Balancing Our Hormones

Contents

Endocrine Anatomy 101

How Hormones Work

Hypothalamus

Hypothalamus Nutrition and Herbal Support

Pituitary Gland

Anterior Pituitary – Adenohypophysis

Principal Anterior Pituitary Hormones

Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone

Follicle-Stimulating Hormone

Prolactin

Adrenocorticotropic

Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormone

Human Growth Hormone

Increase Your Growth Hormones Naturally

HGH Protocol

Anterior Pituitary Nutrition

Posterior Pituitary Gland – Neurohypophysis

Oxytocin

Antidiuretic Hormone

Pineal – Conarium or Epiphysis Cerebri

How to Decalcify and Detoxify the Pineal Gland

Thyroid

Three Thyroid Hormones

Triiodothyronine or T3

Thyroxin or T4

Calcitonin

Hyperthyroidism

Hypothyroidism

List Of Hypothyroidism Symptoms

How to Heal the Thyroid

Supplements For Hypothyroidism

Gluten, Hashimoto’s Disease, and Leaky Gut

Important Notice About Gut Health!

Fungal Supplement Stack – Knock Out Yeast, Candida, Mold, Fungus

Parathyroid

Parathyroid Adenoma

Adrenals – Suprarenal Glands

Adrenal Medulla

Adrenal Medulla Hormones

Adrenaline

Noradrenaline

Adrenal Medulla Disorders

Adrenal Cortex

Zona Glomerulosa & Mineralocorticoids

Zona Fasciculata & Glucocorticoids

What does cortisol do:

Zona Reticularis & Androgens

Adrenal Fatigue

Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue Include

Nutrients that Boost Adrenal Response

How to Heal Adrenal Glands

The Pancreas

Physiology of the endocrine pancreas — four cell types

Alpha cells

Beta cells

Delta cells

Gamma cells (F cells)

Diabetes Mellitus

Natural protocol for dealing with diabetes

Specific Additions for Type I diabetes (insulin dependent)

Immunomodulators

Infection

Other Nutrition

Gonads – Reproductive Organs

Testes

Raise Your Testosterone Naturally

Ovaries

Diseases and Disorders of the Ovaries

Natural Remedies for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

Get Enough Nutrition

Avoid Wheat

Supplemental

Naturally Alleviate Menopause Symptoms

Natural Remedies for PMS

Endocrine Abilities of the Liver, Heart, Stomach, and Kidneys

Heal the Endocrine System and Balance Hormones Step By Step

Eliminate and Flush Out Endocrine Disrupters and Detox the Body

How to Avoid Exposure to Endocrine Disruptors